Strong Man Samson

Judges 13-14

"We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us."  Romans 12:6a

"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good."  1 Corinthians 15:7

After their last bout with idol worship, the Israelites became very contrite, and God sent them a leader named Jephthah, who rescued them from the Ammonites and ruled over them for six years.  He was followed by three judges, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon.  After their rule the Israelites fell back into idol worship.  Would they never learn?  This time God allowed the Philistines to oppress them for forty years, the longest recorded time of oppression.

A man named Samson stepped onto the stage of history at this point.  Charles Swindoll called him "a he man with a she weakness."  Unfortunately, this is a pretty apt description.

Samson had a great start in life.  An angel told his parents they would have a son.  In a time of widespread wickedness, Samson was born to godly parents who were eager to raise him well.  God chose for Samson to be a Nazarite from birth.  A Nazarite was a person who was especially dedicated to God and to God's service.  Judges 13:24-25 tells us that the Lord blessed Samson, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him.  He had  everything going for him.  But Samson failed to live up to his potential.  He used his incredible strength selfishly.  He allowed himself to be distracted by women.  He could have been a much better leader with all the assets God had given him.  Nevertheless, Samson led Israel for twenty years.  He began freeing the Israelites from the Philistines, but their deliverance was continued under Samuel and completed under David.

The right kind of woman can be very good for a man, but the wrong kind can be very harmful.  Samson got mixed up with the wrong kind of women.  Two were Philistine women who were more loyal to their people than to Samson, and they sold Samson out.  Scripture also mentions a tryst with a prostitute.

In Judges & Ruth- Everyman's Bible Commentary, Arthur Lewis says,  "No one could ask for a better start in life.  He enjoyed every endowment a person could hope for...Samson had great potential and many opportunities to use his gifts for God's purpose and glory."  Sadly, his selfishness and his lust for the wrong kind of women kept him from being the leader he should have been.

God has given each of us gifts and opportunities to use our gifts for His purposes and His glory.  Are we living up to our potential?  Are we using well the resources God has given us to serve Him?

Father, may we seek to be all that You have created us to be and do all that You have created us to do.  Amen.

The Battle is the Lord's

Judges 6:36-7:25

"Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army [or whatever else you may be facing].  For the battle is not yours, but God's."  2 Chronicles 20:15b

God allowed the Israelites to be in several impossible situations so He could show them both His mighty power and His faithfulness to rescue them.  Remember when they were slaves in Egypt with no way of escape, and God performed miracles that finally persuaded Pharaoh to let them go?  Remember how they were hemmed in with the Red Sea in front of them, mountains on each side of them, and the Egyptian army moving in behind them, and God opened up the Red Sea?  Remember when they needed to cross the Jordan River at flood stage, and God opened up a path through it into the land of Canaan?  God often places us in situations where we are completely helpless.  If we trust and obey Him, He rescues us against overwhelming odds.  Our part is to give Him all the praise and all the glory.  It is our privilege and pleasure to tell others what the Lord has done.

God wanted the Israelites to see His power and His faithfulness again.  Gideon had raised an army of 32,000 men to face a Midianite army so vast that their camels were too numerous to count.  God told Gideon he had too many men and to send those who were afraid home.  22,000 men left, leaving an army of 10,000.  God said that was still too many men.  He told Gideon to take the soldiers to the water and separate those who drank from their cupped hands by lapping the water from those who knelt to drink.  Three hundred men cupped their hands and lapped, and God told Gideon to send the rest home.  Now God had the Israelites right where He wanted them--in an impossible situation.

That night, after the Midianite soldiers had gone to sleep, Gideon and his soldiers quietly surrounded the camp.  They each had a jar with a torch inside in one hand and a trumpet in the other hand.  When Gideon gave the signal, they smashed the jars, releasing the torches.  They blew the trumpets and shouted,  "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon."  God caused such confusion in the camp that he Midianite soldiers began to fight each other and then run away.  God came to the rescue of His people in another impossible situation.  His promise that the battle is the Lord's is a promise for us in our difficult and impossible situations as well, if we will trust Him and obey Him as Gideon did.

Father, nothing is too hard for You.  May we trust you in all the situations of our lives.  Thank You for all the times You have rescued us already.  Amen.

Putting Out a Fleece

Judges 6:1-35

God promised Gideon,  "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive."  Judges 6:16

Are you familiar with the expression "putting out a fleece?"  It comes from the story of Gideon.  It means asking God for a visible sign for reassurance or direction, asking God to guide us in some decision by fulfilling a condition that we make.

