Tag: Nazarite

Sampson

I teach the Young Men tomorrow and will be discussing Sampson’s life and example.  He conforms to one of the great patterns of men sent by the Lord to deliver His people.  That often repeated pattern includes:

– A couple or woman who cannot bear a child because of some infirmity,  age, infertility, barrenness, or lack of marriage.

– A promise made that a son will be sent.

– The woman/couple receive a son despite the infertility problem before.

– The son then comes and plays a role which alters the course of the Lord’s people.

This was the case with Abraham and Sarah, to whom Isaac came.  Manoah, to whom Sampson came.  Elkanah and Hannah, to whom Samuel came.  Zechariah and Elizabeth, to whom John was sent.  Mary and Joseph, to whom Jesus came.

There have been many others, but their stories are not always recorded or known.

Sampson was a Nazarite, the covenant terms of his dedication to the Lord is set out in Numbers 6.  Among other things, a Nazarite was not to cut his hair during the time of the covenant.  This was the reason Sampson’s hair cutting was so significant.  It represented the final break of the covenant.

Sampson was a Messianic figure.  He foreshadowed the Lord.

There is a statement in Matthew that Christ was to be called a “Nazarene.”  (Matt. 2: 23.)  That conflicts, however, with the later inquiry of Nathanael recorded in John 1: 46: “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”  The more likely statement Matthew was referring to was that the Lord was to be “called a Nazarite” meaning he was under the covenant in Numbers 6.

I’ve written a parable about the way in which Sampson’s life mirrored the Lord’s in Ten Parables.  

I believe that if we had a full account of the Lord’s life we would realize just how much Sampson’s life foreshadowed the Lord’s.  A hint of that is contained in that parable in Ten Parables.