"But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out." (Numbers 32:23)
When Israel began to worship idols, God punished them by bringing them under the power of their enemies, the Philistines. The Philistines, war-oriented people, worshiped an idol, Dagon. One day, the Philistine people took their armies up to Israel, and took over the land. They took their weapons and crops, and the Israel people cried out unto the Lord, and the Lord heard their cries.
In the land of Dan, lived a man, Manoah. His wife became pregnant with a boy named Samson. God sent an angel unto this woman to give her three rules that Samson had to follow if they wanted their people to be spared, for Samson would be the one to save them with his great strength; never drink wine, never touch dead things, and never cut his hair.
When Samson was born, he was a very strong boy. Once Samson had grown into a young man, he went into the land of the Philistines, to Timnath. He fell in love with a woman there, even though she was an enemy. On a journey to see this woman, Samson saw a hungry lion that charged him, so he killed the lion and tore him into pieces. He told no one of this.
When Samson went back to Timnath after a time to marry this woman he loved, he came across the dead lion. Bees had made home in its body, and had produced honey. Samson ate of the honey, touching the dead animal again. Again, he told no one.
The feast that was set aside for Samson's wedding consisted of Philistine men, where they drank wine. There, Samson gave the men a riddle, and they would receive clothing if answered correctly; "Out of the eater came forth meat, And out of the strong came forth sweetness."
The men tried several days, but could not figure out the meaning behind the riddle. They finally decided to go to Samson's wife, and threatened her to tell them the answer or they would burn her house, along with her and her people. His wife begged and begged Samson to tell her, and he eventually broke, and told her about the lion and honey.
The men came to Samson, giving him the answer to his riddle; meat being the lion and sweetness being honey. Samson was very angry because they had went to his wife. He killed other men to give the Philistine men their reward. Angry, he left his wife, and went back to the house of his father.
Samson eventually went back to his wife, but her father had given her away, but said that he could have her sister, but Samson refused. Samson went off very angry, and set the Philistines' crops on fire. The Philistines saw what Samson had did, and blamed his father-in-law. They burned the man's house, alone with him and Samson's past wife.
Samson then killed a slew of Philistines for burning his wife. He then went up to live in a place called the Rock of Etam. The Philistines came looking for Samson in Judah, and the men in Judah gave Samson over to the Philistines, for he had caused a lot of problems for the Israelites. Samson allowed it, on the terms that they would not kill him themselves, but hand him over to the Philistines.
The Philistines took Samson, and tied him up, but he escaped. He then married another woman, Delilah, who he told his secret about his hair too. Delilah told the Philistines of this in order to receive riches, and they cut Samson's hair. Samson would hide and escape from the Philistines' grip several times before ending up tied to two pillars of a temple in the Philistine land. He asked God for strength to escape, but there was no use; God had left him because of his disobedience. Samson used what strength he had to pull down the pillars, crushing both him and the Philistine people. The Israelites were finally free of the Philistine people.
Samson lived a very luxurious life; he had a woman that he loved, he was popular, and he had power. He got caught up in his sinful lifestyle when he left God's people, and began to sin more and more against God. First, he touched the dead animal, then, he drank wine at the wedding dinner, and then, his hair was cut off. Because of Samson's disobedience, he finally paid the price for his commitment of sin.
The Philistines cutting off Samson's hair is a prime example of the role that others can play in the act of sin. If we let the wrong people into our lives, we are allowing more sin to take residence in our hearts. It wasn't necessarily Samson's fault that his hair had been cut off, but he allowed people like Delilah into his life that was willing to trade him for riches. If Samson had not went against his own Israelite people, and joined the Philistines, he would have not experienced the temptations that he did, and he might not have committed the sins of touching the dead animal and drinking wine.
God saved the Israelite people like He had promised, but Samson did not follow the rules that God had set aside for him, therefore, he was killed, along with the sinful Philistines. This is what can happen when we go against God. God is the all-powerful being, and he expects us to follow his rules, and if we don't, we will be punished for it. Like in life, our parents punish us for doing something wrong. Well, in the same way, we become the children of God when He saves us, so we are to abide by His rules. Unlike our parents though, God sees every single thing we do. We can't hide from God.
Eventually, all of our sins will find us out, whether it is on Earth or at the judgement throne of Christ. We are all going to be forced to answer for the sins that we committed against God. Although, it is hard to go against the world sometimes, it is going to be much harder when we have to stand before God, and see all the sin that we threw in his face. God has blessed us with eternal life, the least we can do is follow His word.
