Sexual Lust Samson down fall

 

Judges 16:4-17

 

After this, he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.   And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”   So, Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.”

Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”  Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.   Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So, the secret of his strength was not known.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.”   And he said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”   So, Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”   So, while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web.^[  And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.

And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.”   And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.  And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb.  If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

As you read these verses, what becomes obvious, Samson's lust for women was his biggest weakness, that a sexual lust will blind a man to the apparent movies of the one he is lusting for.  How I am sure that Delilah liked Samson, but she loved silver.  

I often believe that many of us in the Church, want nothing to do with a man who messed up, and if he is a leader we just want him to disappear from our present, that is not what God did with Samson, so often the Church, has a different standard than God.  Yes, Samson pays a high price, his eyes being put out, bound, and lead as a trophy of the Philistines.  “But God” God had a plan to bring destruction on the Philistines, and when God has His hand on a man, being blind will not stop the process.  

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

"But God"

 Judges 15:9-20

 

Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi.   And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.”   Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.”   And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.”  They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So, they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.   And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it, he struck 1,000 men.  And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.”

 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi.

And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”  And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore, the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day.   And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

If you are not a believer in miracles, when you read this account and others, it sounds like something Hollywood is turning out with all the new heroes doing the impossible.  And I would agree with you but for one thing, “BUT GOD '' yes it was not Samson, but God who gave Samson the power to overcome 1000 armed men with the jawbone of a donkey.

 

And Samson was very aware of where his power came from, for after the battle he did not ask a man to go get him water, but to the one who had given him the Victory.  Could it be you and I run to man after God has given us the victory and not to God?

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

Samson Defeats the Philistines

 

Judges 15:1-8

 

Samson Defeats the Philistines

After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go into my wife's chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in.  And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”   And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.”   So, Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails.   And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards.   Then law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.   And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that, I will quit.”   And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

 

Can you imagine the surprise of the girl's dad when Samson shows up, and he has to tell him, she no longer your wife but the best man.  And were you a little shocked that Samson came back.  We are not told but it seems that after some thought and reflection Samson had forgiven his wife and was going to take her home.  

 

But this was just a little too much and Samson took it out on the people who ruled over Judah, the people of his wife's nation.  He gave no thought to the effect of his actions, he just wants to get even with someone, but it was the Lord’s purpose as we read in chapter 14, for these events to take place.  Once more we should look at Proverbs 19:21, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”

 

We as a people of 2021, living in the USA, many of us are troubled over what the new president in title only, will do, we wonder who is pulling the strings, but that is not a good place to be.  We should take comfort in Proverbs 19:21, and in Jeremiah 29:11,  ^“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Samson's Marriage

 

 

Judges 14:1-9

 

Samson's Marriage

Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah, he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines.  Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.”   But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”

His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.

 

, Samson sounds as if he is living in 2021 with this small difference, he would not ask mom and dad to go get her, he would just ask for money to support her.  It seems the desire to get what we want when we want it is not a new thing, but Samson nor his parents knew who was putting such desires in his heart.  There is a lesson you and I who follow Christ need to hear, it was not the enemy of our soul, it was God who was setting the stage to show off His power in the life of Samson.  Many of us need to be careful in giving credit for an act of God to the enemy of our soul.   Maybe we should give thought to Proverbs 19:21, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”  

 

Do you believe God is in control of all things, and that his purpose will stand, then pray that God will change the mind of those who hate God’s Church, and seek God’s will and not evil desires?

Picking up the account in verses 5-7, “Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring.   Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.   Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson's eyes.”

 

Do you see how God is allowing Samson to have the physical power that is like no other man?  Now I’m not sure about you but my small mind would have said, Bob, Lions are faster than you, and they can climb trees better than you and like to eat their kill up in a tree, your toast, and without God so was Samson.

 

Verse 8-9, “After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion and honey.   He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.”

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

My Childhood Friend

 

My Childhood Friend

 

My reply!

