Chapter 28. Famous People Who Suffered
Loneliness And Depression
Depression: The Cause of Suicides In The Bible
Probably the best known Biblical figure to commit suicide was Samson, the
man who allowed an elicit affair with the wicked Delilah rob him of his
immense strength. His amazing story begins in Judges chapter 13 and ends in
chapter 16, after he has literally “brought the house down!“ Samson
surely had agonizing depression, as he realized he had not kept secret the
source of his strength, flagrantly disobeying God. After he was blinded and
thrown into prison, he was forced to grind grain. If it wasn’t depressing
enough to listen to the hated Philistines give all the honor for his capture
to their god, Dagon, they decided to make sport of him before a large crowd.
He must surely have been a spectacle the Philistines loved to gloat over; a
weak man, blind and totally subdued. As they got ready to mock him, God
answered his prayer for super-human strength, as he’d had in the past, and
the pillars gave way and more Philistines were killed in that moment than he’d
killed in his lifetime. And remember, he’d killed 1000 of them in one day,
before. Yes, he committed suicide in the act of killing them, but most of
the leaders were there, so he managed to do great damage to Israel’s
enemies. You could say that God vindicated him that day, by helping Samson
fulfill his mission. Let’s take up the story before his conception,
Christian singles, when a glorious angel gave his mother and father Manoah
the good news that their son would help deliver their nation from the
Philistines.
And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and
the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. And
there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name
was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. And the angel of the Lord
appeared unto the woman and said unto her, “Behold now, thou art barren
and bearest not; but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. Now therefore
beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any
unclean thing; for lo, thou shalt conceive and bear a son; and no razor
shall come on his head; for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the
womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the
Philistines.”
Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came
unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God,
very terrible, but I asked him not whence he was neither told he me his
name. But he said unto me Behold, thou shalt conceive and bear a son; and
now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing; for the
child shall be a Nazarite from the womb to the day of his death.”
Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God
which thou didst send come again unto us and teach us what we should do unto
the child that shall be born. And God hearkened unto Manoah…….(chapter
13, verse 24) And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson; and the
child grew and the Lord blessed him. And the spirit of the Lord began to
move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
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