Today’s passage: Judges 16:23-31

Helpful thoughts:

• The Philistines praised their god for giving them victory over Samson.  By default, it was also a taunting of the God of Israel.
• Samson never refers to Israel in his prayer for strength.
• God’s plan was not limited or inhibited by Samson’s Philistine lifestyle and death.

Questions to consider:

1. Why did Samson want to knock over the pillars?  What was his motivation?  How was his motivation similar to his previous actions against the Philistines?
2. How do you know Dagon the god of the Philistines did not give Samson into their hands? (Hint: He doesn’t exist!)  Who did and for what purpose? (Judges 13:5)
3. In what way could the ability of the nations surrounding Israel to “faithfully” worship their gods, and the inability of Israel to remain faithful to the true LORD, give us more reason to believe that our God is the true God?  Why is it so easy for people groups around the world to follow false religions and so “hard” for people to accept the truth of Jesus Christ?  What is the nature of those gods?  What is the basis of those systems of belief?  How are they all different from Biblical Christianity?

Today’s passage: Judges 16:1-22

Helpful thoughts:

• Samson carried the massive city gate 40 miles uphill, while the men of the city were waiting to capture him.  Not much detail is given in the first three verses in this narrative, but something amazing had to have happened to make all this possible.
  • Yet, the Lord is never mentioned.
  • We do get to see that Samson has become not only a regional, but a national enemy of the Philistines.
• Samson could unhinge and carry city gates, but he couldn’t say no to a woman, even after her repeated and blatant attempts to destroy him.
• Samson knew the account of how he had received his strength and the purpose of it.  What he may not have realized is just how much of his strength was God-given.
  • Samson either didn’t realize his hair had been shaved, or he didn’t realize that losing it would even matter.  Every other time he violated the Nazarite vow, he had “gotten away with it.”

Questions to consider:

1. Other than the calling that God had given Samson before his birth, how have we seen him living for the Lord?  What fights has he fought for Israel and not for himself?
2. Why did Samson continue to go to the Philistines, and particularly the women, and particularly when they were aggressively trying to hurt him?
3. Again, how does this part of the Samson narrative mirror the way Israel had been conducting herself as a nation in relation to the Lord?
4. What might you be turning to repeatedly that does nothing but hurt you and those you should be loving?  How does Christ provide the way of escape, repentance, redemption and victory?

Today’s passage: Judges 14:1-20

Helpful thoughts:

• God’s sovereignty does not nullify the responsibility of man.  God is able to use the wrong choices of people to bring about His will.
• In touching the carcass of the lion, Samson broke a part of his Nazarite vow and then shared this “uncleanness” with his parents.
• Evidently, there was a type of marriage in this region, during this time, where the bride would stay with her parents and the groom could come “calling”.  Samson may have left without his bride.  But he would not have assumed his bride was given to another man.

Questions to consider:

1. What seemed to be Samson’s motivation to marry this Philistine woman?  Did he desire to love her as Christ would love the church?
2. In what ways did Samson show a lack of respect for his parents?  In what ways were his actions and words towards his parents similar to the way Israel had treated God?
3. What does Samson’s desire to make a wager on a riddle and calling his fiance a cow tell you about him?  If the Spirit of the Lord didn’t rush on him in these moments of crisis, what would have happened to him?  Whose fault would it have been?

Today’s passage: Judges 13:1-25

Helpful thoughts:

• Israel is again under the oppression of a neighboring nation.  This time for forty years before the Lord intervenes.  There is no mention of the people of Israel crying out to God for help.
• Much like the nation of Israel, Samson is miraculously brought forth by God and called to a life of separation and purity.  As the narrative continues, we will see just how far the comparisons go.  Samson will serve as a type (Or picture) of Israel.
• The identity of this Visitor slowly dawns on Samson’s mom and dad throughout the chapter.  Manoah was sure they were going to die even though God had just told them they were going to have and raise a son.  The feeling of their experience was more significant in his mind than the words of God.

Questions to consider:

1. Why did Manoah and his wife fall prostrate on the ground after the Lord left their presence?  What kind of realities would have been rushing through your mind in that moment?  What would allow you to be in the presence of the Holy God without fear of condemnation?
2. Thinking about this chapter and the rest of the Samson narrative to come, what comparisons can you already think of between he and Israel?
3. Why do we sometimes clamor for or get distracted by experiences instead of being assured by the truth of God’s Word?  Is God’s Word insufficient or unreliable?

Today’s passage: Judges 12:1-15

Helpful thoughts:

• Instead of congratulating their brothers from Gilead, the Ephraimites were angered that they were not included in the previous battle.  Jephthah tried to tell them they were invited (Which there is no record of) and also uses the name of God again to excuse his actions (“It’s not my fault you didn’t get to fight, the LORD gave them into my hand.”).
  • The point?  Ephraim is for Ephraim and Gilead is for Gilead.  Israel is not a unit, and civil war breaks out.
• There was no record of rest in the land while Jephthah judged Israel.
• The three judges listed in verses 8-15 may give an illusion of all being well in Israel for some time.  However, no repentance is indicated and the men appear to be styled more after Gideon, Abimelech and Jephthah than after Moses or Joshua.

