Samson the Strong

“O Lord GOD, please remember me.” — Judges 16:28

The Israelites did wrong again, and this time God let a people called the Philistines rule over them for forty years.

There was a man named Manoah and his wife, who had no children. One day the angel of the Lord came to Manoah’s wife. “You are going to have a son,” he said. “No razor must ever touch his head. He will be set apart for God from the day he is born, and he will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines.”

The boy was born, and they called him Samson. As he grew up, God blessed him. His hair grew long, and God made him amazingly strong. Once, when a young lion came roaring at him, the Spirit of the Lord came on Samson and he tore it apart with his bare hands! Samson fought the Philistines again and again, all by himself.

But Samson didn’t always follow God. He did what he wanted, and he often made foolish choices.

Samson fell in love with a woman called Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines went to Delilah. “Find out the secret of his great strength,” they said, “and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

So Delilah asked Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength.”

Samson teased her. “If anyone ties me up with seven new bowstrings, I’ll be as weak as anyone else.” So while he slept she tied him up with bowstrings, and shouted, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he snapped the bowstrings like thread.

She asked again, and he said, “New ropes.” But he snapped those too. The third time, he said, “Weave my hair into your loom.” But he pulled it all out.

“How can you say you love me,” Delilah said, “when you won’t tell me your secret?” She nagged him day after day, until he was sick of it. At last Samson told her everything. “No razor has ever touched my head,” he said. “If my head is shaved, my strength will leave me.”

So Delilah let him fall asleep with his head on her knees, and she called a man to shave off his hair. “Samson, the Philistines are here!” she shouted.

Samson woke up and thought, “I’ll get free like before.” But he didn’t know that the Lord had left him.

The Philistines grabbed him. They blinded him and took him away to prison, and made him grind grain like an animal. But in prison, his hair began to grow again.

One day the Philistines held a great party in the temple of their god, Dagon. “Our god has given us Samson!” they cheered. “Bring him out to entertain us!”

So they brought Samson out, and stood him between the pillars that held up the temple. The temple was packed with thousands of people.

Then Samson prayed. “O Lord God, please remember me. Make me strong just once more.”

Samson put his hands on the two middle pillars, one on each side, and pushed with all his might. The pillars gave way, and the whole temple came crashing down on everyone inside, Samson too. In his death, Samson defeated more Philistines than in all his life.

Samson made many mistakes. But at the very end, when he had nothing left, he called out to God, and God heard him.

Read it in your Bible: Judges 13; 16

Dear God, thank you that my strength comes from you. Help me to make wise choices. And thank you that even when I mess things up, I can always call out to you. Amen.