it all began when Israel was under the rule and oppression of the Philistines however Samson was born in Nazareth and was chosen by God to fulfill his work in Israel he was given extraordinary strength for this purpose the Book of Judges contains the story of his life again the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord therefore the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years judges 13:1 at this point the author introduces us to a man named manoah whose wife was unable to conceive judges 13:2 and there
was a certain man from Zora of the family of the danites whose name was monoa and his wife was Baron and bore not the angel of the Lord appeared to her and said You shall conceive and bear a son and this son this miracle shall be the next deliverer of Israel judges 13:3 and the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said to her behold now Thou Art Barren and bearest not but Thou shalt conceive and bear a son this unique event which occurred several times in the Bible like the birth of Isaac
in the Old Testament and 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 work condition that none of the other judges had the angel told manoah's wife to raise the child according to the Nazarite vow this vow is explained in numbers numbers 6: 1 to5 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 naite 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 Nite vow they must not eat anything that comes from the grape vine not even the seeds or skins throughout the period of his naite vow no razor may be used on his 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 could not drink wine or
beer and he could not trim his hair interestingly the angel advised the woman not to consume wine or beer during preg y nor eat anything unclean this meant her son would be consecrated to God as a naite even while 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 of what had happened judges 13: 8-13 then manoah prayed to the Lord and said oh my Lord please let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us
what to do for the boy who is to be born and God heeded the voice of manoah and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was sitting in the field but manoah her husband was not with her then the woman ran in haste and told her husband and said to him behold the man who appeared to me the other day has just shown himself to me then manoah arose and followed his wife when he came to the man he said to him are you the man who spoke with this woman and
he said I am manoah said now let your words come to pass what will be the rule for the boy's life and his work then the angel of the Lord said to manoah of all that I said to the woman let her be careful she may not eat of anything that comes from the vine neither let her drink wine or similar drink nor eat anything unclean all that I commanded her let her observe manoah likely mistook him for a mere man sent by the Lord and said please stay here and we will prepare a young
goat for you the visitor agreed to stay but said he would not eat anything it would be more appropriate for the couple to offer a burnt offering when monoa placed the burnt offering on a rock as requested the visitor did something miraculous he ascended in the flame and went to heaven at the sight monoa and his wife fell face down on the ground suddenly monoa was terrified and said we will surely die because we have seen God he correctly equated the angel of the Lord with God judges 14: 19 to 24 then manoah took the
young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the Rock to the Lord and he did a marvelous thing while monoa 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 manoah and his wife saw it they fell on their faces to the ground when the angel of the Lord appeared no more to manoah and his wife then manoah knew he was the angel of the Lord and manoah said to his wife we will surely
die for we have seen God but his wife said to him if the Lord had intended to kill us he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands nor would he have shown us all these things or have told us such things at this time thus the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson and the child grew and the Lord blessed him and the spirit of the Lord began to move him at mahanan between Zora and ashal manoah's wife named their son Samson God blessed him and
the spirit of the Lord began to stir him preparing Samson for the work that had been set out for him Samson made some questionable Life Choices for a man who had been set apart for God's service from birth this ultimately proved proved that God can use a person despite themselves Samson went down to timna and saw there a young Philistine woman he told his parents that he wanted to marry her his parents tried to impart wisdom into his life telling him he should not marry someone who was not among God's people but they did not
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 to 4 Samson went to timna and saw there a young Philistine woman when he returned he said to his father and his mother I have seen a Philistine woman in timna now get her for me as my wife his father and mother replied is there not an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife but Samson said
to his father get her for me she is 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 at that time they were ruling over Israel Samson was attacked by a young Lion on his way to timna where his future wife lived and the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him 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:
5-7 Samson went down to timna with his father and mother as they approached The Vineyards of timna 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 one would have torn a young goat but he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done then he went down and talked with the woman and he liked her Sam decided to pose a riddle to the Philistines during a feast that likely served as his engagement party
