Who was
Delilah, however, persists and Samson finally capitulates and tells Delilah that God supplies his power because of his consecration to God as a Nazirite, symbolized by the fact that a razor has never touched his head and that if his hair is cut off the vow would be broken and he would lose his strength.
Previous studies have found that human hair has strength comparable to that of steel when adjusted for density. This is because of hair's hierarchical structure: human hair is composed of an outer layer called the cuticle that wraps around an inner cortex made of many small fibers linked by chemical bonds.
Powers and abilities
Samson, due to his relation to the Biblical character, had super strength and endurance, and invulnerability. He lost these powers if his hair was cut. These powers were restored once his hair regrew.
Everyone is familiar with a biblical story of Samson and Delilah. Samson's phenomenal strength resided in his long uncut hairs, his girl friend Delilah wheedled this secret from him during one of his amorous moments and cut off his locks.
Now Absalom was praised as the most handsome man in all Israel. He was flawless from head to foot. He cut his hair only once a year, and then only because it was so heavy. When he weighed it out, it came to five pounds!
After three failed attempts at doing so, she finally goads Samson into telling her that his vigor is derived from his hair. As he sleeps, Delilah calls a servant to cut Samson's hair, thereby enabling her to turn him over to the Philistines.
Samson confessed that he would lose his strength “if my head were shaved” (Judges 16:15- 17). While he slept, the faithless Delilah brought in a Philistine who cut Samson's hair, draining his strength.
Samson is known for his unbelievable strength and power. No man, no army even, was a match for Samson when the Spirit of God was upon him. Yet we all know that once his hair was cut, his strength left and he was reduced to the strength of a normal one-man fighting force.
Long hair, which was the prerogative of boys, was cut at the coming of age (ephebeia) and dedicated to Apollo. The god himself is depicted with long, uncut hair to symbolise his eternal youth. Apollo is an important pastoral deity, and he was the patron of herdsmen and shepherds.
Mechanical properties vary among different ethnicities. Asian hair demonstrates the highest hardness and elastic modulus, followed by Caucasian and African hairs, respectively.
Vitamins B and D factor big in healthy hair. So do zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, and the B vitamin biotin. Your doctor can test you for deficiencies. Ask them whether you should take a multivitamin or supplement and how much.
Human hair is in the neighborhood of 200 MPa, while structural steel is about 400 MPa. Spider webs are far stronger, though, at 1,200 MPa. And carbon nanotubes are among the strongest known materials, at about 62,000 MPa.
The text reports that Samson loves Delilah (16:4), but not that she loves him—a hint, perhaps, that she does not love him and will have no qualms about betraying him. Three times Delilah tries unsuccessfully to learn the secret of Samson's strength.
Eat a diet rich in protein, essential fatty acids, and B-vitamins to help give your body the nutrients it needs to produce keratin, the structural protein in your hair and nails.
Despite his shortcomings, Samson's story highlights a crucial truth: God's mercy and providence are not limited by our flaws.
Who was Samson? Samson was a legendary Israelite warrior and judge, a member of the tribe of Dan, and a Nazirite. His immense physical strength, which he used for 20 years against the Philistines, derived from his uncut hair.
No, Samson's superhuman strength wasn't the result of bulging muscles. The source of his strength was the Holy Spirit. Several times the Bibles tells us that "The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power." I wonder if God made a point, and one day we will discover Samson was actually a small, scrawny man!
Judges 16:17. ESV And he told her all his heart, and said to her, "A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother 's womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man." NIV So he told her everything.
His two greatest weaknesses were romance and revenge. In fact, his weakness for women often led him on the road to revenge. He was extremely gifted, but certainly not godly. He was strong on the outside, but had no control on the inside.
Descriptions of Goliath's immense stature vary among biblical sources, with various texts describing him as either 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) or 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m) tall.
It is more likely that the desire to depict men and women with superior skills developed early, very soon after humans came into being, and compared their skills with the skills that others had. Many consider Hercules the strongest ancient Greek and Samson the most muscular Jew.
The Nazarite vow is described in Numbers 6:1-6. Samson certainly did not live up to his vows, but, according to the story, his strength came not from his piety, which was lacking, but only from his long hair. Only in Samson's case does there seem to be a connection between being a Nazarite and having great strength.
And Samson let women deceive him into telling them the secret to his strength, which was their motive to betraying him. He got betrayed because he betrayed God first. God gave him a gift and he blabbed its source to the women who were really loyal to the Philistines and not to him.
The long untouched hair was therefore considered as the emblem of personal devotion (or devotedness) to the God of all strength. Thus it was an easy step to the thought that in the hair was the seat of strength of a Samson (Judges 16:17,20).