Judges 15-16

Judges 15-16

This year, I plan on reading the Old Testament of the Bible within the 2012 calendar year. Follow me on this journey!

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 15: Samson Slays 1,000 Men

                Samson decides to go back and visit his wife, who at this point had been given to someone else. But apparently no one told Samson this, because he seems to be out of the loop on this one. He tries to go into her room to see her, but her father won't let him in; basically saying he thought Samson hated her, so he gave his daughter to someone else to marry.

                The father suggests that Samson take his younger daughter to marry and even tells Samson that she is much more attractive than her sister. But Samson does not want to marry this woman and this is when I like to say that the "hulk" brewing inside of Samson begins...

                Samson tells him that he is going to do the Philistines a "displeasure" see verse 3.  Samson gathers 300 foxes and attaches torches to their tails. He then lights up the torches and lets the foxes loose to run through the fields... ultimately burning the grain, olives and their vineyards.

                The Philistines ponder over who could have torched their fields and when they find out that it was Samson and more specifically it was Samson angry over his wife, they kill Samson's wife and father in-law by burning them. But this only upsets and angers Samson even more, so he slaughters many Philistines before returning to Israel.

                Samson runs off and the Philistines catch up to him in Judah, where the Philistines make the Israelites hand him over, so they do and they bind Samson with ropes and bring him directly to the Philistines. As he approaches he has another "hulk" moment and rips off the ropes and grabs a nearby donkey jawbone and strikes down 1,000 Philistines with it. After doing his killing the "hulk" (Samson) becomes very thirsty and pleads with the Lord for water.  God causes a spring to form and he is able to drink. We also learn at the end of the chapter that Samson ruled over Israel for twenty years.

Chapter 16: Samson Kills 3,000 and Himself

                Samson visits a prostitute named Delilah in Gaza. When people hear that Samson is there, they lie around the city in wait for him to come out, thinking that he would come out at dawn so they could kill him. Well Samson gets up in the middle of the night and tears down the posts and gate of the city and carries them off.

                Samson falls in love with Delilah and the Philistines decide to use her to gain access to knowledge of Samson. Delilah was told that if she got information on the weak points of Samson that each of the rulers of the land would give her 13 kilograms of silver which was a "lot of money".

                Samson also tells Delilah that if he is tied up with seven fresh bowstrings, that once they dry he will become as weak as anyone else. Delilah gets upset that Samson lied to her after he breaks free so easily that it was as if he had only a thin piece of thread binding him.

                Delilah demands to know the truth and he tells her another fake story, that seven fresh ropes will bind him, but she calls (presumably while he is sleeping) out saying that the Philistines are coming and again he snaps it, very easily.

                A third time, Samson, tells Delilah that if his hair is woven into the fabric on a loom and tightened with a pin that he won't be able to break it. Same thing, he breaks it! So Delilah tells Samson that he must not love her, if he cannot confide in her... so Samson finally tells the truth about his hair.

                No razor has been used on his head, because he was a Nazirite set apart by God from birth. If his head was shaved he would lose all his power., and become as weak as any other man. Delilah then sends the word to the Philistines, they show up, give Delilah her silver and shave the seven braids of Samsons head. Samson wakes up and without his power is captured by the Philistines, who remove his eyes and throw him in prison.

                In prison, the hair on Samson's head began to grow again. The Philistines gather together in the temple of their god Dagon to thank him for the capture of Samson. The gathering is about 3,000 men. To celebrate further they take Samson out of prison so he can be "entertainment" to them. Because he has no eyes, he is led out by a servant. He asks the servant to take him to the pillars of the building so he can rest upon them. Samson then prays to God to give him one more boost of power, so that he can get revenge for the gouging out of his eyes. The Lord listens and Samson pushes against two pillars, which cause the temple to collapse, killing not only himself but all of the Philistines inside. Samson's family comes to take his body to bury in their father's tomb. All in all, Samson ruled Israel for twenty years as a judge and in death killed more Philistines than in his life.