The Midianites, Amalekites, and some other eastern soldiers joined forces to create a vast army.  They camped in the Valley of Jezreel, preparing to attack the Israelites.  Gideon gathered his own army, but when he contemplated the upcoming battle, he got cold feet.  He asked God for a sign that the Israelite army would be victorious.  Judges 6:36-40 tells us the story,  "Gideon said to God, 'If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised--look, I will place a wool fleece [a piece of wool] on the threshing floor.  If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.'  And that is what happened.  Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew--a bowlful of water.  Then Gideon said to God, 'Do not be angry with me.  Let me make just one more request.  Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.'  That night God did so.  Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew."

God knew His general needed reassurance, so He did as Gideon asked.  There may be times for us when putting out a fleece is helpful.   However, we have better ways to determine God's leading.  Warren Wiersbe has this to say about putting out a fleece,  "Putting out the fleece is not a Biblical method for determining the will of God.  Rather, it's an approach used by people like Gideon who lack the faith to trust God to do what he said He would do.....Putting out the fleece is not only an evidence of our unbelief, but it's also an evidence of our pride.  God has to do what I tell Him to do before I'll do what He tells me to do."  Gideon should have simply believed God's word to him--God's promise of victory.  That would have shown faith, while asking for a sign revealed Gideon's doubt.

Proverbs 3:5-6 instructs us to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding/ in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight."  As we read God's word to understand His will, talk over the decisions we need to make with our Heavenly Father and ask for His guidance, then trust Him to guide us as He has said He would, we can walk with assurance that we are in the center of His will for our lives.

Father, may we talk over the decisions we need to make with You and trust You to lead us in the path You have planned for us.  Amen.

Following in Faith

"And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others."  2 Timothy 2:2

After Joshua's generation died out, Judges 2:10b tells us this sad news,  "Another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel."  Why had that happened?  Apparently Joshua's generation had fallen down on the job.  Moses had instructed the people,  "Only be careful, watch yourselves closely, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live.  Teach them to your children and to their children after them."  Deuteronomy 4:9.  We in our generation need to take these instructions to heart and pass our faith and beliefs to our children and grandchildren, taking every opportunity to do so.

The generation after Joshua's generation forsook God, intermarried with the Canaanites, and worshiped their gods.  God was angry with them because of their idol worship, and He allowed their enemies to overtake them.  In their oppression, they cried out to God, and God raised up a leader named Othniel.  Under Othniel's leadership, the Israelites defeated their enemies, and there was peace in the land for forty years, until Othniel died.  After him came Ehud, Shamgar, and Barak, who rescued Israel from her enemies.  The cycle of idol worship, oppression, and rescue was in full swing.

After forty years of peace under Barak, the Israelites again turned away from God, so for seven years God gave them into the hands of the Midianites.  These people would swoop down like a swarm of locusts, raiding the crops and taking the sheep and cattle.  They were so fierce and invasive that the Israelites hid in the mountains and caves to escape them.

This time God chose a man named Gideon to lead His people to victory.  As the scene opened, our hero was hiding in a winepress to thresh his wheat to keep it from the Midianites.  God told Gideon,  "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior."  Judges 6:12b.  Gideon certainly didn't look like a mighty warrior, but God had a plan to give him victory.

When God told Gideon He was calling him to lead Israel's army, Gideon asked God how he could save Israel, saying his clan was the weakest one, and he was the least in his family.

Has God ever called you for what seemed like an overwhelming or impossible task?  Do know something of how Gideon must have felt in the face of such a challenge?  Do you shrink back as Gideon did when God calls you to step out in faith, or do you follow Him bravely into an unknown future?  God tells us to go in the strength we have, though it be but little, and He will do the rest.  Gideon did step out and trust God, and God made him victorious in freeing the Israelites from the Midianites.

Father, if we shrink back in fear, we  cannot fulfill Your plans for us.  May we step out in faith and follow everywhere You lead, trusting You to give victory through us.  Amen.

The Cycle

"When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely."  Judges 1:28

Reading the book of Judges makes me think of a roller coaster because the Israelites had so many ups and downs during that era.  God had given them the land of Canaan and had apparently told them to drive the Canaanites out of the land.  The Israelites defeated many of the Canaanites but not all of them, and God warned His people that the Canaanite's gods would become snares to them.

The Israelites served God as they had promised through the lifetimes of Joshua and those who had led the people under him.  But after their deaths a cycle began.  They forsook God and worshiped the gods of the Canaanites.  Then God allowed their enemies to overtake them and plunder them.  In their distress they cried out to God for help.  God would send a judge to rescue them, and they would serve God during the lifetime of that judge.  But when that judge died, they would fall into idol worship again.  This happened over and over and over. 

