Judges 13 starts out a lot like the story of Joseph and Mary. An angel of the Lord came to the wife of Manoah and told her that she was to give birth to a son even though she was sterile. OK, I guess that really is not a lot like Joseph and Mary except for the fact that an angel of the Lord told her that she was going to give birth to a son. Now, Manoah did not know what to think of this and asked to see the angel so that they would know how to raise the child. The angel appears to them again and tells them that they are to raise the boy as a Nazirite. Manoah had some weird issues with this angel. He treats the angel as if he is God Himself. The angel seems to have a hard time getting this past Manoah that he is not God but and angel of the Lord. Finally Manoah understands and offers up a sacrifice to the Lord.
In Judges 14 we see Samson already grown up and talking of a wife. He has fallen in love with a philistine woman and tells his parents to get her for him. This woman was put in Samson's life because of God. As they are going to see this woman a lion rushes them and Samson tears him apart with his bare hands. Now how his parents did not notice this I am not sure, but he did not tell them what had happened. When he went to the field and talked to the woman he liked her. I am confused by this because I thought he already liked her. Then on his journey back to marry her he took some honey out of the lion's carcass and ate it and shared it with his parents. Then during the wedding ceremony Samson puts them to a challenge of a riddle. He gives them seven days to give him an answer and he will give them some clothes. The people confront Samson's new wife and force her to get the answer from Samson so that they do not have to give Samson clothes. In a fit of anger over this Samson kills thirty of their men and gave their clothes to the ones that won the riddle. The last portion of this chapter has really confused me once again "And Samson's wife was given to the friend who had attended him at his wedding." (Judges 14:20) I do not understand why Samson's wife was given over to some other person. Samson reminds me a lot of the Greek demigod Hercules.
Judges 15 carries a lot of vengeance. Samson has found out that his wife was given to another man and burns the Philistines fields down. He later killed One thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. He was being handed over to the Philistines by the men of Judah who promised not to kill him. Just before he was handed over to them and before he killed the thousand Philistines the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and gave him strength once again. We then learn that Samson led Israel for twenty years.
Luke 15 has some of my favorite parables. The first one we read about is the parable of the lost sheep. This parable tells us a great lesson that we should learn. It tells us that we were not put here to bring those already in Christ but to work on bringing those who do not know Christ. The next parable about the lost coin tells the same story with just a different analogy. Both of these parables remind me that Jesus did not come to help those that already knew Him but He came for the sinners and the sick. He was often found in places with those who were unclean because of disease or those plagued with demons. He knew who He was here to help and we should not be any different.
Tomorrow's reading is:
Judges 16, 17, 18 and Luke 15:11 - 32
13. I especially liked the part where the angel tells her repeatedly not to drink while pregnant. Makes you wonder about other pregnant women of the time doesn't it?
ReplyDelete14. So far Samson's story is very strange to me.
15. I had assumed that Samson gave his wife away? Guess not. I'm curious what the significance of the donkey's jawbone is.
15. I let this ruffle my feathers for a minute because it seemed unfair. Then I realized, who among us has no need of repentance? We are all sinners, and I suppose if there is some saint that has never sinned, well, that person has to fight there own battle on this one.