Samson: The Strongest Man In The Bible (Bible Stories Explained)

to set the stage of samson's birth israel was under the rule and oppression of the philistines samson was born in nazarite and was chosen by god to fulfill his work in israel and he was given extraordinary strength to do it the book of judges contains the story of his life again the israelites did what was evil in the lord's sight so the lord handed them over to the philistines 40 years judges 13 verse 1 at this point the author introduces us to a man named manoa whose wife was unable to conceive judges 13 verse 2 and there was a certain man of zorah of the family of danites whose name was manoa and his wife was barren and bear not the angel of the lord appeared to her and said you will give birth to a son in that son that miracle would be israel's next deliverer judges 13 3 in the angel of the lord appeared to the woman and said to her indeed now you are barren and have borne no children but you shall conceive and bear a son this is a unique event that happens several times in the bible such as the birth of isaac in the old testament in john in the new testament this promised boy would grow up to save israel from the power of the philistines with this role came a job condition that none of the other judges had the angel told manoa's wife to raise the child according to the nazarite vow this vow is explained in numbers numbers 6 verses 1-5 the lord said to moses speak to the israelites and say to them if a man or woman wants to make a special vow a vow of dedication to the lord as a nazarite they must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or other fermented drink they must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins as long as they remain under their nazarite vow they must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine not even the seeds or skins during the entire period of their nazarite vow no razor may be used on their head they must be holy until the period of their dedication to the lord is over they must let their hair grow long this meant he couldn't drink wine or beer and he couldn't trim his hair interestingly the angel advised the woman not to consume wine or beer while she was pregnant nor to eat anything unclean that meant her son would be consecrated to god as a nazarite even while he was still in the womb despite the fact that the heavenly visitor was speaking directly to her the woman went to her husband and informed him what had transpired judges 13 verses 8-13 then manoa prayed to the lord and said o my lord please let the man of god whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born and god listened to the voice of manoa and the angel of god came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field but manoa her husband was not with her then the woman ran in haste and told her husband and said to him look the man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me so manoa arose and followed his wife when he came to the man he said to him are you the man who spoke to this woman and he said i am manoah said now let your words come to pass what will be the boy's rule of life in his work so the angel of the lord said to manoa of all that i said to the woman let her be careful she may not eat anything that comes from the vine nor may she drink wine or a similar drink nor eat anything unclean all that i commanded her let her observe manoa probably mistook him for a mere man sent from the lord and said please stay here and we will prepare a young goat for you the visitor agreed to stay but said he wouldn't eat anything it would be more appropriate for the couple to offer a burnt offering when manoa put the burnt offer on a rock as requested the visitor did something miraculous he rose in the flame and went up in the sky at the site manoa and his wife collapsed face down on the ground suddenly manoa was terrified and said we're certainly going to die because we have seen god he rightly equated the angel of the lord with god judges 14 verses 19 19-24 so manoa took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it upon the rock to the lord and he did a wondrous thing while manoa and his wife looked on it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar the angel of the lord ascended in the flame of the altar when manoa and his wife saw this they fell on their faces to the ground when the angel of the lord appeared no more to manoa and his wife then manoa knew that he was the angel of the lord and manoa said to his wife we shall surely die because we have seen god but his wife said to him if the lord had desired to kill us he would not have accepted a burned offering and a grain offering from our hands nor would he have shown us all these things nor would he have told us such things as these at this time so the woman bore his son and called his name samson and the child grew and the lord blessed him and the spirit of the lord began to move upon him at meno dan between zora and estaol manoa's wife named her child samson god blessed him and the spirit of the lord began to stir him readying samson for the work prepared for him samson made some questionable life decisions for a man who had been set apart for god's service since birth ultimately proving that god can use a person in spite of himself samson went down to timnah and saw a young philistine woman there he told his parents that he wanted to marry her his parents tried to speak wisdom into his life by telling him he should not marry someone who was not part of god's people but they didn't know that his interest in this particular woman was from the lord who wanted the philistines to provide an opportunity for a confrontation judges 14 verses 1 through 4. samson went down to timnah and saw their young philistine woman when he returned he said to his father and mother i have seen a philistine woman in timna now get her for me as my wife his father and mother replied isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people must you go to the uncircumcised philistines to get a wife but sampson said to his father get her for me she's the right one for me his parents did not know that this was from the lord who was seeking an occasion to confront the philistines for at that time they were ruling over israel samson was attacked by a young lion on his journey to timnah where his bride-to-be lived in the spirit of the lord came upon him fiercely and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands this was a strong indication that he had been chosen and enabled by god for a supernatural mission in judges 14 verses 5-7 samson went down to timnah together with his father and mother as they approached the vineyards of tymna suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him the spirit of the lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat but he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done then he went down and talked with a woman and he liked her samson chose to pose a riddle to the philistines at a feast that was most likely supposed to function as his engagement party the prize for answering the riddle within a week would be 30 changes of clothes in biblical days an additional set of clothing was a sign of honor and dignity samson thinking about his recent kill and the honey that accompanied it exclaimed out of the eater came something to eat and out of the strong came something sweet judges 14 verses 10 through 14. now his father went down to see the woman and there samson held a feast as was customary for young men when the people saw him they chose 30 men to be his companions let me tell you a riddle samson said to them if you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast i will give you 30 linen garments and 30 sets of clothes if you can't tell me the answer you must give me 30 linen garments and 30 sets of clothes tell us your riddle they said let's hear it he replied out of the eater something to eat out of the strong something sweet for three days they could not give the answer the philistines grew and raged when they couldn't figure out what it meant the men threatened to kill samson's bride who was also one of their own and her family unless she could get sampson to reveal her the answer and share it with them frightened she wept in front of samson for seven days and finally he couldn't take it anymore because she had nagged him so much as a result he revealed the solution to her later when the philistine men parroted the answer samson knew how they had obtained it the spirit of the lord came powerfully on him and he killed 30 philistine men in another town giving their clothes to these men to keep the deal he'd struck he returned home after that but not with his wife after some time samson brought about further destruction on the philistines he wanted to visit his wife but her father would not let him enter her room he had given her to another man because he assumed samson was not happy with her he destroyed their crops by catching 300 foxes tying their tails together with rope and torches setting them on fire and releasing them into their fields judges 15 verses 1 through 5.

