Judges Chapter 13 "Philistines and Samson." This Bible Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's transcription is provided by theseason.org We now come to the thirteenth judge, and Samson will be the last judge before the Israelites enter the times of the monarchs, or kings. When Samson was born, his birth was by divine intervention. This is because his mother was barren and of an age that she could not have children. Then an Angel of the Lord came and touched them and made the birth of this child possible. Samson's birth was much like the birth of several others, such as Isaac and John the Baptist, where Sarah was way beyond child bearing years, as was Elizabeth; and God sent His Angel or messenger to inform the parents of the child that God would send to them. Samson is a type of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, because He is a judge that will lead no army, and he will use no great weapons to perform spectacular things. The reason for this is that his strength within himself is an army. The strength is within him, and by his power these things come to pass. Samson's only weapon is the jaw bone of an ass. That is Samson's only high tech weapons that he uses on his enemies. This again shows us that God can and does use whom ever He desires to use, and by what ever means He chooses to use to give His children of Israel the victory. When Samson dies there is no more judges for the children of Israel cry out to the Lord for a king just like their neighboring nations have. They have proven that they do not have the ability to worship and unseeing God, and follow His ways without having someone in person to lord over them. This made God very angry, and God gave them Saul their king. This was the Saul that went mad and was murdered. Of course David followed Saul to the throne, and David was a man after God's own heart, even though David did mess up from time to time. However God is the True King of all Israel, of all tribes and nations that come from those tribes. However people even today want someone that they can see, so God is giving us this type of savior in Samson, and he will save Israel not with an army, but by himself. Samson will take on the entire nation of the Philistines to give us another type to see how God works. In the book of Judges we have seen how God also used ambassadors to negotiate in the previous battles where Jephthah the outcast was used to lead the army of Israel. Jephthah sent out ambassadors to try to find a common ground and settle the conflict with out war, and when none could be found, the Jephthah and the Gileadites met the children of Ammon, and God gave them the victory. This was also a type of how we are to handle our affairs, by first talking it through to find a common ground of settling our affairs, and when that means fails, then it is time to go to war, which might mean the courts, or whatever it takes to resolve the situation. You go to them personally and give them the facts as you see it, and listen to their side of the story. You reason with them and at least try to find a common ground. The lack of communication and understanding is the cause of most all conflicts. You take either witnesses, or arbitrators, and if they will not accept those arbitrations, then it is time to seek action and sue them. Now in Samson God chose one man to make a difference to all of Israel. We will see that if God is with you, who can be against you? Nobody, for God will give you the victory. You and God make a majority, and in this chapter we will see that Samson and God made the army and the majority. Judges 13:1 "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." After Abdon the Pirathonite, the last judged before Samson, died the children of Israel went right back into idolatry, as they did before. This time of captivity by the Philistines was the longest period of captivity that Israel had endured. Forty [40] in biblical numerics means "probation", and it is the longest of all the captivities of all the judges time. And it compares with the forty year period that the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, and had an entire faithless generation of unbelievers die off. God moved differently in bringing down the Philistines that he had before times, He picked one man, and that man became the army that brought down the Philistines. So with the Philistines being angry with Samson only, which is God's plan, they turned their vengeance from Israel to that one man, Samson. Judges 13:2 "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." "Manoah" in the Hebrew tongue means rest. God is going to give this child Samson to a very special family of the tribe of Dan. Manoah is from the town of Zorah in the land of the Danites, and the name "Zorah" in the Hebrew means "hornet". Manoah's wife was barren and could not have children. However she will bare a child, and God will give that child superhuman strength, and ability. Judges 13:3 "And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, "Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son." The Angel of God, is the same messenger that appeared to Gideon to Gideon in Judges 6:12, and told Gideon that God us going to use him to deliver Israel from the Midianites. "Behold" as used in the Hebrew comes from the word "Asterismos", and it means in the strictest term to, "straighten up and pay attention to what I am about to say." Judges 13:4 "Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:" The Angel of God is telling Manoah's wife that she is about to bare a child, and that she is to take very special care of herself. He is telling her that while you are carrying this child, she is not to have any strong drink and she is to follow the health laws in detail. She is to eat food God's way. This is very good advise not only then, but also today. Judges 13:5 "For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no rasor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." To be "a Nazarite unto God from the womb", means that God has chosen Samson from the time that he is conceived in the womb, through his entire life. In as much as she has not yet conceived, that child is appointed to God's Word, predestined from the age that was, to do a service for God. God has claimed this child to be His even in the embryo stage, and that is why no wine or unclean food is to enter this mother's body, for what enters the mothers body is what nourishes the child. The word "Nazarite" means "one separated", and Samson is separated and appointed by God Himself. The purpose for this childs birth is given here to Samson's mother, so there could be