SAMSON

What do you make of this guy?
Obviously to Israel he was a hero. He killed a bunch of their enemies. He was a one-man guerilla task force. On the other hand, he was rash and impulsive. He would fight at a drop of a hat, and maybe if you only tipped it.Yet this man was called a Judge in Israel!

But the Book is very clear that God was working from the start. His mother was childless until an angel showed up and told his mother she was to have a son, and they must dedicate him to the Lord as a Nazirite, who kept special vows. He again appears to Manoah with the same announcement. The Israelite asked his name, and he responded, “Why do you ask my name?” Almost exactly what the “man” who wrestled with Jacob all night said. Apparently it was a way to reveal the angel was divine, and not a man. There is holiness and awe in the way the answer was framed.

In 13:24-5 Samson was born, and it says “The Lord blessed him.” in re abortion, note the Lord enabled the woman to carry a child and grew him to a healthy young man. The passage goes on to say “The Spirit of the Lord began to stir in him...”
how do you suppose God's spirit began to stir in him? We see nothing in his life story that we would expect from the Lord as we understand him today. Do you suppose the Lord still raises up fierce warriors? I keep emphasizing that the Bool of Judges demonstrates the Lord can and does use all kinds of people. I have trouble when I ask myself, “even Samson?” Amd I have to anser, Yes, even Samson.” Perhaps the key is Romans 8:28. Perhaps God directs the brashness, temper, impulsiveness of a teen-aged delinquent toward the benefit of His people Israel, so Sammy became a folk hero. Maybe?

The guy sees a gal, who happens to be a Philistine.
“I want her, “ he tells his parents.
“Why can't you find a nice Jewish girl?” his mother asks.
“I want her. Get her for me, “ he repeats.
They do. Spoiled braat! Do you spoil your brats?
'next Samson shows off by killing a lion.
And making a riddle, which his wife pesters him about. When he caves, she tells his friends who he had bet with. Owing them each a change of clothes, he went off and killed enough Phillistines to  deliver. Did you ever wonder whether there was blood on those clothes?
Sam boy was less than complimentary of his wife. “You's never have found out if you hadn't plowed with my heifer.

When he finally cooled down he went to get his “wife” and found her daddy had married her off to someone else. “I thought you hated her. But her younger sister is cute too...”

Samson decline and spent some time harassing Philistines right and left. They tried to catch him with exactly zero results. Finally he found another heifer, I mean woman, nmed Delilah. His enemies bribed her to find out what made him so strong. Sammy had this very slow learning curve, namely none at all. He had learned nother from the first gal, and he learns nothing after giving Delilah fake news three times over and having her betray him. Finally, she tempts it out of him, they cut his hair, his strength leaves, and he becomes a prisoner.

They blind him and used him turning a heavy grindstone instead of an ox. Meanwhile, his hair grows back. Finally they take him to a huge party in their temple to make fun of him. He feels his strength returning, finds the main pillars of the building, and shoves the whole building down. (Insert music: “We goona tear this building down...”

The moral to this stofy is for men: Don't let a woman cut your hair!

No, the main takeaway is the Lord can use anyone, so what's your excuse?