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Visit our new blog. It lists all the new things that we are doing and what new material has been added to our site. We even list new missionaries who sign up with us for technical support so you can pray for them. FCM BLOG

Samson–A Strong Weakling

Background: The name “Samson” is probably derived from the Hebrew word “sun,” and likely meant something like “little sun” or “sunny,” or perhaps “sun-man.” His home was near Bethshemesh, which means, “house of the sun.” His story is found in Judges 13 through 16. Samson was a judge, perhaps the last before Samuel. He was a Nazirite*1 of the tribe of Dan (13:5), a man of supernatural strength. He intensely hated the Philistines who had oppressed Israel some 40 years (13:1).

The Life of Samson:  Like Isaac, Samuel and John the Baptist, he was a child of prayer (13:8, 12). The angel of Yahweh appeared twice to Manoah’s wife (13:3, 9), directing that the child which should be born to them should be a Nazirite from the womb, and that he would “begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines” (13:5, 7, 14). On his arriving at manhood, five remarkable circumstances are recorded of him.

• He attempted to marry a Philistine woman of Timnah. His parents objected to the alliance, but Samson persuaded them. When the woman was eventually given to someone else, Samson returned and burned up the grain fields and olive yards of the Philistines. The Philistines in turn burned his proposed wife and her father. Samson then smote the Philistines in revenge, “hip and thigh” (15:1-8).
• The Philistines invaded Judah and demanded the surrender of their arch-enemy. The men of Judah were willing to hand Samson over to the Philistines, and accordingly bound him and brought him up to them (15:9-13). When Samson saw the Philistines, the spirit of Yahweh came mightily upon him, so that he broke loose, and seizing a fresh jawbone of an ass, he smote with it 1,000 Philistines, boasting as he did so in pun-like poetry, “With the jawbone of an ass, mass upon mass” (15:16). Samson being thirsty, Yahweh provided water for him at a place called “Partridge Spring,” or “the Spring of the Caller” (15:17-19).

About twenty years passed with no mention of any events in Samson’s life.

• Samson eventually went down to Gaza, the chief city of the Philistines, and began seeing a prostitute. When the Philistines found out, they planned to ambush him. But Samson arose at midnight and laid hold of the doors of the city gate and their two posts, and carried them to the top of a nearby mountain (16:1-3).
• From Gaza Samson went to the valley of Sorek where he fell in love with another Philistine woman, named Delilah. The Philistine lords bribed her with a very large sum to deliver him into their hands. Three times Samson deceived her as to the secret of his strength, but at last he explained that he was a Nazirite, and that his hair, which had never been cut, was the secret of his wonderful power. By disclosing to Delilah this secret, he broke his covenant vow, and the Spirit of God departed from him (16:4-20). The Philistines laid hold on him, put out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza, bound him with fetters, and forced him to grind in the prison house.
• The final incident recorded of Samson is in connection with a great sacrificial feast which the Philistine lords gave in honor of Dagon, their god. They called for Samson to entertain the assembled multitude. The house of Dagon was full of people; about 3,000 were upon the roof watching as Samson made sport. He longed to be avenged on his adversaries, so he prayed, and Yahweh heard his prayer. With the new growth of his hair his strength had returned to him. Guided by his attendant, he took hold of the posts of the two middle pillars upon which the house rested and slipped them off their pedestals. The house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were in it. “So the dead that he slew at his death were more than they that he slew in his life” (16:29-30). His kinsmen came, found his body, and buried him near his boyhood home in the family burying-ground of his father. The account of Samson’s life ends with the statement “And he judged Israel twenty years” (16:31).

Samson’s Character

• Samson seemed to have a good start in life. His parents must have been godly people. He kept his Nazirite vows at least partially for most of his life. Samson was a judge in Israel for twenty years, and during that time God used him to exact judgment on the Philistines. At the end of his life he prayed and God answered him, though he was killed in the process (16:30). Samson paved the way for Saul and David by beginning the deliverance of Israel from the Philistines. In spite of his many failures, he is mentioned in the “Hall of Fame of Faith” (Hebrews 11:32). He must, therefore, be judged according to his times.
• He was ready to sacrifice himself in order that his people’s enemies might be overthrown. He was willing to lay down his own life for the sake of his fellow-tribesmen.
• Samson seemed to have little or no self-control. He was strong physically but weak morally. He disobeyed and deceived his parents, shacked up with prostitutes, gambled, destroyed other people’s property, and even killed innocent people. He was passionate and therefore weak. The rebellious side of his nature was never curbed, but rather ran unchained and free. He was given to sudden fury. Samson was a wild, self-willed man. In short, he was an overgrown schoolboy, without self-mastery.
• He seemed to be especially weak when it came to sexual temptation. The first words describing Samson tell of his desire to marry one of the Philistine women. The text informs us that he was interested in the woman because “she looks good to me.” (14:3). His weakness is seen in his giving in to her continuous demands to know the meaning of the riddle (14:17). He later risked his life by seeing a prostitute in Gaza, a chief city in Philistine territory. Toward the end of his life, in a moment of weakness, he yielded to Delilah, divulged the secret of his strength, and thereby lost the privileges he had enjoyed. He could not resist the enticements of women. Both his first “wife” and Delilah were able to extract information from him by continual fussing. In fact, many of the events of Samson’s life center on his immoral relationships with women.
• Personal vengeance seemed to motivate much of Samson’s behavior. He burned up the fields of the Philistines because the woman he was engaged to was given to someone else. He then slaughtered those who had killed the woman and her father. Even in his final act, we see that his desire to kill the Philistines was motivated by personal vengeance (16:28). Samson was one person you would not want for an enemy.
• He was unconscious of his high calling and careless of his personal gifts. He did not realize that physical endowments are no less spiritual are spiritual gifts, and that to retain them we must be obedient. Judges 16:20 is a tragic commentary on Samson: “he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.” He was so far from God that he didn’t even notice that God was no longer empowering him.
• He failed Israel in a time when the nation needed strong, godly leadership. He became a bad example for others. He added to the atmosphere of immorality and chaos in Israel when he should have been influencing his nation for good.
• In his relationship with Delilah, he displayed remarkable stupidity. She attempted three times to betray him to the Philistines, yet Samson continued his relationship with her. Because of Samson’s foolishness, Delilah eventually succeeded in finding out the source of his great strength. One would think that Samson would figure out Delilah’s true intent, but he seems blind to it. Perhaps he enjoyed her company so much that he refused to see what was obvious.

