The Life of Samson
I will touch on the High points of His life. We will look at His strength in two situations. You will need to read Judges 13-16 to complete the life of Samson. He is one of my favorite characters in the Bible.
Judges 14:5-6
5 So Samson went down to Timnah
with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah.
Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. 6
And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as
one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his
hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
We see here the power of the Holy Spirit in each of us. Samson gets betrayed by his lover Delilah in the end and that leads to his death but there is a wonderful ending. You might say he went out with a bang!
Judges 16:4-31
4 Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in
the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5
And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him,
and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we
may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will
give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me
where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict
you.”
7 And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with
seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any
other man.”
8 So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her
seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them. 9
Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to
him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he broke the
bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his
strength was not known.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have
mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.”
11 So he said to her, “If they bind me securely
with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like
any other man.”
12 Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him
with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!”
And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off
his arms like a thread.
13 Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have
mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with.”
And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of
the loom”—
14 So she wove it tightly with the batten of
the loom, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!”
But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the
loom.
15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I
love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these
three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.” 16
And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him,
so that his soul was vexed to death, 17 that
he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my
head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am
shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any
other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his
heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up
once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines
came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 19
Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him
shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him,[a]
and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The
Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and
said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But
he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.
21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his
eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he
became a grinder in the prison. 22 However, the
hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven.
24 When the people saw him, they praised
their god; for they said:
“Our god has delivered into our hands our
enemy,
The destroyer of our land,
And the one who multiplied our dead.”
25 So it happened, when their hearts were
merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.” So
they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they
stationed him between the pillars. 26 Then Samson
said to the lad who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars which
support the temple, so that I can lean on them.” 27
Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were
there—about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson
performed.
28 Then Samson called to the LORD, saying, “O
Lord GOD, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God,
that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two
eyes!” 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle
pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on
his right and the other on his left. 30 Then Samson
said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his
might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in
it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his
life.
31 And his brothers and all his father’s
household came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him
between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel
twenty years.
I don't know about you but I would not like having my eyes put out but at least God was merciful and let Samson have a glorious death. I personally pushed a hay bail that weighed GOD KNOWS HOW MUCH and I know the Holy Spirit is strong in a true believer. The scripture says:
Mark
10:27
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with
God; for with God all things are possible.”
Also we see here Jesus speaking to us about Faith...
Matthew
17:20
So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you,
if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain,
‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible
for you.
Well I hoped you enjoyed Samson's story. I think we will study Job's life next.
In Christ, Scott Holt