Judges 16:22
"Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven." [KJV]
Who was a Nazarite?
A Nazarite was an Israelite or a Jew who had made a vow to set themselves apart to serve God for a certain period of time. They were supposed to keep three very specific ordinances: Not drink wine or eat anything from a vine whether wet or dry, touch no dead animal or human or do anything that could habitually defile them and thirdly, not shave their hair. If they defiled themselves for any reason, even if by accident, they were supposed to restart all over again their days of consecration after doing several sacrifices, all the days before the defilement were scrapped off as if they never happened.
Samson was not a normal Nazarite, it was not Samson's choice to consecrate himself, he was actually consecrated from conception! Other Nazarites would do this out of their free will and for a certain period of time. It was a vow they'd take and strive to fulfill it. After their time is done, they'd shave their head. Samson's case was different in that his consecration was supposed to be a lifetime affair, this meant that he was a Nazarite, but was most likely not bound by the rules that bound those who voluntarily consecrated themselves for God.
Do you remember when Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you"? This is what was going on with Samson, he did not choose to be a Nazarite, God chose him to be a Nazarite. This is why, Samson could touch corpses and carcases and still operate in the anointing as if nothing had happened. He'd actually eat from a carcas and still move in the anointing.
There is a difference between when you vow to do a certain task for God and when God has pinpointed you for a certain task. When you vow to God, you have to keep it and do everything to fulfill it. When God vows to use you, you let Him do everything to make it come to pass.
Now salvation is two faceted, on one side we have God who has chosen you, which has nothing to do with you and needs no effort at all from you. Jude says, "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 1:24). God is able to call you, consecrate you and anoint you and keep you from falling off course and present you without a fault in the last day. There is however other vows that you make, all by yourself; once you make them, then you must keep them and if you mess up, you must undo and redo.
The problem with Samson just like the problem with so many believers is mixing up the two: what God has vowed to do and what they have vowed to do and thinking that failure of what they have vowed to do also means failure of what God has vowed to do! It is not true, neither does it work that way.
Apostle Paul puts it better in an analogy that your works (the vows you made) will be passed through fire. And if they were made of combustible material, they will burn up, but you will still keep your soul and enter into heaven (because of vows God has made). This tells you that your failure does not necessarily fail God (1 Cor 3:13-15). However, it can delay God's agenda; this means that it messes up the timelines.
Because vows are a test of trustworthiness. Trustworthiness is the main thing that God looks at when He wants to promote anybody. This is what it means when the Bible says, "When the time is right..." (Gal 4:4). In God's calendar, time is not right because you have grown old enough for a task, but because you have proven trustworthy enough in your current level. Now, some tasks cannot be done by lower cadre officers, and so officers must prove trustworthy over and over again by vowing and keeping their vows and by so doing getting promoted over and over again to achieve the rank needed to face some high level resistance.
The anointing on Samson did not leave because his hair was shaved. If it were so, there were a few other things that he did that would have made the anointing leave him already. He ate honey from a carcas of a lion he had killed. He was dating and sleeping around with philistine women. What made the anointing or the LORD leave Samson was that he had proven untrustworthy.
Samson was walking more by sight that he was walking by faith. In Judges 14:1, Samson SAW a woman in Timnah. In Judges 14:8, Samson turned aside TO SEE the lion he had killed. In Judges 16:1, Samson SAW a harlot in Gaza. Samson's eyes were leading him more than his faith was leading him. And so, God had to use his enemies to remove his eyes. With God in him, the enemies could not have taken his eyes, so, God had to step aside first to allow the enemies to do the LORD'S work. Jesus said it is better to enter heaven without your eye, or your hand or your legnif it leads you astray (Matt 5:29). Jesus while on the cross cries, "Eloi! Eloi! Lama sabachthani! (My Father! My Father! Why have you forsaken me?!" (Mark 15:34). Jesus also tells His disciples that it was possible for Him to ask His Father for protection from the cross (Matt 26:53). However, God had to momentarily step aside, literally forsake Jesus to allow for the will of God to be fulfilled!
I believe God had to forsake Samson momentarily to allow the will of God to be fulfilled. As much as Samson had made some blunders here and there, I am convinced that God did not necessarily leave him because of the short falls. Samson had to lose his eyes so that he could remain focussed on the cause for which he was born. And nobody could take his eyes while God was on him. So, Samson also like Jesus had to have his, Eloi! Eloi! Lama Sabachthani moment. Else what we read in Judges 16:30 could not have been achieved.
You see, when you are at your strongest, the enemy are also afraid to come near and it is difficult for God to gather them all together for a strike. But the moment they think you are weak, they get the confidence to draw nigh and it is easier for God to strike them in one blow. Why do you think the Psalmist records that God will lay a table for you in the presence of your enemies? Why do you think God asks us to forgive our enemies and pray for them? Because that to the enemies is a sign of weakness! And when enemies think you're weak, they gather not to fight you, but to laugh and celebrate your downfall, and that is when God strikes them. The Bible says that they shall come in one way (united, in one place, they will gather) but God will disperse them in seven ways (Deut 28:7)! The word of God says they shall surely gather, but their gathering will not be of God (Isa 54:18). Your enemies cannot gather together unless they have a certain level of surety of your weakness. This happens if God shows as if He has left you; it is at your moment of Eloi! Eloi! Lama Sabachthani, that the LORD shall be glorified and finally prove Himself as your God.
It is also at this moment that God will remove what has been distracting you from the cause for which you were called into the kingdom. Shaving your hair, touching carcasses and corpses does not make God leave you. What that does is that just like in the Old Testament, it delays your course since you have to undo and redo. God only departs or leaves momentarily to allow the enemies to gather for one final blow. Keeping your hair, not defiling yourself is for your own good, for your promotion, and that is up to you to decide how fast on not you want to be promoted or how long you want to stagnant in one level. If you want to go up faster, you keep your vows better. These are two facets of faith that believers need to know, distinguish and differentiate.
May God bless you and keep you, may He lift you higher than I am. Shalom and keep the faith.
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