EXPLORE THE TEXT
Believers who compromise their faithfulness to God will eventually be put to shame.
21 The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes.
They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles,
and he was forced to grind grain in the prison.
22 But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved.
23 Now the Philistine leaders gathered together
to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon.
They rejoiced and said: Our god has handed over our enemy Samson to us.
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god and said:
Our god has handed over to us our enemy who destroyed our land and who multiplied our dead.
25 When they were in good spirits, they said,
“Bring Samson here to entertain us.”
So they brought Samson from prison, and he entertained them.
They had him stand between the pillars.
Samson’s devastating fall:
Ironically, the man who lived his life by the lust of his eyes had his eyes gouged out.
The man who could not be restrained was bound in bronze shackles.
The man who proudly went wherever he pleased was now forced to grind grain in prison like an animal.
And the man who appeared to have little regard for others was now humiliated.
In many ways, Samson was experiencing personally
what the nation of Israel repeatedly experienced during the time of the judges. (PSG, p. 105)
Learn more about the Philistine god, Dagon. ##Use information from Judges 16:21,23-25 to supplement the conversation. h4>(v. 21)
Samson was bound with bronze shackles in prison, where he was forced to grind grain like an animal.
Dagon, a god of grain
Some scholars suggest that Samson’s enemies were claiming their god’s superiority
by forcing the one who had destroyed Dagon’s crops (Judg. 15:3-5)
to “serve” him in the mill.
The name of Dagon is mentioned in only two other places in the Bible (1 Chron. 10:10; 1 Sam. 5).
He was physically depicted as half-fish and half-man.
However, its name likely came from the word meaning “grain,” indicating that Dagon was a weather god or agricultural god.
Suggest things that Samson lost as a result of his weak character.
(Examples:
his eyes, his dignity, his strength,
his intimacy with God, and so forth)
Samson certainly lost a great deal through
his compromise and his lack of self-control.
But the writer of Judges also provides a glimmer of hope:
Samson’s hair began to grow back.
This was a sign of God’s grace and a reminder that He wasn’t done using Samson just yet.
As believers, we can take comfort in the “second chances” God provides.