Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. (Judges 16:1 KJV)

Nothing wrong with visiting a hooker, it appears.

I’ve never known the story of Samson, and now that I’ve read it, I can’t believe how dumb he is. This guy, who ruled Israel for twenty years, gets hoodwinked twice, by two different women. His wife, who has no name, cried for seven days so that he would tell her the answer to a riddle, and she could give the answer to her fellow Philistines so they would win a bet. This made him so mad that he killed and robbed thirty different men.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home. (Judges 14:19 NIV)

When he went home, his father-in-law gave his wife to one of the Philistines. As revenge, he burned the Philistines crops. Note that this is twice that he’s punished the wrong people. When the Philistines learned who did it and why, they burned Samson’s ex-wife and father-in-law. And Samson killed a thousand of them with the jawbone of an ass.

Later, he starts sleeping with Delilah, who nags him for three days to “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.” (Judges 16:6 NIV). Each time he tells her a lie, she tries it, and he just tells her a different lie. Eventually, she nags him to death.

What’s the moral of this story? No matter how much a woman nags, don’t listen to her or trust her. Or maybe, don’t let another plow with your heifer?

Next: Judges 17-18.