the prize for solving the riddle within a week would be 30 changes of clothes in biblical times an additional set of clothes was a sign of honor and dignity thinking about his recent hunt and the honey that accompanied it Samson declared out of the eater something to eat out of the strong something sweet judges 14: 10 to 14 then 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 selected 30 companions to be with him let me pose a riddle
to you Samson said to them if you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast and tell me correctly I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 sets of clothes if you cannot tell me the answer you must give me 30 linen garments and and 30 sets of clothes tell us your riddle they said letun hear it he replied out of the eater something to eat out of the strong something sweet for 3 days they could not give the answer the Philistines were enraged when they could not figure out what
it meant the men threatened to kill Samson's bride to be who was also one of their own and her family unless she managed to get Samson to reveal the answer and share it with them frightened she went kept in front of Samson for 7 days and finally he could not stand it any longer because she had persisted so much as a result he revealed the solution to her later when the Philistine man repeated the answer Samson knew how they had obtained it the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him and he killed 30 Philistine
men in another town giving their garments to those men to keep the agreement he had made afterwards he went back home but not with his wife after some time Samson caused further destruction to the Philistines he wanted to visit his wife but her father would not allow him into her room he had given her to another man assuming Samson was not pleased with her he destroyed their crops by taking 300 foxes tying their tails together with ropes and torches lighting them and releasing them in their fields judges 15 veres 1 to5 later during the wheat
Harvest Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife he said I will go to my wife's room but her father would not let him 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 Samson told them this time I am justified in getting revenge on the Philistines I will really harm them then he went went out and caught 300 foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs he then fastened a torch to each pair of Tails
lit the Torches and released the foxes in the Philistines standing wheat he burned the stacks and the standing grain along with The Vineyards and Olive Groves the Philistines retaliated by killing Samson's wife and her father and Samson in turn Avenged the murders with his own hands judges 15: 6 to8 when the Philistines asked who did this it was told Samson the son-in-law of the timite because his wife was given to His companion then the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death Samson said to them since you've acted like this I swear
I won't stop until I've taken my revenge on you he attacked them fiercely and killed many of them afterwards he went down and stayed in a cave at the rock of atam the Philistines laid Siege to a village in Judah to retaliate against Samson while he was hiding in a cave to appease the Philistines 3,000 men from Judah went to arrest Samson telling him that he had brought trouble upon them by irritating the Philistine oppressors don't miss the irony here they chose to hand over to the Philistines the man whom God had sent to save
them from the Philistines Samson agreed to go with them only after they promised not to kill themselves judges 15: 12-13 they told him we've come to bind you and hand you over to the Philistines Samson said swear to me that you yourselves will not kill me agreed they replied we will just bind you and hand you over to them we will not kill you then they tied him with two new ropes and led him out from The Rock when the Philistines saw Samson tied approaching they shouted but at that exact moment the spirit of the
Lord descended upon Samson powerfully that was bad news for the Philistines you do not want the spirit of the Lord to come powerfully upon someone you are fighting Samson's enemies were at a disadvantage because he was empowered by the spirit of God given his strength the ropes used to bind him were insignificant he found a fresh Jawbone of a donkey and used it to kill a thousand men he managed to accomplish what would have been been impossible without the Lord's help judges 15: 14-15 as he approached Lei the Philistines came toward him shouting the spirit
of the Lord came powerfully upon him the ropes on his arms became like charred flax and the bindings dropped from his hands finding a fresh Jawbone of a donkey he took it and struck down a thousand men after finishing his judgment on the Philistines Samson was extremely thirsty and called out to the Lord the Lord graciously responded by restoring his strength and creating a spring there it was nicknamed the spring of the one who cried out by Samson and he judged Israel for 20 years judges 15: 18 to20 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 Lei and water came out of it when Samson drank his strength returned and he revived then the spring was called en haakor and it is still there in Lei Samson LED Israel for 20 years in the days of the Philistines when the spirit of the Lord descended on Samson it was accompanied by miraculous activities in the Old Testament the spirit of the Lord
