# data[].attributes.body
Samson is a well-known Biblical figure touted for his great strength and long hair. He appears in the Old Testament in the Book of Judges.

Samson is a Biblical figure who appears in the Book of Judges, 13-16. He was an Israelite who followed the proscriptions of Nazirite life, which included not drinking nor trimming his locks. A man of tremendous strength, his power was sapped after his lover Delilah cut his hair. While generally believed to be a legend, some have thought Samson’s story has elements of historical truth.

# data[].attributes.headline
Desperate to stop Samson, five Philistine leaders decide to employ the services of a harlot named Delilah to discover how to render him powerless (Judges 16:4 - 5). His lust and weakness for women, coupled with her persistence, pays off. She learns from him that the source of his power is his dedicated service to God symbolized by his unshaved head (verse 17).Delilah, as Samson sleeps, has his hair shaved off and, with his Nazarite vow now broken, he loses his superhuman strength. The brutal Philistines take him prisoner, gouge out his eyes, bind him and force him to grind in prison.

# data[].attributes.subject
Desperate to stop Samson, five Philistine leaders decide to employ the services of a harlot named Delilah to discover how to render him powerless (Judges 16:4 - 5). His lust and weakness for women, coupled with her persistence, pays off. She learns from him that the source of his power is his dedicated service to God symbolized by his unshaved head (verse 17).Delilah, as Samson sleeps, has his hair shaved off and, with his Nazarite vow now broken, he loses his superhuman strength. The brutal Philistines take him prisoner, gouge out his eyes, bind him and force him to grind in prison.

# data[].attributes.body
Samson is mentioned, by name, at least thirty-eight times in the King James Old Testament. His life is also referenced once in the New Testament (Hebrews 11). His name comes from the Hebrew Shimshon (Strong's Concordance #H8123) and means "like the sun" (Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Definitions). Samson's miraculous birth, exploits, failings, and redemptive death is covered in the book of Judges from chapters 13 to 16.

# data[].attributes.body
Samson greatly desired to marry a Philistine woman of Timnath . A young lion attacks him as he travels to the city to take her for a wife. In his first notable act of strength he, with his bare hands, quickly tears up and kills the hungry lion.

During his wedding celebration Samson offers his guests a valuable prize if they answer a riddle (Judges 14:10 - 14). Stumped, the guests resort to having his new wife ply the answer from him (verses 15 - 17). Samson, enraged after discovering he had been tricked into divulging the riddle's answer, kills thirty Philistines in order to provide the promised prize.

# data[].attributes.body
The story of Samson and his unique life begins with the Philistines harassing those who lived in the southern part of ancient Israel. The Philistines were a warlike people, some of which were tall and strong (e.g. Goliath), who dwelled on land that belonged to the tribe of Judah (Joshua 13:2 - 3, 15:47). They were allowed to dominate part of God's people as punishment for their sins (Judges 13:1).

# data[].attributes.body
Three thousand men of Judah decide to turn Samson over to the Philistines in order to avoid retribution upon their tribe for his deeds. He seizes on the opportunity, however, to get close to Israel's enemy. Once he is turned over to them, he finds the jawbone of a newly dead ass and uses it to slay 1,000 men (Judges 15:9 - 15).

The people of Gaza discover that Samson is in the city utilizing the services of a prostitute (Judges 16:1). They quickly decide to secretly surround him and wait until morning in order to take his life (verse 2). He decides, however, to leave the city at midnight with a spectacular show of strength. While exiting Gaza he tears loose the city's gate, along with its posts and bar, and deposits them at the top of a hill outside the city (verse 3)!

# data[].attributes.body
The Eternal ultimately allows the Philistines to bully and harass his people for several years. He then decides to begin to free them from their adversary by sending them a champion named Samson (Judges 13:1, 5).

God sends the Angel of the Lord to a Danite woman to announce she will be healed of her barrenness. She and her husband Manoah are instructed to raise Samson as a Nazarite (Judges 13:3 - 14). This dedicated state of serving God is meant to last his entire life (verse 7). The Lord, as the child grows up, not only blesses him but also begins to stir within him, through the Holy Spirit, the desire to fulfill his will (verses 24 - 25).