We all know Samson’s story, but it’s good to read it in context. Times were hard for Israel. The euphoria of the entry to the promised Land is generations back, all the promises about never ending faithfulness to God have been broken many times, the people are mired in compromise and threatened by enemies. Not too different from how they felt when Jesus came, when Messiah desire was at its height.
Samson’s birth
Judges 13:24-25
Jephthah’s youth
Judges 11:1-3
Elkanah and his family
1 Samuel 1:1-8
Hannah’s prayer
1 Samuel 1:9-18
Samuel’s birth
1 Samuel 1: 19-23
Samuel’s dedication
1 Samuel 1:24-28
Hannah’s song
1 Samuel 1 :2-10
The oppression of Israel
Judges 10: 6-9
Israel’s repentance
Judges 10: 10-18
The Philistines in the West
Judges 13:1, Psalm 106:34-46
Samson desires a Philistine wife
Judges 14:1-4
Samson kills a lion
Judges 14:5-9
Samson’s riddle
Judges 14:10-14
I’m surprised to be reading about Samuel already - I hadn’t realised that he was contemporary with Samson, I’d assumed he lived some time later. It makes an interesting contrast. Again it’s a bit of a miraculous birth - how many mothers of important Bible characters had trouble conceiving? - and hopes rise high again that God is about to change things for the better.
Meanwhile, the Philistines are harrying Israel, and Samson comes back on the scene, and young and handsome man. He falls for a Philistine woman, and his parents, who seem in awe of him cave in and allow him to marry a non-Israelite. But surely this is going to lead to trouble.
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