Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: God raises up a man named Sampson, a Nazirite, to judge Israel and fight against the Philistines.
Israel does evil in the sight of the Lord, and He delivers them into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years. And a Danite had a wife who is barren and has no children, and an Angel of the Lord appears to her and tells her she will bear a son, but that she must be careful not to drink wine or other drinks or eat anything unclean, and she should not shave her son's head, because he will be a "Nazirite (consecrated) to God from the womb" and will deliver Israel from the Philistines. She tells her husband that "a man of God" came to her "whose countenance was like the of the Angel of God." She says she did not ask him where he was from nor did he tell her his name, but she relays him the news. The man prays to the Lord and asks that the "man of God" would come again and teach them what to do for their child, and the Lord listens. The Angel comes again while the woman is sitting in the field, and she runs and tells her husband, so he follows her and asks Him about the boy. The Angel reiterates the instructions to him. He asks Him to wait while they prepare a young goat, but the Angel says He will not eat it but to make an offering to the Lord. The man asks the Angel what His name is, but He says, ""Why do you ask My name? Since it is beyond comprehension?" (in some translations) So the man takes the goat and a grain offering and offers it on the rock before the Lord. When the flames rise, the Angel ascends in the flame of the altar. When they see this, they fall on their faces, and the man knows it was the Angel of the Lord. The man says they must now die because they have seen God. But the woman says that if they were going to die, the Angel would not have accepted the offering or said what He said to them. She does indeed have a son named Sampson, and he "[grows], and the Lord [blesses] him," and God's spirit moves upon him.
Sampson sees a woman of the daughter of the Philistines, and he tells his father and mother to get her for him as a wife, but they ask if there is no one among his brethren. However, he insists. They do not realize that this is of the Lord, because it says that the Lord was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. So he goes down to Timnah with his parents to see the girl, and a young lion comes against him on the way, which he tears apart with his hands. However, he doesn't tell his parents. They talk with the woman, and when he returns after some time to get her, he sees the carcass of the lion, and a swarm of bees and honey are in it, and he takes some in his hands to eat and gives to his parents to eat- without telling them where it came from. His father goes to the lady, and they have a feast. Sampson says to all the people gathered there, "Let me pose a riddle to you." If they are able to solve it at the end of the 30 days of the feast, he will give them 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes, but if not, then they must give him the same. "Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong, came something sweet." The men ask his wife to entice him to explain the riddle or else they will burn her father's house with fire, because they do not want to have to give up their possessions. So she cries to Sampson and says that he must hate her for not telling her the answer to the riddle and that he doesn't love her, but he says that he hasn't even explained it to his parents. She does this for 7th days, and on the 7th he tells her because she pressures him so much, and then she tells her people. When they give Sampson the answer, God's Spirit comes on him, and he kills 30 of their men and takes their clothes to give to the men who solved the riddle. He goes back to his father's house, and his wife is given to his companion, who had been his best man.
At the time of the wheat harvest, after some time, Sampson visits his "wife" with a young goat. He asks her father if he can go to her room, but he won't allow it and says that he thought he hated her; he says that he gave her to Sampson's companion and offers him her younger sister instead. Sampson says that now he will be blameless if he harms the Philistines. He catches 300 foxes, puts them "tail to tail" with lit torches between their tails, and sets them through the grains, vineyards, and olive groves of the Philistines. After this, the Philistines burn the woman and her father with fire, and Sampson declares he will get revenge. So he slaughters many Philistines, and then goes to dwell in a cleft of a rock. Some Philistines go to the city to get Sampson, and then 3,000 men of Judah go to Sampson to ask what he has done and tell him they are there to arrest him and deliver him to the Philistines; but, they promise not to kill him. They bind him with ropes and bring him to the Philistines, but the Lord comes upon him, and he breaks the bonds and takes a donkey jaw bone and kills 1,000 Philistines. Then, he becomes thirsty and cries out to the Lord and asks God if he will die of thirst; God splits the ground, and water comes out, and "his spirit [returns], and he [revives]." He names the two place respectively (where he killed the men and where the water came out- this was a common practice). And he judges Israel for 20 years, in "the days of the Philistines."
Thoughts/discussion questions:
We should never underestimate how God can move.
God wanted Sampson to belong to Him and live a pure life; He wanted to use him mightily. He did indeed use Sampson, but Sampson's life was unnecessarily sad due to disobedience.