Tag: samson

OCT 9. READ JUDGES 10-14

On By nrfaughtLeave a comment

JUGES 10-12: Judge #6 Tola judged 23 years. Judge #7 Jair judged 22 years and is known for having 30 sons who rode 30 donkeys and controlled 30 cities in Gilead. Almost 3 chapters are devoted to Judge #8 Jephthah. An AI summary might help b/c it is a little confusing: “Jephthah was the son of Gilead and a prostitute. His half-brothers drove him away from his homeland to keep him from taking any family inheritance. Jephthah fled to the land of Tob and gathered a group of rough followers. Later, when the Ammonites launched a war against Israel, the elders of Gilead panicked and begged Jephthah to return and lead their army. Jephthah agreed to lead them on the condition that he would become the permanent ruler over the region of Gilead if he won. Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon to ask why he was attacking. The king claimed Israel had stolen his ancestors’ land after leaving Egypt. Jephthah replied with historical accuracy. He pointed out that Israel had lived on the land for 300 years and that God had given them the territory after defeating the Amorites. The king ignored his message and prepared for battle. Empowered by the Spirit of the Lord, Jephthah marched out to fight. Before the battle, he made a foolish vow to God: if God gave him victory, he would sacrifice as a burnt offering whatever came out of his house first to meet him when he returned home safely. Israel won a major victory. However, when Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, his only child—his daughter—came out to meet him with music and dancing. Overcome with grief, Jephthah tore his clothes. His daughter bravely agreed that he must keep his word to the Lord, asking only for two months to mourn her virginity in the mountains. After the two months, the text states he carried out his vow (though some scholars interpret the outcome as a lifetime of dedicated virginity/seclusion rather than physical sacrifice). God never endorsed human sacrifice, and the story serves as a dark warning about impulsive promises. The men of Ephraim grew angry that Jephthah did not call them to help in the initial battle, so they threatened him and his house. A civil war broke out, and Gilead defeated Ephraim. The Gileadites guarded the Jordan River crossings, making fleeing Ephraimites say the word “shibboleth”. Because the Ephraimites pronounced it “sibboleth,” 42,000 of them were identified and killed. Jephthah judged Israel for six years before he died and was buried in Gilead.”

I hope that helped. I’m not sure what the life lesson is on Jephthah. Maybe you had a rough flight on a plane and told God “God, if you get me safely on the ground I’ll never fly again!” (LOL) Maybe you made a rash vow at some time in your life and now you have to keep it. Here’s a real story. A severe bolt of lightning struck close to Martin Luther as he was walking, knocking him to the ground. Fearing for his life, he cried out to his family’s patron saint, saying, “Help me, St. Anne, and I will become a monk”. Luther survived the storm, kept his solemn promise, and entered the Augustinian Monastery in Erfurt just two weeks later. His father, Hans Luther, was furious because he had invested heavily in Martin’s legal education to become a lawyer. Luther later became an ordained priest after entering the monastic life, celebrating his first mass in 1507, but the immediate vow made during the storm was specifically to become a monk.” The rest is history as he sent on to lead the Protestant Reformation. Did God send that bolt of lightning? Then there is John Newton. While sailing home to England, a ferocious North Atlantic storm battered the ship, washing crew members overboard and threatening to sink the vessel. Exhausted from pumping water and steering the ship, Newton cried out, “If this will not do, the Lord have mercy upon us!”—surprising himself with a sudden, desperate plea for divine mercy after years of mocking his mother’s Christian faith. He survived the storm and began reading the New Testament, viewing his deliverance as a sign of God’s grace. He commemorated the anniversary of the storm for the rest of his life with prayer and fasting. His conversion was a gradual awakening rather than an instant moral perfection. Newton continued working in the slave trade for several years after the storm, eventually becoming a slave ship captain before suffering a stroke that ended his seafaring career.” The slave trader became an evangelist and later an abolitionist (thought strangely not right after the incident). Did God send that storm? Maybe there is some parallel between those two stories and the story of Jephthah.

Judge #9 Ibzan judged 7 years and had 30 sons and 30 daughters. Judge #10 Elon judged 10 years. Judge #11 Abdon judged 8 years and had 40 sons and 30 grandsons who rode on 70 donkeys.

Judges 13-16: Judge #13 Samson judged 20 years and is the most “colorful” judge. His life is filled with several exploits with Philistine women even though he took the Nazarite vow and never cut his hair. There were probably more, but Judges records 3 specific instances where he got in trouble with his women.

