Although they are not linked in our reading, both Samson and
Samuel lived during the same time and both are listed as judges in Israel. I
mention this because both of these judges share some common elements and two
very strong similarities. They both have unusual birth stories that God takes a
lot of time to describe. I wonder why. Also, both were Nazirites from birth.
There is an obvious comparison being made, yet it isn't obvious unless you are
reading year after year.
I'm including these again at the end of this
document, in case you need them.
“The Judges and the Oppressors” - The Bible Knowledge Commentary-OT,
p. 385.
“Canaan in the Days of the Judges” - The Bible Knowledge
Commentary-OT, p. 377.
“The Judges of Israel” - The Bible Knowledge Commentary-OT, p.
375.
Judges 13-14
Judges 13
V. 1 This
entire chapter is the birth story of Samson. That really interests and
surprises me. I've never noticed this before. There are some unknowns here. It
seems that the Philistines oppressed Israel for 40 years before Samson came on
the scene. No other enemy ruled over Israel that long. It seems then that the
births of Samson and Samuel, both of whom fought to break the Philistine
domination, must have occurred during this time of domination. If you look at
the other judges, their victories ended the enemy's rule; but with Samson, his
main victory was at his death. And even then, Samuel was still fighting against
the Philistines.
Vs. 2-7
Notice who the angel is who makes this announcement to Samson's mother.
Vs. 4-5
Notice that the mother is told to drink no
wine or strong drink and to eat
nothing unclean. The only Nazirite condition given to the child is that his
hair wouldn't be cut. Samson will violate every Nazirite condition except the
cutting of his hair until, well, you know the story. What is interesting is
that the only other person in the Bible whose Nazirite birth is spelled out
this clearly is John the Baptist.
Vs. 8-14
This is the confirmation of Samson's coming birth. The Word of God was rare in
those days. What is interesting is the faith of both of Samson's parents.
Apparently the parents obeyed everything the
angel of the Lord said to them.
Vs. 15-20
This seems just like what Abraham did when the angel of the Lord visited him.
Here, the Lord was only interested in sacrifice and devotion, which only the
Lord can receive. It is interesting that the Lord allowed the offering to be
made in Zorah instead of Shiloh where the tabernacle was. When we see the
situation at Shiloh when we get to 1 Samuel it will make sense. Eli's sons were
desecrating every sacrifice and were turning the tabernacle into their private
brothel.
Vs. 21-23
The result of Samson's parents having had this kind of interaction with the
Lord was that it strengthened their faith. Verse 23 probably sums up what the
Lord wanted to accomplish.
Vs. 24-25
The Lord blessed Samson. That's amazing. It is hard to understand what this
stirring of the Spirit was, since among other things, Samson was not a moral
man or a devoted follower of God. It looks like the Lord used Samson in spite
of himself. This is not a good role model for kids, even if he had
"superhero" strength.
I think the lesson I would see here, for me
or us, is that God's blessing and privilege do not determine obedience or
gratefulness. These parents were blessed and they obeyed, but Samson will not
obey. He is listed in Hebrews 11 for his faith, and God used him, but his faith
was mingled with deep rebellion, selfishness and debauchery. Oddly enough,
these are the same things Paul warns Christians against in his letters. I think
the lesson for us following Christ in the harvest, during this very dangerous
time on earth, is to be very careful about our devotion to the Lord and to be alert
to what physical and emotional things are tugging at us. We need to understand
the tug and take care of it the right, God-honoring way. Like Paul says in
Ephesians 5:15, Look carefully then how you walk, not as
unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
It is
instructive to see how both great faith and great disobedience can exist in the
same heart. It is scary to see how this caused Samson's own downfall and
limited the impact he had in serving God and the nation. David’s life will be
an even bigger and more profound lesson in this area. And we have popular
people and preachers in the church who have fallen. Again, quoting Paul, in 1 Corinthians
10:12, Therefore let anyone who thinks
that he stands take heed lest he fall.
Judges 14
Vs. 1-4
Samson’s parents seem godly and were right in what they said to their son.
Samson was disobedient to them and unconcerned for what would honor God. God
didn't sanction this behavior; but in a case like this, God accomplished His
own purposes, using a rebellious, immoral, disobedient servant.
Vs. 5-9
Samson’s parents exercised their parental duty in overseeing the legal
arrangements for the marriage. Maybe they saw Samson go off into the vineyard,
thinking he was going there to pray and come to his right mind. That didn’t
happen, but a strange intersection of divine providence took place. Both in
killing the lion and in getting the honey, Samson defiled himself by touching
something dead. There is more here than meets the eye. It isn’t just that
Samson had super strength, God must have given him tough skin and amazing
quickness and reflexes not to have been cut or stung.
