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Towering Figures of the Old Testament |
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Samson
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 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. |
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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
whom he like. On his return he asks his
father and mother to get that Philistine
woman for his wife. Knowing that religious
sentiment is 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 father and mother. |
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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 |
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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 she
promptly tells her countrymen the answer to the
riddle. They then give the answer to Samson who
immediately knows that his new wife betrayed
him. 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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Samson's Foxes |
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Then Samson leaves and catches three hundred
foxes. He ties them in pairs by the tails.
Between the tied tails he ties a torch and
kindles them. He then sets them loose onto
the grain, vineyards and olive orchards of
the Philistines. When the Philistines ask
who had done this, they were told that
Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite,
because his wife was taken and given to his
best man. So the Philistines destroy her and
her family by fire. |
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After that Samson takes revenge killing many of
them. He goes and remains in a cavern of the
cliff of Etam. The Philistines go up and, from a
camp in Judah, deploy against Lehi. At that time
the Philistines are the rulers of Judah. The
Philistines tell the men of Judah that they want
to take Samson prisoner and to do to him as he
has done to the Philistines. |
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With a Jawbone of an Ass |
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Three thousand men of Judah go down to the
cavern in the cliff of Etam and tell Samson
their intention. Samson agrees to be taken
prisoner without a fight if the men of Judah
will not kill him. The men of Judah swear
not to kill Samson and only to bind him.
When they reach Lehi with Samson captive the
Philistines meet him in rage. The spirit of
the LORD comes upon Samson and he beaks the
ropes that bound him. He grabs a fresh
jawbone of an ass, which was near him and
kills with it a thousand men. |
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Then Samson said,
"With the jawbone of an ass I have piled them
in a heap;
With the jawbone of an ass I have slain a
thousand men."
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Delilah
and the Eleven Hundred Shekels of Silver
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One day
Samson goes to Gaza to visit a harlot. The men
of Gaza sets up an ambush at the city gate all
night long, with the intent of killing him in
the morning. After resting until midnight,
Samson seizes the doors of the city gate and the
two gateposts, and tears them loose. He hoists
them on his shoulders and carries them to the
top of the ridge opposite Hebron.
After that he falls in love with a woman in the
Wadi Sorek named Delilah. The lords of the
Philistines come to her and tell her that she
will receive eleven hundred shekels of silver if
she can find out the secret of his great
strength, and how they may overcome and bind him
so as to keep him helpless. |
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The Secret to Samson’s Strength |
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Delilah then asks Samson to tell her the
secret of his great strength and how he may
be bound so as to be kept helpless. Samson
answers that binding him with seven fresh
bowstrings, which are not dried will render
him helpless. Delilah then passes this
information to the lords of the Philistines.
They bring her seven fresh bowstrings and
she binds him with them. She then calls the
men lying in wait to capture Samson. But
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Samson snaps the strings easily and the secret
of his strength remains unknown. |
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Delilah accuses Samson of lying to her and asks
him again how to make him helpless. Samson tells
her that if they bind him tight with new ropes,
with which no work has been done, he shall be as
weak as any other man. Delilah then takes new
ropes and binds him. The Philistines lying in
wait try to capture Samson but snaps the ropes
off his arms like thread.
Again Delilah accuses Samson of lying to her and
asks him again how to make him helpless. Samson
then tells Delilah that she weaves his seven
locks of hair into the web and fastens them with
a pin, he shall be as weak as any other man.
While he slept, Delilah weaves his seven locks
of hair into the web, and fastens them in with
the pin. Then the Philistines attack and Sampson
pulls both the weaver's pin and the web. |
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Delilah Succeeds |
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Delilah again and again tries to discover
the secret to Samson’s strength until he
gets weary and tells her that no razor has
touched his head, for he have been
consecrated to God from his mother's womb.
If he is shaved, his strength will leave
him, and he shall be as weak as any other
man.
When Samson falls asleep on her lap, she
calls for a man to shave off his seven locks
of hair on his head. Then she begins to
mistreat him for his strength had left him.
When he awakes, Samson cannot break away
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from the Philistines for the LORD has left him.
Delilah then calls the lords of the Philistines
with the money. Then Philistines seize Samson
and gouges out his eyes. They bring him down to
Gaza and bind him with bronze fetters. They put
him to grinding in the prison. But Samson’s the
hair begins to grow as soon as it was shaved
off. |
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The lords of the Philistines assemble to
offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon
for their god has delivered Samson into
their power. Then they bring out Samson to
entertain them. Then they station him
between the columns. Samson says to the
attendant who guides him to put him where he
may touch the columns that support the
temple so he can rest against them.
The temple is full of men and women and all
the lords of the Philistines are also
present along with about three thousand men
and women looking on |
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from the roof as Samson provides amusement.
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Samson then cries out to the LORD asking him
to strengthen him so he can avenge himself
once and for all on the Philistines.
Samson grasps the two middle columns on
which the temple rests and braces himself
against them, one at his right hand, and the
other at his left. Then Samson pushes hard,
and the temple falls upon the lords and all
the people who are in it. He kills at his
death more than those he did during his
lifetime.
All his family and kinsmen come to claim his
body and give him proper burial in the grave
of his father |
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Manoah between Zorah and Eshtaol. He judged
Israel for twenty years during the days of the
Philistines. |
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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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Moses Great Lives Series: Volume 4 ,
by Charles R. Swindoll. This book presents the
Bible's real Moses-the Moses who tried to
decline his assignment from God; the Moses who
dazzled Pharoh; the Moses who received the Ten
Commandments; the Moses who was disobedient and
weak; the Moses who was the greatest leader of
God's people in all of history. Through his
faith and selfless dedication, Moses continually
chose to follow God's will through difficult and
seemingly impossible situations.
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Jacob and Esau
by Harriette Augusta Curtiss and F. Homer
Curtiss (Paperback - Dec 30, 2005) |
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The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction &
Commentary
by J. A. Motyer
Recipient of a Christianity Today 1994 Critics
Choice Award! Among Old Testament prophetic
books no other equals Isaiah's brilliance of
style and metaphor, its arresting vision of the
Holy One of Israel and its kaleidoscopic vision
of God's future restoration of Israel and the
world. Now, after over three decades of studying
and teaching Isaiah, Alec Motyer presents a
wealth of commentary and perspective on this
book. |
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Saint of the Day: Lives, Lessons, and Feasts
(Paperback)
by Leonard Foley (Editor), Pat McCloskey
(Editor) |
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Lives of the
Saints You Should Know by Margaret R. Bunson,
Matthew E. Bunson |
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New Illustrated Book of Saints
Author: Catholic Book Publishing Company |
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One Hundred Saints: Their Lives and Likenesses
Drawn from Butler's
This is a coffee-table collection of 100 popular
saints illustrated with art works taken from
international galleries. The saints are listed
alphabetically in a valuable table of contents,
with a larger list of patron saints following
the text. Inclusion is based on popularity
within the Christian world and the
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availability of
atypical art works. Entries are generally based
on the 1926-38 edition of Butler's Lives of the
Saints, with the length of each entry varying
from one-half page to several pages. Short
entries giving written insight into the lives of
pious individuals are combined with depictions
rendered by artists such as Raphael and El
Greco. An inexpensive tribute to art and faith
more appropriate for gift-giving than for
libraries. |
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