Sometimes we can be like those Israelites.  We can go our own way and do our own thing, ignoring God and chasing after worldly gods like power, wealth, and fame.  Then we get into trouble, and in our distress or desperation we cry out to God for help.  We may make some promises to God of what we will or will not do if God will just rescue us.  When He hears our cries and saves us, how do we react?  With gratitude or indifference?  Do we keep any promises we have made, and/or follow God and His will, or do we turn our backs on God again?  Is there an up and down cycle of obedience and disobedience in our lives?  Hopefully we will learn from the lives of the Israelites in Judges to always follow and worship God and Him alone.

Father, thank You so much that You hear and answer our prayers.  Thank You for the many times You have rescued us when we have cried out in helplessness to You.  May we follow You and Your plans for our lives, walking in obedience to You and worshiping You and You only.  Amen.

We Reap What We Sow

"Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the leaders who outlived him--those who had personally experienced all that the Lord had done for Israel."  Joshua 24:31

After Joshua died, the Israelites continued to take possession of the land that God had given them.  They did well, because they asked God what the battle plan was, and they followed His instructions.  All too often I find that I make my plans and then ask God to bless them.  I need to follow this example of the Israelites and ask God to show me His plans for me and then carry those plans out.

The Bible tells us very clearly that we will reap what we sow, and nature bears this law out.  We find this truth reinforced over and over,  especially in farming.  If we sow beans, beans come up.  If we sow squash, we don't get corn or okra--we get squash.  If we have sown some wild oats and dread to see the plants from those seeds, it doesn't do any good to pray for crop failure.  Those seeds will sprout and bear their harvest.  If we want our lives to have good fruit, we must plant good seeds.

There is a very interesting example of the law of the harvest in Judges 1:6-7.  In this case a king named Adoni-Besek reaped very specifically from an act he had sown.  The Israelites fought against his army and defeated them.  Adoni-Besek escaped, but the Israelites  captured him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.  This was a practice which prevented warriors from being able to fight.  Adoni-Besek recognized the poetic justice of this act, because he said,  "I once had seventy kings with thumbs and big toes cut off, eating scraps from under my table.  Now God has paid me back for what I did to them."  Joshua 1:7a

Some people will have gardens full of weeds and thistles.  Others will have gardens filled with beautiful, fragrant blooms and luscious fruit.  What are you planting in your garden by your attitudes and your daily habits?

"Although the wicked flourish, like weeds, and evildoers blossom with success, there is only eternal destruction ahead of them.  But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow like the cedars of Lebanon.....Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green."  Psalms 92:7, 12, 14

Sin in the Camp

“One sinner destroys much good.” Ecclesiastes 9:18

God had clearly explained all His instructions about Jericho.  Everything in the city was to be devoted to God.  Joshua 6:18-19, 24,  “‘But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury’...Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house.”  Prior to the destruction of Jericho the Israelites were allowed to take the spoils of victory for themselves, and they were also permitted to do this after the battle at Jericho.  But Jericho represented the first fruits of the land of Canaan, and the first fruits belonged to God.

The great victory at Jericho gave the confidence of Joshua and the Israelites a big boost.  They were ready to invade the town of Ai next.  But there was a problem of which they were unaware.  There was sin in the camp.  One person had disobeyed God’s instructions.  His sin caused defeat at Ai and the deaths of thirty six soldiers, his family, and himself.  Achan paid a very high price for things he never had the opportunity to enjoy.

Joshua sent some men to spy out Ai.  They advised Joshua to send only 2,000 or 3,000 men because there weren’t many people in Ai.  Three thousand men were sent, but they were defeated and thirty six were killed.  Joshua took the situation to God.  God told Joshua the reason for the defeat was that one of the Israelites had disobeyed God and taken some of the devoted things for himself.

God gave Joshua a plan for discovering the sinner.  On the following day, the Israelites were to present themselves by tribes.  The tribe the Lord selected would then come forward by clans.  The selected clan would come forward by families, and then the man who had sinned would be discovered.  Joshua did exactly as God instructed.  Imagine how Achan must have felt as the finger of God came closer and closer to pointing him out.  How foolish any of us are if we try to hide anything from an all-seeing God.

Achan, his family, and their animals were stoned to death.  We cannot sin without adversely affecting other people.  Wiersbe, “Never underestimate the damage one person can do outside the will of God.”

Father, may I never forget that no person sins unto himself.  Help me to obey You.  Amen.