Questions to consider:

1. What happens in a nation, a church, or in any group of people when those people are interested first in their own selves and what they are getting?
2. Of the four judges mentioned in this chapter, how many of them were able to successfully solidify power for their own heir?  Who is in control even when we might think we have everything figured out and perfectly planned?
3. How can peace and prosperity lie to people?  Should we automatically assume that everything is good and right because we had a “good day” or a “good year”?  Does a growing economy and an easy life automatically equal God’s blessing?  What else could it be?  What could be increasingly true of our hearts in the context of wealth and ease?

Today’s passage: Judges 11:29-40

Helpful thoughts:

• Remember, the fact that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah did not mean that he was a godly man making godly decisions.  It means God was going to use to him to accomplish His will concerning Israel and the Ammonites.
• Jephthah did not know that the Spirit of the Lord was already using him.  God’s involvement had already begun.  God was not wowed or lured by this foolish vow.
• Ammonite kings sacrificed their children to their pagan gods.
• God gave Israel a way to make right any foolish oath that they could/should not keep (Leviticus 5:4-6), but Jephthah and his daughter were more familiar with the ways of pagans then they were with God’s revealed will.  They were simply inserting the Lord into a version of pagan worship.
  • God did not accept this “sacrifice”.  It did not please Him in any way. (Deuteronomy 12:29-32)

Questions to consider:

1. Was the Spirit of the Lord upon Jephthah before or after he made his deal/vow?  Was Jephthah right to try to offer God a burnt offering in exchange for a military victory?  Is that how God works? (Hosea 6:6)
2.  In what ways is this narrative the opposite of Genesis 22 (God’s testing of Abraham with Isaac)?
3. How do we become more like the world?  In what ways are you seeing, hearing, learning and even participating in it’s customs?  What will your love for Jesus Christ motivate you to do that will allow you to be in the world but not of it?

Today’s passage: Judges 11:1-28

Helpful thoughts:

• Israel wanted a man who would be a brave warrior and lead them to safety, and they couldn’t find one among them.  So they chose Jephthah.
  • God’s name was used in the negotiations, but His commands and direction for Israel were not necessarily followed.
• Jephthah sounded quite diplomatic and accurate historically.  He gave what seemed a very reasonable argument to the king of the Ammonites, confirming the Ammonites’ role as the aggressors.
  • However:
    • God’s name was used in these negotiations as a national deity on level with Chemosh.
    • Jephthah may have sparked more controversy by excluding the Ammonite people altogether from his accounting of the land’s history.
    • Chemosh was not the god of the Ammonites, but instead of the Moabites.  This was either a mistake, a reference to land the Ammonites had taken from Moab, or purposeful mockery.

Questions to consider:

1. Is Jephthah’s questioning of Israel much different than God’s in chapter 10?  How was Israel treating Jephthah the same way they treated God?
2. If you were the king of the Ammonites, would Jephthah’s political rhetoric make you less or more likely to want to attack?
3. What is rhetoric? Is it something that Christians should use with great skill and to great affect?  How careful and knowledgeable should we strive to be in order to not be negatively persuaded?

Today’s passage: Judges 10:1-18

Helpful thoughts:

• In the aftermath of Abimelech, Tola (Which means “Worm”) and Jair lead Israel.  In their short stories, God is nowhere to be found nor any enemies.  Perhaps the troubles were still internal.
• Israel has become polytheistic.  They were now worshiping every god BUT the true God!
• God has now told Israel to cry out to their new gods for help.  Of course the sad irony of this is that the gods Israel has been worshiping are the gods of the people under whom they are being oppressed!
  • Israel pursued repentance, but were left to look for a man to save them.

Questions to consider:

1. Why couldn’t Israel ask the gods of the Philistines and the Ammonites for help?  If those gods were real, who would they be “busy” helping?
2. Knowing what we do from the rest of Scripture, what was God communicating to Israel about His responsibility to save them?  Were His efforts for their rescue part of a covenant responsibility or purely mercy and grace?
3. In what ways do we mimic the people of Israel?  In what ways can we be guilty of living like the world around us and then crying out to God whenever we don’t like our circumstances or consequences?

Today’s passage: Judges 9:42-57

Helpful thoughts:

• The fire that was sparked the previous day is now a full blown blaze.  Abimelech captured his own city, killed all his subjects and destroyed the land.
• The tower the people of Shechem ran to for safety was at the temple for the false god “of the covenant” to whom they had committed themselves.
• After Abimelech destroyed his own city, he had to get another one.  With these military victories complete, Abimelech was now ready to further his budding empire.  But, the capture of Thebez would bring about his death.
• Jotham’s fable has come true, in some ways literally.

Questions to consider:

1. In what way does this narrative actually complete Gideon’s narrative?  What part did Gideon have in creating the environment within which something like the reign of Abimelech could happen (As short-lived as it was)?
2. Did Abimelech save Israel from an evil king?  Or was Abimelech the evil king that God saved Israel from after having brought about trouble with their own sinfulness?
3. Should we expect things (Life in general) to get more or less complicated as a consequence of sin?  How does walking in righteousness and repenting when we sin give clarity, light and direction?  How has God made our paths straight?