Old Testament 1 Lesson 9

Acknowledgments
Living Logos was the heart-work of Bro
Dale Starks and Sis Josephine Starks,
missionaries to Singapore in the early
1980s. As the original authors of this
devotionals, the Starks meant for
these self-study materials to help new converts
(and matured saints alike) get a hold of an
understanding of God’s written Word. Since Sis
Stark’s passing in 2013, the couple had graciously
entrusted Tabernacle of Joy with its copyright.
Therefore, with every print run, we would like to
honour their life work and sacrifice in bringing the
gospel to Singapore. This copy is an updated and
revised version. Be blessed as you immerse yourself
in the Word and allow God to transform you into
the likeness of Jesus Christ.
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Lesson
Old Testament 1
Nine
Old Testament 1
PERIOD OF JUDGES (CONCLUDED)
THE SIXTH SERVITUDE
After the death of Abdon, the children of Israel returned to
their evil ways again. God delivered them again into the hand
of the Philistines for forty years. Then, God raised up Samson
to be the final judge, although Eli and Samuel can also be said
to have been a sort of judge. They were the leaders of Israel in
their day.
Like Sarah, Abraham’s wife, Manoah’s wife was barren. But
the angel of the LORD appeared unto her, and promised that
she would conceive a son. The son was not to drink wine nor
strong drink. Neither was he to eat any unclean thing. He was
to be a Nazarite unto God from the womb. This means that
he was to be separated unto the service of God from the time
that he was born. The hand of the LORD would be upon him.
As a sign of his separation to God, he was not to cut his hair.
(Judges 13:1-5).
A careful reading of verses 16 through 22 will reveal that this
angel was no ordinary angel. It was the angel of the LORD--
that is, God manifested in angelic form.
THE MOVING OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD
UPON SAMSON
When artists draw or paint a picture of Samson, they always
make him look like the world weight-lifting champion. They
make him look like the biggest, strongest man that ever lived.
This is not true. Samson was just an ordinary man with ordinary
strength. Samson acknowledged that without the Spirit of
God upon him he was just like any other man (Judges 16:17).
It was by the Spirit of the LORD that Samson accomplished
many great feats of strength:
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1. saMson kiLLed a young Lion:
Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came
to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him.
And the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he
would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his
father or his mother what he had done
— JuDGes 14:5-6
2. saMson sLew thirty Men:
And the spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon,
and slew thirty men
— JuDGes 14:19
3. saMson sLew one thousand Men:
...and they (the Philistines) bound him with two new cords, and brought him
up from the rock. And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against
him: and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that
were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed
from off his hands, And he found a new jawbone of an ass (donkey), and put
forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith
— JuDGes 15:13-15
SAMSON’S WEAKNESS
Although Samson was a great man in many ways, he did have a serious
weakness in his life when it came to pagan women. As soon as he became of
age, he fell in love with one of the daughters of the Philistines, and insisted
on marrying her, despite his parents’ objections (Judges 14:1-3).
On another occasion, he was almost captured by the Philistines, while he
was visiting a prostitute in the city of Gaza (Judges 16:1-3). After that, comes
the familiar story of Delilah.
Delilah was an attractive woman who knew just how to act around men to
get what she wanted from them. Samson fell in love with her, although such
a relationship was contrary to God’s law, because she was a Philistine. The
Philistine lords, knowing of his love for her, promised her 1100 pieces of silver
each if she would discover the secret of his great strength (Judges 16:4-5).
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Day by day Delilah would beg, “Samson, tell me the secret of your great
strength”. What he should have done is to tell her very frankly and directly,
“No, that is between me and my God alone”. He should also have broken
off his relationship with her--but he did not. He added sin to sin! He started
lying to her, saying “If you bind me with seven green withs (fresh cords),
then I shall be weak as other men”. While he was asleep, she bound him
with the cords given to her by the lords. Then she cried out, “Samson, the
Philistines be upon thee.” (Men had hidden in the room while he slept).