later on at the time of wheat harvest samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife he said i'm going to my wife's room but her father would not let him go in i was so sure you hated her he said that i gave her to your companion isn't her younger sister more attractive take her instead sampson said to them this time i have a right to get even with the philistines i will really harm them so we went out and caught 300 foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs he then fastened a torch to every pair of tails lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the philistines he burned up the shocks and standing grain together with the vineyards and olive groves the philistines retaliated by slaying samson's wife and father and samson in turn avenged the murders with his bare hands judges 15 verses 6 through 8. when the philistines asked who did this they were told samson the tim knight's son-in-law because his wife was given to his companion so the philistines went up and burned her and her father to death sampson said to them since you've acted like this i swear that i won't stop until i get my revenge on you he attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of etam the philistines besieged a village in judah to pay samson back while he was hiding in a cave to pacify the philistines three thousand men of judah went to arrest samson saying that he had brought trouble on them by riling up the philistine oppressors don't miss the irony here they chose to deliver over to the philistines the man god had sent to save them from the philistines samson agreed to go along with them only after they promised not to kill him themselves judges 15 verses 12 through 13. they said to him we've come to tie you up and hand you over to the philistines samson said swear to me that you won't kill me yourselves agreed they answered we will only tie you up and hand you over to them we will not kill you so they bound him with two new ropes and let him up from the rock when the philistines saw samson tied approaching they screamed out but at that precise moment the lord's spirit descended upon samson in a strong way this was bad news for the philistines you don't want the spirit of the lord to fall down heavenly on someone you're fighting samson's foes were outnumbered because he was empowered by god's spirit given his strength the ropes used to bind him were insignificant he found a fresh donkey jawbone and used it to slaughter a thousand men he was able to accomplish what would have been impossible without the lord's help judges 15 verses 14-15 as he approached lehi the philistines came toward him shouting the spirit of the lord came powerfully upon him the ropes on his arms became like charred flax in the bindings dropped from his hands finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men after finishing his judgment on the philistines samson got extremely thirsty and cried out to the lord the lord graciously replied by restoring his vigor by creating a spring there it was dubbed spring of the one who cried out by samson and he judged israel 20 years judges 15 verses 18-20 because he was very thirsty he cried out to the lord you have given your servant this great victory must i now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised then god opened up the hollow place in lehi and water came out of it when samson drank his strength returned and he revived so the spring was called en hakore and it is still there in lehi samson led israel for 20 years in the days of the philistines when the lord's spirit descended upon samson he was accompanied by miraculous activity in the old testament the lord's spirit descended on people in response to specific circumstances since the time of the new testament however the lord's spirit has come to dwell in every believer ephesians 1 verses 13-14 in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory romans 8 verse 9 but ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be that the spirit of god dwells in you now if any man have not the spirit of christ he is none of his that means on the side of the cross the supernatural presence of god is not related to the spirit coming on believers but to the fullness of the spirit at work within us the spirit came powerfully on samson for supernatural purposes this same spirit is still with us today galatians 5 16 so i say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh that is we are so preoccupied with living life according to the rules of the world that we forget to recognize his presence in our lives we should on the other hand be filled with the spirit which essentially implies living under his authority ephesians 5 verse 18 do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery instead be filled with the spirit samson's personal choices become even more concerning at this point in the narrative samson went to gaza where he saw a prostitute and went to bed with her now for years the people of israel had prostituted themselves with other gods judges 2 verse 17 and yet they would not hearken unto their judges but they went to whoring after other gods and bowed themselves unto them they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in obeying the commandments of the lord but they did not so they had blatantly compromised with the surrounding culture and betrayed the lord and by this season of his life samson the leader was openly living in a way that reflected what israel had been doing this trend would be his downfall the philistines in gaza discovered samson was with the prostitute and thought they adam trapped they guarded the town's exit but when samson was ready to leave he simply took hold of the doors of the city gate along with the two gate posts and pulled them out bar and all he put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking hebron you or i couldn't carry these massive doors on blocks distance on level ground this scene serves as proof that though samson was outside of the will of god and what he was doing god had not left him yet samson was in a downward spiral when delilah entered his life and he fell in love with her in judges 16 verses 1 through 4.

one day samson went to gaza where he saw prostitute he went in to spend the night with her the people of gaza were told samson is here so they surrounded the place and lay and wait for him all night at the city gate they made no move during the night saying at dawn will kill him but samson lay there only until the middle of the night then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate together with the two posts and tore them loose bar and all he lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces hebron some time later he fell in love with a woman in the valley of solrec whose name was delilah it is not clear whether delilah was a philistine woman but her loyalties lay with them and their silver the philistine leaders asked her to persuade samson to confide in her about where his great strength came from so that they could overpower him tie him up and make him helpless they promised her a great deal of money for her aid judges 16 verse 5 the rulers of the philistines went to her and said if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how he can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver three times delilah tried to learn a secret while the philistines lay waiting to ambush him each time samson gave her a false story about the source of his strength but she steadily wore him down in the end delilah used the very trick samson's bride had once employed when she betrayed him to the philistines she pleaded how can you say i love you when your heart is not with me judges 16 verses 6 through 14.