According to the Book of Judges, Samson’s narrative features three distinct relationships, all involving Philistine women: 

  • The woman from Timnah: Samson’s first major romance. He demanded to marry this unnamed Philistine woman against his parents’ wishes, and Samson told his riddle at the marriage feast. The marriage ended in tragedy and betrayal before it was fully realized with his fiancee being given to another man and later she and her father were burned to death by Philistines.
  • The prostitute in Gaza: The biblical text notes that Samson went to Gaza, saw a prostitute, and spent part of the night with her before carrying the doors of the city gates to the top of a hill and escaping his enemies.
  • Delilah: Samson fell in love with Delilah, who lived in the Valley of Sorek. While tradition often associates her closely with his downfall, the biblical text itself recounts that the Philistine lords bribed her to discover the secret of his strength, though it does not explicitly state they were married or even sleeping together.”

It is amazing that God can use morally weak men like Samson to punish His enemies. On one occasion when he allowed the Israelites to bind him and turn him over to the Philistine, he killed 1,000 Philistines withe the jawbone of a donkey. “The ends doesn’t justify the means” but Samson’s attraction to Philistine women certainly put him in a position to kill many Philistines, especially at his death when the pulled the pillars of the Philistine temple of Dagon down, killing more at that occasion that he had killed during his life. But it brings up a lot of questions. Why was Samson so drawn to Philistine women like his 1st woman that he wanted to marry? 14:3 His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” 4 (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.) His parents even went with Samson to Timnah to meet the woman. Samson was choosing a wife based on her looks apparently. If you are not married yet, look deeper than the physical attraction into the heart of the person you are considering marrying. Was Samson one of those people who tend to do the opposite of what their parents tell them to do? Some form of rebellion against parents? Samson still kept his faith in Yahweh even though he was surrounded by Philistines who worshipped Dagon, but his life was miserable b/c of his constant association with them. Paul gave a warning against idolatry in 2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:“I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God,and they will be my people.” 17 Therefore,“Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” We live in a culture that is filled with worshipping the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone” (Daniel 5:4). It is filled with sexual immorality, drinking parties, greed, and lustful living. We must be careful that the influence of our culture does not rub off on us. Despite his flaws, the Hebrew writer puts Samson in the same hall of faith group as David and Samuel: Hebrews 11:32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets …” Does that surprise you? Would you have put him in the hall of faith with David? Of course, look at the sins David committed. He is not flawless even though he was a man after God’s own heart. So there is hope for those of us who have serious moral flaws. God’s grace can save terrible sinners and help dysfunctional families.

BTW Samson committed suicide as he pulled down those pillars in the temple. But he still made it into the hall of faith. AI: “For centuries, Canon Law denied traditional Catholic funeral rites and burial in consecrated church cemeteries to those who died by suicide, The ban on Catholic funerals for suicide victims was lifted in the late 20th century. Today, the Church offers full funeral masses and burial rites.” Do you know of someone who committed suicide or who has a family member who committed suicide? I do. I have seen a father grieve over a son who committed suicide for no obvioius reasons since he was a church going active Christian. There are drug addicts who seemed to have the habit beat only to possibly overdose on purpose. Depression takes its toll on suicide victims. I know that the Father would look at such cases the same as an earthly father would give the benefit of the doubt to one of his own children who committed suicide. I certainly don’t believe it is the unpardonable sin. We leave all that to God the loving Father.

That goes further than chapter 14, but it’s better to tell the whole story of Samson in one reading. We will focus on Judges 17-21 in the next reading and blog.

SAMSON

On By nrfaughtLeave a comment

One of the most interesting characters in the OT is Samson.

Here is a good summary of Samson’s life: from thequickviewbible.com

The chart does such a good job, and you can read Judges 13-16 for detials. Let’s focus on lessons we can learn from the life of Samson.

  1. Good parents can raise troublesome children.” (Taken from the slide below). Samson’s parents wanted to raise the child they were promised for the Lord. Judges 13:8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” Would that every parent asks God how to raise his/her children. 13:12 12 And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?” As a parent do you envision the mission that God might be planning to use your child on when he/she grows up? They were told by the angel that their son was to take the Nazarite vow and never cut his hear or drink wine. They humbly accepted that and raised Samson to never break that vow. It seems as if his parents did everything right in raising their son to be godly, and yet he turned out to be “troublesome” as an adult. I can think of many parents who do all the right things to raise their children in the discipline of the Lord and yet one or more of their children turn out “bad”. I know Proverbs 22:6 promises “train up a child in the way he should go and he will never depart from it”, but that is a general rule and there are exceptions. Often a child raised properly will “sow his/her wild oats” but then return to a good foundation that was given them by their parents. Sometimes they never return. How can this happen? Sometimes parents take their children to church but never really spend quality time with their children. In Deut 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” That is quality time with a child, not just taking them to church and leaving their training to a youth minister. That’s passing your faith to a child on a day by day basis. He/she is constantly talking to his/her child about God. He/she reassures the child that God is with them to deal with problems. He is constantly giving godly wisdom to the child. Of course the parent must have a genuine faith before he/she can pass that faith on to his/her child. Timothy had a mother and grandmother with sincere faith that they passed on to Timothy. 2 Tim 1:5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. They also taught him the OT Scriptures from childhood. 2 Tim 3:14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Even if a parent does all this, sometimes a child’s peer pressure overcomes the parental training. Especially today with the influence of social media and peers at school. Pornography, sexting, bullying, you name it.

