BIBLE WARRIORS: SAMSON - A fighting man                     BIBLE PEOPLE: DELILAH - Born to be bad

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SAMSON

SHE DONE HIM WRONG.....

   PEOPLE IN THE STORY

   FAMOUS QUOTES

   BIBLE REFERENCES

   INTERESTING WEBSITES

   ACTIVITIES/QUESTIONS

SAMSON'S MOTHER DREAMS OF AN ANGEL
Like many other Old Testament heroes, Samson was born to an older couple who had given up hope of having children. When his mother was pregnant, she had a dream in which an angel told her that her son would be special. Because of this, she was not to drink wine or other liquor, or to eat anything unclean. When the boy was born she was not to cut his hair, for he was to be a Nazirite. He would deliver Israel from its enemies.

When the baby's father was told this, he asked that the angel give them further instructions about how to raise their son. This the angel did, appearing again to the mother when she was out in the fields. This time she ran and got her husband, who came and asked the angel how they should raise the boy. The angel replied that they must not eat anything that came from a grapevine, or drink wine or other intoxicants, or eat anything unclean. After this the father, Manoah, offered a young goat on a rock to God and the angel ascended to the sky in the flames of the fire.

THE GIRL FROM TIMNATH
The woman eventually gave birth, and the boy was called Samson. When he was grown to manhood, he became a fighter, leading his people against their enemies the Philistines. Despite this, Samson had a weakness for Philistine girls. He saw and fell in love with one in a town called Timnath. Get her for me, he said. But his parents objected. Can't you marry a nice Israelite girl instead, they asked. Get me that one, said Samson. She is the one who pleases me.

So they all set out for Timnath, to arrange the marriage. On the way Samson killed a lion with his bare hands - but somehow his parents did not know about this, and he did not tell them. Later he found a swarm of bees and honey inside the dead body of the lion. He took the honey and gave some to his parents, still not telling them where it came from. Then they went on to arrange the marriage. They returned home, and when it came time for the wedding Samson again walked to Timnath. He looked for the carcass of the lion he had killed and found it. It too was full of bees. He scooped out the honey and ate it.

THE WEDDING BANQUET AND THE RIDDLE
According to custom, Samson and his family had to give a banquet for the girl and all her family and friends - there were thirty people altogether.  At the banquet, Samson made the guests a proposition. I will tell you a riddle, he said. If you can solve it, I will give you each a new set of clothing. If you cannot solve it, you must each give me a new set of clothing - thirty sets in all. The guests accepted his challenge. This was the riddle: 'Out of the eater came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet.'

The guests puzzled and wondered, but they could not solve the riddle. But they had agreed to pay if they lost. So in desperation they went to the young girl and told her that she must find out the answer, or they would be seriously out of pocket. If she did not wheedle the answer out of Samson, something nasty would happen.

THE RIDDLE IS SOLVED
Frightened and upset, she went to Samson. But instead of being honest with him, she persuaded him to tell her the answer, then she relayed it to the guests. That evening, the smirking men were able to tell Samson the answer to his riddle. 'What is sweeter than honey, and stronger than a lion?' Samson saw at once he had been tricked. And he knew who had given his secret away. Using a rather crude comparison, he said 'If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you would not have guessed my riddle!'

He was seething with anger, but he still had to pay the debt to his wedding guests. So he went down to the Philistine city of Ashkelon and there he murdered thirty men, stripped the clothes off the bodies, and gave them to the men who had answered the riddle. Then, still full of anger, he went home to his parents' house.

When his anger had died down, Samson went back to visit his wife, bringing gifts for her. But her father would not even let him into the house. 'I gave her to one of the wedding guests', he said. 'But don't worry. She has a younger sister who is prettier. You can have her.'

'She sent a message to the Philistine leaders. 
"Come and get him", she said.'

TAKING REVENGE
The girl's father had gone too far. Samson caught a large number of foxes, set their bushy tails on fire, then released them into the wheat fields, vineyards, olive groves and storage silos of the Philistines, causing terrible havoc. In response, the Philistines went to the girl's house and burned it to the ground, with her and her father inside. Then they went after Samson.

He was hidden in a cave. Only when his own people begged him to surrender would he come out. His own people bound him with new ropes and took him to the Philistine leaders - he did not resist. But once there, when the Philistines began to torment him, he easily broke the ropes that bound him, picked up the jawbone of a dead donkey and killed a large number of men with it.

DELILAH APPEARS ON THE SCENE
Some time later, Samson again fell in love, this time with a Philistine woman called Delilah. When they found out about it, the Philistine leaders came to her offering a large sum of money if she could find out the secret of Samson's strength.

She asked and asked, and each time Samson kept fobbing her off with false answers. If she tied him up with seven fresh tendons that had not been dried, he said, he would be as weak as a kitten. She tried it, and it didn't work. He simply threw off the tendons and laughed at her. If he were bound with new ropes that had never been used, he said, he would be weak. But she did that, and he simply broke the ropes apart. If she wove seven locks of his head into her weaving loom, he said, he would be weak. She did it, and he simply pulled his hair out of the weave.

She was angry and frustrated. Three times you have deceived me, she said - and finally he told her the truth. I am strong because my hair has never been cut. If it were cut I would lose all of my strength. This time Delilah sensed he had told the truth. She sent a message to the Philistine leaders. "Come and get him", she said.

