Day 74: Judges 13-15

(The previous post covered six more Judges: Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. The majority of that post covered the story of Jephthah.)

Judges 13

(This chapter introduced Samson, Israel's thirteenth Judge.)

¹ And the children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah; and Jehovah delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

(Israel did evil again and had forty years of oppression.)

² And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.

(Samson was from the tribe of Dan. In Hebrews 11:32, Samson was identified as an example of faith.)

³ And the angel of Jehovah appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not; but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
⁴ Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
⁵ for, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come upon his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

(An angel initiated these events. Samson would be a Nazarite from the womb. The Nazarite Vow was not uncommon but in this case, being "from the womb," it was much longer than normal.

The Nazarite Vow was covered in Numbers 6:1-8. This vow had three guidelines:
1) No strong drink including wine; no eating fruit from a vine,
2) No razor shall come upon his head,
3) shall not go near a dead body, man or beast.

The person would be holy unto God during the time of the vow.)

⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the angel of God, very terrible; and I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name:
⁷ but he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the womb to the day of his death.

(The Nazarite Vow was usually only held for a short time, commonly a month. Here, it stated that not only would Samson be held to this vow from birth but it would extend his entire life, until death. This was similar to John the Baptist in Luke 1:15.)

⁸ Then Manoah entreated Jehovah, and said, Oh, Lord, I pray thee, let the man of God whom thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.
⁹ And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her.

(Manoah prayed for guidance concerning his son, specifically by asking God to send the angel to Manoah and his wife. God responded by sending the angel to Manoah's wife again but without Manoah being present.)

¹⁰ And the woman made haste, and ran, and told her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day.
¹¹ And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am.
¹² And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass: what shall be the ordering of the child, and how shall we do unto him?
¹³ And the angel of Jehovah said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware.
¹⁴ She may not eat of anything that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe.
¹⁵ And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, I pray thee, let us detain thee, that we may make ready a kid for thee.

(The angel gave Manoah dietary guidelines for his wife's pregnancy. Samson's parents wanted to keep the angel over for dinner.)

¹⁶ And the angel of Jehovah said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread; and if thou wilt make ready a burnt-offering, thou must offer it unto Jehovah. For Manoah knew not that he was the angel of Jehovah.
¹⁷ And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that, when thy words come to pass, we may do thee honor?
¹⁸ And the angel of Jehovah said unto him, Wherefore askest thou after my name, seeing it is wonderful?
¹⁹ So Manoah took the kid with the meal-offering, and offered it upon the rock unto Jehovah: and the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on.

(The angel told them to make the offering to God and the angel would not tell his name. An unclean spirit has to give its name. Angels do not. Manoah made the offering.)

²⁰ For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of Jehovah ascended in the flame of the altar: and Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.

(The angel ascended with the flames.)

²¹ But the angel of Jehovah did no more appear to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Jehovah.
²² And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
²³ But his wife said unto him, If Jehovah were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meal-offering at our hand, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would at this time have told such things as these.
²⁴ And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and Jehovah blessed him.

(Samson was born, he grew, and God blessed him.)

²⁵ And the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.




Judges 14
¹ And Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.
² And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.

(Samson saw a Philistine woman and told his parents he wanted her for his wife.)

³ Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
⁴ But his father and his mother knew not that it was of Jehovah; for he sought an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines had rule over Israel.

(God wanted this so He could bring Justice against the Philistines.)

⁵ Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnah, and came to the vineyards of Timnah: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.
⁶ And the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid; and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.

(The Spirit came upon Samson and he killed the lion with his bare hands.)

⁷ And he went down, and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well.
⁸ And after a while he returned to take her; and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.
⁹ And he took it into his hands, and went on, eating as he went; and he came to his father and mother, and gave unto them, and they did eat: but he told them not that he had taken the honey out of the body of the lion.

(Touching the dead lion was breaking the Nazarite Vow.)

¹⁰ And his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do.

(Samson made a feast there. The Philistines had drinking feasts that the "young men" (bridegrooms) would have for weddings, essentially a "bachelor party." They would last seven days. The feast was with the Philistines. This was not recognized by the Jews. It is probable that Samson partook in the drinking feast which would have been breaking another part of the Nazarite Vow.)

¹¹ And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.
¹² And Samson said unto them, Let me now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can declare it unto me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of raiment;

(Samson gave the men a riddle. Riddles were part of the amusement in these festivals.)

¹³ but if ye cannot declare it unto me, then shall ye give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of raiment. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it.
¹⁴ And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth food, And out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days declare the riddle.
¹⁵ And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire: have ye called us to impoverish us? is it not so?

(The men wanted Samson's wife to find out the answer.)

¹⁶ And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell thee?
¹⁷ And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she pressed him sore; and she told the riddle to the children of her people.

(Samson's wife asked for the answer to the riddle and he told her.)

¹⁸ And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, Ye had not found out my riddle.

(The men answered the riddle.

-The riddle (from vs. 14):
"Out of the eater came forth food, And out of the strong came forth sweetness."

-The answer:
"What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion?"

After the men answered the riddle, Samson spoke to the men a metaphor which accused them of getting the answer from his wife.)

¹⁹ And the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and smote thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave the changes of raiment unto them that declared the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.

(Samson took the spoil from the men he killed and went to his father's house.)

²⁰ But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.

(Samson's wife was given to his companion (best man). She was never in community. They were married but Samson never took her home. The Philistines did not live by the Law so Samson's father-in-law may not have thought he was doing anything wrong.)




Judges 15
¹ But it came to pass after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.

(Samson was denied his wife by her father.)

² And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.

(The father gave Samson the reason: he thought Samson hated her.)

³ And Samson said unto them, This time shall I be blameless in regard of the Philistines, when I do them a mischief.

(Samson wanted to equal out Justice.)

⁴ And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between every two tails.
⁵ And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks and the standing grain, and also the oliveyards.

(Using wild foxes with torches in their tails, Samson burnt their standing grain (corn) and their oliveyards.)

⁶ Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they said, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he hath taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.

(They killed Samson's wife and her father.)

⁷ And Samson said unto them, If ye do after this manner, surely I will be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.
⁸ And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

(Samson killed them.)

⁹ Then the Philistines went up, and encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.
¹⁰ And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they said, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.
¹¹ Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what then is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.

(Samson referenced Justice: "As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.")

¹² And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.
¹³ And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.

(The men of Judah bound Samson because they wanted to deliver him to the Philistines. Samson let them bind him as long as they would not attack him once he was bound.)

¹⁴ When he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him: and the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands.

(The Spirit came on Samson and the binds were loosed.)

¹⁵ And he found a fresh jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and smote a thousand men therewith.

(Samson killed 1,000 men with a donkey's jawbone!)

¹⁶ And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of an ass have I smitten a thousand men.
¹⁷ And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand; and that place was called Ramath-lehi.

(Ramath-lehi meant "height of a jawbone" which read as "Jawbone Hill" to the people there.)

¹⁸ And he was sore athirst, and called on Jehovah, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance by the hand of thy servant; and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised.
¹⁹ But God clave the hollow place that is in Lehi, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore the name thereof was called En-hakkore, which is in Lehi, unto this day.

(God gave Samson water from out of the jawbone. Lehi meant "jaw." En-hakkore meant "spring of One calling.")

²⁰ And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

(Samson judged Israel for twenty years.)

(This post covered Samson's acting as Judge over Israel for twenty years.)

Day 75