Samson

Who Was Samson?

Samson was an interesting character in the Bible. An angel came down to his parents and told them that their son would deliver Israel from the Philistines(Judges 13). Samson had to follow three rules: he couldn't drink wine/alcohol, he couldn't cut his hair, and could not go next to a dead body(Judges 13:8). The Lord blessed Samson with gifts of strength (Judges 13:24).

When Samson became older, he fell in love with a Philistines woman; his parents weren't too pleased since the two groups of people: the Jews and Philistines were in a conflict, yet Samson didn't care(Judges 13:1, Judges 14:1-4).

When going to Timnah, the city his crush lived in, a lion attacked him(Judge 14:5). He was able to kill the lion easily, yet he did not tell his parents(Judges 14:6). When he walked back home, he saw the dead body of the lion. On top of it was honey. As we remember earlier, one of his rules was to not go next to a dead body(Judges 13:8), yet he did it anyway so he could eat the honey(Judges 14:7).

Samson decided to hold a feist and during this, he asked his guests a riddle, if they were able to guess the answer, he would reward them(Judges 14:10-14). The riddle was this, “Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.” (Judges 14:14). The guests threatened the wife that if she didn't force the answer out of Samson, they would burn her home down(Judges 13:15-16). Eventually, he conceded and provided the answer. Read the passage to find the answer :D. When he had returned with the gifts, his wife was dating a Philistine man(Judges 14:20). In revenge, Samson burned the Philistine's grain(Judges 15:1-3). In revenge for this act, the Philistines killed Samson's wife and her father. In revenge, Samson killed thousands of Philistine men all by himself(Judges 14:19).

The Philistines realized how strong Samson was, so they bribed Delilah, someone Samson also loved, to obtain the answer(Judges 16:4-5). After several failed attempts(Judges 16:4-16), Samson eventually conceded that if his hair was cut, he would lose his strength. Deliah shaved off his hair and was captured by the Philistines(Judges 16:17-23).

Samson prayed to God, asking him for his strength one more time to be able to get free. God allowed him to, yet he died in his attempt(Judges 16:28-31).