Samson's Strength

A few weeks ago I read again, in an article in a major newspaper/magazine, a comment that mentioned that Biblical Samson's strength was due to his long hair (a different source to the one shown above). Some quick Googling shows that even Christian commentators regularly make this same mistake.

That's a total misunderstanding of what is actually in the text. It comes about because people often read Scripture according to their pre-established beliefs and so miss the truth of God, which is always there somewhere.

The story in brief:

During the time of 'The Judges' Israel was a loose tribal federation, with no appointed leader except God. When trouble arose from a neighbour, or within the federation itself God would appoint or raise up a leader to bring a victory for Israel. 

These leaders were known as 'judges' because they brought judgment upon the people who were oppressing the Israelites. It's important to know that the only reason that the surrounding people were able to attack and subdue the Israelites in the first place was because they would regularly abandon the ways of God. See Judges 2 for further insights.

The story of Samson begins In Judges 13. The Angel of the Lord, regarded as the form in which Jesus was seen in the Old Testament, appeared to Samson's parents-to-be and said that the child must be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth.

The vow of the Nazirite is found in Numbers 6:1-21. 

1. Drink no wine, vinegar or grape juice, nor eat any grape products;

2. He shall not cut his hair while the vow is in force;

3. He shall not come into contact with a dead person.

This might seem like a tough regimen to follow, especially when he had no choice in it, but like any calling from God the benefits are out of this world.  :-)

Wine and its constituent and associated products are seen as a symbol of corruption because of the fermentation process involving yeast.

His long hair was a constant reminder as he walked through the land that God was with the people forever.

And he was not allowed to touch or come near a dead person to show that God has no part in death.

The first clue that he had a ministry comes in the last verse of chapter 13:

"And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times." (In fact, the real reason for Samson's strength is shown in each of the four chapters that deal with his life. See if you can find them now.)

However, the very next verse suggests that he also had a strong, rebellious spirit or was not really dedicated to his job, because he allowed himself to be attracted to a Philistine girl. The Philistines were the enemy oppressing Israel at that time. She became his wife but was then given to another man.

After various feats of great strength which demoralised the Philistines he took a girlfriend, named Delilah, also from among the Philistines. She was goaded by her fellow countrymen to seek out the secret of Samson's great strength. On the fourth occasion he told her something which he felt was the truth:

"And he told her all his heart, and said to her, A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.” Judges 16:17 (ESV)

Samson thought his strength lay in his hair

Interestingly enough, when he woke up and attempted to vanquish the Philistines he had no great strength at all and was taken prisoner. Accordingly, the casual reader could easily feel that his strength lay in his hair. Samson certainly thought it did. Look at verse 20, just before the Philistines came upon him:

"And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him." 

Did God leave him because he told the 'secret' of his long hair? 

No, of course not, because that was not the source of his strength.

Look what happened at the end of his story, after he was bound, his eyes were bored out (ugh) and he was set to work to grind at the mill in the prison.

" But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved." Judges 16:22 (ESV)

Again, that throws a lot of people out, but it still doesn't reveal the source of his strength. However, it might have persuaded Samson to ask God for one more favour, and when he did he showed that he finally understood where his strength lay:

"Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God..." Judges 16:28 (ESV)

And it worked. He pulled down the supporting columns for the huge building that was hosting the celebration of victory over him and killed more people in that one move than all the others combined.

Where did Samson's ministry go wrong?

Samson was in trouble right from the beginning.

The Law of Moses (actually, it was the Law that God gave Moses) forbade marriage between Israel and the nations around them. His parents were correct in trying to steer him away from such a bad choice, but for whatever reason (possibly a prevailing spirit of lust) Samson's desires prevailed.

The editorial comment by the author of Judges that Samson's "father and mother did not know that this was of the Lord" Judges 14:4a (AMP) does not really stand in my view, since there is no record of God giving the plan to Samson, and because God does not normally ask people to defy or break the law that He has imposed.

Instead, it is much more reasonable, in the light of Samson's subsequent somewhat erratic behaviour, that because of his rebellious spirit, the enemy (the "spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly realm," not the Philistines), were able to manipulate him into making mistakes, but God was able to turn those same mistakes around.

Samson broke his vow right at the beginning of his ministry

On his way to talk with the woman of his desires he killed a lion that confronted him. Some time later he passed that way again and saw that bees had made and left honey in the body of the lion. He scraped some of the honey out with his hands, thereby breaking his Naziritic covenant, and once he ate some he doubly confirmed that it was broken. (Judges 14:8-9; Leviticus 11:27.) 

(While Numbers 6 only talks about not coming into contact with a dead person, Leviticus 11:27 describes the carcass of a lion, among others, as being unclean. Add to this the fact that Samson did not want to tell his parents where he obtained the honey suggests that he knew that what he had done was 'wrong'.) 

It was all downhill for Samson from there. However, his subsequent troubles continued to be a lever whereby God could execute judgment upon the enemies of Israel.

There are several inviolate principles involved:

1. When God calls us to do something, whether it is apostle, evangelist, pastor, prophet teacher, or something else we must comply. 

2. That calling could come before we are born, as in the case of Samson, or at any later stage after birth.

3. If we don't comply, we can expect many troubles to be brought against us by the enemy. The story of Jonah is also a good illustration of this principle. To see more about how this system works, see Job - Why Things Go Wrong here. 

A major indicator of a missed, avoided or mishandled call from God can be depression. See Jonah again, and King Saul in 1 Samuel, from chapter 9 on, and Jeremiah, chapter 20, and Lamentations. Solomon was in trouble, too, by the time he wrote Ecclesiastes.

4. If we do comply, we can expect God to equip us in special, generally supernatural ways, to complete the task(s) at hand. Samson is an extreme example of physical empowerment, but Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, the prophets, Peter and Paul are some great examples of people doing what they were not trained to do.

5. The same structures can/might/will apply when someone makes a decisive dedication of their life to God, even today. God takes any vow seriously, and once made, we are in no position to abrogate it. Attempting to do so, whether occasionally or consistently, leaves the person in the hands of the enemy.

And the source of Samson's strength?

The first clue was given above, in Judges 13:25

"And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times." (AMP)

After that it is very plain to see. At the beginning of some of his mighty feats of strength it says:

"And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him..." Judges 14:6; Judges 14:19; Judges 15:14; 

Did God depart from Samson?

That idea is found in Judges 16:20. This would be a figure of speech, where the phrase "the Lord had departed from him" replaces a whole phrase with a quite different construction that is normally used: 

• the Spirit of the Lord would not come mightily upon him as before.

We understand this to be the case because God does not leave or abandon anyone. Instead, as the first verse in chapter 13 states:

"And the Israelites did what was evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years."

This truth applies to anyone today: when we continue to do things our way, God eventually leaves us to go our way. In Romans 1:18-24 Paul explains that God's 'anger', which is nothing like man's anger, is seen in the way that God eventually leaves us to do things our way when we refuse to do things God's way. At the same time, God stops rescuing us from our mistakes. That is what happened to Samson.

In the Old Covenant the Holy Spirit would "come upon" someone who was needed to do a special job, but did not stay there permanently, unlike what happens in the New Covenant. We 'have it good' compared to the Israelites!