The Vengeance of Samson on the Philistines. This chapter tells us of the ungodly attitude this judge of Israel had towards his enemies. But in those Old Testament times, it seems as though fighting was the way to make progress! Some cultures of our world today still think that way!

It is hard to believe that Samson was chosen by God to lead Israel. Sometimes God works in mysterious ways! He used Samson to make the Philistines think twice before attacking the Israelite nation. The problem was not the size of their army, it was the strength of their leader!

It seems that the people of this town where his wife lived were the ones to choose the entourage for this wedding celebration! That is a strange thought for us. The people we invite to our own wedding would be our family and friends, not people we do not know!

What a strange episode this is, creating many unanswered questions. If Samson was with his parents, how could they not have been aware of his episode with this lion? And why did he not tell them what had happened? Why did The Lord not prevent the lion from attacking Samson?

Once dedicated to God, we can find ourselves being used in some strange situations. Often wondering how we got there! This was the case for the parents of Samson! God used different ways to bring the Israelites back to Him. In this case it was an enemy wife for Samson.

The angel announcing the birth of Samson, gave the parents no instructions about his name. So we can suppose that Manoah and his wife chose the name themselves. Samson means Sun. This child must have brought a lot of sunshine into the home of this couple, even before his birth.

The parents God chose for Samson the strong man, a future leader in Israel, had an angelic visitation. But they did not recognise it until he disappeared upwards to Heaven! The reaction of Manoah on realising that this had been no ordinary visitor was to fear that they would die!

I imagine the visitor waiting calmly in the field, while the wife ran off to inform her husband of the second visitation. I also wonder why the angel did not go straight to Manoah wherever he happened to be. Maybe that was so that the couple would see him together.

The fact that Manoah believed his wife tells us of the good marriage relationship they had. Many people I know would not have that reaction, and would tell their wives they are crazy! But the reaction of this man was to pray, and seek confirmation of what had been promised.

When we read the story of Samson, we get the impression that he hovered between the will of God and his own. He can come across as a spoilt child of ageing parents. We have to remind ourselves that he was chosen from conception to do the things he did.