1-24 Birth of Samson
- Israel returns to evil, and God gives them into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years.
- An angel appears to the barren wife of Manoah in Zorah, of the tribe of Dan.
- He tells her she will conceive, but she must not drink any strong drink or any unclean thing, for her son is to be a nazirite, who will deliver Israel from the Philistines.
- After she tells Manoah, he wants another visit from the "man of God." The angel comes and tells him exactly what he told his wife before. God seems to indulge Manoah in his need to confirm his wife's story.
- Manoah asks the man to stay, but he declines, instructing Manoah rather to offer a burnt offering.
- When Manoah asks his name, the angel replies, "Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful." Another appearance by the second person of the godhead? Somehow this seems not as important as the other two appearances (as I remember): to Abraham and Sarah, announcing Isaac's birth; and to Joshua as he commanded the Israelite armies. After all, this was just another judge in a long line of judges.
- When Manoah offers a goat and grain as an offering, the angel appears in the fire. Now Manoah realizes it was an angel all along, and fears for his life. His wife assures him, "If God had wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted our offering."
- Their son is named Samson, and he "grew, and the LORD blessed him. The spirit of the LORD began to stir him."
1-20 Samson's Marriage
- Samson sees a Philistine woman in Timnah he insists on marrying, against his parents' wishes. They did now know "this was from the LORD," as a means of acting against the Philistines.
- On the way with his parents to Timnah, a young lion roars at him, "the spirit of the LORD" rushes on him, and he kills it barehanded. They don't see this incident. On another trip, he eats honey from a swarm of bees that has formed inside the carcass. He shares it with his parents, who don't know where he got it.
- At the marriage feast to the Philistine woman, he bets with 30 Philistine men at the feast they can't answer a riddle about the lion and the honey: "Out of the eater came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet."
- They talk Samson's wife into finding the answer to the riddle. Giving into her tears and nagging, he tells her, she tells them, they answer the riddle. "The spirit of the LORD" rushes on him, and he goes to Ashkelon, kills 30 men there, takes their garments, and delivers the winnings back to the Philistines (30 festal garments).
- Angry, Samson returns to his father's house, and his wife is given to his best man.
1-15 Samson Defeats the Philistines
- Samson returns to Timnah with a goat kid for his wife, but she has been given to the best man.
- In anger, he catches 300 foxes, ties them together in pairs by their tails, fastens a torch to the tie and sends them into the fields to burn up the grain.
- When the Philistines find out who did it and why, they burn Samson's wife and her father. He kills the Philistines and escapes to the cleft of the rock of Etam.
- Philistines raid Lehi, near where Samson hides, which belongs to tribe of Judah. When men of Judah find out why, they find Samson, and he agrees to let them deliver him to the Philistines if they promise not to kill him. They bind him with ropes and bring him out of the rock.
- The "spirit of the LORD" comes upon him, his bonds easily break, he grabs the fresh jawbone of a donkey, and kills a thousand men with it, then throws it away.
- Now he's thirsty, so he appeals to God, who splits open a hollow place, which produces water.
- And Samson judges Israel for 20 years.
1-22 Samson and Delilah
- Samson goes to Gaza, and while he's with a prostitute the men there plot against him, intending to kill him the next morning. But he wakes up at midnight, takes hold of the doors of the city gate, with the two posts, puts them on his shoulder and carries them to the top of a hill. Apparently, what we would consider living a clean life was not a prerequisite for being a judge. Also, it's interesting that most of the time, we don't hear about the "judging" as much as we do the "fighting." What Deborah did as a judge -- sitting under a tree and welcoming citizens -- is what we would expect to hear.
- He falls in love with Delilah, whom the Philistines bribe with 1100 pieces of silver to use to find the secret of his strength. Samson tells her being bound with 7 fresh bowstrings will do it. She binds him up, but when the Philistines attack, he easily breaks them "as a strand of fiber snaps when it touches the fire."
- Same story again, this time with new ropes.
- Same story again, this time, weaving his hair into a loom. All of these are done while he was asleep? Either he was a very heavy sleeper, or else he just pretended to sleep.
- Finally, she pleads and nags long enough to wear him down, and he tells her the truth -- it's the length of his hair (because he's kept the nazirite vows) that gives him his strength. A curse of nagging: here it causes a man to do what he had to know was fatal for him.
- She "allows him" to fall asleep on her lap, then has his hair cut. The Philistines overpower him, gouge out his eyes, and imprison him in Gaza.
- His hair grows out.
- The lords of the Philistines gather to offer sacrifices to Dagon to celebrate their victory over Samson
- They call him out of prison to "entertain" them. The house is full of people, with about 3,000 on the roof watching him.
- He "leans" against two pillars that hold up the house, prays to God for help, and pushes them apart until they collapse, killing everyone there, including himself. Even though he seems to be a vile -- and violent! -- person in many ways, I have to give credit to Samson for acknowledging at the end that his strength came from God. In spite of -- or because of -- his violent and short-tempered nature, God used him to accomplish his own purposes.
- "So those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life."
- His family buries him in the tomb of his father Manoah.
It seems like a lot of David's prayers in this section of the Psalms are for protection from enemies. I had the thought as I started this one: "No, no -- another psalm about people out to get David." On further reflection, though, what these psalms emphasize is that yes, David was a man of war, but he was constantly appealing to God for help in his distress -- he never stopped trusting that God would help him. I may tire of reading what seems like the same plea over and over again; David had the constant need of making that plea. Therefore, in the words of verse 10: "Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him. Let all the upright in heart glory."
2 Corinthians 2
1-4 Continuing from Chapter 1 (not a good chapter break)
- Paul had some hard things to say to the Corinthians but didn't want to say them in person, knowing it would cause them -- and him -- too much pain.
- Paul wrote not to cause them pain but because he loved them.
- Forgive and console, and reaffirm your love to the man [who had obviously repented after being shunned].
- Paul would forgive whomever they forgave.
- However, Satan does not want us to forgive -- it's another of his traps.
- Although a door [of opportunity] was opened to him there, he was anxious when he arrived there because he did not find Titus.
- But [I think he is saying] wherever he went he could be the "aroma of Christ," a fragrance of life to the saved, a fragrance of death to the perishing.
- He doesn't "sell" the gospel to the highest bidder, as some do.
- He stands in God's presence and is therefore sincere in his work.
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