Samson

Again the Israelites did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years. (Jdg 13:1).

Manoah had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. The angel of the Lord
appeared to her and told her that she was barren and childless, but she would conceive and give birth to a son. She shouldn't drink wine or other fermented drink, nor eat anything unclean. She would conceive and bear a son whose head was never allowed to touch a razor because the boy would be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He would take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines. (Jdg 13:2–7).

A Nazirite is an individual who has taken a vow of consecration for a period of time. But in this case it would be for his entire life. The sign would be that he wouldn't cut his hair. Samson would break every aspect of this vow. He was extremely gifted and anointed by the Lord but followed his own desires. 

Samson would take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines,
but he wouldn't eliminate the threat. God would use Samson's disobedience to do so.

The Philistines had existed since the time of Abraham and were a constant threat to Israel. They were completely defeated only in the time of king David, who greatly weakened them, and they are extinct today.

Then the woman went to her husband Manoah and told him this. He prayed to the Lord to let the man of God come again to teach them how to raise the boy that was to be born. God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came back to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband wasn't with her. The woman hurried to tell him. Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked him if if it was he who had spoken to his wife. He said he was. Manoah asked him what would be the rule that would govern the boy's life and work. The 
angel of the Lord answered that his wife must not eat anything that came from the grapevine, nor drink wine or other fermented drink, nor eat anything unclean.
She must do everything he had commanded her. (Jdg 13:8–14).

Manoah told the angel of the Lord that they wanted him to stay until they had prepared a young goat for him. The angel of the Lord replied that even if he detained him he won't eat any of their food. But if they prepared a Burnt Offering, they would offer it to the Lord. (Manoah didn't understand that it was the angel of the Lord.) Then Manoah inquired the angel of the Lord what his name was, so that they could honor him when his words came true. He replied that it was wonderful to see it 
(wonderful counselor (Isaiah 9:6)). Then Manoah took a young goat along with the Grain Offering and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord (= angel of the Lord). And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: As the flame rose from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended into the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. When the 
angel of the Lord didn't appear again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord. He believed they would die because they had seen God, but his wife didn't believe so. (Jdg 13:15–23).

The angel of the Lord was the pre-incarnated Jesus Christ. The reason for that
Manoah thought he was going to die was because God had told Moses that
no one can see the face of the Lord and live (Exo 33:20). What they saw was 
a manifestation of the Lord in some tangible form (theophany), see 
God Shows Moses his Glory in Moses; Part 13: Rebellion and Paganism.

The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him. (Jdg 13:24–25).

When Samson grew older, he went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he came back he told his father and mother that he wanted her as his wife. Her parents questioned it. But Samson said that she was the one for him. His parents didn't know that this was from the Lord, seeking an opportunity to confront the Philistines; for at that time they ruled over Israel. Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. As they approached it, suddenly a young lion came roaring at him. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her. Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went. (Like a Nazirite he wasn't allowed to touch a dead body). Now 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 chose 30 men to be his companions. Samson told them a riddle. If they could give him the answer within the seven days of the feast, he would give them 30 linen garments and 30 sets of clothes. If they couldn't, they must give him 30 linen garments and 30 sets of clothes. Simson told them the riddle: "Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet." For three days they couldn't give the answer. On the fourth day they demanded that Samson’s wife explained the riddle to them or they would burn her and his father’s household to death. Then Samson’s wife turned to Samson for the explanation and cried for the entire seven days of the festival. So on the seventh day he told her, because she kept pressing him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people. Before sunset on the seventh day, the men of the city said to him: "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?" Samson told them that they had received the answer from his wife. Then the Spirit of the Lord 
came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down 30 of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home. And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast. (Jdg 14).

Samson had already by this time put the word of God aside. It was forbidden for a Jew to take a wife from a pagan people, see The Book of Ezra and 
3.1 The Israelites are a Chosen People in Moses; Part 9: Provision from God.

God used Samson's character and disobedience. Man's disobedience doesn't prevent God's purpose and will from being accomplished. God is sovereign, see 
God's Attributes. But this doesn't justify his decisions and actions. What a man sows he shall also reap (Gal 6:7–9). Samson didn't fear God, he did what was right in his own eyes. His disobedience had devastating consequences for his own life.
His main weakness was women which would make him lose his power later.

Later at wheat harvest Samson went to visit his wife. But her father won't let him in. He was so sure he hated her that he had given her to his companion. He could take her younger sister instead. Samson went out and caught 300 foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then attached a torch to each pair of tails, lit the torches, and released the foxes into the standing corn of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, along with the vineyards and olive groves. When the Philistines 
asked who did it, they were told that Samson did it, because his wife was given to his companion. The Philistines then came up and burned her and her father to death. Samson swore that he wouldn’t stop until he got his revenge on them. He viciously attacked them and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in a rock. (Jdg 15:1–8).

