SERIES H --- THE JUDGES --- LESSON 15
SAMSON’S MARRIAGE
THE LION AND BEES
From Judges 14
On one of his trips to Timnah, Samson fell in love with a Philistine girl. When he came home, he talked with his father and mother about her. ‘I saw a Philistine girl whom I want to marry,’ he said. ‘Make arrangements for me to have her for my wife.’ His father and mother were upset. ‘Isn’t there any girl among our people for you to marry?’ they asked. ‘Why do you have to choose a wife from among the heathen Philistines?’ ‘I want to marry this girl!’ Samson insisted. ‘Make the arrangements; for she’s the one I want.’ At that time the Philistines ruled Israel and YHVH was using this situation to set a trap for them. But Samson’s parents could not know of YHVH’s plan. With his father and mother, Samson set out for Timnah. When Samson was alone in the vineyards at the edge of town, a young lion attacked him. At that moment, the Spirit of Adonai came upon Samson and gave him strength so great that Samson, even without a weapon, tore the lion apart as though it were a helpless little goat. When Samson arrived in Timnah, he did not tell his parents about the lion, but went instead to talk to the girl. He was very pleased with her. Later, when he came back for the wedding, he went into the vineyard to look at the lion he had killed. A swarm of bees had come into the body of the lion and had made some honey in it. Samson scraped out some of the honey and took it with him, eating some as he went. When he met his father and mother, he gave some of the honey to them. At the wedding party in the village, Samson told a riddle. ‘If, during the seven days of the wedding party, you can tell me what this riddle means I will give you each a plain linen robe and a decorative robe,’ he said to the thirty young men of the village. ‘But if you can’t tell me what it means during the seven days, then each of you must give me a plain linen robe and a decorative robe.’ ‘We agree. Tell us the riddle,’ they said. And Samson told them his riddle: ‘From the eater came something to eat. From the strong came something sweet.’ For three days the young men struggled with the riddle, but could not think of a good solution. The next day the young men spoke to Samson’s wife. ‘If you don’t give us the answer to Samson’s riddle, we’ll burn down your father’s house while you are in it,’ they said. ‘Did you invite us to your wedding party to make us poor?’ Samson’s wife began to cry whenever she was with him. ‘You hate me!’ she whined. ‘How can you say you love me when you tell my friends a riddle, but won’t tell me what it means?’ ‘I haven’t told the answer to my father and mother!’ Samson answered. ‘Do you expect me to tell it to you?’ But Samson’s wife cried throughout the remaining days of the wedding feast. By the time the seventh and last day came, she had pestered him so much that Samson finally told the solution to the riddle. Immediately she told the thirty young Philistines. Before sunset the thirty young men came to see Samson and gave him the solution to the riddle. ‘What is sweeter than honey or stronger than a lion?’ they said. Samson was angry. ‘If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you would not have the solution to my riddle.’ Again, the Spirit of Adonai came upon Samson, giving him strength so great that he went to Ashkelon, another Philistine city, killed thirty of the men of that city and took their robes to the thirty young men of Timnah. Samson was very angry about this whole matter, so he went home to live with his parents, leaving his wife behind in Timnah. Her father thought that Samson had abandoned her so he arranged for her to be married to the best man at Samson’s wedding.
COMMENTARY
CANAANITE FEASTS AND FESTIVALS
The people of Israel were not to intermarry with the pagan peoples of Canaan. When Samson demanded that his parents arrange a marriage with a young Philistine woman, they were shocked. Yet YHVH would use Samson’s desire to launch a lasting feud between Samson and the Philistine oppressors. The Canaanites enjoyed feasts and festivals for many different occasions. In the home, families would celebrate a son’s safe return from battle or the birth of a child. But perhaps the greatest private festival was a wedding. The bride and groom each invited a group of friends to a lavish feast lasting at least a week, possibly two. On the first day the guests surrounded the bride and groom, singing as they ushered them to the place of the marriage. Throughout the festival the guests addressed the couple as [king] and [queen.] Aside from food, drink, singing and dancing, games and contests were offered as entertainment. Most other Canaanite festivals were religious celebrations honouring their various fertility gods. Throughout the year, much revelry marked any important event such as sheep shearing, the beginning of the New Year and the grape and grain harvests.
"He that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer shall be abominable."
Pr 28
The 10 commandments are in the new covenant
https://tube.ttn.place/v/FoOoKs
There's another #chiasm in #exodus 25-27:
- A - People
--- B - veil and pillars
----- C - Ark
------- D - Mercy Seat
----- C - Table and Menorah
--- B - Screen and pillars
- A - People
#biblepatterns
People who say "We can't really know which day of the week is the original Sabbath" are advertising their Biblical and historical ignorance.
Yes, we can know for certain which day is the 7th day of the week from Creation. This is one of the Sabbath Day questions I address in A Sabbath to YHWH at https://CommonSenseBibleStudy.com.
You can have a 1 Corinthians 11 head covered woman or else the alternative is in the comments below ?
