SAMSON-THE STRONGEST MAN ON EARTH

SAMSON-THE STRONGEST MAN ON EARTH

  

You shall conceive and bear a son [Samson]. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. 

JUDGES 13:5 

 

Most notable quality: Faith in God (Hebrews 11:32) 

Most notable accomplishment: Fought God’s enemies 

Date lived: Judged about 1095–1075 B.C. 

Name: Samson, means “distinguished” 

Major texts: Judges 13–16; Hebrews 11:32 

 

Bare Bones Background 

The judges are a unique group of leaders given by God to deliver the people of Israel from the oppression of foreign powers. Israel’s oppression is the result of disobedience on the part of the people. Each time Israel departs from God, He gives them over to oppressors in judgment for their sin. 

When the people pray for deliverance, God raises up judges to deliver them from their tormentors. This cycle occurs seven times between the conquests by Joshua until the time of Samuel. Samson, the last judge mentioned in the book of Judges, lived toward the end of this 350-year period. 

 

Quick Sketch 

Samson is born as a result of God’s plan in the lives of an Israelite named Manoah and his wife. Samson’s parents are given very specific instructions about how he is to be raised. He is to do a great work for God by delivering Israel out of the hand of their archenemies, the Philistines. To help Samson accomplish this assignment, God would give him supernatural physical strength. Rather than fulfill God’s plan, Samson grew up to waste his strength by fulfilling his own lusts. At the end of his 20 years of judgship, Samson is tricked by Delilah, a harlot, into revealing the secret of his strength, his long hair. His secret was not actually in his hair, but in his unique relationship with God as symbolized in his pledge not to cut his hair. So Delilah has Samson’s hair cut, and he loses his strength. Samson spends the last days of his life grinding grain in a Philistine prison. His final act of redemption comes as God answers his last prayer and gives him strength to pull down the pillars of a crowded pagan temple. Samson’s final act for God destroys more Philistines than all those whom he killed during his life. 

 

The Big Picture 

 

Samson’s early life 

(Judges 13:1–14:3) 

Israel again turns away from God and is suffering the consequences of their sin—God allows them to experience the oppression of the Philistines. God will provide a deliverer for Israel through a couple from the tribe of Dan. The news of this coming deliverer is brought by a very special messenger, “the Angel of the LORD” (13:3). He gives specific instruction for the mother-to-be and for the child. The child was not to drink wine, cut his hair, or touch a dead body. The child is born and as he grows, God blesses him, and the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him to help him carry out his mandate from God. 

 

Samson battles the Philistines 

(Judges 14–16) 

Samson is supposed to lead the people in battling against the Philistines, but the fight quickly becomes personal, not political. He kills numerous Philistines, burns their fields, and is a general nuisance his entire life. His actions are done not out of concern for his people, but out of revenge for the harm the Philistines had done to him.

Samson’s relationships with women 

(Judges 14–16) 

Samson’s adult life begins with his headstrong decision to marry a Philistine girl against his parents’ wishes. After she is murdered by the Philistines, Samson spends his time visiting prostitutes. His most notorious relationship is with a prostitute named Delilah, who is loyal to the Philistines. They pay her money to find out the secret of Samson’s strength. When Delilah finds out the secret, she has his hair cut off and he is unable to defend himself. The Philistines capture him, blind him, and make him push a grinding wheel in a Philistine prison. What a humiliating end to a life that had such potential! 

 

The Portrait 

Samson was a man captive to his own passions and pride. He is not one you would want to emulate. However great his gifts were, his flaws were greater. His godly parents had great expectations for his life, but his strong-willed nature drove him to pursue his own pleasures rather than to protect and defend God’s people. God gave him great strength to be used for God’s people, but instead Samson used his abilities for his own purposes. Samson did not stay close to God, and therefore didn’t live up to his potential. Although Samson judged Israel 20 years, he was never the kind of leader the earlier judges were. Samson was a great warrior himself, but he couldn’t inspire others to take up the battle. Therefore, the Philistines continued to oppress Israel throughout his 20 years as judge. Yet Samson, with all his flaws and selfish motives, served God’s purpose in frustrating the Philistines’ plans for total domination of Israel, and he is listed among God’s faithful (Hebrews 11:32). 