The Philistines went up and camped in Judah to take Samson as prisoner. Then 3000 men from Judah went down to the cave and told Samson that the Philistines were their rulers. He replied that he did to them what they did to him. They said that they had come to tie him and hand him over to the Philistines. They wouldn't kill him. They tied him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. As he approached, the Philistines met him and shouted. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings fell from his hands. When he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down 1000 men. Being very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord for water. Then God miraculously gave him water. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. Samson led Israel for 20 years in the days
of the Philistines. (Jdg 15:9–20).

One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. The people of Gaza surrounded the place and waited for him all night at the city gate. They wanted to kill him. But Samson lay there only until midnight. Then he got up and grabbed the doors of the city gate together with the two posts and tore them down. He lifted them onto his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill. (Jdg 16:1–3).

Samson was a boundless person. He saw himself as bulletproof. He feared no man, se Fear of Man. But he also didn't fear God as he should. Samson was a man governed by his passion. He had learned nothing from his past mistakes.

His gift from the Lord was physical strength, but he always used it for his own purpose. He used it for himself to get what he wanted. That he would use it according to God's will was something that Samson never understood. We can do the same thing and use what God gives us, not for God, but for ourselves. We can live our lives as a theoretical Christian and practical atheist at the same time, believing in God but living our lives as if God don't exist. Samson lived liked it.

Some time later he fell in love with a woman named Delilah. The rulers of the 
Philistines went to her and told her to entice him to reveal his secret of his great strength and how they could overpower him so that they could bind him and subdue him. Each of them would give her 1100 shekels of silver. Delilah asked Samson about this. Samson answered her that if anyone tied him with seven fresh bowstrings that hadn't been dried, he would become as weak as everyone else. Then the rulers of the Philistines brought with her seven fresh bowstrings that hadn't been dried, and she tied him with them. With men hidden in the room, she shouted to him that the Philistines were upon him. But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a string snaps when it comes near a flame. So the secret of his strength wasn't discovered. Then Delilah said to Samson that he had made her a fool; he lied to her. She asked him to tell her how he cold be tied. He said that if someone tied him securely with new ropes that had never been used, he would become as weak as any other human being. So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called out to him that the Philistines were upon him. But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads. Delilah then told Samson that he had made a fool of her and and lied to her. She wanted to know how he could be tied. He replied that if she wove the seven braids of his head into the fabric on the loom and tightened it with the pin, he would become as weak as any other man. So while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the cloth, and tightened it with the pin. Again she called out to him that the Philistines were upon him. He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom with the fabric. Then she asked him how he could say he loved her, when he wouldn’t confide in her. This was the third time he had tricked her and he hadn’t told her the secret of his great strength. With such nagging she urged him day after day until he was sick to death of it. (Jdg 16:4–16).

Samson was so blinded by his sin that he thought he was untouchable.

So he told her everything. No razor had ever been used on his head because he had been a Nazirite dedicated to God from his mother’s womb. If his head was shaved, his strength would leave him, and he would become as weak as everyone else. When Delilah saw that he had told her all, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines that they should return again; he had told her everything. So the rulers of the Philistines came back with the silver in his hands. After putting him to sleep in her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair and began to subdue him. And his strength left him. Then she called that the Philistines were upon him. He awoke from his sleep, but he didn't know that the Lord had left him. Then the Philistines seized him, put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze shackles and set him to grind grain in the prison. (Jdg 16:17–21).

Samson had broken every aspect of the Nazirite vow. Samson's strength wasn't in his hair. His hair was a symbol of the vow he made before God. Every time Samson did something amazing it was because the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. It speaks about the empowering work of the Holy Spirit, through which Samson was given physical strength to do what he did. The reason he lost his strength was because the Lord left him.

But the hair on his head started growing back after it was shaved. 
(Jdg 16:22).

The visible sign of the Nazirite vow slowly began to return. However, Samson was in total slavery as a result of his giving in to sin. He was enslaved by his sin.

Now the rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon and to celebrate and say that their god had delivered their enemy Samson into their hands. When the people saw him, they praised their god. They called Samson out of prison to perform for them. When they placed him among the pillars, Samson told the servant to put him where he could feel the pillars that supported the temple, so that he could lean against them. The temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about 3000 men and women who saw Samson perform. Then Samson prayed to the Lord to remember him. He asked God to strengthen him and let him take revenge on the Philistines for his two eyes with one blow. Then Samson reached for the two central pillars on which the temple stood. He sat down against them, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other, and said he wanted to die with the Philistines. Then he pressed with all his might, and the temple came down upon the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he was alive. Then his brothers and all his father’s family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him. He had led Israel for twenty years. 
(Jdg 16:23–31).

Samson had received several benefits from God:

• Godly parents.
• A calling of his life to live his life for God.
• An amazing physical strength as a gift from God.

Despite all this, he ignored God and simple lived a life to please himself. He was a man of faith (Heb 11:32–34), but became blind and a slave to his enemies. God had a purpose for his life, but he didn't try to find out what it was. We need to take the time and ask God what his purpose is for our lives. All of us have gifts and talents that we can use for God. It's never too late to do so. 

For information on other judges, see The Book of Judges.