Letter to the Hebrews Volume 147

 Overcoming Faith Part 5 (Samson)

Hebrews 11:32-34 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the Prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. KJV Note: CEV=Contemporay English Version

The writer of Hebrews next list six (6) men and also the Prophets whom the Lord God/Elohim/Jehovah/Adonai/Jesus Christ used in very miraculous ways to accomplish His will on the earth for the profit, protection, and preservation of children of Israel on the earth as per His promise to Abraham (then Abram) way back when He first called Him to leave his home country and sojourn to a land that He (God) would shew unto him (Genesis 12:1-3). Each of these men were born many years after Abraham's earthly life was over, however, each one of them were descendants of Abraham. Just as the writer of Hebrews declares, as it is written, "And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the Prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." (Hebrews 11:32-34) (KJV), it would take up very much time to document all that the Scriptures have so documented for us concerning the exercising of extremely great overcoming faith by all of them. However, I will shine some light on each of these six (6) men as well as some of the Prophets that the writer of Hebrews highlights for us here in this part of his list of the heroes of the faith.

The third (3) man listed for us here by the writer of Hebrews was a man named Samson. Many young children in the Church have been told the story of Samson from the Scripture and in the young imaginative hearts and minds of children Samson was perhaps this giant of a man who was strong and could do absolutely incredible things that no other men were capable of doing. In reality, I believe that Samson was simply an ordinary man of his day who was chosen by the Lord God/Elohim/Jehovah/Adonai/Jesus Christ to serve Him even before he came out of his Mother's womb, as it is written and documented for us with these words, "And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." (Judges 13:1-5) (KJV). God chose a woman of Israel that had been unable to conceive any children with her husband to bring forth the next Judge and deliverer of Israel from their captivity once again (this time to the Philistines for 40 years) because of their own sin, disobedience, and rebellion toward the Lord God, and Samson was born, as it is written here, "And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol." (Judges 13:24-25) (KJV).

Of all the men used by Adonai/Elohim/My Lord Jesus Christ during the days of the Old Testament that I can relate to the most, Samson would be the one. Like Samson, I was hearing about God even while I was in my Mother's womb. I was dedicated to God as a baby and I grew up in the Church of God going to Sunday School and Church every Sunday that our Church would come together. It was never a doubt to me that God existed and I believed in Him from a very early age and throughout my teenage years, young adulthood, and all the way now into my Senior citizen years. Samson's birth was miraculous and Samson's life was miraculous because of what God the Holy Spirit worked through him to defeat and destroy the Philistines. Samson saw a woman of the Philistines (the people he was doing battle with) and wanted her for his wife and not any woman from amongst his own people the Israelites (Judges 14:1-3). This was one of the first of many mistakes Samson would make with women, for they were surely his weakness, his biggest weakness. Like Samson, my weakness too is with women brown, yellow, Puerto Rican, Haitian, Polish, English, African, South American, Asian, and every nationality and shade that there is upon the earth. Like Samson, I too made many bad decision with picking the wrong women to let into my life, my world. During the time of Samson's journey down to Timnah to take this woman of the Philistines to be his wife, he was confronted by a lion and Samson killed the lion with his bear hands, as it is written here, "As Samson and his parents reached the vineyards near Timnah, a fierce young lion suddenly roared and attacked Samson. But the LORD's Spirit took control of Samson, and with his bare hands he tore the lion apart, as though it had been a young goat. His parents didn't know what he had done, and he didn't tell them. When they got to Timnah, Samson talked to the woman, and he was sure that she was the one for him." (Judges 14:5-7) (CEV).

This is just one of the many incredible things that Samson did when God the Holy Spirit came upon him. God the Holy Spirit through Samson killed many men of the Philistines, including perhaps his greatest battle when he slew/killed 1,000 Philistine men, as it is written, "And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines 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 therewith. And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men. And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi." (Judges 15:14-17) (KJV). Despite all of these great conquest that Samson did by the Spirit of God, he was still a man of flesh and blood who did not submit himself at all times to the Lord God and allowed his desire for women to ultimately defeat and destroy him when he began sleeping with a woman named Delilah whom he told to her the secret of his incredible strength after she kept on asking him and when he did she bound him up with ropes and called the Philistines and they came to Samson and he got up as he had done before to kill the Philistines, but he did not know that the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him, so they chained him up and put out both his eyes (Judges 16:1-21).

Samson had become the slave of the Philistines and they paraded him about mocking him because he was no longer the strong fierce fighter he once was when the Spirit of the Lord would come upon, therefore, Samson did pray to the Lord for one last chance to avenge himself before the Philistine people, as it is written, "Samson prayed, 'Please remember me, LORD God. The Philistines poked out my eyes, but make me strong one last time, so I can take revenge for at least one of my eyes!' Samson was standing between the two middle columns that held up the roof. He felt around and found one column with his right hand, and the other with his left hand. Then he shouted, 'Let me die with the Philistines!' He pushed against the columns as hard as he could, and the temple collapsed with the Philistine rulers and everyone else still inside. Samson killed more Philistines when he died than he had killed during his entire life. His brothers and the rest of his family went to Gaza and took his body back home. They buried him in his father's tomb, which was located between Zorah and Eshtaol. Samson was a leader of Israel for twenty years." (Judges 16:28-31) (CEV). Here is what Matthew Henry had to say of Samson, "Samson, another instrument that God raised up to deliver Israel from the Philistines: His story we have in Judges 13, 14, 15, and 16, and from it we learn that the grace of faith is the strength of the soul for great service. If Samson had not had a strong faith as well as a strong arm, he had never performed such exploits. Observe, (1.) By faith the servants of God shall overcome even the roaring lion. (2.) True faith is acknowledged and accepted, even when mingled with many failings. (3.) The believer's faith endures to the end, and, in dying, gives him victory over death and all his deadly enemies; his greatest conquest he gains by dying."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…