Samson
Strength like no one else — and weaknesses like everyone else.
Old Testament · c. 1100 BC · Judges, Hebrews · Also known as Son of Manoah, The Nazirite
About Samson
An angel announced Samson’s birth: he would be a Nazirite from the womb, his hair never cut, and he would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. Gifted with extraordinary strength, he was also impulsive and repeatedly drawn into trouble. Betrayed by Delilah, blinded and imprisoned, he prayed one last prayer and brought down a Philistine temple.
Samson was the last of the major "judges" — deliverers raised up during a chaotic era when "every man did that which was right in his own eyes." A Nazirite vow (Numbers 6) involved no razor, no wine and no contact with the dead. Samson broke most of it long before the haircut.
The story
An angel’s announcement
Manoah’s wife had no children until the angel of the LORD appeared: "Thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb."
Judges 13:2-5
Strength of the Spirit
A young lion roared at him on the road to Timnah. "The Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him… and he had nothing in his hand." He told no one.
Judges 14:5-6
Delilah
The Philistine lords paid Delilah to discover the secret of his strength. Three times he lied. The fourth time, "he told her all his heart": no razor had ever touched his head. While he slept, his hair was shaved — "and he wist not that the LORD was departed from him."
Judges 16:4-20
Captive
The Philistines took him, put out his eyes, and set him grinding grain in the prison at Gaza. Then one quiet line: "Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again."
Judges 16:21-22
One last prayer
Brought out to entertain thousands in the temple of Dagon, Samson stood between the central pillars. "O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once." He pushed. The house fell.
Judges 16:23-30
Key moments
- Birth announced: A Nazirite from the womb. (Judges 13:5)
- The lion: Bare hands, by the Spirit. (Judges 14:6)
- Betrayed by Delilah: The secret revealed. (Judges 16:17)
- Hair grows again: A quiet sign of hope. (Judges 16:22)
- Final prayer: "Only this once." (Judges 16:28)
Questions about Samson
In meetBible these answers are given in Samson’s voice. They are written by hand and checked against Scripture.
Was your strength really in your hair?
My hair was the sign of my Nazirite vow. I told Delilah, "If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me." But notice what Scripture says when it happened: "He wist not that the LORD was departed from him." The strength came from the Spirit of the LORD; the hair marked the vow.
Why did you trust Delilah?
Judges says I loved her, and that she pressed me "daily with her words" until my soul was "vexed unto death." Three times she tried to hand me to the Philistines. The text doesn’t explain why I kept going back — it simply shows the pattern.
Are you a hero or a warning?
Both, honestly. Judges records my violence, my vow-breaking and my bad choices without polish. Yet Hebrews 11 lists me among those who acted by faith, beside Gideon, David and Samuel. God worked through a deeply flawed man — which says more about God than about me.
Connected people
Read it yourself
Start with Judges 13–16.