How many of you believe the bible is real?
Do you believe in Angels?
Do you believe that Christ died for our sins?
We constantly search for truth – there is much false information, fake news, lies, and false prophets in our world in 2023.
Did Samson really have superhuman strength? Did his hair really give him power? Was the angel real who foretold his mother that he would dedicate himself to God?
I believe it is real.
There are many parables with hidden meanings in the sacred texts.
I encourage you, if you are reading this – to read the complete book of Proverbs.
Have you read the complete book? Read it from two translations, the old and new.
Mark my words if you read the book of Proverbs, you will be wiser, and it is priceless information.
Who was Samson in the bible?
Samson is one of the most recognizable of the judges who ruled over Israel before the time of the kings.
He was a Nazarite, yet he broke many rules of the Nazarite vow.
God gifted Samson with incredible strength, but he lost his strength when Delilah betrayed him to the Philistines, who blinded and enslaved him.
Samson is one of the most recognizable of the judges who ruled over Israel before the time of the kings.
Samson Was Proud
Samson ignores the rules of his Nazarite vows.
- He eats honeycomb out of the carcass of a dead lion he slew (Judges 14:9)
- He attends a wedding feast, where alcohol is present. Although the text does not indicate whether or not he drank, this article says he still sinned during that occasion when he kills 30 Philistines when his wife, Timnah, tricks him out of a wager (Judges 14). Whether killing them came from a sound mind or a mind under the influence of alcohol, he sinned.
- Later on, his wife cuts his hair, which causes him to lose his great strength he’d been renowned for (Judges 16:20).
Known for violent acts and a bent for revenge, Samson also ends up committing a number of other atrocities. He ties the tails of 300 foxes together, fastens ablaze torches to them, and sets them loose in Philistine fields (Judges 15:4-5).
Samson Loved Delilah, Who Betrayed Him.
Sin has consequences.
For Samson, it came in the form of Delilah, a Philistine woman whom Samson fell in love with. The Philistines used this to their advantage and bribed her with 1,100 shekels (about three years’ worth of wages) to divulge the secret to Samson’s strength so they can overcome him (Judges 16:5).
After a great deal of trial and error, Delilah procures the source of his strength, his hair, and cuts it.
Then the Philistines blind the now weakened Samson and take him captive.
Before his conception, his mother, a peasant of the tribe of Dan at Zorah, near Jerusalem, was visited by an angel who told her that her son was to be a lifelong Nazirite—i.e., one dedicated to the special service of God, usually through a vow of abstinence from strong drink, from shaving or cutting the hair, and from contact with a dead body.
Samson possessed extraordinary physical strength, and the moral of his saga relates the disastrous loss of his power to his violation of the Nazirite vow, to which he was bound by his mother’s promise to the angel.
He first broke his religious obligation by feasting with a woman from the neighboring town of Timnah, who was also a Philistine, one of Israel’s mortal enemies.
On another occasion he repulsed their assault on him at Gaza, where he had gone to visit a harlot.
He finally fell victim to his foes through love of Delilah, who beguiled him into revealing the secret of his strength: his long Nazirite hair. As he slept, Delilah had his hair cut and betrayed him.
He was captured, blinded, and enslaved by the Philistines.
Samson Cried Out to God at the End of His Life.
Humiliated and now a slave to a Philistine grinding grain, Samson cries out to the Lord (Judges 16:28).
He prays for strength, one last time. He cried out to the Lord, and gathers Holy Spirit energy and placing both hands on pillars supporting the temple, he pushes the two supporting ones over. The temple falls apart and kills himself and thousands of Philistines in the process.
What Can We Learn from Samson?
Although the story ends sadly with Samson’s death, we can derive several applications from his life.
1. We cannot abuse any gifts God has given us.
God gifted Samson with incredible strength, but he often abused it, using the might to show off, rather than bring glory to God. He learns the hard way that the Lord can give and take away gifts in a moment’s notice.
2. Sin leads to consequences.
Samson didn’t see the immediate payout for some of his sin until much later, but it tends to catch us at the worst moments. When we feel like acting on impulse, like he had, we need to remind ourselves of the truth of Scriptures. We will encounter many Delilah’s in this world who will try to find our greatest weakness and exploit it.
3. Even at our lowest, God can still use us.
Derived of all strength and humiliated beyond measure, God returns Samson his strength for one last showdown. Although Samson dies in the process, he ends up killing more of Israel’s enemies than he ever had during his boastful, revengeful days.
God works in mysterious ways.