 

Life Lessons from Samson 

Giftedness does not equate to godliness. Samson was the most gifted man of his day. He had been given all the tools to do great things for God. Yet in his pride and stubbornness, he lived for his own passions rather than for God’s purposes. 

Today, God has given you the stewardship of both spiritual and physical abilities. Don’t squander your potential for serving God and His people. Be a wise steward and put the use of your potential in God’s hands, and see how God will multiply your usefulness. 

God doesn’t give up on His children. Samson made a total mess of his life. He failed to achieve his potential. Yet in the end, he did look to God one last time. God answered his prayer and gave him the strength to strike a severe blow of judgment upon the leadership of the Philistines. Are you feeling guilty and separated from God because of sinful choices? 

God stands ready to hear and forgive and restore you to the joy of fellowship with Him. Read David’s prayer of restoration (Psalm 32). 

Choose to pursue God rather than flirt with temptation. Samson chose to continue in a compromising relationship with a harlot named Delilah until it cost him his sight, his freedom, and ultimately, his life. Don’t see how close you can come to temptation by associating with the wrong crowd or 

by frequenting questionable places or doing questionable things. Rather, see how close you can stay to Jesus. Spend your time learning and growing from relationships with God’s people. Follow the apostle Paul’s advice to his young friend Timothy: “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22).

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SAMSON [Săm′ son]—DISTINGUISHED, STRONG or SUN-MAN. 

The Man of Contrasts 

One of the most renowned of the Hebrew judges, Samson was a son of the Danite, Manoah, who judged Israel for twenty years. He was unique in that his birth and manner of life were foretold. Supernaturally endowed, he killed a lion, thirty Philistines and one thousand men. He broke the strongest bands, carried off the gates of Gaza and pulled down the Temple of Dagon (Judges 13:24–16:30). He is found among the illustrious in Faith’s Hall of Fame (Hebrews 11:32). 

As long as Samson remained a Nazarite he was unconquerable. He only of all the judges of whom we have any history, does everything single-handed and alone. Samson never called the armies of Israel together; he asked no assistance. 

What he did, he did alone in his own unconquerable strength. We are not told how he managed his court, nor about the wisdom of his judgments, nor about the manner of Israel’s life for a whole generation under her gigantic judge.

The complex story of Samson teaches us the evils of mixed or foreign marriages (Judges 14:3), the laxity of sexual relations and of playing with temptation. C. W. Emmet says that Samson “teaches us that bodily endowments, no less than spiritual, are a gift from God, however different may be our modern conception of the way in which they are bestowed, and that their retention depends on obedience to His laws.” 

But if Samson stands as an example “of impotence of mind in body strong,” he also stands, in Milton’s magnificent conception, as an example of patriotism and heroism in death, to all who “from his memory inflame their breast to matchless valour and adventures high.” 

The deadly results of Samson’s self-indulgence after he broke his Nazarite vow, appear in their dark and ominous order: 

• Self-confidence: “I will go out” (Judges 16:20). 
• Self-ignorance: “He wist not” (Judges 16:20). 
• Self-weakness: “The Philistines laid hold on him” (Judges 16:21). 
• Self-darkness: “They put out his eyes” (Judges 16:21). 
• Self-degradation: “They brought him down to Gaza” (Judges 16:1–3, 21). 
• Self-bondage: “They bound him with fetters” (Judges 16:21). 
• Self-drudgery: “He did grind in the prison-house” (Judges 16:21). 
• Self-humiliation: “Call for Samson, that he may make us sport” (Judges 16:25, 27). 

Samson stands out as a man of striking contrasts. He had a kind of Dr. Jekell and Mr. Hyde being. 

I. He was separated as a Nazarite (Judges 13:5), yet tampered with evil associations (Judges 4:1–3). 

II. He was occasionally Spirit-possessed (Judges 13:25; 15:14), yet yielded to carnal appetites (Judg. 16:1–4). 

III. He appeared childish in some of his plans (Judges 15:4), yet was courageous in battle (Judges 15:1–4). 

IV. He was mighty in physical strength (Judges 16:3, 9, 13, 14),yet weak in resisting temptation (Judges 16:15–17). 

V. He had a noble beginning but a sad end (Judges 16:30).