Through the Bible – Day 88

₁Once again the Israelites started disobeying the LORD. So he let the Philistines take control of Israel for forty years.

₂Manoah from the tribe of Dan lived in the town of Zorah. His wife was not able to have children, _3-5but one day an angel from the LORD appeared to her and said:

₆She went to Manoah and said, “A prophet who looked like an angel of God came and talked to me. I was so frightened, that I didn't even ask where he was from. He didn't tell me his name, ₇but he did say that I'm going to have a baby boy. I'm not supposed to drink any wine or beer or eat any food forbidden by God's laws. Our son will belong to God for as long as he lives.”

₈Then Manoah prayed, “Our LORD, please send that prophet again and let him tell us what to do for the son we are going to have.”

₉God answered Manoah's prayer, and the angel went back to Manoah's wife while she was resting in the fields. Manoah wasn't there at the time, ₁₀so she found him and said, “That same man is here again! He's the one I saw the other day.”

₁₁Manoah went with his wife and asked the man, “Are you the one who spoke to my wife?”

“Yes, I am,” he answered.

₁₂Manoah then asked, “When your promise comes true, what rules must he obey and what will be his work?”

₁₃“Your wife must be careful to do everything I told her,” the LORD's angel answered. ₁₄“She must not eat or drink anything made from grapes. She must not drink wine or beer or eat anything forbidden by God's laws. I told her exactly what to do.”

₁₅“Please,” Manoah said, “stay here with us for just a little while, and we'll prepare a young goat for you to eat.” ₁₆Manoah didn't realize that he was really talking to one of the LORD's angels.

The angel answered, “I can stay for a little while, although I won't eat any of your food. But if you would like to offer the goat as a sacrifice to the LORD, that would be fine.”

₁₇Manoah said, “Tell us your name, so we can honour you after our son is born.”

₁₈“No,” the angel replied. “You don't need to know my name. And if you did, you couldn't understand it.”

₁₉So Manoah took a young goat over to a large rock he had chosen for an altar, and he built a fire on the rock. Then he killed the goat, and offered it with some grain as a sacrifice to the LORD. But then an amazing thing happened. ₂₀The fire blazed up towards the sky, and the LORD's angel went up towards heaven in the fire. Manoah and his wife bowed down low when they saw what happened.

₂₁The angel was gone, but Manoah and his wife realized that he was one of the LORD's angels. ₂₂Manoah said, “We have seen an angel. Now we're going to die.”

₂₃“The LORD isn't going to kill us,” Manoah's wife responded. “The LORD accepted our sacrifice and grain offering, and he let us see something amazing. Besides, he told us that we're going to have a son.”

₂₄Later, Manoah's wife did give birth to a son, and she named him Samson. As the boy grew, the LORD blessed him. ₂₅Then, while Samson was staying at Dan's Camp between the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol, the Spirit of the LORD took control of him.

₁One day, Samson went to Timnah, where he saw a Philistine woman. ₂When he got back home, he told his parents, “I saw a Philistine woman in Timnah, and I want to marry her. Get her for me!”

₃His parents answered, “There are a lot of women in our clan and even more in the rest of Israel. Those Philistines are pagans. Why would you want to marry one of their women?”

“She looks good to me,” Samson answered. “Get her for me!”

₄At that time, the Philistines were in control of Israel, and the LORD wanted to stir up trouble for them. That's why he made Samson desire that woman.

₅As Samson and his parents reached the vineyards near Timnah, a fierce young lion suddenly roared and attacked Samson. ₆But the LORD's Spirit took control of Samson, and with his bare hands he tore the lion apart, as though it had been a young goat. His parents didn't know what he had done, and he didn't tell them.

₇When they got to Timnah, Samson talked to the woman, and he was sure that she was the one for him.

₈Later, Samson returned to Timnah for the wedding. And when he came near the place where the lion had attacked, he left the road to see what was left of the lion. He was surprised to see that bees were living in the lion's skeleton, and that they had made some honey. ₉He scooped up the honey in his hands and ate some of it as he walked along. When he got back to his parents, he gave them some of the honey, and they ate it too. But he didn't tell them he had found the honey in the skeleton of a lion.

₁₀While Samson's father went to make the final arrangements with the bride and her family, Samson threw a big party, as grooms usually did. ₁₁When the Philistines saw what Samson was like, they told thirty of their young men to stay with him at the party.

₁₂Samson told the thirty young men, “This party will last for seven days. Let's make a bet: I'll tell you a riddle, and if you can tell me the right answer before the party is over, I'll give each one of you a shirt and a full change of clothing. ₁₃But if you can't tell me the answer, then each of you will have to give me a shirt and a full change of clothing.”

“It's a bet!” the Philistines said. “Tell us the riddle.”

₁₄Samson said:

Three days went by, and the Philistine young men had not come up with the right answer. ₁₅Finally, on the seventh day of the party they went to Samson's bride and said, “You had better trick your husband into telling you the answer to his riddle. Have you invited us here just to rob us? If you don't find out the answer, we will burn you and your family to death.”

₁₆Samson's bride went to him and started crying in his arms. “You must really hate me,” she sobbed. “If you loved me at all, you would have told me the answer to your riddle.”

“But I haven't even told my parents the answer!” Samson replied. “Why should I tell you?”

₁₇For the entire seven days of the party, she had been whining and trying to get the answer from him. But that seventh day she put so much pressure on Samson that he finally gave in and told her the answer. She went straight to the young men and told them.

₁₈Before sunset that day, the men of the town went to Samson with this answer:

Samson replied,

₁₉Then the LORD's Spirit took control of Samson. He went to Ashkelon, where he killed thirty men and took their clothing. Samson then gave it to the thirty young men at Timnah and stormed back home to his own family.

₂₀The father of the bride made Samson's wife marry one of the thirty young men who had been at Samson's party.

₁Later, during the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit the young woman he thought was still his wife. He brought along a young goat as a gift and said to her father, “I want to go into my wife's bedroom.”

“You can't do that,” he replied. ₂“When you left the way you did, I thought you were divorcing her. So I arranged for her to marry one of the young men who were at your party. But my younger daughter is even prettier, and you can have her as your wife.”

₃“This time,” Samson answered, “I have a good reason for really hurting some Philistines.”

₄Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them together in pairs with oil-soaked rags around their tails. ₅Then Samson took the foxes into the Philistine wheat fields that were ready to be harvested. He set the rags on fire and let the foxes go. The wheat fields went up in flames, and so did the stacks of wheat that had already been cut. Even the Philistine vineyards and olive orchards burnt.

₆Some of the Philistines started asking around, “Who could have done such a thing?”

“It was Samson,” someone told them. “He married the daughter of that man in Timnah, but then the man gave Samson's wife to one of the men at the wedding.”

The Philistine leaders went to Timnah and burnt to death Samson's wife and her father.

₇When Samson found out what they had done, he went to them and said, “You killed them! And I won't rest until I get even with you.” ₈Then Samson started hacking them to pieces with his sword.

Samson left Philistia and went to live in the cave at Etam Rock.