Samson

Samson's History
In the years before they were ruled by kings, Israel was lorded over by "judges" appointed by God himself. Perhaps the most famous of the judges was Samson. Samson was a Nazarite, part of a sect with strict requirements for its members, including abstaining from alcohol and from cutting their hair. In return for his loyalty to these requirements, God granted Samson superhuman strength.

When Israel was threatened by the Philistines, Samson served as the nation's first line of defense. In one battle, Samson was reputed to have slain a thousand Philistine soldiers armed only with a donkey's jawbone. In another, he tied lit torches into the tails of 300 foxes, inciting them to burn the Philistine's crops.

For all his strength, Samson fell prey to one of the oldest tricks in the book: lust. An agent of the Philistines, Delilah, was tasked with seducing Samson and making him reveal the source of his power. When Samson eventually revealed his Nazarite vows to her, Delilah and her superiors shaved Samson, rendering him powerless.

Samson was taken as a slave by the Philistines, and chained up in the Temple of Dagon as an object of mockery. However, when the temple was filled with his hated enemies, Samson prayed to God, and his strength returned. Pushing out the temple's pillars, Samson brought the entire building down on himself and the Philistines, killing more with his dying act than he had in his entire life.