Samson

who was a child of promise, and devoted to the Lord; he was famous for his great strength; he had his infirmities, but was, without doubt, a good man: the last act of his life seems to be a great instance of faith; he did it with calling upon the Lord; he was strengthened for it by the Lord; he acted, not as a private person, but as the judge of Israel; nor did he act from private revenge, but from zeal for God, and love to his country; and his intention was not to destroy himself, but his enemies; in which he acted as a type of Christ:

The name Samson means “sunlight”, or “sunshine”.

Hebrews 11:32 states, And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:” It is strange to me that Samson is included in the hall of faith. It doesn’t seem to me that Samson rates up there with Abraham, David, Noah, and so forth. It seems to me that Samson is not a person of faith because he broke all three commands given to him by God as a Nazarene. I should also mention that there is a great deal of difference between a Nazarene and a Nazarite. A Nazarene has three commands: (1) he should eat no grape, fruit of the grape, or have anything to do with a grape, (2) He should come at no dead body - whatever type of dead body it is. (3) He should not cut his hair. A Nazarite, on the other hand is a person from Nazareth. Jesus was from Nazareth, therefore he was a Nazarite, not a Nazarene. People often think Jesus had long hair because they think he was a Nazarite. They do not understand Jesus was a Nazarite, not a Nazarene.


Judges 13-16 tells the story of Samson.


Chapter 13 - Samson had a miraculous birth and was appointed of God to be a judge of Israel, to remove them from the dominion of the Philistines.


Chapter 14 - Samson went to Timnath - a place in the hill country of Ephraim, of the inheritance of Joshua, and where he was buried.

Verse 1 - Samson “saw” a daughter of the Philistines. Did not speak to her, but only looked at her. Many a young man has fell in love with the twinkle of a girl’s eye, or her hair, and wound up marrying the entire girl. It is not until verse 7 that Samson speaks to the woman.

Verse 4 - Samson’s parents did not know it was of the Lord. This does not mean that God instructed Samson to marry an unbeliever. It means that Samson is intending to use his marriage to the Philistine woman as a means of overcoming the dominion of the Philistines.

Verse 5-20 - The parable of the lion, and the honey and how the Philistines used Samson’s bride to entice the riddle out of him, and how Samson killed 30 men of them, and took their spoil and gave their garments to the Philistines as payment for the bet.

It must be stated here that Samson touched the carcass of the dead lion, which was forbidden of him according to the vow of the Nazarene.

All this happened because Samson used his eyes to determine the will of God, and did not use the Spirit of God.

Chapter 15 - When Samson returned after a while to take his wife, he discovered she had been given to another. The dad offered Samson a younger sister, but Samson refused, caught 300 foxes, and tied their tails together with firebrands, and set them loose in the standing corn. This got the attention of the Philistines, which lead Samson to kill 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass.

Verse 18-20 - God approved of what Samson did in killing 1,000 Philistines by causing water to come out of the jawbone and relieving his thirst.

Chapter 16 - Samson saw a harlot and went to her. Notice again that Samson saw the harlot before he went into her. Before he saw her, he had to go to the place where she was.

Verse 1-3 - Samson did not realize the men of the city were laying in wait for him, but he arose at midnight and took “gate and all” and escaped.

Verse 4 - In this verse, Samson loves Delilah. Note how Samson has progressed on his downward spiral. He first saw the woman at Timnath, fell in love with her looks, then talked with her, and then see the other events which lead to Samson killing the 1,000 Philistines. Next, Samson went in to a harlot, nothing more than a common whore. It was not wrong for Samson to be among the Philistines, as long as he was attempting to judge them and obtain the release of their dominion over Israel.

Verse 5 - The Lords of the Philistines promised money to Delilah if she could get Samson to tell her the source of his great strength.

Verse 6-9 - Samson told her to bind him with seven green withs that had never been dried. That failed.

Verse 10-12 - Samson told her to bind him with new ropes that had never been occupied, and he would be weak. That failed.

Verse 13-14 - Samson told her to weave the seven locks of his hair with the web. That also failed.

Verse 15-20 - Samson had begun to tell Delilah that he loved her, which was used against him. Samson finally told her all his heart, and told her to cut the seven locks of his head and he would be weak like all other men. This worked because now Samson has broken all his Nazarene vows.

Verse 21 - The Philistines put out his eyes. This might seem to be a bad thing, but it was the best thing for Samson. Now he could no longer look around him. He must now see with his heart, with eyes of faith. Those disturbances that so easily distracted Samson will not distract him any more.

Verse 22 - The hair of his head began to grow once again. It is absolutely essential to understand that some time goes by while Samson’s hair grows.

Verse 23-31 - The death of Samson.

The Philistines call for a great celebration because they believe their god has overcome the God of Samson. A little lad brings Samson out to show everybody how weak Samson is.

Verse 28 - Samson put both hands on the pillars of the house and prays. Samson asks God avenge him of his two eyes. Not because his two eyes were put out, but because Samson had used his two eyes to his own destruction, instead of using his eyes of faith to defeat the Philistines. Samson is repenting before Almighty God for his wrong use of his God-given eyes.

Verse 30 - Notice the two words “all his” are in italics. If these two words are left out, we find that Samson bowed with might. It was not his might, but the might of the Lord. This is as it should be. We should never work in our own might, but always work in and with the might of the Lord.


Why did Samson appear in the Hall of Faith? Because God counted him faithful. There is never an excuse to sin; there is always a reason to repent.