Delilah
You should be able to trust the person you love, right?
Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me three times now and have not told me what makes your strength so great." Finally, after she had nagged him with her words day after day, and pestered him, he was tired to death. So he told her his whole secret, and said to her, "A razor has never come upon my head; for I have been a nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If my head were shaved, then my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be like anyone else." - Judges 16:15-17
Of all the strong women in The Bible, Delilah is somewhat unique.
She is not defined in terms of a man, as someone's wife, sister, daughter, and we know very little about her.
She has a Hebrew name but could be a Philistine. We know Samson is in love with her, but she may not feel the same about him.
Surely she is intent on discovering his secret so she can hand him over to the Philistines who will pay her handsomely, so she shouldn't be trusted. And yet Samson, knowing her intentions, gives in.
That's the power of a woman's charm, or maybe it is just giving in to repeated pestering.
Delilah was relentless, and it paid off for her. She wore Samson down. He wasn't going to listen to her any more, and he paid the price, losing his strength.
We like to think that Delilah was sexually enticing, and that is why Samson was overpowered by her, but the text suggests it was the nagging that got to him.
He loved her and she took advantage of that love to get him to reveal his secret.
I guess the lesson here has something to do with trust and love. We tend to trust the one we love, but it helps to know we are loved back before we jump in head first.
Samson probably knew Delilah was not as into him as he was her, but he didn't exactly ignore his head and go with his heart.
He gave in to repeated requests, and that was neither smart nor emotional.
It was kind of like those robocalls we all get. Eventually, we will answer the phone and say something that could cost us money. When we do, remember Delilah.
Her persistence paid off, like verbal waterboarding, and she broke him.
More to come...