Samson is the son of Elkanah. Elkanah’s wife met an angel. The angel told her that she would conceive and she would have a baby. He instructed him that the child must be consecrated to God as a Nazirite from his birth. This means that the child’s hair should not be cut. The angel instructed Manoah’s wife that she should not drink wine or any other fermented beverage.

When she got home, she told her husband. Ella manoa prayed that God would make the angel appear again to teach them how to raise the unborn child. God answered Manoah’s prayer and she appeared again in the field. The angel gave the same instruction to Manoah and his wife, not to eat anything made from the vine or drink wine or other fermented beverages or other unclean things. Later, Manoah’s wife conceived and gave birth to a son named Samson.

Samson coveted a Philistine girl from Timnah (Galatians 5:16; Genesis 6:3; Romans 8:4). She asked her parents to get her as her wife. His parents reprimanded him for not getting a wife from his own clan. However, they did not know that it was God who prepared this occasion to fight against the Philistines. As Samson and his parents were on their way to Timnah, Samson met a young lion. The Holy Spirit filled him and he tore the lion into many pieces easily like a kid.

During the wedding party, he gave a riddle to 30 young Philistines at the party. The riddle is “Out of the eater came food, and out of the strong came sweetness” (Judges 14:14). If they couldn’t find the answer to the riddle, each of them has to give Samson a new set of clothes. If they are able to find the answer, Samson will give each of them a new outfit.

After 3 days, they still couldn’t find the answer. They threatened her wife to reveal the answer, otherwise they would burn her and her father’s house. Samson’s wife started to scold Samson until she finally couldn’t take it anymore and she revealed the answer, which is lion. When the 30 Philistine men presented him with the answer, Samson became angry. He killed 30 men in Ashkelon and gave his clothes to the 30 Philistine men.

After that, Samson returned home. Meanwhile, his wife was given to another Philistine man. When Samson came back for his wife, he was surprised to learn this. He took revenge by trapping 300 foxes and tying them tail to tail. He lit the torches tied to the tails of the foxes and set them free in the harvest of the field that belonged to the Philistines. When the Philistines found out, they were angry and took revenge by burning Samson’s wife and her father alive. Samson took revenge by killing many of the Philistines.

Later, he retired to a cave in the rock of Etam. The Philistines set up their camps in Judah to take Samson prisoner. To avoid war, three thousand men from Judah descended to fetch Samson from the rock of Etam. When Samson got to Lehi, he broke the cords that bound him like splintered flax. He saw a fresh donkey jawbone and used it to kill 1,000 Philistine men. When he was thirsty, he prayed for water and God made water come out of a hole in Lehi.

Samson’s weakness is his desire for women (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8; 1 Corinthians 6:18; Colossians 3:5). He was eventually captured by the Philistines because of his love for Delilah. We should always walk by the Spirit instead of following the desires of our flesh (Ephesians 2:3; 1 Peter 2:11). This means putting God first in everything you do instead of doing what you feel like doing (Romans 13:14; Galatians 5:24-25).