Day 108 – Judge Samson #2

• So yesterday we read about Samson’s birth being planned by God, as well as the vow his parents made that he would be a Nazirite all his life – a life lived for God. After reading these passages, do you think Samson was a good role model for the Nazirite vow and way of living?
• Look back at Judges 14. Things don’t start off well, do they? Samson demands that his parents let him marry a Philistine woman. This of course wasn’t right, and his parents try and dissuade him (Judges 14:3). Verse 4 shows that God is in control though. This human sinfulness creates a connection to the Philistines would later help to defeat them.
• The story with the lion underlines the fact that the Spirit – i.e. God – was with Samson. In Judge 14:8 Samson touches the dead body of the lion. Do you remember from our first day reading about Samson why this was wrong? Under the rules of his Nazirite vow he was not allowed to touch anything dead. Despite all Samson’s failings, however, God would still use him.
• As Samson prepared to marry the woman from Timnah, he put a riddle to a crowd of people preparing the feasts. What was Samson’s riddle, and what was the riddle referring to?
• How did the people cunningly work out what Samson’s riddle meant? What did Samson think about his fiancé for letting the people know what the riddle meant?
• What did Samson do in response in verses 18-20? He really was a hot head, wasn’t he! First he refers to his wife as a “heifer” that the people “ploughed” for information (a horribly crude phrase that shouldn’t be used to describe any woman, let alone his fiancé), then he kills thirty men to get the items to “pay” his debt, and then he has his best man marry his finance instead of him. Not exactly going well, is it?
• The stories get even more surreal in Judegs 15. What’s going on with the story of the 300 foxes? What a sight that must have been!
• The Philistine’s understandable reason gives us an opportunity to see the first indication of Samson’s mighty strength. What does he do in Judges 15:14? What does Samson then go on to do?
• What do you think we can learn for ourselves as we read this intriguing picture of Samson today?
• According to Zechariah, what should we not rely on? On what should we rely instead?

There is so much about Samson that we could talk about. For now, just enjoy the passages and think about how God is using Samson even in his many weaknesses and failings. Remember my comment from yesterday to consider how Samson is like the Israelite nation as a whole, in the way he speaks and acts.

We’ll think more about that on Monday!