Speaking of men of faith, who lived for God the writer of Hebrews, takes the names of few stalwarts of the stature as Noah, Abraham, Moses, and many others include Rahab, the harlot. He also mentions the names of Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthae. (Heb 11:32. Gideon; Judges 6:1-8:35:--Barak; Judges 4:6-5:31:--Samson; Judges13:24-16:31:--Jephthae; Judges 11:1-12:7), although it does not constitute as approval of the folly Samson in falling in love with a woman from Philistines, and losing the strength that God gave him to defeat the enemy, Philistines. Samson was chosen by God to fulfill his purpose of defeating the Philistines, who stood against God's children and harassed them for forty years. The children of Israel suffered this punishment because of their evil doings in the sight of the LORD. Yet, there came a time, when God had compassion on the children of Israel, and sent an angel to Manoah, one from the tribe of Dan to speak the words of the LORD. Manoah's wife was barren, but the angel of the LORD promised Manoah, a child will be born to them, and the child will be Nazarite unto the LORD. The angel of the LORD warned Manoah's wife, that she should not drink either wine or strong drink or eat any unclean thing inasmuch as the child in her womb was consecrated unto LORD and was, therefore, a Nazarite. In Judges 13:5 the description is given of the one, who is the Nazarite unto the LORD. 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. The woman went and told Manoah, of the words of the angel, that she shall bare a child, who will be a Nazarite unto the LORD. Manoah prayed in earnestness to the LORD to send the angel of the LORD once again so that they may get clear instructions once again. The LORD heard Manoah and sent the angel to Manoah's wife, who was in the field, when Manoah was not present there. Soon, the woman went to her husband, Manoah, and told that the angel has come back to reveal the sayings of God. Manoah came to the angel of the LORD and requested him to tell what he and his wife need to do about the child, who would be born to them. The angel of the LORD told them, "She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe" Judges 13:14 The angel of the LORD refused to reveal his name to Manoah, who requested him to tell his name. Their burnt offering and meat offering was accepted by the angel of the LORD, when the "flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground" (Judges 13:20). A son is born to the woman, and she called his name as, SAMSON. The LORD blessed Samson as he grew up.

Few thoughts come up after meditating on the above passage, which describes the credibility given by God to Samson, in spite of his failure, by mentioning his name in the New Testament, along with the stalwarts of faith. God chose Noah, Abraham, Moses and many others to serve him and execute his plans before men, in and through his chosen servants. Noah preached for one and hundred years, yet no one except his own family members entered the Ark, where safety was assured. Once after he and his family members entered the Ark, the doors of the Ark were shut strong by God himself, making it absolutely impossible for any outsider to enter in to the Ark, nor any one already inside the Ark to come out, until the time the Ark safely landed on the mountains of Ararat. Abram was blessed by God and He renamed him as Abraham, a man of faith, who had his son at the age of one hundred years. God made covenant with Abraham that he will bless Abraham and make him a great nation. Moses served God as the leader of the children of Israel, whom he led by the hand of the LORD, out of the bondage of slavery under Pharaoh, and led them in the wilderness for forty years. Although Samson's name was mentioned in Hebrews 11th Chapter casually, it was not out of significance, but God took notice of him, in spite of his failures. None of the faithful servants of God were sinless, and flawless, but all were short of the glory of God and needed God's mercy. Abraham, a man of faith, plundered in to an unimaginable flaw by speaking out half-truth, that his wife was his sister, when he was passing through the land of Egypt, where the king took advantage of Abraham's folly, and took his wife, with a bad motif, but could not raise a finger against her chastity, inasmuch as she was well protected by the almighty God. Moses was called by God to lead the children of Israel, and yet while executing the plans of God, Moses depended on his own wisdom at a point of time, when he was under great pressure from the children of Israel, who were thirsty for water in the desert. Instead of speaking to the rock, as commanded by God, Moses struck the rock, with his rod that resulted in water flowing from the rock, but the action was tantamount to dishonoring the LORD, who denied him the entry in to the Promised Land, Canaan. Samson was no exception to falling in to sin, even when he was called to do the work of the LORD, to punish Philistines, the enemy of God's children. This resulted in Samson losing strength but not the favor of the LORD. His final prayer to God was heard by him and Samson could defeat Philistines. Judges 16:29-30 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

While the Spirit of the LORD moved within the camps of the children of Israel, Samson, who was chosen by God, to deliver them from the onslaught of Philistines, moves on to the territories of Philistines and lands in the wrong hands. Samson goes to Timnath and finds a woman, one of the daughters of Philistines, a people, who are enemy to the children of God, and not only falls in love with her, but also come down to his parents and forces them to get her for him as a wife. On hearing this strange demand from the one, who is chosen to be the leader and deliverer of the people of Israel, the parents of Samson, ask him if he did not find any one in the families of his brethren, that he should go to the enemy camp and chose one to be his wife. Samson was unmoved by the inquiry of his parents and demands from them that they should go and get her to be his wife. This appears to be the folly of a man, chosen to achieve the purposes of God, falling in to the love of a woman, who is one from the enemies. Notwithstanding, the moves of Samson were all within the knowledge of God. The parents of Samson knew not what the plans of God were, when Samson was asking them to get a wife for him from the people, who were enemies to them. Although, God knew what Samson was doing, the actions of Samson were in violation of certain Scripture. The first and foremost that was applicable to Samson was that he was a Nazarite, and the Scriptures say, about Nazarite as follows:

