Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 79
13:22–14:13
J u dges
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realized it was the angel of the Lord, and he said to his wife, “We will
certainly die, for we have seen God!”
But his wife said, “If the Lord were going to kill us, he wouldn’t have
accepted our burnt offering and grain offering. He wouldn’t have appeared
to us and told us this wonderful thing and done these miracles.”
When her son was born, she named him Samson. And the Lord blessed
him as he grew up. And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he
lived in M
ahaneh-dan, which is located between the towns of Zorah and
Eshtaol.
One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women
caught his eye. When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A
young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her.
Get her for me.”
His father and mother objected. “Isn’t there even one woman in our
tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry?” they asked. “Why must
you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?”
But Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She looks good to me.” 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.
As Samson and his parents were going down to Timnah, a young lion
suddenly attacked Samson near the vineyards of Timnah. At that moment
the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion’s
jaws apart with his bare hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat.
But he didn’t tell his father or mother about it. When Samson arrived in
Timnah, he talked with the woman and was very pleased with her.
Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, he turned off the
path to look at the carcass of the lion. And he found that a swarm of bees
had made some honey in the carcass. He scooped some of the honey into
his hands and ate it along the way. He also gave some to his father and
mother, and they ate it. But he didn’t tell them he had taken the honey
from the carcass of the lion.
As his father was making final arrangements for the marriage, Samson
threw a party at Timnah, as was the custom for elite young men. When
the bride’s parents saw him, they selected thirty young men from the town
to be his companions.
Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle
during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty fine linen
robes and thirty sets of festive clothing. But if you can’t solve it, then you
must give me thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing.”
“All right,” they agreed, “let’s hear your riddle.”