Judges 13-14

Judges 13-14

This year, I plan on reading the Old Testament of the Bible within the 2012 calendar year. Follow me on this journey!

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 13: Manoah's Son Samson

                Israel once again does evil in the sight of the Lord and are put into bondage for forty years to the Philistines. An angel comes to a woman who is barren, who is Manoah's wife. The angel tells Manoah's wife that she will conceive a son and he will deliver Israel from their bondage.

                The angel commands Manoah's wife to not drink alcohol or any unclean thing while she is pregnant. (see verses 3-4), interesting how this is probably the first time we know of that we learn it is not good to drink during a pregnancy.

                The angel leaves as he came, in a flame from the altar. Samson is born to Manoah and his wife and he begins to grow and is blessed with the Spirit of the Lord that starts to move him when he is at the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Chapter 14: Samson Slays a Lion

                Samson (all grown up) goes down to Timnath and sees a Philistine woman that he likes. So he goes and tells his parents that he wants to marry her. So they come with him down to Timnath and while on their journey a young lion roared at Samson. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him strong and he was able to kill the Lion with his bare hands, having no weapon of any kind with him.

                Samson meets up with the woman and he likes her a lot. As he travels back with her he noticed the carcass of the Lion he had killed and inside was a bee hive. So he took some of the honey and gave it to his parents, but not telling them where he got the honey from.

                Him and his parents go to Timnath to meet the lady whom Samson will marry. Samson throws a seven day feast, and he is given 30 companions. Samson decides to give a riddle; "...Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness..." (Judges 14:14)

                The prize for figuring out the riddle is 30 sets of sheets and garments. But the Philistines only have seven days to figure out the riddle to win. If they win, Samson will give them clothes, but if they lose they have to give him the clothes. The Philistines are unable to solve the riddle, and on the 4th day they come to Samson's bride and ask her to coax her husband into telling her the answer to the riddle and if she doesn't do it they will burn her and her family to death! Samson's bride to be goes to her groom to tell her the answer and if he doesn't then he really doesn't love her. He tells her that only he knows and that he hasn't even told his parents, so why would he tell her?

                Finally after seven days, and every day begging for the answer, Samson explains the riddle to her. She tells the Philistines the answer, and they present the answer to Samson. Samson is upset, because they only got the right answer because his bride to be told them the answer.

                Samson decides to still go through with his promise, but in his own way. The Spirit of the Lord comes upon him again very strong and he goes to Ashkelon and kills 30 Philistines, strips them of whatever they were wearing and gives those clothes to the people who "figured out" the riddle. Then her returns to his parents house angry. Samson does not return with his wife.

Judges 11-12

Judges 11-12

This year, I plan on reading the Old Testament of the Bible within the 2012 calendar year. Follow me on this journey!

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 11: Jephthah Captain of Israel

                Jephthah (the illegitimate son of Gilead), because he was the son of a prostitute is slowly pushed away from his brothers. Jephthah goes off to live in the land of Tob where he lives amongst idle men. Because of this Jephthah becomes a mighty warrior. When the sons of Gilead are oppressed by the Ammonites they go to Jephthah for help.

                Jephthah responds to his brothers "...Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father's house? ... why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?" (Judges 11:7)

                They tell him that essentially it doesn't matter what happened in the past, if he helps them, then he can become leader over them!

                Jephthah asks several times if this is really true, and finally agrees to help them, once he becomes the leader over them. He first sends a message to the Ammonites and asks them why they have been attacking. They respond, because the Israelites took away their land.

                Jephthah sends a message back, and in short tells them that the Israelites tried to be nice. They first asked permission to go through the land and they were denied, they had to wage war and ultimately it is their God who gave them the land. For three hundred year the Israelites have occupied the land, why, he asks, WHY? Haven't you tried to take the land back before then?

