“And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. “
Hebrews 11:32-34(NIV)
I recently read this scripture and thought it might be fun to take a look at the people mentioned. The third person mentioned is Samson. I will paraphrase some of the scriptures because it is several chapters. I’ll leave a link at the bottom so you can read it.
I’m noticing a common theme when reading about the people mentioned in Hebrews. The Israelites seem to do well for a while, and then they go right back to misbehaving, and then they are conquered. The scriptures about Samson start the same way. The Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord and he delivered them into the Philistines for forty years.
Who is Samson?
There is a woman in the Bible and her name is not mentioned. The Angel of the Lord comes to her and tells her she is going to have a son. We do know that her husband is named Manoah. I wrote about Manoah on another post. The link is below:
The Angel of the Lord tells the wife of Manoah that she cannot eat anything unclean, drink anything fermented and she will have a son. The woman gives birth to a son and names him Samson. The child’s hair can never be touched by a razor. because he is to be a Nazarite.
Samson is a Nazarite
This is an interesting article that tells about the Nazarites.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazirite
When Samson is grown, he goes to the city and sees a Philistine woman. Remember, the Israelites are enslaved by the Philistines. Samson tells his parents that he wants to marry this woman. His parents don’t think this is a good idea. The Philistines are the enemy. Samson is out one day and a lion rushes him. He kills the lion with his bare hands.
Samson The Riddler
Samson marries the woman and later as he walks by the lion carcass, he notices that is has a hive in the carcass and there is honey in there. He eats the honey and takes some to give to his parents. Samson then has a big party and tells the partygoers that if someone solves the riddle, then he will give them 30 garments and 30 sets of clothes, but if they don’t guess the riddle, they must pay that to him.
“Out of the eater, something to eat;
out of the strong, something sweet.”
Judges 14:14 (NIV)
His riddle is basically about the lion. No one knows about the lion, but Samson. The people can’t guess the riddle and are getting angry. They come to Samson’s wife and tell her that if she doesn’t tell them the answer, they will burn her and her family. She cries to Samson and tells him that if he really loved her, he would tell her the answer. So he does and she tells the people.
The men come to Samson and tell him the riddle. Samson gets really angry kills 30 men, takes their clothes, and gives the clothes to the men that solved the riddle.
Samson has a problem with anger. He burns down the Philistines grain, vineyards, and olive groves. The Philistines want vengeance so they set out to find Samson. Samson hides in Judah, but the people of Judah are afraid and turn him over to the Philistines. He sees that the Philistines are coming for him and he takes the jawbone of a donkey and kills one thousand men.
Samson’s Weakness
Samson later meets Delilah and falls in love with her. The leaders of the Philistines go to her and tell her if they can find out where Samson gets his strength, they will pay her.
She asks him three times and three times he lies to her. I find this interesting because when he tells her his weakness, she tries to make him weak. You would think he would pick up on that, but he never does.
The last time she asks him the Bible says:
“With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.”
Judges 16:16 (NIV)
He admitted his weakness. If his head is shaved, his strength will leave him. Guess what she does? The Philistines, capture him, render him blind and force him to work in prison while shackled. They forget his weakness and his hair begins to grow back.
Samson’s Strength Returns
The Philistines decided to have a party and the temple of their god and celebrate the defeat of Samson. They bring Samson out to do tricks for them. Samson asks a servant to lean him against the pillars. There are three thousand people on the roof, the courtyard is full of people and all of the leaders are present.
“Then Samson prayed to the Lord, ‘Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.‘ Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’ Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.”
Judges 16:28-30 (NIV)
The scripture above in Hebrews says that “weakness was turned to strength“. This is true, but Samson let himself get in the way of God’s will. He lied and tried to trick people. When things didn’t go his way, he would get angry. He forgot that he had made a pledge and was too busy focusing on other worldly pursuits instead of focusing on God. Aren’t we all like that?
What is the takeaway from Samson? Remember that strength comes from within. We need to look to the one that is all knowing and all powerful. When we are weak, he is strong and will come through for us.
If you would like to read the scriptures, here is a link. It starts in Judges 13-16. The link is for the New International Version, but you can click on the right on the webpage and change to a different version.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%2013&version=NIV
If you like what you see, please like, share, and pass it along! You can subscribe to the blog and you can find us on Pinterest and Facebook!
