And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and Jehovah blessed him.
A woman who had no children bears a son and names him Samson. The verse then adds only two notes about the years that follow: he grew, and God blessed him. It is the brightest moment in a life that later collapses. So what does God's blessing on a child guarantee?
No one earned this birth or asked for it. One writer traces the whole account back to God's free choice, down to the tribe involved.
In the case of Samson we see how everything shows God's hand working in sovereignty. He chooses the already dishonoured tribe of Dan — the first in Israel to fall into idolatry (Judges 18). He can do as it pleases Him. Unasked, the Lord appeared to Manoah's wife and announced the birth — to her who had been childless until then — of this child.
Commentators differ over what "Samson" means. Each reading points to a different centre for his story.
The name has more than one explanation. "Sun-like" is the simplest reading from the root of the word, and Deborah's song gives it some support (Judges 5:31). Yet Josephus explains it as "strong," and that seems to point more to the lesson of his story. The secret of strength shows itself in him, both in his victories and in his failure and defeat.
Another writer keeps the "sun-like" reading and ties the name to how far Samson's work could go.
He would only start the work — for he was not Christ! He might "begin" the work: the true David alone could finish it. It is worth noting here that his name Samson means "Sun-like" — from Shemesh, the "Sun" of Righteousness Himself.
The blessing on this child was not a sign that things were going well in Israel. It was the opposite. The deliverer God raised up shows how far the nation had fallen.
In this case the state of the people was such that God sets him apart to Himself as a Nazirite. There could be no stronger proof that the people as a whole were far from God. In all ordinary cases a Nazirite was someone who had taken a special vow of separation to God, but only for a short time. In this case it was an extraordinary Nazirite vow, stretching through his whole life.
Read the chapter and you notice how little space this happy period gets. One writer sets that proportion beside the opening years of the church.
Samson grew, the LORD blessed him, and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him. The book of Acts shows the same features of growth (Acts 6:7), blessing (Acts 4:32-33) and the moving of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:31). Yet Judges says very little about this period of Samson's life, compared with the detail it gives about his failure. In the same way, the church's early days were very brief compared with the centuries of failure that followed.
God's blessing rested on the growing boy. It did not settle how he would live.
God was working with him, but we do not see in Samson a serious concern to let the Word of God guide him.
One writer makes that gap the frame for the whole life.
There are two distinct things: what God intended Samson to be, and what he was. These are two very different things. The history of Samson as he was gives us plenty of material for warning. But the history of Samson as God intended him to be shows us who and what alone can deliver God's people from the power of the Philistines — from the power of a religion that is only outward.
One writer lists what this home had going for it.
Here we see a child of promise, and one who gave the brightest promise. We see godly parents, and a true desire to bring their son up as he should go, "and the young man grew, and the LORD blessed him."
Samson later failed. One writer finds comfort even there.
This in no way excuses Samson for all his wilfulness and sin. But it does bring great comfort to an aching heart to know that it is God's prerogative to bring good out of evil… Samson's name appears in the honour lists of Hebrews 11.
- Given. The birth came unasked, to a childless woman, in a tribe already marked by idolatry. God chose it all.
- Named. Commentators read "Samson" as "sun-like" or as "strong". The second points to the theme that runs through his victories and his defeat alike: strength.
- Blessed. The blessing rested on a life set apart to God from birth. That lifelong separation showed how far Israel had drifted.
- Tested. Blessing came with him; obedience to God's Word did not come with it. Judges spends far more space on his fall than on his bright start.
- Remembered. What God intended Samson to be and what he became are two different histories. Yet his name still stands in the roll of faith in Hebrews 11.
And the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him at Mahaneh-Dan, between Zoreah and Eshtaol.
Samson has been born, has grown, and God has blessed him — and now, before he has done anything at all, the Spirit begins to stir him at Mahaneh-dan. It raises two questions the rest of his story answers. What is this power? And why does it rest on a man who ends in ruin?
(The quotations below follow older translations, which read "began to move him at times," in "the camp of Dan.")
God prepares a man inwardly before He uses him in public. One writer lists others made ready the same way:
Samuel was exercised in heart before he was manifested, and David likewise, and Ezra, and Nehemiah, and the rest of them, though in different ways. The Spirit of God was getting the instrument ready before the hand of God used it. As we read of Samson, "the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol."
"At times" is not a throwaway phrase. It shows how the Spirit worked then. He came for a purpose, then lifted, and did not stay:
Again it says about Samson, "The Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times" (Judges 13:25). It also says that "the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him" (Judges 14:6; 15:14)… The thought of the Holy Spirit abiding is never suggested in Old Testament Scripture. It was merely His coming upon a man in the character of power.
For the Christian now, this power is not occasional:
We too may win such victories. We do not depend on a temporary action of the Holy Spirit coming on us from outside. We win because, through redemption, the Holy Spirit has sealed us, and He is the Spirit of power.
The stirring falls on a man already set apart as a Nazarite — someone separated to God by vow. One writer reads Samson's unusual case as a verdict on the nation:
In this case the state of the people was such that God sets him apart to Himself as a Nazarite. There could not be a stronger proof that the people, as a whole, were far from God. Normally a Nazarite was someone who had taken a special vow of separation to God, but only for a short time. Here it was an extraordinary Nazariteship, stretching through his whole life.
Separation is not just a rule attached to Samson. It is where his strength comes from:
Samson, as a type, sets before us the principle of Nazariteship: entire separation to God. That separation is the source of strength in conflict with our enemies. These enemies are seen as ones who seek to gain the upper hand among the people of God, within their own borders and in their own heart.
Power from God is no measure of the person carrying it:
Still, we cannot judge the moral worth of a man of God by the greatness of his gift. Nowhere in Scripture do we find a stronger man than Samson, nor one weaker morally… Samson was a Nazarite, and the Spirit of God often came on him. But his heart had never been judged, so his state did not match the gift he used.
"Mahaneh-dan" is a place name, and its story comes later in the book:
In Judges 13:25 it should read, as the margin has it, "Mahaneh Dan," a place named because of what happened there, as told in Judges 18:12.
Three things mark Samson's early years, then Scripture hurries to his collapse:
Samson grew, Jehovah blessed him, and the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him. The book of Acts shows the same features of growth (Acts 6:7), blessing (Acts 4:32-33) and the moving of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:31). Yet very little is said about this period of Samson's life in Judges, compared with the details given about his failure.
Samson's life ends in ruin, yet the purpose that starts here still arrives:
God always works out His ways, and He does it through many circumstances that are far from matching His thoughts. More than that, He uses those very circumstances to carry out His purposes — here, the deliverance of Israel by an instrument He shaped for that end… Unfaithfulness on our part does not disturb the ways of God. It was by the death of a blind Samson that Jehovah won the greatest victory.
- Blessed — growth, blessing and the Spirit's stirring open Samson's story. The same three marks open the church's story in Acts.
- Stirred — this is preparation, not yet public service. The Spirit made the instrument ready before God's hand used it.
- At times — the power came and went. The Spirit did not yet stay; today the Holy Spirit seals the believer.
- Separated — the stirring rests on a lifelong Nazarite. Separation to God is itself the source of strength against enemies inside the borders.
- Untested — gift never measures the man. Samson was the strongest man and the weakest in character, a heart never judged — yet his failure did not disturb God's ways.