                The king of the Ammonites ignores Jephthah and the Lord tells Jephthah to go to war against the Ammonites. Jephthah however makes a vow to the Lord, that he will make a sacrifice of whatever comes out of the door of his house to meet him when he returns home. Jephthah and his men fight the Ammonites and the Lord delivers them into their hands. Jephthah returns home to meet his only daughter. This makes Jephthah sad, because he made a vow with God, so he must sacrifice his only child, his daughter.

                His daughter understands that he must do this, but makes a request that she get two months to wonder the roads and hills with her friends. So she does this. Her and her friends weep in the hillsides and finally she returns, still a virgin. Jephthah sacrifices her unto the Lord (Judges 11:39-40). It became a custom for daughters of Israel to lament the daughter of Jephthah four days of the year.

Chapter 12: 42,000 Ephraimites Die

                The men of Ephraim gather together and go to fight with Jephthah, because they were angry that they were not "called/invited" to fight with him. Jephthah argues that he asked for help, but when everyone ignored him he went with his small numbers and the Lord delivered the people of Gilead into his hands.

                The people of Gilead are upset, because the tribe of Ephraim said that they were "fugitives" from their group. So the people of Gilead fight with Ephraim and when they try to cross the river back home, they ask them if they are an Ephraimite, if they respond no, they then ask them to pronounce the word "Shibboleth". So one said Ephraimite says "Sibboleth" because he couldn't pronounce the word right, so they killed him and some other 42,000 Ephraimites!

                Jepthah leads Israel for six years before dying. The following three judges of Israel are:

·         Ibzan; who led for 7 years

·         Elon; who led for 10 years

·         Abdon; who led for 8 years

Judges 9-10

Judges 9-10

This year, I plan on reading the Old Testament of the Bible within the 2012 calendar year. Follow me on this journey!

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 9: Fable of Trees

                Abimelech (one of Gideon's 70 sons) goes to his brothers and convinces them to go to the people of Shechem and convince them that Abimelech should be their ruler. The people of Shechem agree and the people go into their temple to get Abimelech money.

                Once Abimelech had the money, his next action as ruler was to hire some lazy reckless people to be his followers. He pays them ten pieces of silver each. Now that he has a good following base, he takes his brothers and kills them one by one using the SAME STONE! The people crown Abimelech as their king. Abimelech however did not know that his youngest brother (Jotham) escaped the mass murder.

                When Jotham hears that Abimelech has been crowned king, he climbs to the top of Mount Gerizim and shouts to the people of Shechem...

                "...Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you.'

" The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?'

"And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?'

" Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?'

" Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us, And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'

"Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech your king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbal and his house... for my father fought for you...and delivered you out of the hand of Midian... ye are risen up against my father's house... and have slain his sons... If ye have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech and let him rejoice in you: But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem..." (Judges 9:8-20)

                After delivering this address Jotham flees and goes to live in Beer. The address is also known as a curse that Jotham put on the people of Shechem. We will find out why towards the end of the chapter.

                For a period of 3 years Abimelech rules over Israel until God sends an "evil spirit" (23) to deal treacherously between him and the people. The people of Shechem start to hide on the tops of hills and rob anyone who passes by. During this time a man named Gaal moves in and starts to get the people fired up... by saying: "...Who is Abimelech... that we should serve him?" (Judges 9:28). Gaal promises that if everyone follow him, that he will get rid of Abimelech. Zebul however is loyal to Abimelech, and after he hears this he goes to Abimelech and tells him that there is a "troublemaker" in the city. So Abimelech gets some men to go and meet Gaal.

                Gaal and his men along with Abimelech and his men fight. Gaal runs away with his people. Abimelech wins. The next day some of the people return and Abimelech goes crazy and kills everyone around him. He then sprinkles salt all throughout the town and the remaining people hid in the temple tower.

                Abimelech cuts down some trees and throws the branches over his shoulder. He commands his men to do the same thing. They pile all the wood outside the temple and burn all of them hiding inside ALIVE. About 1,000 men and women die.

                Abimelech then goes to the town of "Thebez" and causes the people there to hid in a strong tower to get away from Abimelech. Abimelech goes to the door of the tower and tries to break it down. When he does this a woman above drops a millstone on his head and cracks his skull open. The funniest part is that Abimelech calls one of his soldiers over as he is dying and commands that he kill him. But why? Because he didn't want people to say that he was killed by a woman!

