Old Testament - Judges 13 & 14 - June 2, 2022

 6/2/2022 – Judges 13 & 14

Judges 13

The study guide has a diagram called “Cycle of Sin and Deliverance in the Book of Judges”. That title pretty well explains the actions of the Israelites now that they are in Canaan, the land that the Lord promised to Abraham and his descendants. Their problems are described in the first verse of chapter 13: “And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.”

This chapter also tells us of Samson. His mother had not been able to have children, but an angel came, telling her that she would “conceive and bear a son.” (v 3) She was to not have “wine nor strong drink”; she was not to eat “any unclean thing”; and once her son was born she was to never cut his hair for he would be “a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” (v 5) A Nazarite is one who is “separated, consecrated, devoted”; who is “set apart” and has been given a special calling or position and who has made a special vow of self-dedication to the Lord.

When she told her husband of the angel’s visit, his (Monoah) first reaction was to pray: “O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.” Monoah is the example of parenthood that we would all like to follow. He had complete faith, and his plea to the Lord was to help him in the best ways to raise this child: “How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?” (v 12). Again, he and his wife did not doubt, they simply went to the Lord for His help and guidance in order that they could do their very best in helping their child grow to fulfill his purpose in this life.

V 21 tells us that after the angel had answered their questions, he left and he “did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife.” But Monoah and his wife remembered this celestial tutoring for the rest of their lives.

Samson was born “…and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times…” (v’s 24-25). That’s a good reminder to us that the spirit is not always and constantly influencing us. Our job is to remember our spiritual moments, and to go forth, always living worthily to the best of our abilities. 

Judges 14

Samson has now grown into a man. He went into the area where the Philistines lived and saw a woman who he wanted as a wife. He went to his parents, who tried to direct him to an Israelite woman. 

Surprisingly, v 4 tells us that they “knew not that it was of the Lord”. 

As his he and his parents traveled again into the Philistine’s area and vineyards, “a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him and he rent him…he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.” (v’s 5-6)

He and his parents came to the Philistines and agreed to Samson’s marriage with the woman he had seen. After some time Samson returned to marry her. As he walked he came upon the carcass of the lion he had killed and saw that there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass. 

We are then told about Samason’s seven-day wedding celebrations. Before the wedding Samson told a riddle to his friends who were coming to the wedding and he made a bet with them. If they could solve the riddle before the 7 day celebration was over, he would give them 30 sheets and 30 changes of clothes, but if they could not solve the riddle then they would give him the 30 sheets and 30 changes of clothes.  When they found they could not solve the riddle, they went to Samsons soon-to-be wife saying they would burn her and her father’s house if she did not tell them the riddle’s answer. She was distraught and cried to Samson that he should share the riddle answer with her, and after 7 days of wedding celebration and of his wife’s tears and he shared with her the answer, and she went and shared the answer with those who had been trying to solve the riddle. Samson was furious and he wreaked havoc on the Philistines at Ashkelon to get the spoils necessary to pay his debt. 

Now his new father-in-law was angry, and he gave Samson’s wife to the man “used as his friend” (v 20) who was Samson’s best man at the wedding. This certainly gives us a glimpse of the moral state of the Philistines, but also of Samson’s own moral failures. It also gives us background to what Samson will do to the Philistines, for his anger at losing his wife certainly lingered with him.