Samson's Exploits Against the Philistines

Samson, a Nazirite from birth with superhuman strength when the Spirit came upon him, spent twenty years in a deeply flawed ministry against Philistine oppression. His exploits were driven more by personal revenge and lust than by devotion to God: killing a lion barehanded, burning Philistine fields, slaying 1,000 men with a donkey’s jawbone, and tearing up Gaza’s city gates.

His fatal weakness was women. After being betrayed by his Philistine wife, he fell in love with Delilah, who was bribed by Philistine lords to discover his strength’s source. After three failed attempts, Samson finally revealed the truth: “No razor has ever been used on my head… If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me.”

While he slept on her lap, Delilah had his hair cut. The Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and forced him to grind grain in prison. But his hair began to grow back. During a celebration in Dagon’s temple with 3,000 Philistines watching, Samson prayed for strength one last time. He pushed apart the temple’s support pillars, collapsing it and killing himself along with more Philistines than he had killed during his life.

Samson judged Israel for twenty years. He represents the judges era’s tragic deterioration—set apart to God yet repeatedly violating his Nazirite vow, gifted with strength yet enslaved by lust, accomplishing much yet failing to lead Israel to lasting deliverance. His final prayer and death showed both repentance and the high cost of squandered potential.