 

Tommy thanks for the reply, It always amazes me how God speaks to us, and I believe He does it in many different ways.  One of the darkest times in my life, God spoke to me through a guy who was living a more sinful life than I.  I am not even sure he believed in God.  But I was sure that what he told me came from God.  When I told you I prayed for you, in no way do I believe that I am less needy than you.  But I learned that when someone's name comes into my mind it is good to ask God to bless and show how much he loves and cares for that person.

 

I have grown to love the Scripture, and I do look at them as the Manufacturer's handbook on life.  I see them as a love letter to each of us.  A friend of mine compared it to a soldier that was taken captive and would only have one letter he could write to his wife and young child.  He could only write one letter and he had no way of knowing when or if he would ever see his wife and small child again.  So, he took his time, and when he wrote he was very clear on what to do about the finances and raising of their small child, who they could go to for help, who they could trust, and so on.  He put everything in that letter that he thought she would ever need.  But each time he finished a statement he would weave in the words, "I love you", and that is what God has done in his letter to us.

 

Yesterday I was reading a book and came across this story: "When my wife and I lived in South Carolina; she worked for a lady whose life began falling apart.  This woman went to talk to a friend of mine, who led her to Christ.  One day I took a pamphlet by Norman Grubb, The Key to Everything, over to her and said, "If the Lord leads you, read this booklet.  If there's anything you want to talk about, call me."  She and I talked.  During the course of the conversation, I told her, "You already have it all.  You trusted Christ the other night, and there's not another thing God's going to be able to do for you.  He hasn't got anything else to give you.  He's given you Himself."

 

She started to ask, "If I decide to become religious. .  ."  I said, "Oh, please, don't become religious.  For God's sake, don't become religious."  I wanted to spare her from that.  Let's talk about life, not religion."  For most of us, living the Christian life is as difficult as finding Christ was.  Often it's more difficult.  Why?  Now that we have Christ in us, shouldn't life go much easier?  The truth is that we ourselves make it difficult.  We complicate it by trying to do what seems perfectly natural once we become Christian.  We try to keep God's law.  But trying through our own effort to keep God's law prevents us from experiencing Christ's abundant life, because contrary to most popular teaching, it is the opposite of what God designed us to do."  Now that is deep, and I believe what I understand the author is saying.

 

Tom, I am one of the most simple of men, I am not educated but I am blessed.  I do not believe I've got many answers, but I have always seemed to have many questions.  I also believe you are a very special man, and I value you.

 

You remember Bob the Barber, one day he asked me to go with him to a Bible study.  I almost fell out of his chair.  I ask this question; "you go to Bible studies?"  He told me that he did each Wednesday, and that he knew I was a Christian, but that I seemed to have left God out of my life.  I went to that Bible study because of Bob, not because I wanted to study the Bible.  I will never forget the setting, a Holiday Inn on Hwy. 9, and we were standing in a buffet line.  Bob introduced me to four other men, boy did they stand out in that line, each had what seemed like to me, a family Bible under their arms.  I must tell you, I had not prayed for years, but I needed help, so I ask God to get me into a private room where no one and especially no one I worked with would see me.  That prayer was answered, not because God heard my prayer, but because they met in a private room each week.

 

Once in the room, I put on my Church face and played the game, the only game I knew, the religious game.  That day I promised myself I would never go back to that Bible study and I might just change Barbers.  But for the next six months, I was at that Bible study.  Those men knew the Jesus that I only knew about.  For six months I tried to make deals with God and it was like he was not listening, then one night in Victoria, Texas, I opened the Bible in that hotel room and read, Romans 10:9-10, "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.   For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."  That night I bowed my knee to God and said, "I agree and I am tired of being a poser, will you forgive me for trying to be my own god and come into my life."  And by faith, I believe He did.  Yes, it was simple, but it was not easy, I had to give up on myself and believe that He would do all that He promised.  It has been many years and I still have questions, very few answers, but I know God has been faithful to all His promises.

 

Tom, sometimes I get lost in my thoughts too!   It sounds like Brother Wages was a very special man; you were blessed to have him.  Yes, I do know that Jesus loves me, and that is so great to know that the one who spoke all things into being loves you.  In His Love Letter, he told us to study to show ourselves approved by God, to renew our

minds in His Word, and that we would have troubles and a real enemy.  In the book of Ephesians 6:10-11, it is stated; "Last of all I want to remind you that your strength must come from the Lord's mighty power within you.  Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand safe against all strategies and tricks of Satan."  Tom, I believe that part of the Bible as much as I believe the part about Jesus loving me.  It is all about how to live life on earth, very little of it is about eternity.

