Samson and narcissistic personality disorder
Person with narcissistic personality disorder have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance. They need and seek too much attention and want people to admire them. Their false sense of importance prevents them from demonstrating empathy toward others. Often they lack the ability to understand or care about the feelings of others. But behind this mask of extreme confidence, they are not sure of their self-worth and are easily upset by the slightest criticism.
Here's how someone with this personality disorder behaves. Samson fits almost everyone:
Grandiose sense of self-importance, exaggerating achievements and talents
Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
Requiring excessive admiration from others
Sense of entitlement, expecting favorable treatment and compliance with their expectations
Exploitation of others for personal gain, taking advantage of others to achieve their own goals
Lack of empathy, inability to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
Envious of others or believes others are envious of them
Arrogant and haughty behaviors or attitudes
Let's look at his story in Judges 13-16 to see how he demonstrates these.
Samson had a larger-than-life sense of self-importance. Rather than being known as a judge who protected Israel for twenty years (15:20), he is remembered as a prideful and self-centered person. This is evident in things such as "claiming" a woman for himself (14:1-3), engaging in vengeful murder because his needs weren't met (14:19; 15:3-5, 11), and taking credit for his own strength (15:16; 16:17).
He was preoccupied with fantasies of success, power, beauty, or ideal love. Samson continually exerted power over those who weren't as strong as him. But more to the point, he also was preoccupied with women. In fact, his story is defined more by the women he sought than what God accomplished through him. "One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye...[He said] 'I want to marry her," but he didn't (14:1-3). Then again, "One day Samson went to the Philistine town of Gaza and spent the night with a prostitute" (16:1). We can probably assume this was a normal practice for him. And then finally, "Some time later Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah (16:4). Women captured his attention. He made plans to marry one, then used another for sex, and then was captivated by Delilah.
He definitely held a sense of entitlement and expected others to comply with his demands. "One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye. When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me.” His father and mother objected. “Isn’t there even one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry?” they asked. “Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She looks good to me" (Judges 14:1-3). Despite the better advice of his parents, Samson insisted "Get her for me!"
Samson exploited others for personal gain and took advantage of them to achieve his own goals. Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing. 13 But if you can’t solve it, then you must give me thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing" (14:12-13). Samson sought to exploit the wedding party, but wasn't able to because his bride-t0-be told them the answer. He was so upset he declared, "Samson replied, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle" (v.18)!
He lacked empathy for those around him and demonstrated an inability to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others. When he lost the riddle bet, "He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had solved his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother" (14:19). Not only did he murder innocent people who were also fathers and sons, but he simply walked out on his bride and went back home because he was so upset about losing the bet.
Finally, Samson was envious of others whom he believed had something or someone that he did not. After Samson walked out on his marriage, the woman's family arranged for her to marry someone else. When Samson found out, he was filled with envy and anger. “I truly thought you must hate her,” her father explained, “so I gave her in marriage to your best man...Samson said, “This time I cannot be blamed for everything I am going to do to you Philistines" (15:2-3). And so he "He burned all their grain to the ground, including the sheaves and the uncut grain. He also destroyed their vineyards and olive groves" (v.5).
Much of Samson's behavior was arrogant and uncaring. He appears in the Bible as someone who believed he was better than others both physically and mentally, but acted like a child when things did not go his way. If he lived today, he would most certainly be identified as having narcissistic personality disorder.