Today’s classic story is enough to disprove what people have ever said about the Bible being boring or uninteresting. Tomorrow in the church service we’ll be talking about Samson. Today, I want you to read a little bit about him.
1 But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.2 And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.s
3 And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.s4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.s5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.
6 Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.
7 And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
9 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.s12 And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.13 And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.
14 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.s15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.s16 And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.s17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath–lehi.s
18 And he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?19 But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof En–hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.ss20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
Judges 15:1-20
So, what do you think about this story? Anything it makes you think about?
Study the Scriptures with Ben Jennings 
I think this story is great but I don’t really get it though I don’t really know what it’s like trying to tell me 😦
mafalda,try reading it again and the application and think about it.
i read it twice already and i still dont get it!! 😦
well…. try reading it one more time,then think of something in the bible or something that happens to you and see how it relates w/ the story.Then put it together.BTW,im trying to help you the best i can! If it still doesnt work,try to get someone else 2 help u!
The first thing that came 2 my mind is Jesus on the the cross.Verses 15-17 say that Samson slew a thousand men.This reminds me of what Jesus did on the cross for us because he was beaten and slewed.He went through all of that just for us! 🙂 amazing!! We need 2 realize what he did 4 us and be thankful 4 that!! In verses 4-6 it says that Samson burnt the philistines’ garden and the result of that was burning his wife and her father.The reason why i put this is because we need 2 b careful of what we do. If we do something like Samson did then the result or punishment could be very bad.We need 2 be slow to speak and slow to wrath!! If ur about to do something you need to stop and think “how will this affect that person and myself” and make the right choice!! 🙂 This was a great passage and lesson!!! 🙂
Well, i re-read this story on the blue letter bible and it helped a lot! Honestly tho this story is a little confusing. But what i got out of it was that Samson was told by his wife’s father that he was basically not compatible with her, and to marry her sister. Upset, Samson lit the philistines garden on fire, and when the Philistines found out, they burned his wife & her father. Samson was enraged by this, and wanted to take revenge on them. He then killed many of the men. The Philistines then wanted to avenge Samson for what he had done to them, and they tied him to a rock before killing him. God then saved him by untying him from the rock, and giving him the jawbone of a donkey. Samson thrn slained a thousand men with it, and God had protected him.
This story makes me think about how i deal with people hurting me. I always feel like if someone hurts me, they deserve to be hurt back (revenge). Samson wanted revenge for the Philistines killing his wife & father-in-law, and the Philistines wanted revenge on Samson. But there are so many ways to deal with situations without doing what the other person did. Forgiveness is how we can move on from what others have done to us.
Like i said, im not exactly sure if i understood the story of Samson very well so if i missed a key point let me know 🙂
Sorry it’s late but wifi was shut off. But I’m here anyways! 🙂 I totally agree w/ lindsey. And Mafalda try re-reading the paragraph just think of Mel! She always breaks it don’t for us in teenager language.!! So to me tht really helps! 🙂 and if not. Just try doing what ally said! It really helped me! Thanks ally! And actually all of u guy’s 🙂 ok ok on to the Saturday classics! 🙂 ok it’s just like Lindsey said! 🙂 I feel like some times I’m stupid because I have trouble reading the bible. And to me some times I’ll understand it. But the more and more and more I read it the more I begin to understand all the big words in another language! And it makes me feel so accomplished! I’m so glad tht god has given all of us such a precious gift! :)….. The bible! Thanks for the prayers about my grandmother and c u guys tmrw!! 🙂
Sorry it’s late but wifi was shut off. But I’m here anyways! 🙂 I totally agree w/ lindsey. And Mafalda try re-reading the paragraph just think of Mel! She always breaks it don’t for us in teenager language.!! So to me tht really helps! 🙂 and if not. Just try doing what ally said! It really helped me! Thanks ally! And actually all of u guy’s 🙂 ok ok on to the Saturday classics! 🙂 ok it’s just like Lindsey said! 🙂 I feel like some times I’m stupid because I have trouble reading the bible. And to me some times I’ll understand it. But the more and more and more I read it the more I begin to understand all the big words in another language! And it makes me feel so accomplished! I’m so glad tht god has given all of us such a precious gift! :)….. The bible! Thanks for the prayers about my grandmother and c u guys tmrw!! 🙂
Sorry I commented twice!
ur welcome!! 🙂
This story is pretty crazy if you ask me! Samson came to his wife’s father if he could go see his wife in her room, and her father, who was afraid of the Philistines, an afraid of Samson, offered him his other daughter instead out of fear and a way out. Samson was hurt by this because he loved the Philistines daughter, but her father was afraid of turnig on his own people and so in order to play the situation off, he offered his other daughter instead. Samson didn’t want the other daughter, he was hurt and decided to seek revenge on the Philistines. Samson caught 300 foxes. He paired them up by twos and set their tails on fire, then he let the foxes run around in the Philistines garden. It burned up their vineyards, olive groves and grain! The Philistines were furious and sent the men of Judah to burn Samson’s wife and father with fire! Samson sluaghtered the men who killed them.. (this story is grusom!) The Philistines then wanted to seek final revenge upon Samson with death. More men of Judah came to arrest Samson. He made them swear that they wouldn’t kill him. The men said they wouldn’t but that they would tie him securly and hand him directly to the Philistines. They tied him to a rock with ropes because they had promised not to kill him. The Philistines started yelling at him when he arrived and God made the ropes become like flax, or plants and they burned with fire. Samson was set free with a jawbone of a donkey in his hand. He killed a thousand men with it. Samson then told God that, “He had given him great deliverance from the Philistines but he’ll die of thirst?!” so God miraculously created a spring for Samson to drink from. He then judged Israel for 20 years.
This story is nuts! This applys in situations to, when someone hurts us we sometimes want to seek revenge upon them. We want to get back for what they’ve done to us. We see in this story that not only did revenge blow up in Samson’s face, but it really didn’t help much. God delivered Samson from his near death because Samson was faithful. God used this situation to show the Isrealites that He was with them, despite their lack of trust. God is with us in situations where all we want to do is seek revenge. Revenge might seem like a wonderful idea at the time, but later when they want to seek revenge upon you again, was it really the right thing to do? No! We need to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to wrath just as Allison said! God will help us, if we seek His help! Revenge is never worth it trust me! I’ve made that mistake before! This goes along with pastors message on peace and I can’t wait to hear it tomorrow 🙂