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Towering Figures of the Old Testament |
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Samson |
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Book of
Judges, Chapters 13 -16 |
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Introduction |
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When Joshua dismissed
the people, each Israelite went to take
possession of his own hereditary land. The
people served the LORD during the entire
lifetime of Joshua, and of those elders
who outlived Joshua.
When Joshua died, the fidelity of the
Israelites faded with the passing of the
older generation who fought with Joshua
and those who had seen all the great work
which the LORD had done for Israel. The
Book of Judges derives its title from the
twelve heroes of Israel whose deeds it
records. They were not magistrates, but
military leaders sent by the LORD to aid
and to relieve his people in time of
external danger. They exercised their
activities in the interval of time between
the death of Joshua and the institution of
the monarchy in Israel. The twelve judges
of the present book, however, very
probably exercised their authority,
sometimes simultaneously, over one or
another tribe of Israel, never over the
entire nation.
Because the Israelites abandoned the LORD
and served Baal and the Ashtaroth, the
anger of the LORD flared up
against Israel, and he delivered them over
to plunderers who despoiled them. He
allowed them to fall into the power of
their enemies. Whatever they undertook,
the LORD turned into disaster for them.
The Book of Judges shows that the fortunes
of Israel depended upon the obedience or
disobedience of the people to the LORD’s
law. Whenever they rebelled against the
LORD, they were oppressed by pagan
nations; when they repented, the LORD
raised up judges to deliver them. And when
the LORD raised up judges for them, he
would save them from the power of their
enemies as long as the judge lived. But
when the judge died, they would relapse
and do worse than their fathers, following
other gods in service and worship,
relinquishing none of their evil practices
or stubborn conduct.
One of those judges was Samson. This is
his story straight from the pages of the
Old Testament. His story is a bewildering
proof that the LORD works in mysterious
ways. |
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The Birth of Samson |
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The Israelites again offends the LORD, who
therefore delivers them into the power of
the Philistines for forty years. In the
tribe of Dan, the son of Jacob and Bilbah,
Rachel’s maidservant, a man named Manoah
and his wife live. She is barren and has
not borne children.
An angel of the LORD appears to the woman
and says to her that even though she is
barren she will conceive and bear a son.
The angel warns her not to take no wine or
strong drink and not to eat anything
unclean. He also warns her that the hair
of the son she will conceive and bear will
not be touched with a razor. This boy is
to be consecrated to God from the womb. It
is he who will begin the deliverance of
Israel from the power of the Philistines. |
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The woman goes on to tell her husband what
the man who had the appearance of an angel
of God, said to her. Manoah then prays to
the LORD to ask for the man of God whom he
sent, to return and teach them what to do
for the boy who will be born. God hears
this and sends the angel again who repeats
his warnings. The angel also tells Manoah
to offer a sacrifice to the LORD.
Then Manoah takes the young goat and
cereal offering and offers them on a rock
to the LORD. While Manoah and his wife are
looking on, as the flame rose to the sky
from the altar, the |
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angel of the LORD ascends in the flame of the
altar. When Manoah and his wife see this, they
fall to the ground. The angel of the LORD
disappears.
When Manoah, realizes that it was the angel of
the LORD, he says that they will certainly
die, for they have seen God. But his wife
points out to him that if the LORD had meant
to kill them, he would not have accepted the
offerings from their hands nor would he have
let them see all this just now, or hear what
they have heard.
The woman bears a son and names him Samson.
The boy grows up and the LORD blesses him; the
spirit of the LORD first stirs him in
Mahaneh-dan, which is between Zorah and
Eshtaol. |
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The Lion and the Bees |
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When he is of age, Samson goes down to Timnah
and meets one of the Philistine women who he
like. On his return he asks his father and
mother to get that Philistine woman for his
wife. Knowing that religious sentiment was
against any marriage with a non-Israelite his
father and mother reason with him to find a wife
among his relatives, but Samson insists that she
pleases him. His father and mother do not know
that this had been part of the LORD’s plan to
provide an opportunity against the Philistines,
whom at that time ruled over Israel. So Samson
went down to Timnah with his |
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father and mother.
When they arrive at the
vineyards of Timnah, a young lion comes roaring
to meet him. But the spirit of the LORD comes
upon Samson, and although he had no weapons, he
tears the lion in pieces as one tears a kid.
However, on the journey he did not mention to
his father or mother what he had done.
Later, when he returns to marry the woman who
pleases him, he steps aside to look at the
remains of the lion and found a swarm of bees
and honey in the lion's carcass. So he scoops
the honey out into his palms and eats it as he
went along, and gives some to his father and
mother to eat without telling them where he got
it. Samson and his father go down to the woman
and give the customary banquet. His father and
mother brought with them thirty Philistine men
to be Samson’s companions. The Philistines were
chosen by the family of the bride. |
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The Riddle
When he meets with them, Samson says to his
companions that if they can solve his riddle
within the seven days of the feast he will
give each of them thirty linen tunics and
thirty sets of garments. But if they cannot
answer it for him they must give Samson thirty
tunics and thirty sets of garments. |
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So he says to them, |
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"Out of the eater came forth food,
and out of the strong came forth sweetness."
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Four days after failing to solve the riddle,
the Philistines companions of Samson threaten
his new wife to coax Samson to tell her the
answer to the riddle or else they will burn
her and her family. Sampson’s wife weeps
during the wedding feast. On the seventh day
of the feast, Samson finally succumbs to her
pleadings and which she promptly tells her
countrymen tells the answer to the riddle.
They then give the answer to Samson who
immediately knows that his new wife gave them
the answer. The spirit of the LORD comes upon
him, and he goes down to Ashkelon, where he
kills thirty of their men and despoils them.