Numbers 6:2-7 "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD: He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body. He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head". Moses was asked to speak to the children of Israel and tell them what a Nazarite should do. Samson clearly violated this saying from the LORD, when he pulled out honey out from the carcass of the Lion. The honey was formed in the beehive, on the dead body of an animal, which was lying there for a long period of time, and Nazarite was not supposed to touch a carcass. It would be impossible to pull out honey from beehive within the body of a carcass, where the honey was, and not touch the body of the dead body which decayed lying there for a long period of time.

Judges 14:5 Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him. On his way to Timnath, Samson saw a young lion, which roared against him, and the Spirit of the LORD came upon him and he rent the lion with his bare hands. And, on his return journey from Timnath, he saw the dead body of the same young lion and honeycomb in the carcass. Samson extended his hand and pulled out the honey and ate it. He not only ate it, but he also shared it with his parents at home on return.

Samson had immaculate strength from God as long as he remained Nazarite unto Him and remained pure to achieve the purposes of God to deliver Israel from the Philistines, but then he slowly but surely drifted from the path of God. It seems to us that Samson's falling in love with a woman from Philistines was violation of God's ways but when Samson's Parents inquired of him as to whether he had none to chose from the people to whom he belonged they knew not that it was within the permission of God that he should have for himself a wife from Philistines.

The Scriptures say in Deuteronomy 7:2-3 "And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son". But then, when God himself purposes certain things in accordance with his will and plan to achieve certain things for him and for his glory in individual cases, who would call it a violation? Judges 14:4 "But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel". Pharaoh's heart was hardened by God, so as to achieve the purpose of showing God's power and glory, which he will never allow any one to take it away. Similarly, Samson's love for a woman from Philistines was true. The move of Samson falling in love with a woman from Philistines was within the will of God inasmuch as it was God, who purposed an occasion against the Philistines because of their dominion over Israel. Philistines had been troubling the children of Israel for forty years, which was also within the will of God. It was because of the evil that the children of Israel did before the LORD that they were made to undergo severe punishment under the Philistines. But then, Samson had fallen victim to his fleshly desires and revealed secrets to the enemy. There he faltered and ended up in getting in to trouble. Samson suffered punishments for his negligence and sin in revealing the secrets to his enemies In the end Samson became blind and suffered, and yet in his last moments he prayed to God and sought his mercy. God gave him strength once again as a last chance, which Samson, used greatly and killed all the Philistines, bringing victory to the children of God.

Samson faced a great disappointment in life when his wife was given to his friend by his father-in-law. After a while he visits her and his kid as a sign of his repentance from the folly he did earlier of revealing the secret of the riddle. Even as he repented of his folly and came back to his wife and kid, his father-in-law would not let him go to her, because he thought Samson hated her and left her. The woman was already defiled by his friend and was living in sin. Samson was upset and went in anger, and had standing corn of Philistines burnt by the fire brand he put in the midst of the tails of three hundred foxes that he caught and tied them all tail to tail. On knowing the fact that Samson's father-in-law had given Samson's wife to his friend, Philistines burnt live Samson's wife and her father-in-law. "Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire".. (Judges 15:6 KJV) Samson got angry and he smote them and slaughtered them. Later he went to Gaza and saw an harlot and slept with her. When Philistines had come to know that Samson was there in harlot's house, they sought to kill him, but he took the "doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron" As if this was not enough he went and loved a woman, whose name was Delilah. This was another point from where Samson's downfall began. Samson loved Delilah, but her devices were to dupe him. She obeyed the lords of Philistines and enticed Samson to reveal his strength. She repeated her plea and finally got hold of his secret and told the secret that his strength lies in his hair that was not shaven from his birth until then. Delilah gets him to sleep on her lap and have another man come up there and shave off the seven locks of Samson's hair. When Samson gets up he sees that his strength was gone once and for all and the LORD departed from him. Philistines suck out his eyes and make him blind and bring him down to Gaza and bind him with fetters of brass. The lords of Philistines gathered to worship their god, the Dagon and rejoice over the victory they scored over Samson. They made sport of Samson and set him between the pillars. The house was full with men and women. Samson called upon the LORD once again and prayed earnestly to remember him to avenge upon philistines for his two eyes that they took out, and give him strength once for final show down that he may kill all the Philistines gathered there. The LORD heard his prayer and gave him strength once for final show down. "And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left". (Judges 16:29 KJV) Samson prayed that he may die along with Philistines and he bowed with all his strength and the house fell upon the lords and all the philistines, who gathered there to celebrate victory over Samson. There was the victory for Samson. The final victory Samson had there in killing all the philistines when they were worshipping their god, Dagon, as a mark of their victory over Samson, was greater than Samson ever killed any body in his life time; thus bringing glory to God and the Israelites.