What was the source of Samson's strength?

Now mark this well, and let me press it earnestly upon you, that separation was the secret of his strength. The secret of Samson's power was his Nazariteship; and that meant that he was completely and thoroughly separated to God. The moment that he divulged that secret, he lost all his power. Now I am struck with this history, for this reason, that I find the blessed God succoured Samson even whilst he was being enticed by allurements; God was succouring him in a wonderful way up to the moment this seventeenth verse records. He had been enticed by allurements, turned aside by them frequently, and yet up to the last God helped him; but the moment he divulged the secret, God succours him no more. It is most solemn. The moment you lose your separation, God succours you no longer. Of course there is ever His recovering grace, blessed be His name for that; but that is not our subject to-night. That will be before us, the Lord willing, on the next occasion; but I am now speaking only of declension; and, oh, do let me earnestly press the solemn nature of it upon you. In this instance the secret of this man's wonderful strength was, that he was a Nazarite unto God. He did not touch wine or strong drink; i.e. he gave up all the joy of nature. He was God's altogether. Well, I say, as long as that secret was kept intact, as long as ever he held fast that secret between God and himself, as long as he did not allow Delilah into that which was in his heart, God helped him; but the moment he gave that up he was weaker than the weakest. Is not that very solemn, beloved friends? You may say, "Oh, but it was in a moment of extreme temptation that Samson gave up that secret!" Not so; let us go back over the history for an instant. What was the beginning of it? Turn back to chapter 14, and see what was the beginning of the declension in this man? You will find it in the first verse of that chapter. "And Sampson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife." That is much farther back, let me tell you, than his sleeping upon Delilah's knees and telling her the secret of his heart. In this was the beginning, the seedtime, of the declension in his heart, which bore its fruit in the long run; even his want of discernment of the incongruity of being united with one who belonged to the enemies of God. It is, in a word, unholy association; and, beloved friends, how often that has happened. How many a pillar of salt there is amongst the saints of God as witness of the solemnity of it! How many a one has given up the truth of God in that very same way — entering into unhallowed association, and losing every feature of distinctness, and thus giving up all testimony. I do not mean merely in the relationships of life, but in everything. We are left here in this world, through God's grace, to maintain the principle of separation in everything, whatever it may be. I cannot limit it to any one particular sphere; it applies to everything. There is no way whereby the saints of God are more effectually allured from the place of simple separation to Him, and which becomes the glory of His Christ, than in this way of unholy association. It is this worldly principle which bids fair to destroy the whole testimony at this present moment, and therefore I warn my younger brethren about it to-night. Here was the beginning of all that Samson fell into afterwards — "Give me this woman to wife;" this woman of the Philistines. In the PROVIDENCE of God his wish was defeated, and God turned aside this terrible slip for a time. The woman was given to his friend; Samson did not get her. That was the PROVIDENCE of God. But when I say that, I am not in any wise making light of that which is entirely foreign to the path of faith for His saints. The providence of God is what God does here in this world to keep evil back, when everything is out of order. Everything is out of order in this world; the whole condition is disorganized, and in moral chaos and confusion; and I find the blessed God (who has not given up the reins of government, though He works as it were in secret) acting to turn aside that which would be opposed to His purpose. But faith, is the principle by which His saints track the divine path through the intricacies of present confusion. Faith alone can guide you and me. I thank God for His providence with all my heart; but still that is not the saint's guide along this world.

When he was a young man he went down to Timnath and a young lion roared against him "and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand" (14:5-6).

Later when his countrymen bound him with new cords and delivered him to the Philistines they "shouted against him; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men with it" (15:14-15). There is the plainest possible proof that there was power with Samson because the Spirit of the Lord came upon him.

As well as a secret joy for the believer, there is also a secret strength, and we see this in the long hair of the Nazarite. In this connection we immediately think of the story of Samson. He was a Nazarite from his mother's womb and he grew seven locks upon his head (Judges 13:5; 16:13, 19). In pictures Samson is always portrayed as a man of tremendous physique, but that isn't the idea at all. The Philistines said to Delilah, "Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth." They couldn't understand where Samson's strength came from. It didn't come from his physique, but rather it lay in his separation to God so that, "the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him." Once his hair had been shaved off he was as weak as a child. Even Delilah "began to overpower him" (Judges 18:19).