Look at these statistics. According to various sources, between 50% and 80% of Christian students lose their faith or stop attending church while in college: Southern Baptist ConventionData from the Southern Baptist Convention indicates that they are currently losing 70-88% of their youth after their freshman year in college.  Lifeway ResearchA 2017 Lifeway Research study found that 66% of young people who were raised in the church stopped attending church regularly between the ages of 18 and 22.  BarnaBarna estimates that 70% of high school students who enter college as professing Christians will leave with little to no faith. Barna also projects that 80% of those reared in the church will be “disengaged” by the time they are 29.  Now I don’t necessarily think that a child who quits going to church has lost his faith. Many churches today are “big businesses” that turn young people off. They see most of the money collected being spent on buildings and salaries instead of helping the poor, drilling wells for people to get clean water in foreign countries, printing Bibles to preach the gospel in major languages, etc. But churches still have man good things for worship, fellowship, Bible study, etc. and all Christians should be a part of some small group or big group. But children are often exposed to atheistic, evolutionary teaching in college that destroys their faith. Maybe parents did not ground them in Christian evidences like they should.

2. Choose a godly mate. Look at Solomon’s unwise choice of a wife. It all started with his desire to marry a Philistine woman (14:1Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.” His parents tried to talk him out of it. He did what many young adults do: he married out of physical attraction regardless of the spirituality of the prospective mate. Who our children marry is a major concern of Christian parents. My wife prayed every night with each of our 3 children as they were growing up: God, help _______________ (their names) grow up to be a Christian and marry a Christian (before they knew what “marry” or “Christian” even meant). Thank you Father, all 3 married a godly mate who is helping them raise our 10 grandchildren in the Lord. Too often young adults confuse love with lust. David’s son Amnon wanted his half sister so bad that he tricked her to get her alone and then raped her. After he raped her, it says “his hate he had for her was greater than the love he had for her before he raped her”. He never had an agape love for her; he simply lusted for her. We have a major epidemic of lust and sexual immorality (fornication) among young people today. In America today, around 70% of people cohabit before marriage, and almost 90% have sex before they marry. Moreover, around 40% of kids are born to unmarried moms. Data from the 2002 survey indicate that by age 20, 77% of respondents had had sex, 75% had had premarital sex, and 12% had married. Even among those who abstained until at least age 20, 81% had had premarital sex by age 44. Bar hopping and “hooking up” (sex) with people they meet in the bars is common. The sanctity of marriage has been defiled. According to the American Psychological Association, approximately 40-50% of first marriages end in divorce. The divorce rate for second marriages is even higher, with approximately 60-67% of second marriages ending in divorce. The grass is not always greener on the other side. Hebrews 13:4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. 

Samson insited on marrying the Philistine woman. This led to a marriage feast surrounded by pagan Philistine men. Samson for some reason challenged the 30 Philistine men at his bachelor party with a riddle (the lion and the honey). The men forced his fiance to get Samson to tell her the riddle (nagging him, “if you loved me you would tell me”) and she told the men the riddle and they won the bet. Samson went out and killed 30 Philistines to get the 30 garments to pay off the debt. In the meantime, his fiance’s father gave her to his best man as a wife (no doubt a Philistine man). I see movies where stuff like that happens! Apparently Samson was technically married to the woman after a 7 day wedding feast, so he goes to her house to have sex but her father won’t let him. So he tied the tails of 300 foxes with a torch between them and sent them to burn the Philistine fields. As revenge, the Philistines burned his wife and her father to death. He then killed more Philistines in revenge. Samson unwise choice of a wife led him into many bad things. Many young adults have made unwise choice of a mate that has led to divorce and miserable marriages that have led to many other sorrows and difficulties for their children.

