One Year Bible and Commentary for Sunday, May 1st
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Click Here to Read Judges 13:1-14:20
The Birth of Samson
The details of Samson's birth brings up a couple of familiar themes. John the Baptist's birth has several similar details. The Israelites fell into sin again and were oppressed by the Philistines time for 40 years. This is longer than the other periods of oppression by a Canaanite nation. The setting was ripe for God to raise up a new "judge", or as we also translated this word, "hero".
1. An angel appeared to a woman who had not yet children yet, was getting older, or was not able to have children.
2. This special child born was to be set apart from birth with a Nazirite vow. This included not getting one's hair cut and never drinking anything with alcohol in it. In this case the abstinence from drinking was also required of Manaoh's wife (we are not given her name).
3. Manaoh's wife asked the angel to come back and visit her husband so he would believe her story.
4. The angel appeared like a man, but was really a messenger of God.
5. Manaoh is in awe when he meets the angel and wonders if he can. "Come face to face with God and still live".
6. The child is born as the angel promised and from a young age Samson is influenced by the Holy Spirit.
This is the source of the great strength we see in Samson later. We usually think of Samson as a man with huge, rippling muscles; but others couldn’t figure out why he was so strong. It is reasonable to think that he did not look very strong. Whether he looked strong or not, it was the Spirit of God who made him strong. - Guzik
Some commentators think this man of God/angel is Jesus, I am not so sure I buy that. We know Jesus is superior to the angels from the book of Hebrews, so I think there is a conflict there with this interpretation.
It is interesting that not drinking alcohol or fermented drink is such an integral part of the Nazirite vow. I don't there is anything wrong with having a glass of wine or beer, but this part of the vow shows that we need to be careful with the influence of alcohol in our lives. There have been times in my life when I have abstained from alcohol and it was a positive thing for me.
Samson’s Riddle
Though Samson was set aside for God's work as a judge in Israel, he had a tendency to act rashly.
1. In the first instance he married a Philistine woman. Generally speaking this was not a good thing for an Israelite man to do. In fact, when the Israelites conquered the Promised Land, one of the reasons why they were commanded by God to destroy all the people was so that future generations would not intermarry with a Canaanite. In this case though it seemed like God used his choice to marry this Philistine girl to work against the Philistines.
2. We the Spirit of the Lord was upon Samson when he was attacked by a lion and ripped his jaws apart just as if it were a young goat. When Samson came back to Timnah to marry his wife, he veered off the path and saw the carcass of the lion with honey it. He took some ate it and gave it to his parents who ate some as well. Not only did he sin by eating unclean food, but he also led his parents into sin.
3. Then the story gets interesting. As was the custom, his wife's parents selected thirty other young men to accompany Samson in a 7 day celebration, where it looks there would be plenty of partying. Sounds like our modern day "bachelor party" in Vegas. Samson plays a game with them by giving them a riddle, which if they solve, he will give them a free suit. But the riddle is so hard it is doubtful they will solve it.
4. By midweek the "boys" are furious they can't solve it and pressure his wife to give them the answer, or they will burn down her father's house. His wife haggles and haggles Samson until finally Samson gives in on the last day and gives her the answer.
5. The men give Samson the answer and Samson knows his wife had betrayed him. He is so angry, he honors his bet with the men by killing 30 other Philistines and giving them their clothes. He left his wife there and gave her to his best man and went home.
“Samson himself is a riddle. He was not only a riddle-maker; but he was himself an enigma very difficult to explain.” (Spurgeon)
We can see Samson was prone to act compulsively and selfishly. It reminds us that God uses us even though we are fallible. Though the Spirit of God was present in Samson, his flesh certainly got in the way in a major way. Though you may be gifted by God to do great things, you still need to be obedient in the everyday decisions of life.
Click Here to Read John 1:29-51
John Testifies About Jesus
John says a couple of really important things about Jesus.
1. He calls him the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." As you probably know on Passover the Israelites took the unblemished lamb and offered as an atonement for their sins. Make no mistake about it, this is clearly identifying Jesus as the Messiah.
2. Though Jesus came after John, he was before him. Why? Because as we said yesterday, Jesus was the pre-existent Word of God. The Word was with God in the beginning and the Word became flesh (Jesus) and dwelt among us full of grace and truth.
3. When Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit came upon him and he was filled from the Spirit from then on to do the great deeds of power in his public ministry.
John’s Disciples Follow Jesus
1. Like Jesus, John had his own disciples or followers. But John pointed to Jesus and his followers quickly turned to follow Jesus. John's job was to point them to Jesus.
2. Two of the John's disciples followed Jesus. We know one of them is Andrew and later gets his brother Peter to follow. The other disciple could have likely been John, as he often does not mention himself in his own gospel.
Our job as Christ followers is to point people to Jesus. Though we may be their earthly "discipler", they do not follow us, they follow Jesus. Like Andrew, we can go to people we love and care about lead them to Jesus.
Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael
1. Similarly as Jesus was heading to Galilee, he ran into Philip and called him to follow him. Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and also the prophets wrote about!" It is interesting he says this because they almost appear to have more belief right then and there about Jesus being the Messiah than 3 years later when Jesus goes to the cross.
2. Nathanael is reticent to follow Jesus due to where he grew up in Nazareth. He wonders if, "Anything good can come out of Nazareth." When Jesus meets Nathanael, he tells him he saw him under fig tree. At once Nathanael realizes that Jesus is no ordinary prophet. He was the "Son of God and the King of Israel".
How did Jesus call you? It might have happened through someone preaching God's Word, or maybe a parent or friend who led you to accept Jesus and follow him. There is no greater joy then leading a friend of family member to Christ!
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