                Thus we see that the curse of Jotham came true and the evil men of Shechem were killed just as Jotham had said. This was to repay for the death of his 69 brothers.         

 

Chapter 10: False gods

                Following the death of Abimelech, Tola rose as a judge to Israel for 23 years before dying and passing the judgment seat to Jair who judged for 22 years. After the death of Jair the children of Israel begin to be wicked again and follow after false gods. They served Baalim, Ashtaroth and the gods og Moab, the gods of the Phillistines and "forsook the Lord".

                "...the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Phillistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon." (Judges 10:7)

                The children of Ammon passed over the river to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim. Israel was distressed. The children of Israel cried unto the Lord admitting that they had sinned and asking to be freed from the oppression.

                "...the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites... the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? ...ye cried to me and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation." (Judges 10:11-14).

                However, the Israelites put away the false gods and start to worship God. God starts to grieve for the misery of Israel. The Israelites prepare for war.

Judges 7-8

Judges 7-8

This year, I plan on reading the Old Testament of the Bible within the 2012 calendar year. Follow me on this journey!

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 7: The Lord Chooses 300 by the Water

                Gideon has 32,000 troops of Israelites with him, but the Lord tells Gideon that he wants to reduce their numbers. He explains that he doesn't want Israel to get cocky and think that it was by their hand and power that they were able to conquer the Midianites. A smaller number of troops defeating a larger number will be a sign to the smaller group (Israel) that they could not have done it without the help of the Lord.

                Gideon tells the group, that anyone who is fearful may return home. So 22,000 Israelites return home, leaving a group of 10,000. The Lord tells Gideon that this number is also too large and tells them that he will reduce their numbers even more. God commands Gideon to bring the 10,000 troops to the water where he will test them.

                By the waters, Gideon tells him that every man who gets on his knees and drinks out of the river shall be sent home. But every man that drinks with his hand shall be kept with him to fight. After this little test (verses 4-6), only 300 men did not get on their knees to drink from the river.

                The reason for doing this is simple, those who are down on their knees drinking the water are not as aware of their surroundings and make a poor soldier. Those however who stand on guard at the watering hole, only swooping down quickly with their hands in a cupped motion getting a little water at a time are worthy to be called soldiers. They are aware of their surroundings and will not easily be taken out by the enemy.

                We can liken this to wildebeast or any other animal going for a drink at a watering hole where crocodiles are present. The crocodiles are like the enemy and the wildebeast or any other animal are the Israelites, those who are not careful and are just greedy to get water without being aware of their surrounding will be eaten. This can be applied many ways, but one way I like to look at it is that the water is the world and what we choose to partake of. Those who are righteous need certain things of the world, shelter, food and water. Sure we can indulge ourselves every once and a while and have fun. But we must not take part in the activities of the world without losing focus on what matters most. Those who get lost in the world, and are consumed by the water that it has to offer will be sitting ducks for Satan (the crocodile) to lay hold and consume them.

                Gideon takes his army of three hundred and divide them into 3 groups. With these 3 groups of 100 men he marches towards the Midianites using trumpets and lights in candles they appear to be a larger group and the Midianites flee for fear, and are defeated by the Israelites.

Chapter 8: Gideon Frees Israel and Dies

                Gideon pursues and destroys the Midianites. He frees Israel but refuses their invitation to be a king over them. After Gideon dies, Israel once again returns to their idol worship of Baalim.

Judges 5-6

Judges 5-6

This year, I plan on reading the Old Testament of the Bible within the 2012 calendar year. Follow me on this journey!

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 5: Song of Praise

                Deborah and Barak sing a song of Praise because of the deliverance of Israel from the Canaanite bondage.