His remarkable physical powers were clearly not his own, however. They lasted for just so long as he preserved his Nazariteship intact. Then the presence of danger nerved him and in moments of crisis "the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him." True to God's way, even then the instruments used to accomplish his mighty feats were of the simplest. On one occasion we read "he had nothing in his hand" (Judges 14:6), and on yet another, when an instrument was used it was but "a new jawbone of an ass" and therewith he slew a thousand men (Judges 15:15).

Samson … was one separated to God, sanctified for Jehovah … his hair was not to be cut. While the commandment and precept were observed, his strength was with him. There might have seemed little connection between long or uncut hair and all-overcoming strength; but God was in it: and an obeyed, honoured God, is a God of strength to us.

According to our chapter a man might make a vow to separate himself to the Lord for a certain period, and if so, he placed himself under a threefold obligation, which he had to observe "all the days of his separation." The only actual case, recorded in the Old Testament, is that of Samson, and he was to be a life-long Nazarite from his birth, as we see in Judges 13:5. He did not take the vow upon him it was placed upon him by God, and his supernatural strength depended upon his faithful observance of it. The story of how he was seduced from it, we all know.

Samson's life had a divinely ordained purpose, to destroy the Philistines and to deliver Israel, this being clearly stated before his birth (13:5), and Samson was provided with a divine power in order to enable him to fulfil that purpose. From his earliest years the Spirit of the Lord began to come upon him and to move him at times. This was his power for the delivery of Israel from the Philistines (13:25). There was adequate power in Samson to deliver Israel from the Philistines in the presence of the Spirit of the Lord moving him when the occasion arose.

It is quite natural that the Timnathite vineyards should contain lions also. Satan is here in this among his many forms; and the seduction may lead into the ambush, and so the open assault. But here he is to be less feared than elsewhere. The soldier of Christ is more easily lulled to sleep than overcome in battle. The Spirit of Jehovah at once comes upon Samson, and he awakes to his strength, gaining thus a personal experience which is to be fruitful for him afterwards. He rends the lion without a weapon in his hand, and as easily as one would a kid. It is the power of God, but realized in the living energy of man, stripped and bare of all other assistance. With such help the mightiest foe is as easily vanquished as the feeblest. No need to measure difficulties, save only to assure one's self that the greatest opposition means the greatest triumph; and again, it is the glory of the earthen vessel that the excellency of the power should be of God and not of us.

Samson and his parents therefore went down to Timnah (v. 5), but while Samson was alone, a young lion came against him. The power and roar of the lion did not intimidate Samson, however. In this case is the first intimation of the great strength God had given him. With his bare hands he tore the lion apart! (v. 6). But this was because the Spirit of God came mightily upon him. This is significant of the power God gives believers over the power of the devil by His Spirit (1 Jn. 2:13). Samson did not even mention this episode to his parents.

But the men of Judah were as ignorant of the source of Samson's power as the Philistines. No, they said, we will not ourselves kill thee, but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines, and accordingly they bound him with two new cords and brought him up from the rock. What a spectacle! God's chosen vessel a captive apparently in the hands of the men of Judah! Well might the Philistines congratulate themselves and shout against him; for now, with no danger to themselves, they might conclude, their enemy was at their mercy. And what could Samson do, with three thousand of the men of Judah against him, as well as the army of the Philistines? By himself nothing, but the conflict was not his, but the Lord's; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. It was thus no longer a question of one man against thousands; it was the LORD against His enemies. If the Lord is our light and our salvation, it will be as David describes: "Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." So was it with Samson, for as soon as the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, his cords became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from his hands. Then finding a new jawbone of an ass ready to his hand, he slew therewith a thousand men. Wearied with his victory, and "sore athirst," he might still have fallen into the hands of the uncircumcised, but he turned in his need to the only source of his strength, and, calling on the Lord, he received succour through the water of life which flowed out of the place of death. "En-hakkore" ("of him that calleth") marked both the place and the secret of his deliverance.