Samson’s mother was barren. One day, an Angel comes to her and tells her that she will have a son who will begin to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines. The angel told Manoah’s wife not to drink wine or any strong drink, because her son was to be a Nazirite, or a man dedicated to God from birth that wouldn’t touch strong drink or cut his hair or beard (Newland 109). He grew into a remarkably strong man and fierce warrior, but he had a weakness for women. He kills a lion with his bare hands, kills many men who threatened to kill his wife, and kills a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey because they had killed his wife.
Samson fell in love with Delilah, a woman in the Wadi Sorek. The Philistine lords told Delilah to find out the secret of Samson’s strength so they could defeat him, each offering her 1,100 shekels of silver. Delilah asked Samson many times what the reason of his strength was, and he eventually gave in, and told her of how he had never cut his hair and that doing so would weaken him. One day, Samson fell asleep on Delilah’s lap and she called for a man to shave his hair. Samson lost his strength, so when the Philistines came for him, he could not successfully escape. The Philistines gouged out Samson’s eyes and brought him to Gaza, however, Samson’s hair immediately started growing back. The lords of the Philistines gathered and offered sacrifice to their god Dagon, and called for Samson as amusement. Samson was put between the columns that held the house up. He called to God to strengthen him. Then he braced himself against the pillars and bent them, making the house crumble, killing everyone in the building, which included Samson himself, the men and women that filled the temple, all the lords of the Philistines, and about 3,000 men and women on the roof of the temple. |