Judges 13:24

‘ And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson (Shimshon), and the child grew, and Yahweh blessed him.'

Eventually the son was born as Yahweh had promised, and they gave him the name Shimshon. Similar names have been discovered in Ugaritic texts of 15th and 14th centuries BC. It was probably a common name in Canaan. The name is based on shemesh, ‘the sun'. It is a diminutive (the -on ending). It may be that it was given to him partly because they lived near Beth-shemesh (the house of Shemesh).

But more emphatically they saw him as the sun rising on Israel, remembering the words of the song of Deborah, ‘let those who love Him be as the sun when it goes forth in its might' (Judges 5:31). For he was dedicated to Yahweh and through him Yahweh had promised some measure of deliverance to Israel from their dreaded enemy. There may also have been some memory of ‘the face of the Angel of Yahweh, very terrible' (Judges 13:6), probably revealing something of the glory of God (compare Exodus 34:29).

“And the child grew, and Yahweh blessed him.” Samson grew up under his godly father and mother, for we can have little doubt that the visitation had changed their whole lives. They knew now that they were an essential part of the covenant of Yahweh through which He intended good towards His people. And as he grew they taught him in the way of Yahweh, and Yahweh blessed him, especially in giving him a strong body which, especially when inspired by His Spirit, was able to accomplish mighty things.

The birth of Samson is the only birth of a Judge detailed in Judges (but compare Samuel in 1 Samuel 1 who achieved what Samson failed to do). His life began with such promise. Such a great future awaited him. But towards the end at least he became slack in his vow and much of it was frittered away on casual living. It was the grace of God that used his exploits, for they no doubt greatly encouraged his fellow-Israelites who were in no state to fight, and through him He continually weakened the Philistines, preventing them encroaching too far into the hill country, and finally dealing them a devastating blow which kept them from becoming too powerful.

A comparison between Jephthah and Samson is significant. The former was a bastard son of a prostitute, rejected and cast out by his family and countrymen, but disciplining his life, shaping his own future (although we cannot doubt that God had a hand in it), and rising to become a great deliverer and dedicated man of God, who gave his own daughter fully to the service of God and died respected and honoured.

The latter forecast by the Angel of Yahweh, wonderfully born, brought up in a godly home, provided with a good background, given a strength beyond that of normal men, but finally led astray by a woman, and succumbing to her wiles. Yet eventually he would come good in his death, the death of one who was pitifully blind, in the face of much mockery, but triumphant in the end through the grace of God. If only he had had Jephthah's faith and strength of purpose, what a man he might have been.

This reminds us that God uses all types of people from all kinds of backgrounds. Jephthah provides hope to all who come from unpromising beginnings. But the message of Samson comes home especially to those who find themselves weak, and failing again and again, those who struggle with their sexual desires and almost despair. It gives them hope that the God Who used a Samson, can also use them if only they repent when they have sinned, and constantly return to Him. He is the God of the weak as well as the strong (and Samson was possibly basically weak). Not all are of the stuff of giants.

In contrast again, Samuel had the same beginning as Samson, but he was fully faithful to Yahweh and grew to be the deliverer of Israel and founder of its future.

So we must ask, why was Samson's life recorded in such detail? It was because it spoke to men in their weakness when they were almost despairing. It was because he was a light in the darkness. They remembered Samson and it gave them hope. It was because his exploits against their enemies encouraged them, and tales about his exploits were spread ‘in the places of drawing water' and by wandering storytellers to a people feeling burdened and deprived, a subject people, who dared not themselves take on the Philistines but rejoiced in one who did. They liked constantly to remember him. In its own unique way his life spoke to their hearts, and it made them think of Yahweh and return in their hearts to Him. It helped them to continue to have hope in the midst of darkness.

Finally to put his life in context. ‘Israel was delivered into the hands of the Philistines for forty years' (Judges 13:1). We may consider that it is quite possible that this period was seen as ending when Samuel defeated the mighty Philistine forces at Mizpah (1 Samuel 7). This might suggest that Samson and Samuel were to some extent contemporary. Thus Samson's activities may well have been enough to prevent total Philistine control sufficiently to allow Samuel to grow and become established, for Samson operated in the border areas, in the plains and the lower hills of Dan/Judah, while Samuel operated from Shiloh.