The Samson Project: A Dominion Manifesto+Benjamin Glaser on the Perspectivalist+Final Travel Schedule for 2025

Samson is always portrayed as an undisciplined character, but what if Samson is a type of Christ who dies for the sake of a greater project?

The Bible begins with a promise—that the seed of the woman shall crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). This theme appears many times in the Old Testament. However, an unlikely story unfolds as a fulfillment of that ancient prophecy. It’s found in the fascinating narrative of Samson in Judges 16.

Samson's story is often misunderstood, but it is sufficient to say that Samson is an ambassador of God to the Philistines. The Spirit has been stirring him since his birth (Judges 13:25). By the time Samson comes to the end of his life, he has already faced innumerable difficulties and hardships; he fought wildly on behalf of his God to bring Israel out of oppression. But Samson also brought many of these hardships upon himself. Hardships are many times self-imposed, and at other times, they are simply God's hand pressing you a little harder to reveal your true character.

The Repentance of Samson

At the end of the Samson narrative, the hero is near unto death. He is to be killed for all the wrath he has brought upon the Philistines. He is being cursed, but then there is a touch of optimism in 16:22, which reads:

"²²But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved."

This is significant because Delilah’s servant had cut his hair off. Hair in the Bible is glory. Samson had lost his glory, but now he is regaining glory. Still, the Philistines have the upper hand. It seems that the seed of the serpent will win the battle. The Philistines assumed "that the fertility of their culture came from Dagon, the god of grain and fertility."[1] Samson's sacrifice is a win for their false God; their serpentine figure. And indeed, they are winning. Israel is being oppressed. Israel is enslaved, and now her deliverer is enslaved. Samson is a picture of Israel, whose glory has departed. But God is a God who remembers his promise that a seed of a woman shall crush the head of the serpent.