Maybe it's my age, but I feel like when I was younger, every young boy had thoughts of growing up and having long hair and being strong. If you don't know the story of Samson that was probably a very weird way to start a blog post. If you have heard the story, hopefully you understand. Samson was a man in the bible who had great strength because he had never cut his hair. Therefore, anyone my age knows that long hair and strength go together. Let's look at the birth of Samson in Judges chapter 13:1-5
The Birth of Samson
Again the Israelites did evil in the LORD’s sight, so the LORD handed them over to the Philistines, who oppressed them for forty years.
2 In those days a man named Manoah from the tribe of Dan lived in the town of Zorah. His wife was unable to become pregnant, and they had no children. 3 The angel of the LORD appeared to Manoah’s wife and said, “Even though you have been unable to have children, you will soon become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4 So be careful; you must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food. 5 You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and his hair must never be cut. For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines.”
An angel of the Lord appeared and said never cut his hair! I think my mom got the opposite message from an angel before I was born. I also want to point out that Samson's Mom was given other instructions also. If you look again at verse four, and also lets skip ahead and look at verse fourteen.
4 So be careful; you must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food.
14 She must not eat grapes or raisins, drink wine or any other alcoholic drink, or eat any forbidden food.”
Not only could Samson not drink, but his mother also had to abide by the same rules. A small price to pay for someone who will rescue Israel from the Philistines. So now we have a good strong leader who has been dedicated to God. This has to be the beginning of a wonderful, very long reign from Samson! I think I want to go a little backwards now. Most people who grew up in the church know the story of Samson and Delilah. We could actually call it, "The death of Samson" if we wanted. Since a lot of people know that story, I want to skip ahead to that before I come back and go over what I found most interesting. Let's take a look at Judges chapter sixteen, starting in verse four.
4 Some time later Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the valley of Sorek. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice Samson to tell you what makes him so strong and how he can be overpowered and tied up securely. Then each of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes you so strong and what it would take to tie you up securely.” 7 Samson replied, “If I were tied up with seven new bowstrings that have not yet been dried, I would become as weak as anyone else.” 8 So the Philistine rulers brought Delilah seven new bowstrings, and she tied Samson up with them. 9 She had hidden some men in one of the inner rooms of her house, and she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” But Samson snapped the bowstrings as a piece of string snaps when it is burned by a fire. So the secret of his strength was not discovered. 10 Afterward Delilah said to him, “You’ve been making fun of me and telling me lies! Now please tell me how you can be tied up securely.” 11 Samson replied, “If I were tied up with brand-new ropes that had never been used, I would become as weak as anyone else.” 12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him up with them. The men were hiding in the inner room as before, and again Delilah cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” But again Samson snapped the ropes from his arms as if they were thread. 13 Then Delilah said, “You’ve been making fun of me and telling me lies! Now tell me how you can be tied up securely.” Samson replied, “If you were to weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on your loom and tighten it with the loom shuttle, I would become as weak as anyone else.” So while he slept, Delilah wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric. 14 Then she tightened it with the loom shuttle. Again she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” But Samson woke up, pulled back the loom shuttle, and yanked his hair away from the loom and the fabric. 15 Then Delilah pouted, “How can you tell me, ‘I love you,’ when you don’t share your secrets with me? You’ve made fun of me three times now, and you still haven’t told me what makes you so strong!” 16 She tormented him with her nagging day after day until he was sick to death of it. 17 Finally, Samson shared his secret with her. “My hair has never been cut,” he confessed, “for I was dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as anyone else.” 18 Delilah realized he had finally told her the truth, so she sent for the Philistine rulers. “Come back one more time,” she said, “for he has finally told me his secret.” So the Philistine rulers returned with the money in their hands. 19 Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap, and then she called in a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. In this way she began to bring him down, and his strength left him. 20 Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize the LORD had left him. 21 So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison. 22 But before long, his hair began to grow back.
