This post is the first in a series of studies about “Samson”.

Feel free to comment below with your own thoughts about each verse and how you will be acting on each thought. Also, if you haven’t yet signed up to receive the notifications of new studies, you can do that today. (The form is at the bottom of the page).

Samson – Day 1

The Old Testament is a recurring cycle of Israel turning to God, then as things improved, or the next generation grew up, forgetting Him, turning to their own ideas and failing once more, until He raised up a new prophet to turn the hearts of the people back to Him.

Judges 13:1

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

The Thought

Much of the Old Testament is a recurring cycle of Israel turning to God, then as things improved, or the next generation grew up, forgetting Him, turning to their own ideas and failing once more, until He raised up a new prophet to turn the hearts of the people back to Him. Often it took a long time for people to recognise that they themselves were the problem!

Many of the leaders of Israel during the early years, when they had no king, were hand picked by God. Samson was one of those leaders. His story is told through 4 chapters of the book of Judges (Judges 13-16). It is a very strange story.

At that time, the Philistines were the enemy. They were a people descended from Noah through his second son Ham (Genesis 10:6&15)! They were not godly people, and The Lord sometimes used them as a punishment when Israel went off the rails!

Action

Can you remember your parents being frustrated because you did the same wrong thing again and again? What punishment did they use for you?

Maybe you have experienced this frustration as a parent too. How do (or did) you punish your children?

If you have no children, think about what you see in other families. Pray for those families.

Read through Genesis 10 today and see how many names you recognise. Imagine life in those days with no machinery, no contractors to build a house for you. Imagine living in a tent and being a wanderer. What would you miss most from 21st century life?

As you go through your day today, think about the first phrase of today’s verse, Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Pray for the world around you.

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