descended upon people in response to specific circumstances however since the New Testament times the spirit of the Lord has come to dwell within each believer Ephesians chapter 1: 13 to 14 States in whom you also having heard the word of Truth The Gospel of your salvation and having believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the Redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory Romans chapter 8:9 reads you however are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the
realm of the spirit if indeed the spirit of God lives in you but if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ they do not belong to Christ this indicates that from the perspective of the Cross God's Supernatural presence is not about the spirit coming upon Believers but about the fullness of the spirit acting within us the spirit powerfully Came Upon Samson for Supernatural purposes that same spirit is still with us today Galatians 5:16 says so I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh that is we are
so focused on living life according to the world's rules that we forget to recognize his presence in our lives we should on the other hand be filled with the spirit which essentially means living under his authority Ephesians 5 5:8 states 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 slept with her for years the people of Israel had been prostituting themselves with other gods judges 2:1 17
States yet they would not listen to their judges but prostit uted themselves to other gods and worshiped them they quickly turned from the ways their ancestors had walked who had obeyed the Lord's commands but they did not do so they had openly compromised with the surrounding culture and betrayed the Lord and in this season of his life Samson the leader was living openly in a way that reflected what Israel had been doing this tendency would be his downfall the Philistines in Gaza learned that Samson was with the prostitute and thought they had cornered him they
guarded the city's exit but when Samson was ready to leave he simply Took The City Gate doors along with their two posts and tore them out bar and all he carried them on his shoulders to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron you or I could not carry these massive doors even a Block's distance on flat ground this scene serves as evidence that although Samson was out of God's will in what he was doing God had not left him Samson was in a downward spiral when Delilah entered his life and he fell in love with
her judges 16: 1 to 4 describes a significant event in Samson's life one day Samson went to Gaza where he saw a prostitute and decided to spend the night with her news of his presence spread and the people of Gaza surrounded the place waiting in Ambush all night at The City Gate they planned to kill him at dawn however Samson only stayed there until midnight then he got up grabbed The City Gate doors along with their two posts tore them out bar and all he carried them to the top of the mountain facing Hebron later
he fell in love with a woman in the valley of soric whose name was Delilah it is unclear whether Delilah was a Philistine but her loyalties were with them and their money the Philistine leaders convinced her to coax Samson into revealing the source of his great strength so that they could overpower him tie him up and subdue him they promised her a large sum of money for her help judges 16:5 reports that the rulers of the Philistines said to her if you can lure him into showing the secret of his great strength and how we
can overpower him so we can tie him up and subdue him each of us will give you 1100 shekels of silver three times Delilah tried to uncover the secret while the Philistines lay in Ambush each time Samson told her a false story about the source of his strength but she persistently wore him down eventually Delila used the same tactic that Samson's bride had used 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: 6-14 recounts that Samson told her if anyone
ties me with seven fresh bow strings that have not been dried I will become as weak as any other man the Philistines then brought seven such fresh bow strings that had not been dried and she tied him with them with men hidden in the room she called out to him Samson the Philistines are upon you but he snapped the bow strings as if they were a thread touched by a flame thus the secret of his strength was not discovered then Delilah said to Samson you have made a fool of me you lied to me tell
me now how can you be bound he replied if anyone ties me with new ropes that have never been used I will become as weak as any other man so Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them again with men hidden in the room she called out Samson the Philistines are upon you but he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads Delilah then said to Samson all this time you have made a fool of me and lied to me tell me how you can be bound he replied if you weave
the Seven Locks of my hair into the loom and tighten it with the pin I will become as weak as any other man while he slept Delilah wo the Seven Locks of his hair into the loom and tightened it with the pin again she called out Samson the Philistines are upon you he woke from his sleep and pulled away the pin of the Loom along with the fabric she also accused him of mocking her obviously she would not have prepared him in this way if she truly loved him he finally told her the whole truth
because she nagged him day after day until he was exhausted if his hair were cut he would lose his strength and become like any other man judges 16: 15-1 17 reports that she said to him how can you say I love you when you don't trust me this is the third time you have made a fool of me and have not told me the secret of your great strength with such persistence she prodded him day after day until he was sick of hearing it then he told her everything no razor has ever been used on