SERIES H --- THE JUDGES --- LESSON 14
SAMSON’S BIRTH
A MIRACLE CHILD
From Judges 13
Once more the people of Israel turned away from Adonai to worship other gods. Adonai let the Philistines rule them for forty years. The wife of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan, had no children. One day the Angel of Adonai appeared to her at her hometown of Zorah. ‘Although you have no children now, you will soon have a baby boy,’ the Angel said. ‘You must not drink wine or strong drink and you must eat nothing considered unclean by Jewish Law. Never cut the boy’s hair, for he will be a Nazirite from the day he is born, given to YHVH to begin to save Israel from the Philistines.’ When Manoah’s wife heard these words, she ran to tell her husband. ‘A man of YHVH talked to me today and he surely must be the Angel of YHVH, for he was almost too glorious to behold,’ she said. ‘I did not ask him where he came from and he did not tell me who he was. But he did say that I will have a baby boy and that I should not drink wine or strong drink or eat anything unclean, for the boy will be a Nazirite all of his life.’ ‘O Adonai,’ Manoah prayed, ‘let this man of YHVH whom You Sent come back to us and help us know what we should do with this boy who will be born.’ Adonai heard Manoah’s prayer and sent His Angel once more to Manoah’s wife as she sat in a field alone. She hurried to find Manoah and told him that the man of YHVH had returned. Manoah and his wife went back to the field where the Angel waited. ‘Are you the one who talked to my wife?’ he asked. ‘I am,’ the Angel answered. ‘When the boy is born, what shall we do to follow Adonai’s Instructions?’ ‘Your wife must be sure to do what I told her,’ The Angel said. ‘She must not eat anything that grows on the grapevine or anything that is unclean and she must not drink wine or strong drink. It is important that she follow these instructions.’ ‘Please wait here until I cook some meat for you,’ said Manoah. ‘I won’t eat, but you may bring food for an offering to Adonai,’ said the Angel. Manoah did not know yet that this was an Angel of Adonai. Then Manoah said to the Angel, ‘what is your name? We would like to honour you when your prophecy comes true.’ ‘Why do you ask my name?’ said the Angel. ‘It is Wonderful.’ Manoah took a young goat and offered it with a grain offering upon a rock to Adonai. When the flame from the offering rose up toward heaven, the Angel of Adonai ascended in the flame. As Manoah and his wife watched this miracle, they fell down with their faces to the ground. Although the Angel never returned, Manoah realized at last that this was the Angel of Adonai. ‘We will certainly die, for we have seen YHVH!’ Manoah cried out. ‘No, if Adonai planned for us to die, He would not have accepted our burnt offering and grain offering,’ said Manoah’s wife. ‘And He would not have shown us these miracles.’ At the promised time, Manoah’s wife had a son and named him Samson. Adonai blessed Samson as he grew and stirred him whenever he visited Mahaneh-dan which was between Zorah and Eshtaol.
COMMENTARY
THE TRAVELS OF WEN-AMON: THE TALE OF THE EGYPTIAN PRIEST
Wen-Amon is one of the oldest adventure stories known. Dating from the eleventh century B.C. when Egypt’s power was fading, it reveals much about travel and trade toward the latter times of the judges. Each year the Egyptians had a great festival in honour of Amon, the sun god. Amon’s priests carried a statue of the god the length of the Nile River on a cedar barge so that he could visit his many goddess-wives across Egypt. But one year the ceremonial barge needed repair and Wen-Amon was sent to buy wood from Byblos in Phoenicia. Wen-Amon set sail on a merchant ship, which scheduled a stop at the busy harbour at Dor. The local Tjeker ruler, Prince Beder, greeted him graciously, as custom demanded. But while the ship lay unguarded, another passenger stole the silver and gold meant as payment for the expensive cedar, the worried priest argued that Prince Beder should repay him since the theft occurred in his port. The prince refused, not surprisingly. After days of searching, Wen-Amon gave up and sailed for Tyre on a Tjeker ship. In the hold, he discovered a large amount of silver nearly equal to what he had lost. He took it, and sailed on to Byblos. Word of his troubles with Beder had already reached Byblos. The Egyptian had barely arrived when a message came from Prince Zaker-Baal: [Get thee out of my harbour!] The prince did not want to irritate his trading partners at Dor. Wen-Amon tried for five months to secure timber, but the prince refused. On the very day the discouraged priest was to leave for home without his timber, the prince changed his mind and ordered him to remain. It seems that one of the prince’s servants had received a message from Wen-Amon’s god that ordered the prince to do business with him. Grudgingly the prince called Wen-Amon for an interview and the two men bickered endlessly until they reached an agreement. Zaker-Baal’s craftsmen prepared timbers for Amon’s barge; already cut to fit! In payment, Wen-Amon called for an Egyptian cargo ship filled with linen, papyrus, gold and silver. Prince Zaker-Baal was impressed. But Wen-Amon had been in Byblos a year and the prince advised him to leave quickly or would he like to visit the graves of other Egyptian messengers who had never made it back home? Wen-Amon prepared to go. Then a fleet of Tjeker ships anchored in the harbour and demanded his arrest. At this, both Prince Zaker-Baal and Wen-Amon wept in frustration. When the Tjekers decided to seize the timber, the prince acted. He allowed Wen-Amon to leave the harbour secretly and explained he could not arrest a representative of Amon. Alas, Wen-Amon! Violent winds blew his ship off course to the island of Cyprus. The Cypriotes knew what to do with cargo ships; kill the crew and steal the cargo. Did the harried priest ever make it back home and to a calmer life in the temple? No one knows. But one thing is certain: Egypt had lost the power to control events in Canaan and the surrounding countries.
This week's #torah reading (#terumah, #exodus 25:1-27:19) is packed with symbolism, chiasms, and patterns as it describes the Tabernacle and its contents from the inside out, bracketed on either side by the people supplying materials for its construction.
https://soilfromstone.blogspot.....com/2017/02/a-giant
Here are some Apostolic passages to study alongside #torah parsha #trumah ("Lifting Up", #exodus 25:1-27:19), plus related commentary and video: https://www.americantorah.com/....2021/02/09/parsha-tr
We are home from North Carolina, and I'm back to sending out daily emails! ☺️✈️?https://archive.aweber.com/awlist6425868/KBRMA
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