Judges 16:15

Judges 16:15

At the close of Samson's history we are taught how one of God's own servants is lost in the country of God's foes, and how God hears him and saves him in the far country. It is the old story, man backsliding and God restoring.

I. The very words which might represent the celestial entreaty of heavenly wisdom, are those of the most fascinating sin and temptation. The salvation of none of us depends upon our perception, but upon our strength.

II. Notice the manner of Samson's fall: it was by the extortion of his secret; therefore has it been said, "Keep thine heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues," or, which is the same thing, within it is the secret of life. The strength of life lies in having something we will not yield; something within, over which the tempter has no power. Samson renounced his profession as a Nazarite. That was the fatal step. He revealed the secret of the Lord to the scorn of the Philistines; he surrendered his sacred vow to the foes of the Lord.

III. In the spectacle of Samson asleep we see the carelessness of the tempted soul. Strength is gone; character is gone. Israel's hero has lost himself. He surrendered the secret of the Lord, and awoke to find the Spirit of the Lord departed from him.

E. Paxton Hood, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xix., p. 388.