Samson's Hair

Written By: Cyril Adom

The life of Samson is recorded in Judges 13-16. Samson's life was a hugely contradictory one. He had physical super strength yet very weak morally. Samson's birth was prophesied by an Angel in Judges 13:5. He was born to be set apart for God's use. He was never to cut his hair. The strength of Samson was in his hair.

The story of Samson has a lot of lessons for young people who wish to walk with God. The spirit of the Lord was on Samson yet Samson was far from being righteous. Samson was a man of many weaknesses. Let's look at some of his weaknesses.

SAMSON'S FLAWS

1. DISOBEDIENCE

Samson was a disobedient young man. He took a wife from the Philistines(Israel's chief enemy) against his parent's advise. In fact, it was against the laws of Israel to marry from a pagan nation. Yet Samson disobeyed.

2. ANGER

One of the flaws in the character of Samson is his anger or lack of patience. Samson was so powerful that anger and arrogance easily became part of his downfall. In Judges 14:19, Samson killed about 30 men out of sheer anger. The interesting part is that God always used Samson's anger to destroy the Philistines.

3. MORAL WEAKNESSES

Aside Samson's erratic behavior and anger issues, what was perhaps his biggest flaw was his moral weakness. Samson was a womanizer. After Samson lost his first wife, he went to another Philistine territory and slept with a prostitute. Later, he re-married again from among the Philistines. This last marriage, ultimately led to his downfall.

SAMSON'S CHOICE OF PARTNERS

One of the biggest lessons from Samson's life was his choice of partners. First, he chose the wrong partner from the Philistines. His first wife betrayed him and revealed one of his secrets to the Philistines(Judges 14:17).

Later, he made the same mistake again and married another philistine lady named Delilah. Delilah later betrayed him. Samson was a man who carried the destiny of God but his wrong choice of partners led to his downfall.

As young people in Christ, our choice of partners is very important to our course in life. We need to be careful when choosing our marriage partners. No matter how anointed you are if you marry the wrong person, you will have issues.

The life of lesson teaches us two main lessons:

√ God can still use you irrespective of your weaknesses. Samson had a lot of weaknesses but God still used him to advance his course against the enemies of the Israelites.

√ No matter how anointed you are if you are morally weak, you won't go far with God. We need to be disciplined. Self control is a fruit of the Spirit.

The anointing of Samson was in his hair. Samson however took it for granted and out of carelessness and disobedience, he revealed his secret to his wife. We should never take the presence of God in our lives for granted. If we want to go far with God, we need obedient to His commands and be holy.