Judges Ch. 16.

1. Samson saw.

¶ Once again Samson is heading for trouble through his eyes. [Refer Ch. 14. Comment 1.] Looking at the temporal is much like Lot who ended up deeper in the World, and he became soaked to the point that when rescued by the mighty hand of God he insisted he didn't want to be far away from a city. [Gen.` 19:20.] When we are pulled much in the direction of our eyes we can end up in a World of iniquity. The Lord has given us richly all things to enjoy but it is found so much in the Word, that the precious things that are eternal are in the unseen realm and don't become available to those who are led by jelly eyes. Samson touched the unseen realm of the power of God in a more dynamic way when he didn't have his eyes!  the Lord give us the vision that Paul had -

2 Corinthians` 4:18.
^"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Judges Ch. 15.

1. Marriage Flaws.

"Samson visited his wife" [15:1.]

¶ Samson is separated from his wife and disinterested to the point that her father thought that Samson must hate her not only because of the unfaithfulness of her behaviour with the secret riddle but also because he was away from her for so long, [vs. 2.] and so gives her to another. Samson has married into a reckless unguided lifestyle of mess; his dad had sought to warn him of the dangers of going outside the Word of God but Samson had other ideas.What a sad state of affairs now exists in this small pocket of potential blessing for Israel; what a deterioration of things with the passing of Joshua and Gideon and Gideon's family. Gideon's brothers all "resembled the children of a king"[Judges` 8:18.] but were sadly slain in an evil plot. Deborah was a mighty Prophetess in Israel, secure as a faithful wife to her husband Lapidoth. [Judges` 4:4.] Jael the wife of Heber took courage and slew Sisera the Captain of the hosts of the enemy single handed and brought about triumph and blessing in Israel. [Judges` 4:21.]

¶ By the time we get to Samson "apostasy" has further developed and there is much parallel here with the present apostate Church in this Laodicean age that we are in today. There is much type of the Samson delema in the Church today, with fragmented spiritual experience and as with Samson our eyes "put out" lacking vision of the glory of Christ and made captive by a World of emptiness. Paul, even in his time he felt compelled to share the pain that there is a sad reality among the people of the Lord that "all seek their own and not the things that are Jesus Christ's" [Philippians` 2:21.] and this is basically because of the "sin bias" within human nature, which is, "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all". [Isaiah` 53:6.]

¶ There is much today in the Church that is married to the World instead of a chaste marriage to the Lord. Samson allowed partial marriage to the World and what spiritual mess followed!

¶ There is much good ground to consider the possible awakening of Samson to his error during his departure to his father's home in anger. There was time to consider the disregarded advice of his dad and to ponder the possible failed plans that he had in his own mind, that it would be OK in marrying her because his spiritual dynamic would be convincing to his wife and she would come to value the things of the Lord in her husband and in Israel: How many times has such schemes been ventured by believers caught up "in love" and in their reckless "wish for the day" end up reaping a whirlwind of trouble just as Samson did. Now Samson is there at home possibly thinking "well, I married her, I just have to face the issue and get on with it". Samson acquires a gift and goes down to hopefully recover marital enjoyment again and finds the train has left the tracks completely and crashed into a ravine beyond reach.

Judges Ch. 14.

1. The sight of a woman.

"Samson ... saw a woman" [14:1.]

¶ There is no doubt that there can occur with a man at the sight of a woman a phenomena taking place in his heart that can develop as Solomon said, with a rating score in the top 4 performing wonders on earth. "There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid". [Prov`. 30:18-19.] There also can occur within the heart of a man, wrong desire at the sight of a woman as Jesus said - "he that looks on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery already with her in his heart" [Matt.` 5:28.] Billy Graham said - "It's not the first look but the second look is where the trouble begins". It is the looking to "lust after" that is the committing of adultery in the heart. Men of the World today are beset with sexual imagery and pornography on every hand through television, computer, magazine and many other forms of media. Samson through his eyes was ensnared by the beauty of a woman and it is interesting to note that the Lord allowed his eyes to be put out by the Philistines; and it was after the loss of his eyes that even though he was subjected to the most horrendous mockery and persecution he made a full strong recovery of faith and courage and blessed Israel with one of the greatest victories in their battle against the oppression of their long standing enemies. John states that the World's shaky foundation is held together with three lopsided pillars and they are 1. The lust of the flesh. 2. The lust of the eyes. 3. The pride of life. These make up in total the World's trinity of progressive evil. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. [1 John` 2:16.]

Judges Ch. 13.

1. Evil.

"Did evil in the sight of the Lord" [13:1.]

¶Sin is a weary problem to the Christian. Before salvation he couldn't have cared less, but now sin should bother him heaps; if it doesn't then there is a real problem. Before salvation we "fulfilled" sinful desires [Eph.' 2:3.] but now there is an "against" person within us, who is the Holy Spirit and he is "against" living after the flesh and the "motions of sins that war in our members" [ Romans' 7:5. James' 4:1.]

¶ A vital key in the matter of "the sin which so easily besets us" [Hebrews 12:1.] is the Word of the Lord "Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation" [Matthew' 26:41.] If temptation is "entered into" the remaining is a foregone conclusion. The apple may look good to be desired to make one wise but if you "pick it" off the branch you have just fallen over the edge and soon there is the thump of "death" [Romans' 6:23.] We don't "fall" into temptation or "the Devil made me do it". He might have "all the making" (which he certainly does) but we have the decision. The only case of "falling" into temptation is in 1 Timothy' 6:9. But notice that there was a deliberate "trip wire" set up in the heart and mind viz. "they that would be rich" and so the entering in via the "trip wire" is a headlong "fall" into temptation. Don't pick the apple off the temptation tree to have a curious closer look, the deadly bite is only an inch away!