Vs. 10-18
I'm always amazed by the creativity of Samson. In a way, he was an artist. He
was emotional, creative and fun-loving. Also, I'm struck by his raw confidence.
He experienced all sorts of very aggressive, hostile situations and remained
without apparent fear. It appears he enjoyed the psychological warfare.
Just for
some perspective here, The Bible Knowledge Commentary-OT, p. 405,
mentions that the word for feast is “drinking party.” Samson was violating the
Nazirite vow here too.
V. 17 This
is our "hero's" fatal flaw. This is the same thing that will finally
break him with Delilah. It isn’t just that he gave in to whining women, but
that he didn’t choose faithful women who loved the Lord.
V. 18 This
is really hard to wrap one’s head around. This situation represented a defeat
and humiliation for Samson. It appears that God designed this entire event to
get Samson riled up and to move him to action. It seems to me that if Samson
had had a heart for his people and a desire to honor God, he could have found
some Philistine injustice to have motivated him to righteous wrath. It seems to
me that Samson was indifferent to the plight of Israel or the promise to
Abraham. And he definitely liked Philistine women. That God had to do this to
get Samson motivated does not speak highly for our superhero.
I think
it’s interesting that even as Samson expresses his hurt and anger, he makes a very
picturesque rhyme.
Vs. 19-20
It is interesting to see that when the Spirit rushes upon Samson, there is a
spirit of judgment and anger. Samson isn't the only one this happened to. We’ve
also seen this with Othniel and Gideon and will see it again with King Saul.
This
uncontrolled and undefeatable strength is what will keep the Philistines so
terrorized, that they will not extend their rule over Israel for the 20 years
that Samson is a judge. Samson becomes the unstoppable “terminator” to the
Philistines.
None of
the judges in the book of Judges took an interest in directing the people to
the Lord and encouraging the nation to be unified around their worship. Samuel
will begin to do that, yet Samuel's judgeship will be one of conflict with the
Philistines too. Here, a guy like Samson with all this potential is used,
though very sadly, in spite of his selfishness and arrogance. Here and
elsewhere, God will use his appetites and pride to put him in places to strike
fear into the enemy. As followers of Christ, this story teaches us that God can
use us in spite of our disobedience. As disciples in the harvest, that is the last
thing we want. We want to be trained in every way to follow Christ, carrying
our crosses as obedient servants in the harvest, making disciples, who make disciples,
who make disciples, into the next generations. I wouldn't mind the strength and
creativity, but I'll settle for obedience and humility, seeing fruit that gives
glory to the Father and pleasure to our Lord.
John 1:29-51
Vs. 29-34
This testimony is the fulfillment of John the Baptist's ministry. Notice that
this was the day after his interrogation by the guys sent from Jerusalem. They
probably had left for Jerusalem to report.
John the
Baptist has two things to say. Verses 29-31 declare that Jesus is the Lamb of God. Verses 32-34 declare
that Jesus is the one who baptizes with the Spirit and life. Jesus was baptized
with the Spirit and baptizes with the Spirit.
Vs. 35-42
This is how it all began. What is amazing to me is that many of John's
disciples did not follow Jesus. Even here listening to John, it took faith and
obedience to leave John and follow Jesus. These two disciples of John the
Baptist understood that John was sending them to Jesus. These two guys never
stopped following Jesus.
Since
John, the writer of this Gospel, never refers to himself directly, I suspect
that John was the other disciple.
V. 38
According to the Bible Knowledge Commentary-OT, p. 275, the word for
“stay” is used a lot by the writer and is translated elsewhere in John as
“abide.” So there is a double meaning here.
We don’t
hear much from Andrew, yet it was his faith in following that brought Peter to
Jesus. The Bible Knowledge Commentary-OT, p. 275, makes the observation
that in the three times we see Andrew in the Gospel of John, he is always
bringing someone to Jesus. As you read, look for these.
V. 42 I
wonder, at this point, if Jesus had some supernatural insight into Peter's
future when He said, So you are Simon,
the son of John. I’ve heard people wax eloquent regarding Jesus “taking
authority” over Simon by “naming” him. That may be, but I worked with a guy in Germany,
Dieter Michel, who always gave nicknames to younger workers he was training and
they loved him and followed. It was fun and built a team. We’ll see that Jesus
had nicknames for some of the other guys too.
