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Samson, part 1

Samson was the last Judge of Israel before the time of the monarchy (Judges 16:31). He judged Israel during the last half of the 40-year Philistine captivity (Judges 13:1). I believe that he was born at the beginning of this captivity, and at the age of maturity (20), he was appointed Judge in Israel. If so, he died at the age of 40.

Judging the Philistines

Though he was a Judge in Israel, most of his judgment was focused upon the Philistines. He inflicted much damage upon the Philistines, but in the end, he died without delivering Israel from the captivity. Nonetheless, in his death, he prepared the way for Israel’s deliverance. When he destroyed the “house” where the Philistines had gathered to offer sacrifice—which brought about his own death as well—the Philistines took revenge on the Israelites by destroying the tabernacle in Shiloh (1 Samuel 4:1; Psalm 78:59, 60, 67).

Whereas Samson had killed 3,000 Philistines in the destruction of their temple, the Philistines killed 30,000 Israelites in that battle (1 Samuel 4:10). Psalm 78:56-60 attributes the Philistine victory to the wrath of God on account of Israel’s idolatry.

How God Answered Prayer

Ironically, the Israelites had brought the Ark of the Covenant to the battlefield, hoping that it would save them. No doubt, when they moved the Ark from Shiloh, they prayed the prayer given by Moses in Numbers 10:35,

³⁵ Then it came about when the ark set out that Moses said, “Rise up, O Lord! And let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You.”

I have no doubt that Eli and his sons prayed this prayer, and God answered their prayer. The problem was that they did not understand that God’s “enemies” were not the Philistines but the Israelites. God’s definition of His enemies is found in Leviticus 26:40, 41, 42,

⁴⁰ If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me— ⁴¹ I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, ⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob… Isaac… Abraham… and I will remember the land.

Hence, when Eli’s sons brought the Ark into the battlefield, God did indeed scatter his enemies. As Pogo famously said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Eli’s corrupt sons did not know God or understand His law. For this reason, they made assumptions that proved to be their undoing. When praying that God’s enemies would be scattered, they should have looked in the mirror.

Samson’s Source of Strength

Those who know the story of Samson are aware that his hair was his source of strength. Before Samson was born, an angel had appeared to his parents, telling them that they would have a son who “shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb” (Judges 13:4, 5). According to the law, a Nazirite was to abstain from wine and even grape juice, and he was not to cut his hair (Numbers 6:4, 5).

Hair represents one’s covering, as we read in 1 Corinthians 11:15,

¹⁵ but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering.

Here Paul uses nature (as he often does) to point out that women are covered by the glory of God, as seen in their “long hair.” Most men customarily cut their hair, the exception being Nazirites. Hence, Nazirites pictured those who, like women, were covered by God Himself and His glory. For this reason, they were said to be separated. Numbers 6:6 says,

⁶ All the days of his separation [nazar, “separation, consecration”] to the Lord he shall not go near to a dead person.

An average Israelite was “covered” by men’s leadership; a Nazirite was covered directly by God Himself. So Nazirites such as James, the brother of Jesus, were allowed to enter the sanctuary as if they were priests. In fact, James was stoned after coming out of the temple in Jerusalem, where he had been interceding for the people. James was asked his opinion about Jesus, and he confessed that Jesus was the Messiah. The people then stoned him for his testimony.

Nazirites tended to stand out in a crowd and were easily recognizable because of their long hair. Samson was one such Nazirite. He had braided his hair with “seven locks” (Judges 16:13, 19). In my view, the seven locks of hair represent the seven Spirits of God (Revelation 5:6), pictured also as “seven horns.”

⁶ And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

Samson’s seven locks probably gave the appearance of “horns,” which (as John tells us) are also “the seven Spirits of God.” In Book 1 of The Revelation, chapter 11, I showed the correlation between the seven Spirits of God and the seven churches. Each church needed a particular Spirit of God to overcome and to manifest the glory of God.

When Samson’s hair was cut (Judges 16:19), he lost his strength. This prophesied of events yet to come, for the seven churches, in similar fashion, also lost their strength during the seven church ages of the Pentecostal Age. The final church is the Laodicean church, whose locks were cut during the past century. Yet the good news is that we are now in a post-Pentecostal Age, where greater glory is to come through the feast of Tabernacles.

Samson is a Type of the Church

Samson represents the church during the Pentecostal Age (i.e., the time of the seven churches). He had great strength, but he also had great weakness. His weakness for Philistine women, who were unbelievers, was his undoing. We can, perhaps, understand his lack of interest in Israelite women, seeing that he undoubtedly knew of the corrupt sons of Eli in Shiloh. Hence, there is no biblical record of Samson ever going to the tabernacle. He may in fact have attended some of the feasts, but the divine silence in the biblical record suggests that he despised Eli and his sons.

The same has been true over the centuries during the Pentecostal Age. The corruption in the church was something that many church historians (bishops and archbishops) have recorded. Samson, then, was a prophet foreshadowing the church in the Pentecostal Age. The main lesson in this is that Samson was unable to deliver Israel from the Philistine captivity. So also, the church—even with its Pentecostal anointing—was unable to deliver the world from its Babylonian captivity.

The power of deliverance was given to the age to come under the greater power of the feast of Tabernacles in the hands of the overcomers.