And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Read Chapter 13
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Above, you read that “the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to go with him.” Farther on it is said, “And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him.” Again he says, “If I be shaven, my strength will depart from me.” After he was shaven, see what the Scripture says: “The Lord,” it says, “departed from him.”
You see, then, that he who went with him, himself departed from him. The same is, then, the Lord, who is the Spirit of the Lord, as also the apostle says: “The Lord is the Spirit, now where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” - "On the Holy Spirit 2.1.17–18"
And why should I speak of all one by one? Samson, born by the divine promise, had the Spirit accompanying him, for we read, “The Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the camp.” And so foreshadowing the future mystery, he demanded a wife of the aliens, which, as it is written, his father and mother did not know about, because it was from the Lord. And rightly was he esteemed stronger than others, because the Spirit of the Lord guided him, under whose guidance he alone put to flight the foreign peoples, and at another time inaccessible to the bite of the lion, he, unconquerable in his strength, tore the lion apart with his hands. Would that Samson had been as careful to preserve grace, as he was strong to overcome the beast! - "On the Holy Spirit 2, Prologue 5"
The strength which Samson possessed, dearly beloved, came from the grace of God rather than by nature, for if he had been naturally strong his power would not have been taken away when his hair was cut. Where, then, was that most powerful strength, except in what the Scripture says: “The Spirit of the Lord walked with him”? Therefore, his strength belonged to the Spirit of the Lord. In Samson was the vessel, but the fullness was in the Spirit. A vessel can be filled and emptied. Moreover, every vessel has its perfection from something else, and so in Paul grace was commended when he was called a vessel of election. - "Sermon 118.2"
