Incentive!

Judges 16:5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”

Have you ever answered one of those offers in the mail for a free meal if you listen to a presentation? Red Lobster, Carrabbas, Longhorn. Free! My mouth is watering already. How about that vacation spot with the ability to change location of redemption every year?

“Gold is the safest asset to buy to hedge against volatility in the market.” Costco has sold millions of dollars worth of gold bars in the last few months. People have flocked with their cash to buy insurance against craziness. There is no insurance against craziness. They bring it with them.

The woman in our text was given a very large incentive to help get her boyfriend killed. But what would open her up to such a scheme? If she was with the guy, why would she be willing to sell him out?

Well, there was a man for whom sex was the end all and be all. Sounds crazy as a description of one of the heroes of the Old Testament. I guess it was easier to become a hero back then than it is today.

Samson’s lust led to him violating core tenants of his faith, or at least his parent’s faith. He never drank wine as part of his life vow. But he let his lost drive him to marry a forbidden foreigner and visit prostitutes. Not so good for a leader of God’s people. Nothing new under the sun!

His final lust object was a woman named Delilah, her name meaning dangle. (Think cluster of grapes.) Her sexual history is not specifically outlined, so we don’t know if she was a prostitute. But we can be sure there was something amiss in her character.

She lived in the Valley of Sorek. That looks innocent enough, doesn’t it. But Sorek carries the meaning of “choice wine.” So here is a man who has vowed to never drink wine, hanging out with a woman named “Dangle” from the Valley of Choice Wine. Sounds like failure is just around the corner.

And this woman, if she is employed in the subtle arts, gets the chance to never work again. She has the winning Lottery ticket offered to her on a platter. If you were in her shoes, wouldn’t you jump at the chance! Never have to be used by another man for his sexual pleasure, sign me up. And she did sign up.

So for 28 pounds of silver from each of the several Philistine rulers she betrays her client. That would be years worth of living expenses for just betraying someone who was using you. 401K filled to the brim. Retirement in style.

We like to lift up Sampson. He makes a great story for kids church, but he had fatal flaws in his character. The only things we know about his “ruling Israel” for twenty years are his exploits with women and results of those relationships going south.

Not the kind of legacy I want to have. Choice Wine Valley should have warned him he was in tenuous territory. He didn’t listen.