I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
After a couple of months, Samson went to return to his wife. However, when he got there her father told him that he thought Samson hated her and had given her in marriage to the best man. In anger, Samson went out and captured 300 foxes. He tied their tails together in pairs and attached a torch to the tails of each pair. He then lit the torches and released the foxes in the Philistine grain fields. In addition, he destroyed vineyards and olive fields. When the Philistines learned that he had done this because the father of the woman he had married had given her in marriage to the best man, they took the woman and her father and burned them to death. In retaliation for this Samson went a killed a large number of Philistines. He then went and lived in a cave.
The Philistines then sent a force into Judah looking for Samson. The Philistines made a nuisance of themselves looking for Samson. The men of Judah went to capture Samson. When they found Samson, he made them promise that they would not kill him themselves. Then he let them tie him up and take him to turn him over to the Philistines. When the Philistines saw the men of Judah bringing Samson bound, they rushed them shouting in joy. Samson snapped the ropes, found the jawbone of a recently killed donkey and began killing the Philistines. He struck down a thousand men before the Philistines retreated. Samson led the Israelites for twenty years.
On day, Samson went down to Gaza to a prostitute to spend the night. When the Philistines heard he was there, they gathered and laid in wait for him, planning to take him when he came out in the morning. However, Samson got up at midnight to leave. When he got to the city gates, they were closed. So, he took the door of the town gate and the posts on either side of them and lifted them up and carried them to the top of the hill.
Some time later, Samson once again showed poor judgment in his love life and fell in love with Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines went to Delilah and asked her to entice Samson to tell her the secret of his great strength and how it could be neutralized so that they could capture him. They promised her a large sum of money if she was successful. She asked him the secret and he told her that if he was tied up with fresh bowstrings, strength would be gone. She hid Philistines in the room and when he fell asleep she tied him up with fresh bowstrings. Once he was tied she called out that the Philistines had arrived. Samson awoke and snapped the bowstrings. She begged him again to tell her the secret and once again when he gave her an answer, she used it to bind him. She did this third time as well. Finally he told her that the secret was to cut his hair. This time when she woke him, his strength was gone and the Philistines captured him. Notice that despite the fact that Delilah had demonstrated on three occasions that she was going to use his secret against him if he told her, he eventually told her.
The Philistines gouged out his eyes and put him to work grinding grain. Over time his hair began to grow back in. After some time the rulers of the Philistines assembled and brought forth Samson to celebrate their victory over him. They began to praise their god for giving them victory over Samson. As Samson stood in their temple, he asked the servant who had led him in to put his hands against the pillars so that he could rest against it. Samson then called on God to give him strength one last time. He then cried out, “Let me die with the Philistines.” As soon as he said that he pushed against the pillars and collapsed the roof of the temple, killing a large number of Philistines.
Samson was a man of great might and a great warrior, but he repeatedly showed poor judgment when it came to the women he chose to associate with.
After returning to Galilee Jesus went to a wedding in Cana. The wedding hosts ran out of wine and Jesus’ mother came to Him and told Him they were out of wine. Jesus asked His mother in terms that sound to me like a son whose mother frustrates him and is struggling to remain respectful why she was involving Him. He further told her that His time had not yet come. Jesus’ mother then told the servants to do whatever He told them. Jesus told the servants to fill six jugs, which each held 20-30 gallons, with water. Once they had done so, He told them to draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet. After tasting the wine the master of the banquet commented that this was the best wine at the wedding. It is interesting that according to the writer, this was the first miracle that Jesus performed. Not only did He make wine out of water, but it was better than the other wine at the wedding (in my understanding of the way people of the period thought of wine, better would have primarily meant stronger, although I believe it probably also tasted better). This passage (combined with others that speak of Him being invited to numerous parties) tells us that Jesus was a lot of fun to be around.
As Passover approached, Jesus returned to Judea and went to Jerusalem. When He entered the Temple, He became furious at all of the merchants and money changers doing business there. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased the merchants and money changers out of the Temple. He drove off the sheep and cattle and overturned the money changers’ tables. He went to those selling doves and demanded that they leave. He condemned them for making God’s House a market.
The religious leaders demanded that He show them a sign that He had the authority to do what He had just done. Jesus responded by telling them that if they tore down the Temple, He would raise it back up in three days. The Jewish leaders belittled His claim by saying that it had taken 46 years to build the Temple in the first place. After Jesus was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered what He had said and realized that the Temple He was talking about was His body.
Today’s psalm is a great reminder to me.
with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
Let all that I am praise the Lord;
may I never forget the good things he does for me.
All too often I forget the things this psalm reminds me of. The best way to say what this psalm means to me is to quote it. So, rather than try to find another way to phrase it, I will just ask that you read it.
If you allow your temper to gain control, you will do foolish things. Those who are constantly scheming are hated. I am not quite sure that I understand the point of the rest of today’s proverb. However, I will take a stab at it based on my experience. Evil-doers recognize the goodness of those who are godly and respect them for it.