 

 

Your Friend,

 

 

 

 

Will you join me in asking the Lord to open the Tommy's eyes and heart, who are in your life  He is right about it not being complicated, but he is so wrong about living the good life to earn Jesus.  If that were true why was it’s the Father will for His Son, His only Son to die on a cross for the sins of all people?

 

 

Love,

 

Bob

The One who Works Wonders

 

January 12, 2021

 

Judges 13:18-25

 

 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”  So, Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching.   And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.

The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord.   And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”   But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”   And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him.   And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

 

How I desire to have the faith of Manoah, he heard and believed, and acted, on what his wife and the angel of the Lord had said.  He did not understand that it was the angel of the LORD, till he made the offering, and the angel of the Lord went up in the flames of the altar.  We are told that both Manoah and his wife fell on their faces to the ground.

 

How Manoah believed that if he saw God he must die, but God gave him a wife with great wisdom, and she said; “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”  She became the mother of Samson, and God was with him and the Spirit began to stir him.

 

I believe God desires His Church to study the Scriptures, If that were not so He would not have said, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15.  We are called to be free, but our freedom has never come from the government, but in Christ, we have been set free.  You will find that in Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

As a follower of Christ, we have been instructed to set our minds, not on what happens in our nations, but on Christ, for in Colossians 3:2, we have this instruction, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

 

I am concerned that we lost sight of home, we have conformed to the world, and have more of the desires of the world than the Kingdom of 
God.  What can we do to get back to being the hands and feet of Jesus? 

Only one way is to learn from Manoah, listen, believe, and act on the word of God.  Do not take as truth, what I say, nor your teacher or preacher, but study the word of God and see Truth, for all truth is found in Christ.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Jephthah's Conflict with Ephraim

January 10, 2021

 

 

Judge 12:1-7-8-15

 

Jephthah's Conflict with Ephraim

The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.”   And Jephthah said to them, “I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites, and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand.   And when I saw that you would not save me, I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?”  Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.”   And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” When he said, “No,”  they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan.  At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.

Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then, Jephthah, the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.

My history of many years as a part of the body of Christ, and what many refer to as the Church, but often they are referring to a building where people go on Sunday.   We also refer to it as the local church, and it goes by many names Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, and the list goes on, and on.  Now I’ve been part of a Baptist church since a child and one thing I’ve noticed especially in the large ones, they like to pick from those who are successful in the world to serve as teachers, deacons, and most leadership roles, and that great, but is that Spirit lead or just a little bit of the values of the world system creeping into the local church?

 

As we explore the people God has picked in the Scriptures, we find murders, like Moses, and what about his brother Arron as the first High Priest, and he did not do so well in the truth department.   And as we look at our Lords Genealogy and the four ladies listed, we are shocked to see some that would not be picked to lead out in the women ministry, of most churches, such as Tamar found in Genesis 38, or Rahab of Jericho who saved the spies sent by Joshua, and Ruth was a Moabitess, and one amazing Lady, and then last we know her name but the Bible refers to her as the wife of Uriah” was a Hittite.  Yes, four Gentiles ladies in Jesus line or genealogy.  And what about Jephthah, a son of a prostitute, not going to be picked to lead out in the local church, but God ways are very different than ours, and yes He can see the heart of a person, and we can’t, but I often wonder, why we are looking to what the world calls successful and not seeking God’s leadership in many of the people we pick to teach classes and be in leadership roles?  Nor any of these four that came after him.

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem led Israel.   He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those outside his clan, and for his sons, he brought in thirty young women as wives from outside his clan. Ibzan led Israel seven years.  Then Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

After him, Elon the Zebulunite led Israel ten years.  Then Elon died and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

 After him, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, led Israel.   He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel eight years.   Then Abdon son of Hillel died and was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

 

From The Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice