Thanks for your comments and questions. Here is roughly what I think about Samson.

Jdg 13:5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

The word Nazarite means set apart, devoted, consecrated to God. Even though the root of the word does not specifically go back to anoint, it basically means the same thing since anoint also means to set apart for God, to consecrate to service for God. So Samson was ‘anointed’ or appointed to be saviour for Israel for that time period. Just like with Saul and Jesus in my article, the anointing is what brought the Spirit. The Spirit is the power of God personified, the anointing is was draws Him to a person. The anointing is not the power per sea, the Spirit is. Samson however had a conditional covenant. Basically the condition was his hair should remain uncut. The condition for POWER was uncut hair, not for the anointing. His hair length in no way affected the anointing, it only affected the power. That is why the power returned when his hair grew back. The anointing never left, the condition for power was just broken. Once it was restored, the power was restored also.

That is why it says in Judges 16:20 that Samson didn’t realize the Lord (the Spirit) had left him. The Spirit left him when his hair was cut, not his anointing. His anointing was God’s call on his life, to set Israel free from their current oppressors. Romans 11:29 tells us the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. The anointing, the calling of God falls into that category. He was called to liberate and because of that calling/anointing the Spirit came and empowered him to do what needed to be done.

The anointing and power are very closely related, almost like 2 sides of the same coin, yet there are very subtle differences. Curry Blake explains it great through looking at a police officer. The anointing is badge, it shows you this person has legitimate right to exercise authority. But the reason why you listen to them is not because of the badge alone, it’s because of the gun strapped to their side. The gun is power to back up the badge and what it stands for. They are not entirely the same thing but very closely related.

I hope this makes sense. Please feel free to ask more questions if you want.

Cornel

Great article. I’ve enjoyed Curry Blakes teaching on this also.

One particular question though – You say ‘the anointing doesn’t lift’ and I do agree with this, but how do we explain what happened to Samson?

Listening to Curry Blake’s teaching, he makes the point that because Samson doesn’t feel or realise that ‘the Lord had left him’ (Judges 16:20), this is a point that conversely indicates we can’t and don’t always have to ‘feel’ the anointing, we just need to understand what it is for and who it is (the Spirit) and that it is present all the time. Don’t always be waiting for God to do somthing, you do it, believe and step out.

After it had left, the anointing did come back to Samson and he became strong again before his death. Great.

But it appears that he did still ‘believe’ he was still anointed after his hair was cut, but found that there was no strength when he stepped out to use it. It wasn’t that his conscience or confidence was damaged because of the hair cut, it was because the power was not there. Had the anointing lifted for a season? How does this line up with the points you made about Saul?

I do have a few thoughts about how this hangs together (mainly around the differences between Old and New Covenant), but I was interested in your view.

Thanks so much.

Well done, a true masterpiece. I LOVE the way you pulled all those verses together in the second last paragraph!

Your insights, your passion and God’s anointing on your life is infectious. Power to you!! Woooaaaah!

Andre vd Merwe
http://www.NewCovenantGrace.com