Samson
שִׁמְשׁוֹן · shim.shon · H8123Σαμψών · Sampsōn · G4546“his sun; his service; there the second time” Hitchcock's 186938 mentions in 2 books, most in Judges (37)
Who he was
Samson was an Israelite judge during the period when the Philistines oppressed Israel. His birth was announced by an angel to his parents, Manoah and his wife, who had been barren (Judges 13:2–5). The angel instructed them to raise Samson as a Nazirite, dedicated to God from birth (Jdg.13.5, 7). As Samson grew, the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him (Judges 13:24–25). Samson's life was characterized by his immense strength, which he used to fight against the Philistines. He killed a lion with his bare hands (Judges 14:5–6), struck down thirty men of Ashkelon (Judges 14:19), and killed a thousand Philistines with a donkey's jawbone (Judges 15:14–16). However, Samson's weakness was his attraction to foreign women. He fell in love with a Philistine woman named Delilah, who eventually betrayed him by discovering the secret of his strength (Judges 16:4–20). The Philistines captured Samson, blinded him, and forced him to grind grain in prison (Judges 16:21). During a Philistine festival, Samson was brought out to entertain them. He prayed to God for strength one last time and pushed against the pillars of the temple, causing it to collapse and kill himself along with many Philistines (Judges 16:22–30). Despite his flaws, Samson is remembered as a man of faith who delivered Israel from Philistine oppression (Hebrews 11:32).
Article: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
Family
Family relations: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
Every mention
38 references, counted from STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0 · verse text: World English Bible (public domain)
Judges37 mentions
Judges 13:24The woman bore a son and named him Samson. The child grew, and Yahweh blessed him.Judges 14:1Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.Judges 14:3Then his father and his mother said to him, “Isn’t there a woman among your brothers’ daughters, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?”…Judges 14:5Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and his mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion roared at him.Judges 14:7He went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well.Judges 14:10His father went down to the woman; and Samson made a feast there, for the young men used to do so.Judges 14:12Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle now. If you can tell me the answer within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty…Judges 14:15On the seventh day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband, that he may declare to us the riddle, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you called us to…Judges 14:16Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, “You just hate me, and don’t love me. You’ve told a riddle to the children of my people, and haven’t told it to me.” He said to her, “Behold, I…Judges 14:20But Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his friend.Judges 15:1But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat. He said, “I will go in to my wife’s room.” But her father wouldn’t allow him to go in.Judges 15:3Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in the case of the Philistines when I harm them.”Judges 15:4Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch in the middle between every two tails.Judges 15:6Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” They said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” The Philistines came up…Judges 15:7Samson said to them, “If you behave like this, surely I will take revenge on you, and after that I will cease.”Judges 15:10The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us.”Judges 15:11Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in Etam’s rock, and said to Samson, “Don’t you know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to…Judges 15:12They said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.”Judges 15:16Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps on heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a thousand men.”Judges 16:1Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a prostitute, and went in to her.Judges 16:2The Gazites were told, “Samson is here!” They surrounded him and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, “Wait until morning light; then…Judges 16:3Samson lay until midnight, then arose at midnight and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city, with the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders…Judges 16:6Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and what you might be bound to afflict you.”Judges 16:7Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.”Judges 16:9Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. She said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He broke the cords as a flax thread is broken when it touches the fire. So his…Judges 16:10Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies. Now please tell me how you might be bound.”Judges 16:12So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, then said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” The ambush was waiting in the inner room. He broke them off his arms like a thread.Judges 16:13Delilah said to Samson, “Until now, you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you might be bound.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the fabric on…Judges 16:14She fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He awakened out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam and the fabric.Judges 16:20She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” He awoke out of his sleep, and said, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he didn’t know that Yahweh had departed…Judges 16:23The lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.”Judges 16:25When their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson, that he may entertain us.” They called for Samson out of the prison; and he performed before them. They set him between the…Judges 16:26and Samson said to the boy who held him by the hand, “Allow me to feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean on them.”Judges 16:27Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were on the roof about three thousand men and women, who saw while Samson performed.Judges 16:28Samson called to Yahweh, and said, “Lord Yahweh, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once, God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”Judges 16:29Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house rested and leaned on them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left.Judges 16:30Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at…
What the dictionary says
Of the sun, the son of Manoah, born at Zorah.
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Read the article →Sources
- STEPBible TIPNR · Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References · CC BY 4.0 · github.com/STEPBible/STEPBible-Data
- Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (1869) · Public domain