Samson, the Nazarite Judge

The last of the three judges raised up after Jephthah had died. Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord and was delivered into the hands of the Philistines forty years. Judging from the silence of the narrative, the people repented not during all this time. It means that the deliverance that the Lord now prepared in the person of Samson was unasked and, judging from the reactions to this judge's deeds of valor in after years, also unwanted. But the perversity of Israel did not deter God....