Other Lessons from the Life of Samson

• Parents should pray for their children even before they are born. One of the most touching and beautiful prayers in the Old Testament is that of Manoah for guidance in the training of his yet unborn child (13:8). God clearly had a special calling and purpose in mind for Samson.

Application:  pray for your children, recognize God’s plan for your children

• All of Samson’s supernatural abilities were the result of the Holy Spirit’s power. He did great feats of strength only when the Spirit came upon him. It’s doubtful that Samson was some kind of giant or superhuman muscle man. Once he broke his Nazirite vows, the Spirit ceased empowering him and he became as any other man.

Application:  recognize and appreciate the gifts and talents God has granted to you.

• God is sovereign over the lives of individuals and over nations. Judges 14:4 says that the Lord raised up Samson because “he was seeking an occasion against the Philistines.” The events of Samson’s life display God’s ability to superintend both good and evil. Even though Samson was often disobedient, God accomplished his purposes through his life.

Application:   trust God that he is working out his purposes in your life. Recognize that God can use you even if you are not perfect.

• Choose your friends and mates very carefully. Samson chose his friends from among the Philistines and the prostitutes. These supposed friends turned out to be enemies in most cases. Samson chose his first wife because she looked good. To him, her character was not important, nor was the fact that she was not an Israelite.

Application:  be careful to choose the right kind of friends. Be more concerned about inner character than outward appearance.

• Keep your vows. Samson eventually violated all three provisions of his Nazirite vow–he drank wine, touched a dead body and allowed his hair to be cut.

Application:  if you make a vow, keep it.

• Realize that sin has consequences. Samson’s immorality eventually caught up with him. When he violated his Nazirite vow, he immediately lost his sight, his freedom, his position as a judge, his strength, his dignity and eventually his life.

Application:  sin always has negative consequences–they eventually catch up to you even if you seem to be getting away without penalties.

• Take heed lest you fall. One of Samson’s main problems was his over-confidence in his own abilities. When Delilah finally succeeded in finding the source of his strength and cut his hair, Samson did not realize that the power of God had left him. He had stopped trusting God and began to trust in his own abilities.

Application:  independence from God is the primary sin of mankind. Remember that all your skills come from God.

• God is gracious. One might wonder why God put up with Samson’s shenanigans for so long before any apparent penalties came into play. We can only suggest that God is gracious and patient with his sinful people. It was purely God’s grace that allowed him to avenge himself on his enemies. He easily could have spent the next forty years in slavery to the Philistines. However, Samson eventually did receive the penalty for his sins.

Application:  don’t take the grace and patience of God for granted. The fact that God seems to leave sins unpunished/unchastized in your life does not guarantee that such will continue to be the case.

• We never sink so low that we can’t repent. Samson called upon the Lord at perhaps the lowest point in his life, while enslaved and persecuted by his enemies. However, God heard his prayer and allowed him one last act of service. God will restore those who turn from their sins and re-commit themselves to obedience and service. God is merciful to repentant believers.

Application:   The best thing to do when you backslide is repent. Keep short accounts with God. Don’t allow sin to fester. Confess and forsake it.

• Sin dulls discernment. Samson chose to ignore the obvious: that Delilah was trying to find the source of his strength so she could hand him over to the Philistines. He also seemed to ignore the fact that God would not overlook his rebellion.

Application:  Sin causes us to make bad decisions. Sin clouds our thinking.

Conclusion:  With Samson, we learn more by way of bad example than by good example. However, his life does have many lessons to teach us about our own weaknesses and about God’s patience with us.

Discussion:

• What is a Nazirite?  One who has taken a special vow of commitment to God.
• Should people today take a Nazirite vow?  Probably not. No NT info dealing with the practice–it’s not a necessary part of Christian life. However, vows are good if you keep them.
• What was Samson’s God-given task?  To begin to save Israel from Philistine oppression.
• What was Samson’s greatest weakness?  Women.
• What did his rebellion cost him?  His strength, his sight, his freedom, his life
• What are some positive lessons we learn from Samson’s life?  God is gracious and patient, forgiving, uses imperfect people, sovereign, it’s never too late to repent.
• What are some negative lessons we learn?  Sin has a high price, God punishes sin, don’t be over-confident in your own abilities,
• Should Samson be considered a hero of the faith?  He is listed in the Hall of Fame of Faith (Heb 11). We should admire him for the fact that he carried out God’s plan in freeing Israel from Philistine oppression, but we should not overlook his weaknesses.