Day 84 · Part 6: The Judges
Samson · Samson and Delilah
In the Story
In context
For forty years the Philistines ruled Israel (Judges 13:1). Their five chief cities were Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath and Ekron (1 Samuel 6:17). The Lord’s angel told the wife of Manoah, who had no children, that she would have a son, “a Nazirite to God from the womb,” who would “begin to save Israel” (13:2–5). A Nazirite was set apart to the Lord by a vow: no wine or anything from the grapevine, no razor on the head, and no going near a dead body (Numbers 6:2–8).
Samson grew up, and three times “Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on him” (14:6, 19; 15:14). His parents didn’t know that his wish to marry a Philistine woman of Timnah “was of Yahweh; for he sought an occasion against the Philistines” (14:4). Much that follows is hard reading, told plainly: thirty men killed, his wife and her father burned, a thousand killed with a donkey’s jawbone (14:19; 15:6–16).
Delilah, promised eleven hundred pieces of silver by each Philistine lord, pressed him until he told her the secret of his hair (16:4–17). Blinded and grinding grain in prison at Gaza, he asked the Lord to strengthen him “only this once,” to be avenged for his two eyes, and pulled down the building where the Philistines were celebrating a sacrifice to Dagon, dying with them (16:21–30).
What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets— who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee.
Hebrews 11:32–34 · Hebrews names Samson, with Gideon, Barak and Jephthah, among those who “from weakness were made strong.”
For families
When the angel promised a son, Manoah prayed for the man of God to come again and teach them how to raise “the child who shall be born” (13:8). When Manoah feared they would die, his wife answered that the Lord would not have accepted their offering if he meant to kill them (13:22–23). At the end Samson’s brothers and all his father’s house buried him in Manoah’s burial place (16:31).
Manoah asked how to raise the child who was coming. What would you most want to teach a child in your family?
In the Bible
World English Bible, as published by eBible.org (public domain).
Judges 13
Loading…
Judges 14
Loading…
Judges 15
Loading…
Judges 16
Loading…
A hymn for today
I Need Thee Every Hour · words by Annie S. Hawks
- I need Thee ev'ry hour,Most gracious Lord;No tender voice like ThineCan peace afford.RefrainI need Thee, O I need Thee;Ev'ry hour I need Thee;O bless me now, my Savior,I come to Thee.
- I need Thee ev'ry hour,Stay Thou nearby;Temptations lose their pow'rWhen Thou art nigh.RefrainI need Thee, O I need Thee;Ev'ry hour I need Thee;O bless me now, my Savior,I come to Thee.
- I need Thee ev'ry hour,In joy or pain;Come quickly and abide,Or life is vain.RefrainI need Thee, O I need Thee;Ev'ry hour I need Thee;O bless me now, my Savior,I come to Thee.
- I need Thee ev'ry hour;Teach me Thy will;And Thy rich promisesIn me fulfill.RefrainI need Thee, O I need Thee;Ev'ry hour I need Thee;O bless me now, my Savior,I come to Thee.
- I need Thee ev'ry hour,Most Holy One;O make me Thine indeed,Thou blessèd Son.RefrainI need Thee, O I need Thee;Ev'ry hour I need Thee;O bless me now, my Savior,I come to Thee.