Research Paper On Samson By Elie Wiesel

Samson was born to a man named Zorah, called Manoah, of a barren wife, “The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son.” (Judges 13:3). This is a very important point because bareness is a theme throughout the bible. This is because having children is not only God’s command, “As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.” (Genesis 9:7), but the ability to have children is also considered to be a blessing from God. Therefore, God removing the barrenness and allowing barren women to have children not only shows his power but his mercy. When the wife told Manoah what the man had told her he prayed to God and

This caused Samson’s rage against the Philistines to turn into a boiling hatred as stated by Samson himself when he said, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” (Judges 15:3). This shows Samson coming into the reason God allowed for him to be born which would allow him to exercise his plan to release the Israelites from the Palestine’s. He struck down the men who had gone against his wishes and struck him down. His people brought him back to the Philistine’s in response to his actions due to fear of their retaliations. When this happened, he broke free of the strong ropes and after “Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.” (Judges 15:13). Samson proved to be a formidable opponent to the Philistines and led the Israelites for twenty

Hoping to capture him, the leaders of the Philistine each offered Delilah a sum of money in order to get her to help them uncover the secret of Samson's great strength. Using her powers of seduction and deception, Delilah persistently wore down Samson with her repeated requests to learn his weakness, until he finally gave in and explained his weakness, “So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”” (Judges 16:17). When Samson told Delilah that his strength would leave him if a razor were to be used on his head, she crafted her plan with the Philistine rulers. While Samson slept on her lap, Delilah called “for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair,” (Judges 16:18). After this, Samson was weak and subdued leading to his capture. Rather than killing him, the Philistines decided to humiliate him by gouging out his eyes and subjecting him to hard labor in a Gaza prison. As he worked at the grinding grain within the prison, his hair began to grow, but the careless Philistines did not notice. And in spite of his horrible failures and great sins, Samson's heart turned back to the Lord. He prayed to God and God