Samson

• Found: Judges 13-16

Samson Born (Judges 13)

Again the children of Israel turned against God. The Lord turned them over to the Philistines for 40 years. There was a man called Manoah at this time, and he and his wife had not had any children. An angel appeared to Manoah's wife to tell her she would have a child. She was not to touch drink or unclean food while she was pregnant, and the child was to be a Nazarite. There were three rules the Nazarites had to follow:

• Do not drink alcohol
• Do not touch dead bodies
• Do not cut your hair

Manoah's wife ran to tell her husband. He was excited, but wanted to know how they were to bring up the child. The angel appeared to his wife again and she brought him to the angel. Manoah offered a goat to the Lord and the flame went up towards heaven. He and his wife fell to the ground. Manoah was worried that the Lord would kill them, having seen them face to face, but his wife comforted him. After a while, Manoah's wife gave birth. They called the boy Samson, and the Spirit of the Lord was with him.

A Wife (Judges 14-15)

Samson saw a Philistine woman and wished to marry her, so he went and asked his parents. They weren't too happy at him marrying a Philistine girl, but agreed to go with him to Timnath. On the way, a lion attacked him. He tore it apart with his bare hands. The next time he went down, he went to see the dead lion. A swarm of bees had made their nest in it, and he took some honey from it and brought it to his parents. By touching the dead lion he had broken one of his Nazarite vows.

Samson held a feast in Timnath, and asked a riddle of his companions there. He said "out of the eater, something to eat, out of the strong, something sweet". They couldn't solve the riddle and asked his wife to entice the answer out of him. She did so and told them. When they came to Samson with the answer he was very angry. He owed them thirty sets of clothing, so he went to Ashkelon and killed thirty men there, taking their clothes as payment for his Philistine companions. He returned to his family home, leaving his wife behind.

After a while, Samson came to visit his wife. When he found that her father had given her away to one of his friends, he was very angry. He took three hundred foxes, tied their tails together and put burning brands between them. The foxes were let loose in the Philistines' corn fields, burning all their crop. When the Philistines found out what had happened, they came and burned Samson's wife and her father. Samson slew some of the Philistines and this made them rise up against the Israelites, the men of Judah in this area. The men of Judah came to Samson, to bind him and delivered him to the Philistines, but Samson broke his bonds, took the jawbone of an ass and killed a thousand of the Philistines with it.

Delilah (Judges 16)

Samson fell for another woman, Delilah. The Philistines persuaded her to ask him how he got his strength. Samson said if he was bound with 7 new cords, never dried, he would not be able to break free. Delilah did this when he slept, and woke him, saying the Philistines had come to attack. But Samson broke free from the cords. She asked him again, and he told her if he was bound with new rope he would not be able to break free. Again she bound him and again he broke free. Next he told her if his hair was woven together he could not break free. Again he broke free. Eventually, after much moaning, Samson was persuaded to tell Delilah that his strength came from his hair which had never been cut. She made him sleep on her lap and called a man in to cut off his hair. The Spirit of the Lord left him and he was as weak as any man, so they bound him, plucked out his eyes and made him a prisoner.

The Philistines brought Samson out to entertain them at their party. He was blind and asked a boy to lead him to the pillars of the house. Taking hold of both pillars, he prayed to God for strength and pushed the pillars over, killing himself and 3000 Phiistines in the process

When Samson died he had judged Israel for 20 years.

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