December 22, 2009 (Judges 13-16)

Today's reading was another reminder that God's plans may not make any sense to us at all.

Today starts with the same scenario - "Again the Israelites did what was evil in the Lords' sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines, who kept them in subjection for forty years."

Then, there is the story of a couple who had been unable to have children. An angel of the Lord appeared to the wife and told her that she would soon become pregnant. She ran and told her husband about it and he prayed, "Lord, please let the man of God come back to us again and give us more instructions about this son who is to be born." And 13:9 says "God answered his prayer." Another reminder that God hears our prayers. But God's way of defeating the Philistines is what "goes against the grain".

Long story short, Samson was born and it says the Lord blessed him as he grew up. Well, one day, Samson noticed a certain Philistine woman and wanted to marry her. He told his parents about her and they "objected strenuously". I'm sure they were thinking of God's commands to be separate from the nations around them and to not intermarry. These next verses are the ones that brought about my first comment:

Judges 14:3b But Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She looks good to me.” ⁴ His father and mother didn’t realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.

This is hard for me to understand, and I'm sure it was hard for them to understand as well. God basically wanted him to disobey a direct command. (I also think of God honoring Rahab's lying.) So I have to remember that sometimes things that seem so contrary to God's ways can be used by Him to accomplish His purposes. He sees the greater picture.

I'll summarize what happened with Samson's life:

Samson arrived at Timnah for the wedding.
Samson gave a riddle to the Philistines to solve - if they couldn't solve it, they owed him thirty linen robes and thirty fancy robes. If they did solve it, he owed them the same.
They couldn't guess, so they begged his "wife to be" to get the answer for them.
She "pouted" day after day until he gave in.
She told her people, they solved the riddle, Samson was ticked off.
Samson killed thirty men from Ashkelon and gave their clothing to the men who answered his riddle.
Samson left town mad.
His "wife to be" was given in marriage to his best man.
After a while, Samson returned to marry her.
He found out she was already married, and again was ticked off.
He caught 300 foxes, tied their tales together in pairs and fastened a torch to each pair of tales. He lit the torches and they destroyed all the grain fields, grapevines and olive trees.
The Philistines took revenge and killed his "bride to be" and her father.
Samson took revenge and killed many Philistines.
The Philistines retaliated and raided the men of Judah.
Judah captured Samson and turned him over to the Philistines.
Samson broke free and killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.
Samson spent the night with a Philistine prostitute.
Samson fell in love with Delilah, a Philistine.
Delilah tried to get Samson to tell her the secret of his strength for a payoff of 1100 pieces of silver.
Samson told her the "partial truth" three times, but she "nagged him day after day" until he gave in and told her the whole truth. The truth was that his hair had never been cut because he was dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth.
She told the Philistines, they paid her off, shaved his head while he was asleep, captured him and gouged out his eyes.
He was bound in chains and made to grind grain in prison. But before long his hair began to grow back.
At a festival the Philistines brought him out to make fun of him. He was brought out from prison and made to stand at the center of the temple, between two pillars supporting the roof.
Samson prayed, asking God to strengthen him one more time so that he could pay back the Philistines for the loss of his eyes.
Samson put his hands on the center pillars pushing on them with all his might and the temple crashed down, killing him and "he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime."

These are tough chapters for me to really understand, because of the fact that God's way of killing the Philistines was because of Samson's "disobedience". I guess some side lessons are that revenge never accomplishes anything. It only breeds more violence. But that is what God used to kill the Philistines. Also, there are some things that should be kept between you and God. Samson knew the secret of his strength, and when he revealed it, that was his downfall. But again, his revealing it was what accomplished God's purposes in the end. So today I am confused. I guess I just have to know that God can use all things for His purposes, even if at the time they don't make sense.