Samson possessed superhuman strength at all times as a gift from God, yet this power operated most remarkably when the Spirit of the LORD came upon him. In the events following his sadiqa marriage, Samson acted on his own initiative in the destruction of Philistine crops with three hundred jackals and the subsequent slaughter of many opponents at Etam, displaying his characteristic use of disproportionate force without any recorded empowerment by the Spirit. When the Philistines deployed against Lehi and the men of Judah bound him with new ropes to deliver him, the Spirit came mightily upon him, causing the bonds to snap like burned flax. Samson then seized a fresh jawbone of a donkey and slew a thousand men in close combat, after which he composed a taunting victory song. Thirst soon reduced him to helplessness, prompting his first recorded prayer of dependence on God. In response, God opened a spring in the hollow at Lehi, reviving Samson and marking the moment when he recognized that his strength was nothing apart from divine support. This realization ended the cycle of personal revenge, allowed the Spirit to remain with him, and prepared him to judge Israel faithfully for twenty years, illustrating how God could still advance His purpose of beginning Israel's deliverance even through a man whose temper and self-absorption had previously limited that work.