“The Samson Syndrome”

(part 1)

“Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because they boy is to be a Nazarite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

Judges 13:4-5

From the moment of his birth God intended Samson to be a Nazarite. The word Nazarite is derived from the Hebrew word ‘Nazar’ which means to “set apart.”
A Nazarite was an individual raised up by God whose life would be a demonstration to others of the highest level of holiness, purity and dedication to the Lord.

Samson was to be a picture of a sanctified life. From the time he was a child, no fermented juice touched his lips and no razor touched his head. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he did many exploits for the Lord. He tore a lion apart with his bare hands and struck down a thousand Philistines with nothing but the jawbone of a donkey. The Philistines were desperate to know the secret of his strength. Which brings us to Judges 16! The story of Samson and Delilah:

“Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”

Judges 16:4-5

Three times Delilah attempts to lure him into a trap. She asked him, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.” She didn’t even try and conceal what she wanted. She was brazen in her approach and for a time Samson alluded her. However, her repeated efforts began to take their toll on Samson:

“With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.”

Judges 16:16

Ultimately he told her everything! He told her about his Nazarite vow and how no razor had ever touched his head and when Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the Philistines. She then coaxed Samson to sleep in her lap:




“Having put him to sleep in her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.”

Judges 16:19

How did this man, set apart unto God and empowered by the Holy Spirit, end up with his head in the lap of sin being lulled to sleep by worldly compromise?



Pastor Scott Burr
http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com