A Fearless Man, a Damsel (not in distress), and A Wedding Feast

Last chapter we looked at the birth of Samson and the Nazirite vow that he is to abide by so he can deliver Israel from the Philistines. In this chapter, that vow will come into play, so read Numbers 6 or look back over the last chapter if you need a refresher. This chapter starts with Samson all grown up.

Read verses 1-2: Samson sees a Philistine woman and wants her. Therefore he asks his parents to get her for him. I find it rather annoying that he just looks at this woman and decides he wants her like she's a piece of meat, but times were different then, so I can look past that. However, she's a Philistine woman and God has made it clear that the Israelites are not to intermarry with any foreigners (Deut 7:3-4). This whole thing goes against his life purpose of delivering Israel from the Philistines, he's about to deepen their connection!

Read verse 3: His parents wisely try to convince him otherwise, but he doesn't want to hear it. He talks about it being "right in his own eyes" (ESV), but this is a major problem, we need to live for what's right in God's eyes, not our own.

Samson's Birth

The next couple of chapters in the book of Judges are all about Samson. He's one of those guys listed in the end of Hebrews 11 who had faith, but the author ran out of time to tell us about specifically. I'll be honest. Samson is one that confuses me, cause it seems like he makes bad decision after bad decision, with no remorse. So it'll be interesting to read and learn more about him.

Oh and I didn't actually teach this lesson. I was away with some of the high school girls for a retreat. Therefore this is just what I would have taught had I been there, but our youth pastor taught the chapter, not me.

Alright, so chapter 13...

Read verse 1: The cycle starts again... Israel sins and is enslaved to the Philistines for 40 years.

Read verse 2: Manoah is introduced to us. We aren't told much about him, but that his wife is barren (aka menopausal) and has no previously had any children.