DELILAH CUTS OFF SAMSON'S HAIR
That night when Samson was sleeping she cut off his hair, and when he awoke, his hair and his strength were gone. He was easy prey for the Philistines, who took him away and gouged out his eyes. Death would have been kinder, but they were in no mood to be kind.

Samson, now blind, was taken to the city prison. There he was loaded down with chains and set to work in the mill, turning the wheel that ground the flour. But slowly his hair grew back.

One day he was brought out to amuse a crowd at a religious festival to honor the god Dagon. He was placed on view between two large columns that supported the roof. He asked the boy who was leading him to put his hands against the pillars, then he prayed to God for strength, just one more time. He pushed on the pillars with all his might. The roof of the temple shuddered, he pushed more, then it came crashing down onto the screaming crowd of Philistines. Samson died along with the hapless people, but he was a hero to the Israelites evermore, because he killed more on that one day in the temple than he had killed all during his life-time. Samson was one of a kind.

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BIBLE REFERENCE:  Book of Judges, 13-16

PEOPLE IN THE STORY
Samson: Famous for his great strength, but more an individual fighter than a leader of the army. Dedicated at birth as a Nazirite, never had his hair cut. Believed this was the reason for his prowess. Harassed the Philistines. Not good at interpersonal relationships - picked the wrong women, did the wrong thing. Delilah cuts his hair and he is captured by Philistines and blinded. Finally retrieves his honor by killing thousands of Philistines.
Manoah: father of Samson
Woman of Timnath: Samson's first wife who betrays the secret to the riddle and is subsequently killed with her family by Philistines.
Delilah: Another amour of Samson's. She discovers the secret of Samson's strength and sells the secret to the Philistines, thus earning a great deal of money and lasting infamy for herself.

FAMOUS QUOTES
'The Philistines are upon you, Samson!' (Judges 16:20)
'But the hair of his head began to grow again.....' (16:22)

INTERESTING WEBSITES - stories, pictures, information

Samson as one of the Bible's Top Ten Warriors
BIBLE TOP TEN WARRIORS: SAMSON

Samson as a great Bible hero - though I don't see it myself
BIBLE TOP TEN HEROES: SAMSON

Delilah as one of the Bible's Top Ten Bad Women
BIBLE TOP TEN BAD WOMEN: DELILAH

Born to be bad: Delilah's story
BIBLE PEOPLE: DELILAH

Wealth, and the freedom it gave - this was what Delilah wanted
BIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY: JEWELRY

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ACTIVITIES AND FOCUS QUESTIONS

A Spin Doctor works on Samson's story

Samson has traditionally been portrayed as a warrior betrayed by the women he loved, ending up blinded and imprisoned through no real fault of his own. But read the saga of Samson in Judges 13-16 and you will see that his relationships with women were unfortunate, to say the least. He was also extremely violent. What were the faults in his character that led him into such trouble?

Now pretend you are a spin-doctor preparing a media release on Samson. How would you play up his good points, and down-play his faults? How would you tell the story to make Samson look good and his enemies bad? Write a press release for Samson.

Reading for Contrast
Think about the following question: why does the account of Samson's life in the Book of Judges show him 'warts and all'? If he was a great hero to the ancient Israelites, who didn't the writer of Judges 13-16 gloss over Samson's faults? Isn't the Bible supposed to be edifying? Why would the Bible give such a graphic account of a man's failings?

Answer: the stories in the Book of Judges are arranged so that good examples of leadership (such as Deborah, Jephthah and Othniel) are alternated with non-so-good examples (Ehud, Gideon and Samson). The whole book highlights the instability of Israel before it had a king. Read the story of Samson (Judges 13-16) and then read the story of one of the 'good' leaders: Deborah (Judges 4 and 5), the tragic Jephthah (11) or Othniel (Judges 3:7-11). Contrast the two.   

In depth study of one person's story
Choose one of the people whose stories are told on this site and develop a PowerPoint presentation about them.
The presentation must be at least 10 slides long and should include 
 *  a supporting image/picture/painting of each person 
 *  a map of Israel showing the cities and areas where the story took place.  
You may call up other websites to support your ideas.

In your presentation (approximately 10 minutes), answer the following questions:

1. What are the main events of the person's life? Tell the story.

2. What were their main qualities? What made them stand out from the crowd?

3. What obstacles did they face? Did they overcome them, or go with the flow? Explain.

4. How did they use their abilities to do God’s work?  

5. Which part of their story appeals to you most? Why?

You must include three short quotations from the Bible texts to illustrate the points you are making. 

Focus Questions
1. What are the most interesting moments in Samson's story? 
2. In the story, who speaks and who listens? Who acts? Who gets what they want? If you were in the story, which person would you want to be friends with? Which person would you want to avoid?
3. What is God's interaction with the main characters? What does this tell you about the narrator's image of God? Do you agree with this image?
4. What is happening on either side of the story, in the chapters before and after it? Does this help you understand what is happening?
5. The narrator/editor has chosen to tell some things and leave other things out. What has been left out of the story that you would like to know?
6. Are the characteristics and actions of the people in the story still present in the world? How is the story relevant to modern life, especially your own? 

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Bible Stories: People of the Old Testament - Bible Study Resource: Samson