Day: June 25, 2012

Week 9 of Judges – Set Apart

On By Ben JenningsIn Devotional3 Comments

Judges 13:1-5 – Set Apart

1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.

3 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.

4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:

5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.


Once again, Israel falls back into sin and God brings an oppressor, the Philistines, which have now been oppressing Israel for 40 years. Now the Bible introduces us to our next Judge, and one of the most well known Judges in the Bible, Samson. This passage is actually the Angel of the Lord telling Samson’s parents about his birth and how he would be meant for a special purpose. So special, in fact, that he was going to be a Nazarite starting before he was born. Back then, a person would choose to be a Nazarite for a short time to serve God. Samson was different, and his “vow” had three stipulations (just like any Nazarite vow):

  1. Could not touch any dead body (animal or human)
  2. Could not cut his/her hair
  3. Could not eat or drink anything from a vine (no grapes, leaves, or wine)
All of these stipulations were meant to show that the person was set apart for a purpose. These are important, because we will see how Samson does with these stipulations.
Samson was set apart for a purpose. Believe it or not, so are you! Although we don’t have the same kind of stipulations as Samson had (Christianity is not a set of rules, anyways), Romans 12:2 tells us, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” We are not meant to be part of the world, but we should be transformed. God does not want you to be the same as every other person on earth, be has a plan for you that he has set apart. The questions is, as we will see with Samson, is if we will allow God to work His plan in us, or if we will hinder His working in and through our lives.

Life Step: Think about it…

If God has a purpose for you, how should that affect your life?

What does it mean to “be not conformed to this world”?