Samson
“Little sun, or sunlike”
Summary
A judge of Israel from the tribe of Dan, consecrated as a Nazirite from birth, renowned for his supernatural strength and his tragic involvement with Delilah.
☩Birth and Consecration
Samson was born to Manoah and his barren wife after an angel of the Lord announced his coming. The angel instructed that the child would be a Nazirite to God from the womb, meaning no razor would touch his head, and he would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. His birth during the period of Philistine domination fulfilled God's purpose to raise up a deliverer for His people.
☩Feats of Strength
When the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, he performed remarkable feats of strength. He killed a lion with his bare hands, slew thirty Philistines at Ashkelon, caught three hundred foxes and used them to burn Philistine crops, and broke free from new ropes that bound him. His most famous single exploit was slaying a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. These acts were not displays of personal prowess but demonstrations of God's power working through his consecrated vessel.
☩Delilah and Downfall
Samson's weakness for Philistine women led to his downfall. His involvement with Delilah proved fatal when, after persistent pressure, he revealed that his strength lay in his uncut hair as the sign of his Nazirite vow. While he slept, Delilah had his hair shaved, and when he awoke, he did not realize the Lord had departed from him. The Philistines captured him, gouged out his eyes, and set him to grinding grain in prison.
☩Death and Legacy
As Samson's hair grew back in prison, his strength returned. When the Philistines gathered in the temple of Dagon to celebrate their victory and mock their captive, Samson prayed for strength one final time. Positioned between the two central pillars supporting the temple, he pushed them apart, collapsing the building and killing more Philistines in his death than during his life. He judged Israel for twenty years and is counted among the faithful in Hebrews 11.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Samson," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IX (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Samson," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. IV (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Samson," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Samson," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).