my head he said because I have been a naite dedicated to God from my mother's womb if my head is shaved my strength will leave me and I will become as weak as any other man Delilah wasted no time while he slept on her lap she shaved off Samson's hair and because the leaders of the Philistines were lurking in the shadows and she brought the silver she was free to count her dirty money while the deed was carried out once Samson was rendered helpless we read these sad and regrettable words when he awoke from his
sleep he said I will go out as before and shake myself free but he did not know that the Lord had left him Samson made the mistake of prioritizing his relationship with Delilah over his Devotion to God and it cost him dearly this proves that no human relationship ship however intimate can be more important than your relationship with God and Samson paid a high price for his transgression Samson's eyes were gouged out he was Chained and forced to work in the prison by the Philistines in other words God's adversaries took control of every move he
made this serves as a reminder that when God is removed from the equation Satan takes control of the situation judges 16: 18-22 when Delilah saw that he had told her everything she sent a message to the rulers of the Philistines come back once more he has told me everything so the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands after making him sleep on her lap she called someone to shave the Seven Locks of his hair thus beginning to subdue him and his strength left him then she called out Samson the Philistines are
upon you he awoke from his sleep and thought I will go out as before and shake myself free but he did not know that the Lord had left him then the Philistines seized him gouged out his eyes and took him to Gaza tying him with bronze shackles they set him to grinding grain in the prison but the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved here we see that God was not yet finished with Samson why did we need to know that his hair the source of his power had started
to grow back the return of his hair was an outward symbol that he was internally repentant and returning to God his repentance would become apparent in his next prayer to the Lord to capture your full attention God sometimes needs to take you to the lowest point you can possibly reach Samson was at Rock Bottom yet his hair began to grow again the Philistine leaders gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their God deeon as Samson ground grain in prison ready to Rejoice over the fact that their deity had delivered their enemy to them at the
Gathering the Philistines were jubilant they summoned Samson to entertain them placing him between the pillars of the temple they were setting themselves up for failure by doing this the temple was packed and there were likely about 3,000 people on the roof recognizing this Samson pleaded with God one last time to empower him so he could bring down the roof on the Philistines he pushed with all his strength and the temple collapsed on the leaders and all the people judges 16: 23 to 28 now the rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to
deeon their God and to celebrate saying our God has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands when the people saw him they praised their God saying our God has delivered our enemy into our hands the one who laid waste our land and multiplied are slain but as they were in High Spirits they shouted bring Samson out to entertain us so they called Samson out of the prison and he stood before them when they positioned him between the pillars Samson said to the servant who held his hand let me feel the pillars that support the temple
so that I may lean against them now the temple was full of men and women all the rulers of the Philistines were there and on the roof were about 3,000 men and women watching Samson perform then Samson prayed to the Lord Sovereign Lord remember me please God strengthen me just one more time and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes so Samson killed more of Israel's oppressors that day than he had in all his other days unfortunately Samson succumbed to the idolatrous culture around him and made poor decisions
however in Hebrews 11: 32 and 33 Samson is mentioned in the Hall of Faith alongside other upstanding Old Testament Heroes like Daniel and every heart should be filled with hope as a result of this inclusion although Samson was far from perfect he got one thing right he believed that God could use him to accomplish his will therefore let us trust in God submit to his agenda for our lives and surrender all that we have prayer Lord God we Marvel at the story of s son a man chosen from the womb to be a deliverer of
Israel despite his imperfections and failures we recognize father that your strength is made perfect in human weakness and that you call those who are imperfect to fulfill Divine purposes we thank you that like Samson each one of us can be used by you not on our own merits but by your grace and mercy today we ask that you teach us to trust in your presence and your direction even as we Face challenges and temptations may your Holy Spirit who now dwells in US strengthen us and guide us in every step so that we may live
not according to the flesh but according to the spirit may we be inspired by Samson's example to understand that even in our moments of weakness we can call out to you and be restored to fulfill the call usted to us teach us to be faithful in all circumstances keeping our hearts pure and and our lives dedicated to your service in the name of Jesus Amen if this content was valuable to you I ask for your support with your subscription so you don't miss any of our upcoming videos together we can Enlighten more minds and expand
our understanding thank you for being here and may God bless you