                This chapter is all poetry. I highly recommend anyone reading this to read the passages for yourself. It essentially summarizes what happens in the previous chapters and talks about how God should be praised and the Israelites should follow the commandments. Because of Deborah and Sisera they were freed from the bondage of the Canaanites. (of course because of the hand of God in using Deborah and Sisera the Israelites are free).

Chapter 6: Overthrowing the Altar of Baal

                Again the Israelites do evil in the sight of the Lord and they are placed into bondage for under the Midianites for seven years.

                The Lord hears the cries of the Israelites and sends a prophet. An angel of the Lord appears under an oak tree in Ophrah. The son of Joash, Gideon was busy thrashing wheat by a winepress to avoid the Midianites. The angel appears t Gideon and tells him that the Lord is with him, and that he is a "...mighty man of valour." (Judges 6:12). Gideon asks how the Lord is with him, when Israel is suffering and they are in bondage to the Midianites. He also asks the angel about the lack of miracles that their ancestors had spoken of when they were freed from bondage from the Egyptians. The Angel responds with something to the effect of, God has come to ask you for help, right? Kind of like saying, hey he is here now... so let's just do it.

                The Angel commands Gideon to take down the altars of Baal and grove. Gideon agrees and does it by night. After tarrying down the altars he makes a sacrifice with a young bullock on the newly erected altar to the Lord God.

                The next morning everyone is wondering who took the altar down, they find out it is Gideon and go to Joash (his father) and demand that he come out of the house, because he must die. Joash however talks the people out of killing his son, by saying that if Baal really is a god, then let him fight his own battle. If he really is a god, he will kill Gideon himself.

                The Midianites and a bunch of other groups gather together and come to the children of Israel (most likely to make war with them). Gideon is warned by God about this and he calls the Israelites together by blowing a trumpet. Gideon, however is a little confused and is not sure it is God that is really talking to him. So he devises a test to prove that it is God speaking with him.

                Test #1:

                Gideon takes wool fleece and places it on the floor. The next morning if the fleece is wet with dew, but the rest of the ground is dry he will trust God and do as he has asked in saving Israel. The next morning he finds that the ground is dry and the fleece is wet with dew as he wrings out the fleece making a bowl of water.

                Test #2:

                Gideon however is still unsure, so he makes up a second test. He does however ask God to not be upset with him for his constant asking for signs. Gideon performs the same test, but this time he wants the fleece to be dry and the ground to be wet. The next morning the ground is wet and the fleece is dry. This seems enough to convince Gideon and he agrees to do what God has asked him to do.

Judges 3-4

Judges 3-4

This year, I plan on reading the Old Testament of the Bible within the 2012 calendar year. Follow me on this journey!

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 3: Worshiping False Gods

                Israel intermarries with the Canaanite people, they begin to worship false gods, like Baalim and the groves and get sold into a form of slavery under the rule of Chushanrishathaim, who was the king of Mesopotamia. The children of Israel were under his control for eight years. During this time the Israelites cried to God for help and God delivered them and then guess what the Israelites did? They started to disobey the commandments of God and started to do evil in his sight.

                Israel gets enslaved again by Moab, but through Ehud they are freed when he kills Eglon with a dagger.

Chapter 4: Deborah Prophetess

                After Ehud dies the Israelites again commit sins and are placed under enslavement by Jabin, king of Canaan. During this time Israel was again crying to God for his help from their bondage. The Judge over the people of Israel at this time was a Prophetess by the name of Deborah.

                Jabin is a cruel leader, who oppresses the Israelites for twenty years. The leader of his army is named Sisera. Deborah calls for a man named Barak to lead an army to kill Jabin, the leader of the army and all who oppress the Israelites. Deborah and Barak defeat the armies of Sisera. Sisera flees on foot to a tent of a woman named Jael, who is Heber's wife. Jael promises to hide him and covers him with a blanket, gives him milk and tells him that she will stand watch and when someone comes, she will tell them that no one is in the tent. Jael however (once Sisera is fast asleep) grabs a stake from the tent and hammers the stake through the temple, into the head and into the ground of Sisera. This of course kills him and the Israelites become stronger.