Bible’s Most Asked Questions #2: Who cut Samson’s hair?

Samson and Delilah could’ve been a beautiful epic romantic story for the ages, had Delila felt the same way love-stricken Samson felt about her. Talk about unrequited love to the max!

via Free Bible Images

The strongest man who ever lived was a Nazirite* who possessed great strength. His source of weakness was Delilah, a cunning and deceitful Philistine woman who used her powers of deception and seduction to wear down and eventually destroy Samson.

The chief of the Philistines saw that Samson had a schoolboy crush on the beautiful Delilah and recruited her to find the source of his strength. After three failed attempts, Samson finally gave in and spilled that the secret of his superhuman strength was in his beautiful locks. Hair has always been a symbol of beauty and power in the Bible and I’ll love to look into hair sometime in the near future.

 

via jw.org

Upon realizing that Samson spilled his heart to her, she put him to sleep on her lap and the seven locks of his hair were shaved off, thus making him weak and subdued. But who cut his hair? Many people argued that it was Delilah because he was sleeping on her lap when his hair was cut. Let’s consult our Bible:

After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

Judges 16:19 (NIV)

So it was not Delilah, but a co-conspirator who cut Samson’s hair. I remember some people arguing that it was Delilah who performed the big chop because of some Hollywood movie they had watched.

Don’t let the devil cheat you of your victory like he cheated Samson. Keep your eyes on God. 

*A Nazarite is an Israelite who was consecrated to the service of God and took on the vow prescribed in Numbers 6:2-21. The Nazarite’s vow included abstinence from alcohol, forbearance from cutting the hair off the head, and avoidance of contact with the dead.

When the period of the vow came to an end, the Nazarite will then present himself at the door of the sanctuary with 3 animals: a he-lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, a ewe lamb of the first year for a sin offering, and a ram for a peace offering. After the priest accepted these sacrifices, the Nazarite then cut off his hair at the door and threw it into the fire under the peace offering.

A Nazarite’s vow lasted only 30 to 100 days, but they were left at liberty to fix his own time. Only 3 men mentioned in Scripture were Nazarites for life: Samson (Judges 13:4-5), Samuel (1 Samuel 1:11), and John the Baptist (Luke 1:15).

Sources: The KJV Bible and the Easton Bible Dictionary.