I know that was a lot to read, but how does a person fall for the same trick three times and then eventually tell the truth the fourth time and actually be shocked when it backfires. Samson had to be a man of discipline and pride. He had lived his whole life eating the right foods, not drinking alcohol and of course not cutting his hair. He was dedicated to God and still ended up giving up his secret. Here is where the story is even more crazy to me. Most people would understand if a single guy got mixed up with the wrong woman and he made some bad decisions. But, when I skipped from chapter 13 to chapter 16, I skipped over a story that somehow, I missed before. Again, maybe this is a result of reading something as a young child or being told something as a young child and then not going back over the years and looking at it again. Let's look at Judges chapter 14.
Samson’s Riddle
One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye. 2 When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me.” 3 His father and mother objected. “Isn’t there even one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry?” they asked. “Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She looks good to me.” 4 His father and mother didn’t realize the LORD was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time. 5 As Samson and his parents were going down to Timnah, a young lion suddenly attacked Samson near the vineyards of Timnah. 6 At that moment the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion’s jaws apart with his bare hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat. But he didn’t tell his father or mother about it. 7 When Samson arrived in Timnah, he talked with the woman and was very pleased with her. 8 Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, he turned off the path to look at the carcass of the lion. And he found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass. 9 He scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it along the way. He also gave some to his father and mother, and they ate it. But he didn’t tell them he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion. 10 As his father was making final arrangements for the marriage, Samson threw a party at Timnah, as was the custom for elite young men. 11 When the bride’s parents saw him, they selected thirty young men from the town to be his companions. 12 Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing. 13 But if you can’t solve it, then you must give me thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing.” “All right,” they agreed, “let’s hear your riddle.” 14 So he said:
“Out of the one who eats came something to eat;
out of the strong came something sweet.”
Three days later they were still trying to figure it out. 15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle for us, or we will burn down your father’s house with you in it. Did you invite us to this party just to make us poor?” 16 So Samson’s wife came to him in tears and said, “You don’t love me; you hate me! You have given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.” “I haven’t even given the answer to my father or mother,” he replied. “Why should I tell you?” 17 So she cried whenever she was with him and kept it up for the rest of the celebration. At last, on the seventh day he told her the answer because she was tormenting him with her nagging. Then she explained the riddle to the young men. 18 So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer:
“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
Samson replied, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle!”
19 Then the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had solved his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother. 20 So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson’s best man at the wedding.
Again, Sorry for the longer reading, but this means that when we hear the story of Samson and Delilah it's not the first time that Samson has been in this situation. I'm not sure what to think after reading all of this. Do I get upset that someone can make such a mistake twice? Do I take this as a life lesson and realize that great people in the bible had the same struggles we do? Let's finish the story of Samson, let's go to chapter 16, verse 23.
Samson’s Final Victory
23 The Philistine rulers held a great festival, offering sacrifices and praising their god, Dagon. They said, “Our god has given us victory over our enemy Samson!” 24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy to us! The one who killed so many of us is now in our power!” 25 Half drunk by now, the people demanded, “Bring out Samson so he can amuse us!” So he was brought from the prison to amuse them, and they had him stand between the pillars supporting the roof. 26 Samson said to the young servant who was leading him by the hand, “Place my hands against the pillars that hold up the temple. I want to rest against them.” 27 Now the temple was completely filled with people. All the Philistine rulers were there, and there were about 3,000 men and women on the roof who were watching as Samson amused them. 28 Then Samson prayed to the LORD, “Sovereign LORD, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time. With one blow let me pay back the Philistines for the loss of my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held up the temple. Pushing against them with both hands, 30 he prayed, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people. So he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime. 31 Later his brothers and other relatives went down to get his body. They took him back home and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, where his father, Manoah, was buried. Samson had judged Israel for twenty years.
In these final moments Samson could see clearly everything that had happened in his life. In that moment he turned to the Lord for one final prayer. The thing that God had given him to set him apart, the thing that his mistakes and sins cost him, he asked to have back one last time. God has given each of us something that sets us apart, maybe you are super strong, maybe you are smarter than most, maybe you have been given athletic ability or maybe you are just a good person. All of us at some point have taken what God has given us and wasted it. Maybe it was even taken away for a time. Now is the time to pray what Samson prayed. "Sovereign Lord, remember me again". I have done a horrible job the last few weeks posting on this site, I don't know if this was something that was given to me from God, but I need to pray that God gives me the knowledge and the ability to reach people for him.