The story of Samson is told in Judges chapters 13 to 16. He is often seen as a man who is led astray by women. However, the Bible tells us that he is a man of faith.
Samson's mother is told that he will be a Nazirite (somebody separated to God) all his life. She tells her husband about her conversation with an angel:
7 but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink. Don’t eat any unclean thing, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”
Samson is attracted by a Philistine woman:
1 Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 He came up, and told his father and his mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me as my wife.”
His parents don't realise this is in God's purpose:
4 But his father and his mother didn’t know that it was of the LORD; for he sought an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
After a very eventful wedding feast, Samson's wife is given to someone else:
20 But Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his friend.
Samson responds in a rather brutal way:
7 Samson said to them, “If you behave like this, surely I will take revenge on you, and after that I will cease.” 8 He struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cave in Etam’s rock.
The last verse of Judges 15 summarises Samson's period as a judge:
20 He judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
Samson is then attracted by another woman:
4 It came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
This disastrous relationship ends with the Philistines capturing Samson:
21 The Philistines laid hold on him and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of bronze; and he ground at the mill in the prison.
Samson's conflict with the Philistines continues right up to his death:
30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who he killed in his life.
Samson's only recorded prayer to God comes right at the end of his life:
28 Samson called to the LORD, and said, “Lord GOD, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once, God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”
As we read of the things that Samson did we should remember how he is described in the New Testament. The New Testament comment should help us to understand what motivated Samson’s actions:
32 What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
These chapters have links to this theme: