The Enemy Within 5

The Enemy Within 5

“Don’t accept that invitation. It’s a trap!”
“My friend don’t be so dramatic,” Samson read through the golden scroll he had just received from a messenger. “It’s a party organised by Delilah to honour my contribution to the people of Gaza.”
“I swear it is a trap!” Jahula insisted.
“So you overheard two people discuss how they will set a trap for me. That doesn’t mean anything.” Samson said.
Jahula was getting frustrated with his friend. He just wasn’t listening. Samson could be so obstinate.
“Do you know how many people plot against me daily? They come up with crazy plans and I always outwit them. Last week, when I was in Suki’s house, I saw some strange movements around the house and suspected that the Philistines were planning to trap and destroy me there. I woke up at midnight and carried the gate of the city on my shoulder. They couldn’t do anything to stop me.”
“But if you hadn’t been at Suki’s house that wouldn’t have happened in the first place. You weren’t supposed to be there.”
Samson was lost in thought. “Suki was very good to me. I plan to see her again this week.”
Jahula held his friend’s arm. “Forget about that ungodly woman and listen to me. They seek to destroy you at this party.”
Samson snatched his arm away. “Can’t you tell by now that I am indestructible?”

Hearing those foolish words proceed from the mouth of his friend made Jahula cringe. This wasn’t the man he had known for the past twenty years. This was a different man. A certain darkness had come over Samson’s soul, it had blinded him to the dangers surrounding him. Now he thought he was indestructible. The sin in his soul had deceived him. Samson used to be deeply spiritual but he seemed to have lost the spiritual fervency he once had. It began with the parties, the wine, then with more successes at war came the women. Beautiful women wanted him and he wanted the very worst of them. Samson seemed to have a death wish because he always fell in love with the most treacherous of women. It was either a prostitute today or the daughter of a priest of baal tomorrow.

Samson poured himself some wine and sat with his friend. “When I was a child, my parents told me about the circumstances surrounding my birth. They told me never to touch any dead thing, not to drink wine and not to ever cut my hair. I have never told anyone this, but I have done some of those things my parents said I shouldn’t do, but yet I grow stronger every day.”
“You what?”Jahula looked at his friend incredulously, as if he had completely lost his mind.
Samson took another sip of his wine.”Years ago, when I just discovered this mysterious strength I have, a lion attacked me in the wilderness. I killed it and hid its body in a cave. Some days later, I passed that way and I found honey in the carcass of the lion. I ate it and even gave some to my parents, but I didn’t tell them where it came from.”
“You touched the carcass of an animal? Your Nazarene vow forbids you from touching any dead thing.” Jahulah shook his head in disbelieve.
“Yes, I did and nothing happened to me. See? I am still as strong as ever.” Samson lifted the huge dinning table with one hand and laughed.
“All those things my parents told me were the product of their wild imagination.”
“Everyone heard about how your parents were visited by a mysterious stranger who disappeared after prophesying your birth. Some people said it was an angel because of the way he ascended into the sky with the fire from the sacrifice.”
“Seriously? An angel?” Samson sneered.
“So how did you come about your supernatural strength?” Jahula asked.
Samson looked into the red liquid in the silver cup. He looked confused for a moment. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t? And you think it happened by chance? Tell me Samson, how many people in Israel are gifted with your special powers?”
“None. But that doesn’t prove anything.”
“It does my friend. It proves that you were specially chosen by Jehovah to deliver Israel from the oppression of the Phillistines. Through the years you have been faithful to carry out your divine assignment. There was a time you believed. There was a time you served the Lord with all your heart. There was a time spiritual things were important to you. There was a time you lived a holy and consecrated life. There was a time you were ready to give your very life to save your people. Do you remember the time we caught three hundred foxes, set their tails on fire and unleashed them into the harvest of the Phillistines?”
“Ha,ha,ha!That was fun. I also remembered the battles that followed and how we prevailed.”
“How The Lord prevailed and gave us victory,” Jahula corrected his arrogant friend.

Samson looked agitated. He stood up and paced the room. “I am tired of bearing this burden, this responsibility, this curse! I didn’t ask for this gift. I didn’t ask to be a hero. I didn’t ask to be a deliverer. Why can’t I be like everyone else? Why can’t I enjoy my life and have fun? Why can’t I settle down and have a family?”
“You would if you stopped wasting your life in the pursuit of strange women,” Jahula said.
“Are you jealous because the women want me and not you? Are you jealous that they just can’t seem to get enough of me?”
“My friend, have you lost your mind? I have known you for two decades and I have never been jealous of you for the gift Jehovah has blessed you with. I have constantly warned you that those women are a snare to your soul. They are not good for you.”
“Are you saying I shouldn’t attend the party Delilah is throwing in my honour?” Samson changed the subject.
“I believe it’s a trap and you shouldn’t attend it.”
“No one has ever held a party this big in my honour. Delilah has gone out of her way to celebrate me. Is that a bad thing?”
“No it isn’t, but I think…”
“No buts,” Samson cut in. “The most important people in the city would be expecting to meet with me and I don’t intend to disappoint them,” Samson said.
“What happens if something goes wrong?” Jahula asked.
“Nothing will go wrong. It is a party and I will enjoy my self.”
As Jahula sat there looking at his friend, a passage of scripture came to his mind. ‘There’s a way that seems right to a man, but it ends in death.’ Samson had been deceived by the sin in his soul to walk the path of destruction. His arrogance blinded him to the danger which awaited him at Delilah’s lair.
Samson put on a brown robe. “I am going to town. Are you coming along?”
Jahula shook his head. “No.”
“Suit yourself. See you when I return.” Samson left.
Jahula waited for a few minutes then got up and peeped out of the window. Samson and his entourage were out of the vicinity. He entered an empty room, locked the door and fell down on his knees. Jahula understood that the greatest battles were fought and won in the place of prayer. Moments later the house reverberated with the warrior’s voice deep in prayer.
“O Lord, save Samson from destruction!”
Jahula wept before God in the anguish of his soul.