Samson was one of the most famous judges and heroes of Israel during the time of the judges. He was known for his incredible physical strength, which he used to defend Israel against the Philistines. However, the true source of Samson’s legendary power has been a topic of much debate and speculation over the years. According to the Bible, Samson’s great strength came from God via his unique Nazirite vow.
Samson was born to previously barren parents, who were told by an angel that their son would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines (Judges 13:2-5). As per instructions from the angel, Samson was raised as a Nazirite from birth. The Nazirite vow entailed three main restrictions – no drinking wine or consuming grape products, no cutting one’s hair, and avoiding corpse contamination (Numbers 6:1-8). By obeying these stipulations, Samson would be “set apart” and blessed by God with special strength to fulfill His plan for Israel’s deliverance.
There are several biblical references indicating that Samson’s Nazirite vow was the direct source of his superhuman might. First, Judges 13:24-25 states that “the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.” This occurred while Samson was still young, before he even proved his strength against the Philistines, showing that God’s Spirit granted him unusual power from the very beginning of his vow.
Furthermore, when Samson was betrayed by Delilah and his head was shaved, the Bible says, “the Lord had left him” and “his strength left him” (Judges 16:19-20). This demonstrates that his power was not inherent but came from the Lord as long as he kept his Nazirite vow intact. Once the vow was broken by cutting his hair, Samson lost the blessings associated with it. However, when his hair grew back later on, he prayed to God saying, “strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes” (Judges 16:28). God answered this prayer and restored Samson’s abilities, allowing him to topple the temple of Dagon and slay the Philistine leaders (Judges 16:30). This shows that the Lord was the ultimate source working through Samson’s Nazirite consecration.
In addition to abstaining from wine and keeping his hair uncut, Samson also had to avoid contact with corpses in order to maintain his holy vow. When he killed a lion with his bare hands, he later saw that bees had made honey inside the carcass. His parents warned, “would you eat honey that was taken from the carcass of a dead lion?” but Samson scooped some out anyway (Judges 14:8-9). This seemingly trivial act was a violation of his Nazirite separation from death. It was only a matter of time before the Philistines defeated and imprisoned him. Samson’s example proves that even minor infringements upon one’s consecration to God can have major consequences.
Samson was able to perform incredible feats that ordinary men could not. For example:
- He tore apart a young lion with his bare hands when “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him” (Judges 14:6).
- He killed 30 Philistine men from Ashkelon and gave their garments to those who solved his riddle (Judges 14:19).
- He broke free from new ropes after being betrayed and captured by Judahites (Judges 15:14).
- He slew 1,000 Philistines with only the jawbone of a donkey (Judges 15:15-16).
- He carried off the gates of Gaza after the Philistines closed them and laid in wait for him (Judges 16:3).
- He broke the new ropes that bound him as if they were flax burned with fire (Judges 16:9).
- He pushed apart the loom and pins in Delilah’s house when the Philistines came to capture him (Judges 16:14).
These remarkable displays of might were only possible because “the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him” each time (Judges 14:6, 19; 15:14). Samson did not possess innate abilities, but he was empowered by God’s Spirit whenever it “rushed upon him” to accomplish His will (Judges 14:19, 15:14). As an angel foretold, God used Samson and his Nazirite-sourced strength to “begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines” (Judges 13:5).
Although Samson proved to be the strongest man in the Bible, he had many flaws which ultimately led to his downfall. He was prideful, vengeful, lustful and lacking in spiritual commitment at times. Samson broke all three major parts of his Nazirite vow over the course of his life:
- Drinking wine – Samson held a feast before his wedding where he most likely drank wine, a violation of abstaining from grape products (Judges 14:10-11).
- Cutting hair – Delilah cut Samson’s hair which was forbidden for a Nazirite, causing him to lose his strength (Judges 16:17-19).
- Contact with the dead – He ate honey from inside a lion carcass and later killed many Philistines, both instances of corpse contamination (Judges 14:8-9, 15:15-16).
These transgressions showed that Samson’s heart was not fully devoted to the Lord or his calling. He blatantly disregarded parts of his vow either for self-gratification or revenge. Nevertheless, “God was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines” and achieved His purposes through Samson regardless (Judges 14:4). When Samson repented and cried out to the Lord in his last moments, God answered and allowed him the final victory over Israel’s enemies.
In summary, the Bible teaches that the secret of Samson’s strength came from his unique Nazirite consecration to God. By abstaining from wine, keeping his hair uncut and avoiding corpses, he was blessed with supernatural power from the Lord’s Spirit to fight Israel’s foes. However, Samson was an imperfect man who violated his holy vow in different ways. His disobedience eventually resulted in the loss of God’s empowerment. Nonetheless, the Lord showed mercy after Samson’s repentance and restored his strength one last time to fully destroy the Philistine rulers. The life of Samson stands as a sobering lesson that our gifts and abilities ultimately come from God alone and must be used according to His will.
Samson’s birth and early life
Samson’s story begins when an angel appears to his previously barren mother and foretells his birth, miraculous life and mission to oppose the Philistines (Judges 13:2-5). The angel instructs her to raise Samson as a Nazirite from the womb (Judges 13:4-5). As a Nazirite, Samson was set apart and forbidden to drink any wine, touch anything unclean or cut his hair (Numbers 6:1-8). Samson’s mother later recounts the angel’s visit to his father Manoah, who prays for the “man of God” to return and teach them how to raise the special child promised to them (Judges 13:6-8).