We see in
v. 28 that this happened in Bethany
across the Jordan (near Jericho). So this means that Andrew, Peter and
John, who lived near Capernaum on the top of the Sea of Galilee, had traveled a
long way (aprox. 90-100 miles) and had left their business to hear and follow
John the Baptist. In that sense, they had a very deep spiritual interest to
begin with. Jesus was looking for people with this kind of faith to build upon.
That is good for us to remember as we are asking the Lord to show us who is
ready to be brought into a disciple-making group. Jesus didn’t select just
anybody.
Vs. 43-51
Within two days of John's testimony, Jesus had three disciples. Now Jesus left
this area and went straight up the Jordan River to the north side of the Sea of
Galilee and gained two more disciples. We can assume that these guys were ready
because of the ministry of John the Baptist. They were all extremely
spiritually minded. These guys were more than warm bodies.
Notice
that Jesus must have known Phillip and that Phillip probably knew Simon and
Andrew. These were not huge cities. Phillip was another man of faith, waiting
for the Messiah and he sought out a similar man, a friend named Nathanael. Nathanael
is referred to as Bartholomew in other Gospels.
Vs. 47-48
There has to be more to this statement by Jesus than meets the eye. It might
have involved a nickname or even something deep in Nathanael's heart that only
Nathanael knew he was seeking. Nate's reply, How do you know me, would seem sort of insincere unless, in fact,
Jesus hit on something that was important to Nathanael.
V. 49 This
is interesting. You wonder what the average Jew (assuming Nathaniel was
average) thought about the Messiah. Here it is. The Messiah was both the divine
Son of God and the human King of Israel. Understanding that this
was how Israel viewed the Christ, you wonder at the unbelief of the religious
leaders. Jesus told them He was the Son of God and the Son of Man and they
simply refused to believe. For the Messiah to claim these titles would not have
been blasphemy. Everyone expected the Messiah to say He was the Son of God.
Vs. 50-51
might allude to what Nathanael was reading or thinking about under the fig tree. The image is Jacob
resting at Bethel and seeing angels ascending
and descending from heaven. It might illustrate Nathanael's own seeking to
be close to God and His desire to interact with God. If that's the case, Jesus
is telling Nathanael that he's about to get his desire and then some.
Not that
we fully make use of our privilege, but having the Spirit living in us gives us
exactly what Jacob saw and Nathanael desired, full and open communication with
God.
It is
interesting here that the apostle John is giving us a view of how Jesus first
began to build His group of disciples. I think I’ve already learned a couple
things.
Psalm 102
With this
psalm, I find I'm back to psalms I can deeply identify with, calling out to God
for His answer and help. It is a long psalm with different parts which you'll
notice if you use a pencil to mark where the thought changes.
Vs. 1-2
This is the initial, urgent cry for help.
Vs. 3-7
This seems to be the emotional state of the writer. He is suffering both
physically and emotionally.
Vs. 8-11
This is the reason he feels like this. His enemies have been able to taunt and
harm him and God has let it happen. This is like what happened to David when he
had to run from Absalom as God was punishing David for his acts against
Bathsheba and Uriah.
Vs. 12-17
It seems that the writer is appealing to God’s love for Jerusalem, His promises
to Israel and His plan to use this city to draw the nations of the world to
Himself.
Vs. 18-22
Zion will be the place from which the Lord shows mercy to the needy, and it
will be the place where the needy (including the writer) will praise God as the
nations gather there to worship.
Vs. 23-24
This is another appeal of the writer for God to restore him.
Vs. 25-28
God made the earth and He made promises of faithfulness to His servants. The
earth will end, but God’s promises will be fulfilled. Therefore, our hope is
secure because we set our hope on God who remains, and remains faithful.
Proverbs 14:15-16
We talk about simple faith and the faith of the simple.
Apparently simple faith is prudent and careful, full of growing discernment
regarding God's will. The faith of the fool (simple) seems based on feeling and
is reckless and careless. This doesn't answer all the questions, but it does
provide some guidelines for the wise.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year
Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't
work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/
and click on “Every
Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those who are
following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple,
following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship
culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging
each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make
disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our
growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here
or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some
explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My
comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on
Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups
will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with
and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the
harvest.
If you would like a complete description of this model
of being and making disciples you can find it in my book: Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is
still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's
keyed to the NIV, so the result is the commentators are constantly telling you
what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible; in
fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is
encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the
comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding,
that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but
only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like documents containing an entire month
of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download
these to use on your computer or to print.
No comments:
Post a Comment