Samson awoke and broke the cords, as if they were a thread (Judges 16:6-9).
Two more times he lied to her, but on the third time he was getting closer to
revealing the secret. “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web,
I will be like other men.” After this failed, she really began to work on his
emotions. You can almost see the “crocodile tears” trickling down her face
as she sobbed:
...How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast
mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength
lieth
— JuDGes 16:15
Even this little performance was not sufficient to cause Samson to yield, but
she did not give up:
And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him,
so that his soul was vexed unto death; that he told her all his heart...
— JuDGes 16:16-17
Delilah sent word that this time Samson had truly told her all his heart.
Then she made him to sleep on her knees. A man was called to cut off his
hair. Then she began to afflict him so that his strength left him. One more
time she called, “Samson, the Philistines be upon thee.”
...and he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before,
and shake myself. And he wist not (did not know) that the LORD was departed
from him
— JuDGes 16:20
The Philistines took him and put out his eyes. He was brought to Gaza,
where he was bound with fetters of brass and caused to grind in the prison
house.
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AN IMPORTANT LESSON FOR US
Samson did not value the Spirit of God upon his life as he should have. He
thought, “Whenever I need God, He will be with me, regardless of what I
do”. He found out that he was wrong. Even after his hair was cut off and
Delilah woke him up, he said, “I will just go shake myself, as I did before
(and the presence of the Lord will come upon me).” But it did not happen
that way. We must never take for granted the precious presence of the Holy
Spirit. If we continue to sin, the Holy Spirit will forsake us!
Fortunately, Samson had learned his lesson. He renewed his consecration
unto the LORD. This is shown because he allowed his hair to grow, which
was the outward sign of his inward vow to God.
One day the Philistines wanted to have some fun with their captive. They
had Samson brought into an arena packed with people, to mock him.
Thousands of men and women filled the building, including all the lords
of the Philistines. This was their opportunity to ridicule the man who had
formerly tormented them, but now stood before them, blind and weak!
Meanwhile, Samson asked the boy that led him in to let him feel the pillars
that supported the building. He pretended that he was so weak he needed
some support to keep from falling down. Then Samson prayed:
...O LORD God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only
this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two
eyes
— JuDGes 16:28
Then taking hold of the two middle pillars, one with his right hand, and
the other with his left, he bowed himself with all his might--and the house
fell down, killing the thousands that had come to make sport of Samson.
The dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in
his life (Judges 16:30). Samson had judged Israel for twenty years before he
died.
CIVIL WAR AGAIN
A certain Levite was travelling with his concubine (servant-wife) when he
and his group came to a Benjamite city, Gibeah. At first, they could not
find lodging, until an old man came from his work in the field and saw
them sitting down in the street. The old man insisted that they lodge with
him. They went home with him and were given food and drink, and their
donkeys were also taken care of.
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However, wicked men in the city came and took the man’s concubine and
abused her all night long. In the morning, they found her lying at the door
- dead! The Levite took a knife and divided her into twelve pieces, and sent
the pieces throughout Israel. All Israel assembled together as one man, from
Dan to Beersheba.
Then the children of Israel said, “Tell us, how was this wickedness.” The
Levite told the story how his concubine had been raped and killed by the
men from the city of Gibeah, a Benjamite city. The Benjamites were admonished
to hand over the men that were guilty of the crime, but they refused.
This resulted in war between them and the rest of Israel (Judges 20:1-13).
The Benjamites had a large army. They had 26,000 men who were sword
fighters. They also had 700 left-handed men who were famous as stone slingers.
They could come within a hair’s breadth of hitting the centre of their
mark every time (Judges 20:14-16).
However, the children of Israel greatly outnumbered the Benjamites, with
an army of 400,000 men that drew the sword. It appeared likely that it
would be an easy victory for them.
