Backsliding

HIS WIVES TURNED HIS HEART AWAY

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharoah: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love.

He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.

For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. -- 1 Kings 11:1-4

In defiance of the will of God, Solomon loved a great many strange women and, as God had predicted, when he was old his wives turned his heart away after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God.

WEAK WITHOUT GOD

She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. -- Judges 16:20

After Delilah had gleaned from Samson the secret of his strength and then had his long hair cut, Samson rose on previous occasions to defend himself against the Philistines but he was powerless, for the Lord had departed from him. No tragedy equals that moment when a man, once strong in the Lord, discovers that his backsliding has left him weak.

Recommended Reading

• The Book of Samson, by David Maine
• Samson Agonistes, by John Milton
• Story of Samson and Its Place in the Religious Development of Mankind, by Paul Carus
• A Long Obedience Journal, by Eugene H. Peterson
• The Backslider: His Nature, Symptoms And Recovery, by Andrew Fuller