no doubt of the importance of her following the detailed instructions that God was giving to her directly. That purpose was that this child Samson would grow up to be the deliver of Israel for their captivity to the Philistines. So this vow God is insisting that She makes is for the child's protection, and it is to be passed on to the child. In that all her life she was unable to have children, she considered this child and the oath to be a blessing from God. This was a type of another special birth, and He was Jesus Christ Himself, who was called a Nazarite. When Joseph and Mary and the Christ child were in Egypt, the Angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream, and gave instructions to him to return to the land of Israel. Matthew 2:21 "And he arose, and took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel." Matthew 2:22 "But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:" Matthew 2:22 "And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene." " Remember that the term "Nazarite unto God" means "one separate unto Elohim", and the oath of a Nazarite is given in Numbers 6:2 through 8. Numbers 6:1 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, " This is God's instructions to Moses of what is expected of those taking the vow of a Nazarite. Numbers 6:2 "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, "When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord:" " Numbers 6:3 "He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried." Numbers 6:4 "All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, form the kernels even to the husk." Numbers 6:5 "All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no rasor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separatheth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow." Numbers 6:6 "All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body." Numbers 6:7 "He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head." Numbers 6:8 "All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord." This vow is not something that you take on the spur of the moment, but when you are led of God, and directed by God for the dedication of your entire life for His service. In the case of Samson, the Angel of the Lord had a purpose, the bringing down ot the Philistines, and freeing of the children of Israel. Samson is to become the Judge of all Israel and lead his people. Judges 13:6 "Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A Man of God came unto me, and His countenance was like the countenance of an Angel of God, very terrible: but I asked Him not whence He was, neither told He me His name:" This angel's appearance was not "terrible" as we think of it today, but "awe inspiring". She is telling Manoah that she didn't know where He was from, and He didn't give me his name. Though she believed the Angel came from God, she was overwhelmed by Him. Judges 13:7 "But He said unto me, 'Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.' " The angel is telling Samson's mother that this child that she shall conceive is going to be a Nazarite from the time of conception, to the day that he shall die. This is why it is important for her to be under the same vow, for as we have seen in Numbers 6, it requires that no unclean food, nor strong drink shall enter his body. This doesn't make him perfect, however, we will see that God pretty much controlled Samson all his live. Judges 13:8 "Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, "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." " Manoah knew that this messenger was important and that his message was true. This is why Manoah wanted the Angel of God to return and teach both he and his wife how they should raise the child. Judges 13:9 "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." Again here, it is the woman that is touch when the Angel of God came to her to reveal that this conception was for real. In as much as it was the man that had asked for direction, this Angel of God is going to give him his answers. If you have asked for direction or instruction from God, and when it comes and it is not clear, then ask Him again. There is no harm done, for God will either answer or not. Judges 13:10 "And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto him, "Behold, the Man hath appeared unto me, That came unto me the other day." When this Angel reappeared to her in the field, she ran for the house to get her husband to come and talk to him. Judges 13:11 "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." Manoah wanted to make sure that this person was the same man that spoke to his wife earlier. Notice that the Angel's response is with God"s sacred name. "I Am". In the Hebrew tongue His name is "I AM THAT I AM", "EHYER 'ASHER 'EHYEA", and it means that "I will be what I will be." It is God only that decides what He shall be. When Moses asked God what he should tell the people as to who gave him the tablets, God told him to call Him "I AM". This is the name that God gave to Moses after he had received the laws and commandments, and was going to come down off the mountain. Exodus 3:13 "And Moses said unto God, "Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, 'The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you;' and they shall say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say unto them?" Exodus 3:14 "And God said unto Moses, "I AM THAT I AM:" and He said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 'I AM hath sent me unto you.' " So we have the reappearance of this one sent from God, to declare that Samson shall live his life under the vow of a Nazarite. Divine intervention is awe inspiring and it does not happen very often. (chapter 13 ends here, the rest coming soon). Judges 13:12-25 12 And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him? 13 And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. 14 She may not eat of any thing 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 the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. 16 And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD. 17 And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour? 18 And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? 19 So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. 20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. 21 But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD. 22 And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. 23 But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these. 24 And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
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