Title Samson the Nazarite/Judges 13:1-7
Content Samson the Nazarite/Judges 13:1-7
1. Nazarite
The wife of Manoah, a member of the tribe of Dan in Israel, was barren, and an angel of the Lord appeared and said that she would bear children.
But the child was a Nazarite who was dedicated to God (verse 5).
Then who are the Nazarites?
It means "one who has been set apart, set apart from all things of the world, and dedicated to God."
As a proof, they had to grow their hair, not drink wine or strong alcohol, and they had to not touch anything unclean.
Why did you do that?
The reason I grow my hair is to show people that I am a Nazarite.
So it proves how you live.
To refrain from drinking wine or strong alcohol is to cultivate self-control.
Refraining from touching the unclean means a clean and docile devotion to God. More details on this can be found in Numbers 6:1-21.
2. Samson as a Nazarite
Samson was a man set apart from God from the beginning. So God gave Samson strength. As a young man, Samson only kept his long hair and failed to keep any other promises he had to make as a Nazarite.
For one thing, Samson was forced to marry a Philistine woman living in Timnah without his parents' permission.
From this point on, Samson gradually fell into a snare, and eventually met a woman named Delilah and revealed the secret of his power.
3. Strong Samson
Samson had a special grace from God, and he was a strong man. Samson tore a lion like a goat (14:6), tied it with three cords but easily cut it off, and killed a thousand people with a single donkey's jawbone (15:14-15).
But even this Samson was weak to women. Delilah harassed Samson, who couldn't win, and after cheating several times, he revealed his secret.
Samson, who had his head cut off, was captured and blinded, and he was left with a quarrel.
Samson was a man who had strong physical strength but failed because of weak spiritual strength.
Samson was finally called to the Philistines' banquet, held the two pillars of the temple and prayed, "Make me strong this time alone."
4. Spiritual Lessons From This Event
1) Those who are set apart from God must live to the end with the inner strength given by the Holy Spirit. You must have the faith to resist any temptation.
2) For Samson, strength came from doing God’s will (14:6, 15:14). However, when Samson broke the rules of the Nazarites and betrayed God, his strength was lost.
3) Everyone has strong times and weak times.
The important thing is to keep in mind that the source of strength is only in God.
In the New Testament, there were no people with strong physical strength, but there were many people with strong spiritual strength. The Holy Spirit is the source of inner strength.