He gives their garments to those who had
answered the riddle.
After some time, in the season of the wheat
harvest, Samson visits his wife, bringing a
young goat only to find that now his wife is
married to the best man at his wedding. Samson
says to them that the Philistines cannot blame
him if he harms them. |
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To
read more of the Story of Samson,
please go
this this link. |
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Read more about this towering figure of the
Old Testament. |
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Samson and Delilah and Other Old Testament Stories (Discovering the Bible) (Hardcover)
by Victoria Parker (Author), Retold by
Victoria Parker (Author). This book
provides known Bible stories from Israel
in the Promised land to the Story of Ruth.
It has the stories we grew up with but it
adds historical and religious facts to
each story. It tells the stories gearing
them toward elementary school children. |
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The Sunday Readings |
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February 18, 2007: The
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time |
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First Reading From the Book of
Samuel: |
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1 Sm 26:2,
7-9, 12-13, 22-23 |
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In those days, Saul
went down to the desert of Ziph
with three thousand picked men of Israel,
to search for David in the desert of Ziph.
So David and Abishai went among Saul’s soldiers by
night
and found Saul lying asleep within the barricade,
with his spear thrust into the ground at his head
and Abner and his men sleeping around him.
Abishai whispered to David:
“God has delivered your enemy into your grasp this
day.
Let me nail him to the ground with one thrust of
the spear;
I will not need a second thrust!”
But
David said to Abishai, “Do not harm him,
for who can lay hands on the LORD’s anointed and
remain unpunished?”
So David took the spear and the water jug from
their place at Saul’s head,
and they got away without anyone’s seeing or
knowing or awakening.
All remained asleep,
because the LORD had put them into a deep slumber.
Going across to an opposite slope,
David stood on a remote hilltop
at a great distance from Abner, son of Ner, and
the troops.
He said: “Here is the king’s spear.
Let an attendant come over to get it.
The LORD will reward each man for his justice and
faithfulness.
Today, though the LORD delivered you into my
grasp,
I would not harm the LORD’S anointed.”
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Responsorial From the Book of
Psalms: |
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Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 8,
10, 12-1 |
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R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with
us,
nor does he requite us according to our
crimes.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from
us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear
him.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
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Second Reading
From
the Letter to the Corinthians: |
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1 Cor 15:45-49 |
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Brothers and sisters:
It is written, The first man, Adam, became a
living being,
the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
But the spiritual was not first;
rather the natural and then the spiritual.
The first man was from the earth, earthly;
the second man, from heaven.
As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly,
and as is the heavenly one, so also are the
heavenly.
Just as we have borne the image of the earthly
one,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one. |
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Notes: |
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The analogy of
the first man, Adam, is introduced by a
citation from Genesis 2:7. Paul alters the
text slightly, adding the adjective first, and
translating the Hebrew Adam twice, so as to
give it its value both as a common noun (man)
and as a proper name (Adam). 1 Cor 15:45b then
specifies similarities and differences between
the two Adams. The last Adam, Christ (cf 1 Cor
15:21-22) has become a . . . spirit (pneuma),
a life-principle transcendent with respect to
the natural soul (psyche) of the first Adam
(on the terminology here, cf the note on 1 Cor
3:1). Further, he is not just alive, but
life-giving, a source of life for others.
We shall also bear the image: although it has
less manuscript support, this reading better
fits the context's emphasis on futurity and
the transforming action of God; on future
transformation as conformity to the image of
the Son, cf Romans 8:29; Philippians 3:21. The
majority reading, "let us bear the image,"
suggests that the image of the heavenly man is
already present and exhorts us to conform to
it. |
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The Gospel
From the
Book
of Luke:
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Lk 6:27-38 |
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Jesus said to his disciples:
"To you who hear I say,
love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who
mistreat you.
"To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
"Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not
demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
"For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
"And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
"Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect
repayment,
what credit is that to you?
"Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
"But rather, love your enemies and do good to
them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the
wicked.
"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
"Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
"Forgive and you will be forgiven.
"Give, and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and
overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
"For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you." |
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Notes: |
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There is no Old
Testament commandment demanding hatred of
one's enemy, but the "neighbor" of the love
commandment was understood as one's fellow
countryman. Both in the Old Testament (Psalm
139:19-22) and at Qumran (1QS 9:21) hatred of
evil persons is assumed to be right. Jesus
extends the love commandment to the enemy and
the persecutor. His disciples, as children of
God, must imitate the example of their Father,
who grants his gifts of sun and rain to both
the good and the bad. |
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Coming Soon! |
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Smile Makers |
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I'm not quite sure how true these stories are,
but if these are even half right ... |
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something is wrong with these people! |
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Idiot Report #4 |
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A
pair of Michigan robbers entered a record shop
nervously waving
revolvers.
The
first one shouted, "Nobody move!" When his partner
moved, the startled first bandit shot him. |
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Idiot Report #5 |
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Arkansas: Seems this guy wanted some beer pretty
badly. He decided that he'd just throw a cinder
block through a liquor store window, grab some
booze, and run.
So
he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his
head at the window.
The
cinder block bounced back knocking him
unconscious. It seems the liquor store window was
made of Plexi-Glass.
The whole event was caught on videotape.
(Please note that all of the above people are
allowed to vote) |
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Idiot Report #6 |
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The stoplight on the corner
buzzes when its safe to cross the street I was
crossing with an intellectually challenged
coworker of mine. She asked if I knew what the
buzzer was for.
I explained that it signals blind people when the
light is red.
Appalled, she responded, "What on earth are blind
people doing driving?!" |
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Comments and
Contributions are Most Welcome.
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use the form in this link.
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