Samson

Today's superheroes of sports are weaklings compared to a real hero who lives three thousand years ago. When Samson flexed his muscles, heavy cords snapped like rotten strings. He once slew a thousand enemies using the jawbone of an ass for a weapon. He uprooted the gates of the city of Giza and carried them to the top of a distant hill. When attacked by a lion, he made no attempt to escape or to tame the animal; with his bare hands he tore the lion's jaw apart!! Can the strongest man do this? I think barely.

Samson's feat were the works of the Lord. The Spirit of God came over him and suddenly he was empowered with incredible strength.

Samson was a Hebrew during the years when God allowed the Israelites to fall captive to the Philistines. The wife of the Isrealite Manoah learned from an angel of the Lord she would give birth to a son who will save the  Jews from their captors. When Samson was born, the Holy Spirit came upon and he grew to become the Philistines' terror. On one occasion, he killed 30 of them. Another time he caught 300 foxes, tied torches to their tails, and ran them though the Philistines' fields, thus causing their crops to burn. After slaughtring more Philistines, Samson went into the wilderness and lived in a cave.

At one point Samson let himself be captured and turned to over to the Philistines. But when his enemies began celebrate hos capture, he snapped his bonds and massacred them.

The Philistines finally found a way to contain him. He fell in love with a woman named Delilah. The Philistine leaders offered her an enormous sum of money if she could find out the source of Samson's strength, Samson treated Delilah's nagging about his strength as a game. ''Tie me up with 7 unseasoned bow strings, that will normalized my power.'' Delilah tied him up and summoned the Philistines to come for him. But when he saw them, he immediately broke free.

''New ropes will do, tie me in ropes that have never been used'' Samson teased.

Again Delilah tied him, but he broke free.

Samson had long, wavy hair that had never been cut. ''Weave my hair in your loom,'' he said,''and I'll be as weak as any other man.'' But again, when Delilah thought she and her conspirators had him at bay, Samson laughingly broke away,

At last he told her the true secret of his strength. ''I was dedicated to God when I was born, so my hair has never been cut. My hair is the key to my strength.'' Soon Delilah sang him softly to sleep and cut his hair. When Samson woke up and tried to summon his strength, he found that the Spirit has left him. He was captured. The Philistines pull out his eyes, bound him in chains, and threw him in prison where he was forced to grind their grains.

Later the inebriated Philistines were at a festival in honour of their pagan god.  They called for Samson from the dungeon into their temple so that they could mock him publicly. Several thousand people gathered to taunt the once-proud Israelite. But Samson's hair had grown back. He slyly persuaded his guard to tie him between the 2 main pillars of  of the temple. Then he prayed that God would strengthen for one last mighty feat.

God answered his prayer. Samson pushed against the great pillars as hard as he could, they gave way, the temple collapse on the hordes of Philistine mockers - and on Samson. It is recorded that he had killed more Philistines with his last act than he had killed in all his other deeds combined.

*sources, Men of the Bible, Dan Harmon