WHy do you rest with your enemy?

15Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies.” 16When she pressured him day after day with her words and pleaded with him, he was annoyed to death. 17Then [finally] he told her everything that was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never been used on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any [other] man.”
18Then Delilah realized that he had told her everything in his heart, so she sent and called for the Philistine lords, saying, “Come up this once, because he has told me everything in his heart.” Then the Philistine lords came up to her and brought the money [they had promised] in their hands. 19She made Samson sleep on her knees, and she called a man and had him shave off the seven braids of his head. Then she began to abuse Samson, and his strength left him. 20She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as I have time after time and shake myself free.” For Samson did not know that the Lord had departed from him. 

Judges 16:15-21 AMP

Samson is a very unique individual in the Bible. He was the 1st Nazarite in the Bible, and the only biblical individual whose strength or gift was solely physical. Samson from birth had been dedicated to God (Nazarite vow, Judges 13), and was chosen to be a Judge/defender of Israel against its enemies, specifically the Philistines. Samson was special because he was one of a few people in the Bible who God sent angels/messengers to people to inform them of the child/gift on the way. His parents were instructed on how to raise him, and God’s purpose for him before he was even conceived. Even though God had plans for Samson that were for the deliverance and protection of Israel, he gave Samson free-will to CHOOSE how he lived his life, the same as he does for us. What’s unique about the story of Samson is that God actually gave Samson his desire for Philistine women as a way to accomplish his will on exacting vengeance on the Philistines for their mistreatment of Israel (Judges 14:4). Skip to Judges 16 and we see Samson have interactions with 2 different Philistine women, most famously Delilah who convinced him to reveal the source of his supernatural strength. When you read through chapter 16 you’ll begin to notice several oddities in Samson’s “situationship” with Delilah.

• they never have sex: the passage implies that Samson regularly visited and spent time with Delilah, so much so that the Philistine governors believed that Delilah could extract information from Samson. For a man during this time to spend so much time with a woman who was not his wife AND not have sex with her was very unique. What hold did Delilah have over Samson? Did Samson have any intention of marrying Delilah, or did he just see her as a trophy to antagonize the Philistine people with?
• He finds rest with her: Samson routinely goes into enemy territory to spend time with Delilah, and is so comfortable with her that he often spends the night, or at least stays long enough to sleep in her lap. How can one find rest with a person that belongs to a people who directly oppresses your own, and who you’ve been directly instructed to deliver your people from? Most people when they are in a relationship with someone they are not supposed to love will sneak in and out under the cover of night; and never spend so much time or develop a routine where others are aware of it, but Samson operates with a different type of boldness….maybe due to his supernatural strength. Why doesn’t Samson feel this type of rest, security, or love amongst his own people?
• Samson continues to spend time with her after he’s been set-up by her: On at least 3 occasions Delilah questions him on the source of his strength, and each time the information that he gives her is immediately used against him after she lulls him to sleep. What causes him to return to the woman who annoys him, conspires against him with the enemy, and tries to kill him? Why would he continue to love someone who has clearly shown through their actions that they don’t love him? Were things so bad amongst his own family and people that he had to continually seek the company of Delilah to find rest/peace?

Reflection Time

How/Why do you rest with your enemy? What has cause home to not be a safe place, or place of rest for you? What are you seeking outside of God’s will or presence? Where do you find peace, and is it having a negative impact on your calling, or well-being? Have you lost sight of your calling or original objective for distractions along the way?