3. Some people never learn from their mistakes. 16:1Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. The Philistines surrounded the city but Samson arose at midnight, pulled up the doors and posts of the gate and escaped. If that wasn’t enough, he “loved” a Philistine woman named Delilah (apparently cohabited with her but did not marry her). What is this attraction with Philistine women? You know the story. The 5 Philistine lords paid her 1,100 pieces of silver each (5,500 total) to find out the source of Samson’s strength. This was worth thousands of dollars in our money. Jesus was betrayed for just 30 pieces of silver, so that tells you how badly the Phlistines hated Samson. She constantly nagged at him day after day and “his soul was vexed to death” (16:16). He told her 3 false ways to sap his strength until he finally gave him and told her that the source of his strength was his long hair. She then cut his hair while he slept. The Philistines came and captured him, put out his eyes, and put him grinding grain in a mil in the prison for several years. Much later, the Philistine lords had Samson brought to the temple where they were sacrificing to their god Dagon to mock and laugh at him. Unfortunately for them, they had forgotten to keep his hair cut while in. prison. He asked to be tied to the pillars. He asked God for one last chance to avenge himself against the Philistines and then he pushed the pillars apart bringing down the whole temple, killing 3,000 Philistines (more than he had killed in his whole life). He judged Israel 20 years before he died. Why did Samson not learn from his mistake of marrying the first Philistine woman? He follows that up with going to a Philistine prostitute and then shacking up with Philistine Delilah. Some people just never learn from their mistakes. They go from one bad relationship to another. They hang out with the wrong kind of people that leads to trouble and compromising of their morals. 1 Cor 15:33 Be not deceived: Evil companionships corrupt good morals. I have been around so many teens who regret getting in a bad group of kids, leading them to do things they know are wrong due to peer pressure. But some never learn from those mistakes. Their desire for acceptance overpowers their good sense.

4. God can use even the worst people to do His will. To me, the most astonishing thing about the story of Samson is that God used him to kill Philistines, the enemies of Israel, in spite of his “womannizing” and vengeful anger. Hebrews 11 still put Samson in the “hall of faith” (Heb 11:32). While uncertain which of the accomplishments in 11:34 apply to which hero of faith in 11:32, “made strong out of weakness” probably refers to Samson. He was so weak sexually, mentally, spiritually, and yet the Spirit of God would “move him” often to be super strong and kill Philistines. Surely Samson made it to heaven since he was in the hall of faith! In spite of his weaknesses and sinful desires and lust. That gives hope to a lot of Christian men. These statistics are hard to believe.

The statistics for Christian men between 18 and 30 years old are particularly striking: 77 percent look at pornography at least monthly.

  • 36 percent view pornography on a daily basis
  • 32 percent admit being addicted to pornography (and another 12 percent think they may be).

The statistics for middle-aged Christian men (ages 31 to 49) are no less disturbing:

  • 77 percent looked at pornography while at work in the past three months.
  • 64 percent view pornography at least monthly.
  • 18 percent admit being addicted to pornography (and another 8 percent think they may be).

Even married Christian men are falling prey to pornography and extramarital sexual affairs at alarming rates:

35 percent had an extramarital affair.

55 percent look at pornography at least monthly.

Hesch adds: “It’s abundantly clear that pornography is one of the biggest unaddressed problems in the church.”

Another well-known pastor has dared to address the problem. The following excerpt is from an open letter Chuck Swindoll posted on his Insight for Living Website not long ago:

“The most recent studies available suggest that one out of every two people-that’s 50 percent of the people sitting in our pews, are looking at and/or could be addicted to Internet pornography… Truth be told, that statistic could be even higher… Stop and imagine the ugly but very real possibility of some of your own elders and deacons leaving your meetings and going home to surf porn. Think about youth leaders viewing it one minute, and leading a small group with your kids thirty minutes later. It’s ruining marriages, destroying relationships, harming youth, and hurting the body of Christ. You hardly need to be reminded that fallen pastors and priests did not “suddenly” fall. More often than not, pornography played a role in their downward spiral. My friend, it’s time to do something about it. In fact, we need to start today. Making a difference requires action…  Our churches are in trouble. This is no time to simply wait and pray.”

I am not saying that God will save us if we continue to willfully sin by looking at pornography. There will come a time when we will fall from grace if we don’t repent and try to stop. But for many men, it is a lifelong uphill battle of the mind, and they lose most of the battles. They could easily get discouraged and just give up, thinking there is no way God would save them with this porn problem that they just can’t seem to shake. So what I am saying is, that if God saved Samson with his lust, that there is hope that God will save us in spite of us not being able to completely stop our lust problem. That might make us so grateful that we will try harder. But aren’t we leaving out something here? What about the work of the Holy Spirit? The Spirit can give you the power to do things totally against your sinful nature. That’ why we need to be constantly in the words of the Spirit in the Bible. The Spirit can providentially help us by giving us a close friend or mentor who will hold us accountable for our lust, someone we can openly discuss our lusts and trust to help us.

I hope this study of Samson is beneficial to you. It helps me just to write this blog article.