The angel returns and reiterates Samson’s Nazirite status and purpose to begin delivering Israel from the Philistines (Judges 13:9-14). Manoah offers a young goat as a sacrifice, and as the flame ascends toward heaven, the angel does something miraculous and ascends in it as well. Having now realized it is an angel, Manoah is fearful they will die for having seen him, but his wife is confident that God accepted their offering and would not allow that (Judges 13:15-23). She later gives birth to Samson near Zorah and he grows up blessed by the Lord’s favor (Judges 13:24-25).
Displays of strength through the Spirit
The first demonstration of Samson’s divinely-given strength comes when he is on his way to marry a Philistine woman in Timnah. A young lion suddenly roars and rushes toward him, but the text says “the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him” and he rips the lion apart with ease (Judges 14:5-6). Sometime later on another trip to Timnah for the wedding, he passes by the lion’s carcass and bees have made honey inside it. Samson scoops some honey out and eats it, violating his Nazirite separation from dead things (Judges 14:8-9).
At the wedding feast itself, Samson proposes a riddle wager to 30 Philistine guests, betting them garments that they cannot solve it in seven days. Under threat of violence, his new bride nags and pleads with him until he reluctantly tells her the meaning of the riddle on the final night. She passes it on to the men, enabling them to answer and take Samson’s garments as the prize (Judges 14:10-18).
In revenge, Samson travels to the Philistine city of Ashkelon, kills 30 random men, takes their clothing and gives it to the wedding guests who cheated him, fulfilling the terms of the wager. The passage concludes by saying “the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him” as he attacked the men of Ashkelon (Judges 14:19). Clearly, God strengthened Samson supernaturally to accomplish this bold and bloody feat.
When Samson returns home, his wife is given away to one of the other wedding guests by her father. In retaliation, Samson catches 300 foxes, ties their tails together in pairs along with torches, and sends them running through the Philistines’ grain fields to burn them down. The Philistines find out why Samson did it and in their anger, they burn Samson’s wife and father-in-law to death (Judges 15:1-6).
Samson then rampages and kills many more Philistines in “a great slaughter” before hiding out in a cave at the rock of Etam. The Philistines come searching and camp out in Judah until 3,000 men of Judah agree to hand over Samson and bind him in two new ropes. As they approach with Samson, suddenly “the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him” again. He snaps the ropes like burnt flax and grabs a fresh donkey jawbone lying on the ground. Using it as a crude weapon, he kills 1,000 Philistines in Khoresh (Judges 15:7-17). These incidents reveal how God’s Spirit empowered Samson to succeed against overwhelming odds.
Downfall and death
After defeating the Philistines with the jawbone, Samson gets thirsty and calls out for water, complaining to God that he will now die of thirst and fall into enemy hands. God splits open a hollow place allowing water to spring up, reviving Samson’s strength (Judges 15:18-20). Samson then judges Israel for 20 years during the time of the Philistines (Judges 15:20, 16:31).
One day, Samson travels to Gaza, a major Philistine city, and spends the night with a prostitute. When the Gazites find out he is there, they close the city gates and wait in ambush for morning to capture and kill him. At midnight, Samson gets up and simply tears the closed gates of the city right off their hinges. He puts the gates on his shoulders and carries them 40 miles away to the top of a hill near Hebron, dumping them there (Judges 16:1-3). Once again, this entry shows off Samson’s miraculous might enabled by God’s Spirit.
Samson’s downfall begins when he falls in love with Delilah in the Valley of Sorek. The Philistine rulers approach her asking to uncover the secret of Samson’s strength so they can capture and control him. After being worn down by Delilah’s nagging over a period of time, Samson finally tells her his strength comes from his uncut Nazirite hair. Delilah lulls Samson to sleep on her lap and then calls for a servant to shave off his seven locks, instantly neutering his super strength. The Philistines are then able to seize, blind and imprison Samson who now “did not know that the Lord had left him” (Judges 16:4-21).
The Philistines celebrate their decisive victory over Samson by sacrificing to their god Dagon, believing he had delivered their enemy into their hands. They bring blinded Samson out to entertain them and put him between the pillars of their temple. Samson prays for God to strengthen him one final time so he can get revenge upon the Philistines. He pushes and bows against the two central pillars, dislodging them from their bases and collapsing the temple down upon the rulers and 3000 more men inside, killing them all. Samson perishes as well, but through his death, he slays more Philistines than during his lifetime (Judges 16:22-31).
Major lessons from Samson’s life
Although gifted with exceptional strength, Samson proved to be an unwise judge with many moral flaws. His life provides important lessons for believers today:
- All talents and abilities ultimately come from God – Samson’s strength was not innate but came from the Lord’s favor upon his Nazirite consecration.
- Minor sins and compromises have consequences – Samson’s little infractions against his vow led to greater downfalls later on.
- Living for self and not for God ends badly – Samson was selfish, worldly and disobedient which resulted in slavery and blindness.
- It’s never too late to repent – Samson turned back to God in the end and was used mightily one final time, saving Israel.
- God is sovereign working behind the scenes – The Lord accomplished His purposes through Samson despite the judge’s disobedience.
Although gifted by God, believers must nurture those gifts wisely and remain obedient to His calling. Samson’s life illustrates the potential for both incredible feats through God’s Spirit and the tragedy of squandering one’s purpose through compromise and rebellion. Yet in the end, God’s redemptive plan prevailed.
