Women of Firm Faith

Vwrses 1-3, “Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. When the Gazites were  told, 'Samson has come here!' they surrounded the  place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, 'In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.' And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.”   We see that Samson is continually giving into the lusts of his flesh, and committed blatant sin here with a harlot in Gaza. Despite his sin, God still allowed him to escape from the Philistine's attempts to kill him because He has a bigger plan. Gid did not allow him to escape because He was accepting Samson’s sin under a big blanket of grace. This is a common misunderstanding among those who have no fe...

Verses 1-3, “After a while, in the time of wheat harvest, it happened that Samson visited his wife with a young goat. And he said, 'Let me go in to my wife, into her room.' But her father would not permit him to go in. Her father said, 'I really thought that you thoroughly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better than she? Please, take her instead.' And Samson said to them, 'This time I shall be blameless regarding the Philistines if I harm them!' ”   Samson’s father in law had given his wife to his best man, so he would not allow him to have access to her. Instead, he offered his younger daughter to appease Samson's anger. But Samson just used this anger to justify his attack on the Philistines. Notice that at first, his wife pleased him well until she manipulated him to uncover the meaning of his riddle; after which he resented her. After losing his heart, she left him for his best man. Now all of sudden, Samson s...

Verses 1-4, “Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, 'I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.' Then his father and mother said to him, 'Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?' And Samson said to his father, 'Get her for me, for she pleases me well.' But his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord—that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.” By fulfilling his desire to marry a pagan woman outside of his nation, Samson shows us a glimpse of what his downfall would be. His parents attempted to dissuade him, but he was set on having what he wanted. Although God allowed Samson to have what he...

Verses 1-5, “Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, 'Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.' ” We see the Israelites repeating their same failure over and over again. Their rebellion and sin would get them taken into captivity, they would cry out to God who would send a deliverer, and afterward they would go ...

Verses 1-3, “Then the men of Ephraim gathered together, crossed over toward Zaphon, and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the people of Ammon, and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you with fire!” And Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were in a great struggle with the people of Ammon; and when I called you, you did not deliver me out of their hands. So when I saw that you would not deliver me, I took my life in my hands and crossed over against the people of Ammon; and the Lord delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?”   Once again, the tribe of Ephraim is jealous of the work that the Lord was doing through another...Jephthah. This time, they threatened to burn his house down with him in it. No longer are the tribes working together for the same purpose, as the people of Ephraim are clearly turning on their own countrymen and the nation of Isr...

Verses 1-6, “Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah. Gilead’s wife bore sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, 'You shall have no inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.' Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him. It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel. And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. Then they said to Jephthah, 'Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.' ” Jephthah was the son of a harlot and for this reason, his brothers rejected him and drove him out of the family land. God, however, did not reject him, and had plans to use Jephthah to...

Verses 1-5, “After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in the mountains of Ephraim. He judged Israel twenty-three years; and he died and was buried in Shamir. After him arose Jair, a Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty-two years. Now he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys; they also had thirty towns, which are called 'Havoth Jair' to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. And Jair died and was buried in Camon.”   Tola and Jair served as judges in succession, lasting in total nearly fifty years. Although we do not read much about them, you can see that Jair at the very least was a man who valued abundant living, having thirty sons with plentiful transportation and each having their own city. Verses 6-9, “Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, t...

Verses 1-6, “Then Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother’s brothers, and spoke with them and with all the family of the house of his mother’s father, saying, Please speak in the hearing of all the men of Shechem: ‘Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal reign over you, or that one reign over you?’ Remember that I am your own flesh and bone.” And his mother’s brothers spoke all these words concerning him in the hearing of all the men of Shechem; and their heart was inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men; and they followed him. Then he went to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, because he hid himself. And all the m...

Verses 1-3, “Now the men of Ephraim said to him, 'Why have you done this to us by not calling us when you went to fight with the Midianites?' And they reprimanded him sharply. So he said to them, 'What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? God has delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. And what was I able to do in comparison with you?' Then their anger toward him subsided when he said that.”   The men of Ephraim, whom Gideon called to help him fight the Midianites once in the battle, were actually upset that they were not called sooner or before the battle began. We know that Gideon was following God's plan which involved only three hundred men, but there are always critics of those who are doing the will of God. These folks become jealous because they are not looking at the situation through spiritual eyes. We know that this is the case because as soon as G...

Verses 1-8, “Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the well of Harod, so that the camp of the Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.’ ” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained. But the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, ‘This one shall n...

Verses 1-6, “Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.” Israel disobeyed God again, so He allowed the Midianites and th...