Bible Women: Delilah and Man’s Terrifying Fascination with the Female Body

And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. Jdg 16:4  

A Power Stronger than Death

Man’s fascination with the body of a woman is legendary.

He has beheld the moon in full glare at night, and the multitude of stars sweeping the firmament, and the clear blue sky nudging him, and in his heart man has felt the stirrings of a distant God bemusedly looking down at him.

But man, beholding the beauty of the woman sitting next to him, has not felt a single stirring of the spiritual in her or him, but only lust.

So man has taken a pen (being a Naphtali in his heart), and in his writings, he has poured out all his frustrations on paper.

And I’ve seen, in the city, a man drive his car upon an innocent lamp post, simply because he has seen a red skirt cross the street…

Moreover you have read (haven’t you?) of men and the fortunes they have spent in Art Museums, simply to become the owner of a piece of clothing which was once worn by a world famous film actress.

And Abraham’s greatest headache was the beauty of his wife Sarah. She gave men sleepless nights. And Kings even took hold of her. But for God Abraham should’ve been killed.

But Dante, after having been awestruck by the beauty of young Beatrice, saw the hand of God in her. And Dante, choosing rather to pour his praises on the God who created Beatrice (and not the creature), gave us his epic Divine Comedy.

Thus Dante sublimated his infatuation with a woman into a worthier cause than falling astray to the base demands of concupiscence. And in the process we learn that God (Holy Beauty) does not torment. That is the work of the devil.

Womanhood is Beautiful 

In the whole of the Bible no one has waxed more lyrical about breasts than King Solomon in his Song of Songs. But the king does not glorify them. Rather the king glorifies the creator for his majesty, and power, and wisdom, and mystery, using the imagery of a woman.

Marriage is deep. The coming together of two distinct human beings (male and the female), and then becoming ‘one flesh.’ This is a spiritual phenomenon. It is a mystery. God created a woman separate from man, but from man!

And by this I believe God has placed a special honor and sanctity upon the woman. You almost feel a special ‘holiness’ about her. (So we feel sex outside marriage is an abuse, sex with a prostitute is a desecration of the body, and sex with another man’s wife is an execration, a curse).

Therefore it is no surprise that poets, painters and musicians go mad about the female! I think God has made us more intuitive than other people so that through our art we may declare to the world his glory. The beauty of the woman is good, but it is transient. Only the beauty of God is everlasting. Only his beauty is worthy to be worshipped.

And so scripture talks of the church as the bride of Christ. This is the underlying motif of Solomon’s Song of Songs. ‘Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love’ (Pro 5:19).

So let us love God. Let us worship him and praise him at all times. That is the whole purpose for our being here. ‘Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created’ (Rev 4:11).  

‘But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death’ (Pro 8:36). And that is the depth of the trouble we sink into when we reject God’s purpose.    

The Evils of the World, Money, Power and Lust

So Samson, thrilled by the beauty of Delilah, thrilled himself to death. Delilah made him restless. She made him mad until God slipped off his mind. He even forgot that he was a Judge in Israel. Samson fell swiftly from the pinnacle of life to the valley of death.  

‘And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; That he told her all his heart…’ (Jdg 16:16-17a). 

‘And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him’ (Jdg 16:20b). 

And so for more than eleven hundred pieces of silver (‘and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver’) Delilah was won over. ‘Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand’ (Jdg 16:5b,18b).

And Judas for eleven pieces of silver sold Christ, ‘the king of glory’. For three years he sat at his feet nodding his head knowingly, while all along a bitter war ravaged through his heart.

The Man and the Battle with Image

There are images which, with the help of the media, we have bought.

It is used to be that image of a man holding a cigarette, glass in one hand, and the other brushing a woman’s short skirt.

That image has spoken to men and said loudly, ‘This is life.’

So we pursued it, relentlessly (and are still pursuing it), but the closer we come to it, the further it eludes us, and like a mirage, it keeps shimmering in the distance.

We have thirsted, and drunk, only to wake up and find it was a dream. We have pulled the blanket to cover ourselves, but it has come short, reaching only the knees (Isa 29:8; 28:20).

Outside the days are cold, and the nights shorter.

Waiters fill up the glasses, and sounds of music waft as if from the subterranean. But the floor remains empty, and the lights refuse to dazzle. And slowly the mind relapses into a state of unrelinquished drowsiness.   

We can pursue a thousand images, but in the end we shall have no soul for all of them. Our time on earth is short. It is fleeting, like vapour, and then it is no more. Tomorrow will be too late. The time for salvation is now.

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Jas 1:14-15 

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Joh 6:35