SEEKING GOD CARELESSLY
And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked
counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the
children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up first
— JuDGes 20:18
Did they ask the LORD if He would give them victory over the Philistine?
No! They were careless in their praying. They prayed because it was the
thing to do, not because they felt any special need for God’s help. The next
day the children of Israel, led by Judah, went out to battle against the Benjamites.
The children of Israel suffered a terrible defeat, with 22,000 men
killed.
This caused the children of Israel to be a little more sincere in their seeking
God. They wept before the LORD until evening. Then they asked the
LORD, “Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my
brother?” Again the LORD said, “Go up against him,” but there was no
assurance of victory. God was not through teaching Israel a valuable lesson!
The next day they lost 18,000 men in battle!
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Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the
house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day
until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD
— JuDGes 20:26
This time they sought God with all their heart, and humbled themselves
before Him by fasting. They also offered burnt offering and peace offerings.
God then gave them the assurance that they should have sought for the first
time:
...And the LORD said, “Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver them into thine
hand”
— JuDGes 20:28
God gave them a plan that enabled Israel to lead the Benjaminites into an
ambush. Only thirty Israelites were killed that day, while the Benjaminites
lost 25,100 men. The battle destroyed nearly their whole army. Also, their
cities were burned down and their families were destroyed (Judges 20:29-48).
Let us learn from this example that if we want to live a victorious life over
the flesh, the world and the Satanic kingdom, we cannot be careless in our
prayer life. We must learn to seek God until the assurance of victory comes!
THE WIFE PROBLEM
In their anger, the children of Israel made a solemn vow that none of them
would give their daughters to be wives of the Benjaminites (Judges 21:1).
After the battle, there were few women left among the Benjaminites, so
Israel wept before the LORD for their brethren. The situation could lead
to the dying out of the tribe of Benjamin, with no wives to give birth to
children. Finally, the congregation of Israel sent twelve thousand men
against the city of Jabesh-gilead. Only four hundred young virgins were
spared. These were brought to the Israelite camp at Shiloh.
Then messengers were sent to speak peaceably to the men who remained of
the tribe of Benjamin. They were hiding in a mountainous region. The men
of Benjamin joined themselves again to the rest of the Israelites, and they
were given wives from the virgins spared.
As there were still not enough wives to go around, the elders of Israel
consulted together as to what they ought to do. Then they told the children
of Benjamin:
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There is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly...Go and lie in wait in the
vineyards; and...behold if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances,
then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife...
— JuDGes 21:19-21
And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their
number, of them that danced, whom they caught; and they went and returned
unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.
And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe
and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance
— JuDGes 21:23-24
VOCABULARY
arena —
a large hall used for public gatherings
fetters —
prostitute —
ridiculed —
shackles or chains used to restrain people or animals
a harlot
made fun of, mocked
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Old
Lesson
Testament
Nine
1
Test
1
2
3
4
5
6-8
Who was the final judge of Israel? ______________________________.
How was Manoah’s wife similar to Abraham’s wife?
_________________________________________________________.
What is a Nazarite?
__________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________.
What was the sign of a Nazarite’s separation unto God?
_________________________________________________________.
Without the _______________________________________________,
Samson was like any other man.
Give three instances when Samson accomplished great feats of strength as
the Spirit of God moved upon him:
9
10
11
12
13
What was Samson’s chief weakness? _____________________________.
Did Delilah love Samson? __________________.
Why did she desire to know the secret of his strength?
__________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________.
Samson’s main error was that he did not value the _________________
_________________________________________________________.
How do we know that Samson did learn his lesson?
__________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________.
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14
15
16
17
18
19
Why did the children of Israel go to war against Benjamin?
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________.
Why were they defeated, though they greatly outnumbered the Benjaminites?
_____________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________.
Did they win the battle the second time they fought against them and
why? _____________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________.
What finally brought about a victory for Israel against the Benjaminites?
__________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________.
What do we learn from this?
__________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________.
What was of special interest to you in this lesson?
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