If you don't
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MAY 1
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.
In addition to these, you will find two maps:
“Israel Under Saul” – The Bible Knowledge Commentary-OT, p. 444.
“David’s Flights From Saul” - The Bible Knowledge Commentary-OT,
p. 452.
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.
Please Read
the Following Disclaimer
I'm writing the Reading Notes to and
for those who are following a One Year Bible and are 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, that is, 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 and important discipleship manual we have and it is the 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, or whom we are to be following. 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, as disciples, 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, making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a more descriptive
commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary (BKC).
I read the BKC in doing background for the Reading Notes and refer to it quite
often. I also make reference to maps or charts in the BKC, though I will only
note where those resources can be found. Often you can do a search for these
and find them in Google books. Buying both volumes of the Bible Knowledge
Commentary would be a good idea.
I am not endorsing any particular
One Year Bible translation; in fact, I read something you probably don't, Die
Revidierte Lutherbibel, 1984. Unless noted, all Scripture quotes are from the
ESV Bible.
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. Often there is a breadth of opinion on certain events, both
historical and prophetic. Many of my views come from my church background,
theological training and my personal study.
I'm
doing this with discipleship in mind, meaning, I'm writing out thoughts that
will keep discipleship and our growth as disciples applied to what we are
reading. Remember, the real focus of the Reading Notes is to be a
supplement, a disciple’s commentary, giving motivation and insight so that we
will keep following our Lord in the harvest, reaching the lost and making
disciples, who make disciples. Being in
the Word every day, sitting at Jesus’ feet, learning directly from Him, is the
essential essence of being and making disciples.
May the Lord bless you as you follow Him in the
harvest, reaching the lost and making disciples, who make disciples. Dan
If you would like documents
containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
If you would like a full
presentation of discipleship read Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples.
Or if you are struggling with
insomnia and would like a long boring dissertation on disciple making, these
can both be found on https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
Reading Notes ©, Dan Kachikis
2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018
The One Year Bible © by
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton Illinois 60189
The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.
All charts/graphics/outlines
from the Bible Knowledge Commentary are used with the permission of David C.
Cook.
© 1983, 2001 John F Walvoord and Roy B Zuck.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary is published by David C Cook.
All rights reserved. Publisher permission
required to reproduce.
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