Hi friends! Today we are introduced to the famous (and tragic) character of Samson! David might have been a great warrior, sure, but nothing tops the absolute rage driven maniac of Samson. Further, this is the first introduction of the class of people known as the Nazerites. Wonder what other famous person might be attributed to Nazareth? HmmmmmmmmmmmmMMmMMmmmMmMmmMM? What is your favorite part of this story? Share in the comments below!
Scripture to Read
Audio Bible
Questions to Consider
What does this teach me about God?
What doest this teach me about humanity?
What does this teach me about the relationship between the two? (this is a good one this week!)
What about this story sticks out to me?
Where would Jesus be in this?
- My Thoughts -
This is such a fun romp of a story. Despite again, another example of "Whoopsie poopisie your a woman without a kid you suck at everything wow how awful it is to be you" to start off this story, the actual life of Samson is just...funny. From the lion and the honey, to murdering people over figuring out his riddle, to tying torches to a fox's tail and having it run through the field like some ancient flamethrower is just...come on this is good! As fun as the story is it's also a lesson in insecurity and revenge. It might seem to weird to consider Samson an insecure person, but I think he is. You would have to be to be such a sore loser to burn an entire city to a ground because you lost. But why is he insecure? He's literally blessed by God. Maybe he was coddled too much as a kid? Maybe he was always put in the spotlight that he feels he has to constantly live up to peoples expectations of his ability? It's impossible to say, really, but whatever it is I feel for Samson. I feel for those in our culture that feel the weight of socities expectations that they are crushed in the process of trying to keep up.
The nazarites will later be known as nomads that don't cut their hair out of peaceful and fully in devotion to God...I find it odd that Samson, the first nazarite, seems to reject this completely (notice he never gives praise or even mentions God once), at least until his final moments which we will read about tomorrow.
Prayer:
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