The Birth Of Israel : Samson And The Birth Of Samson

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were seen as people who failed to listen to God’s commandments. Despite knowing beforehand that they would be punished for their disobedience, they still continued to commit sin. God tried to deter their misbehavior by promising them many blessings, but it worked to no avail. Due to the insubordination of the Israelites, He made sure that the promises He made to them would be withheld and that they would face consequences.

Although he knew what was his mission, Samson did not seem to cooperate with God in fulfilling it. Despite that promiscuous, rebellious, violent and arrogant life style, many verses will tell us that the “Spirit of the lord came upon him” and will win the battle to the expense of Samson’s integrity for the empowerment of God’s Spirit did not necessarily mean that God did endorse his

In addition to the Pentateuch, the Old Testament books of the Deuteronomistic history reveal the theme of God’s faithfulness to his followers. Initial examples are found in the conquest of the Promised Land depicted in the book of Joshua. Throughout the Israelite campaign to oust natives and settle the land, God’s actions demonstrate his faithfulness. In one instance God uses Rahab to hide Israelite spies, while in several other situations he allows the Israelites to defeat its foes. From these actions, it is clear that God remained faithful to his promise with Abraham (to provide his descendents with land). In addition to Joshua, the book of Judges provides an example of God’s faithfulness. Throughout the book, Israel repeatedly is unfaithful to God and is conquered by foreign powers. In response to Israelite cries for help, God repeatedly raises up

The book of Judges introduces us to the long years of Israel’s struggle to maintain control of the Promised Land and serves as the transition from the conquest to the kingdom. It deals with events following Joshua’s death (c. 1380 BC)

According to the tradition, God entered into a covenant or contract with the tribes of Israel, who believed that Yahweh had spoken to them through Moses. The Israelites promised to obey Yahweh and follow his law. In return, Yahweh promised to take care of his people,” (Spielvogal 38). The covenant between the Israelites and Yahweh could only be fulfilled by obedience to the law of God” (Spielvogal 38). “The Israelites believed that certain religious leaders or holy men, called prophets, were sent by God to serve as his voice to the people. These “men of God” went through the land warning the Israelites that they had failed to keep God’s commandments and would be punished for breaking the covenant: “I will punish you for all of your iniquities.” (Spielvogal 38,39). Family was the center of the social structure for Hebrew life. Family was made up of blood related individuals living in a common place. Marriage was also important to the Hebrew family. Similar to Hammurabi’s Code, some Hebrew people accepted polygamy, while the majority rejected it, and believed monogamy was preferred form of marriage. What makes Moses so different from Hammurabi is that Hammurabi’s codes are still used today, but mainly in the Middle East, while The Ten Commandments that Moses was given by Yahweh still have a

The theological message of Judges revolves around a faithful God and a rebellious people. God, in His faithfulness as Divine Judge, will judge His covenant people Israel after they disregard their covenant obligations and then offer them deliverance once they demonstrate repentance. In spite of her privileged position as God’s chosen people, Israel decided to

With the combining of Greek and Hebrew worldviews there was a new philosophy which was stressed on the Hebrew nation. These dogmas were there are multiple gods, they were identified through their natural rotations of the cosmos, the gods have no real purpose and humans were here to provide for them, and the gods gave rewards and punishments depending on whether the human provided for him/her appropriately. These ideals are in absolute conflict with the views of the Israelite people that lived in the surrounding area which caused a dilemma for the Israelites because there is no way these two different ways of beliefs could coexist. The Israelites continued to believe in their God, but the actions of the Israelites were one of lackadaisical attitude towards God’s commands. Because of the work of Nehemiah, Ezra, Malachi and others there came to be conviction, and that the only way to avoid God’s punishment was to take worship of God seriously.

First, the earlier form of government was the confederation of the Israelite tribes. The Israelites believe that they could what they believe was right and worship just Yahweh. “11Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Elohim and worshiped the Baals; 12and they abandoned the Elohim, the Yahweh of their ancestors, who brought them out of the land of Egypt; they followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them, and bowed down to them; and they provoked the Elohim to anger. (Judges2:11- 12n)” When they acted in such a disobedience way, the following three things followed in a divine punishment, which led to repentance and finally deliverance . The Judge was involved in the process of deliverance.

The Israelites were sorry for their sins, and they cried to God for help. God sent a message to His people."I am your God. I have helped you before. Do not be afraid."God had a plan. His plan would show His people they could trust Him to save them from the Midianites.Surely God would choose a great soldier to lead His people! But he didn't. Instead He chose a poor farmer named Gideon. Of course, Gideon could not believe that God really wanted him."Lord," he said, "if you really want to use me, let me put out this sheepskin. If, by morning, the fleece is wet and the ground is dry, I will know you want me."Gideon got up early the next morning to find the sheepskin wet and the ground dry as he had asked. But Gideon was still not sure."Lord",

God had mercy on Judah for a long time, while they turned to Him for help and listened to Him. But after King Manasseh's reign of rampant idolatry, in which he murdered innocent people and led Judah to follow false gods, God said that he would judge them by giving them up to their enemies.

Each judge came after a period when the Israelites chose to disobey God's law. During the time of the Judges, the Israelites were at peace and following the word of God. Unfortunately, God's chosen people could not uphold their convent with the Lord and as result of the broken convent; God punished the people of Israel throughout the entire book of Judges.

The nation of Israel was set apart as holy to the LORD. But they When the children of Israel demanded a king, they did so to be like the other nations. The first three kings were Saul, (outwardly tall, handsome and strong—a seemingly good choice for a king, but inwardly arrogant, proud and unrepentant—not God’s choice), David (a man after God’s own heart who repented of his sins and as such was God’s choice), and Solomon (the wisest man who ever lived, but because of covenant disobedience became the catalyst for the division and ultimate exile of Israel.

Samson remains as one of the saddest figures in the Old Testament, a man who began with extraordinary potential yet misused it on liberality and wicked living.

Driscoll (2012) describes Samson as the last and most famous of the Judges who presided over Israel. He was born during the forty years of Israel's delivery to the Philistines as a result of abandoning God. His first special trait was that he was somewhat of a miracle, being born to a barren woman in the tribe of Dan. An angel appeared to let her know that he would deliver Israel from the Philistines. So Samson's fate as hero to his people was decided already before he was even conceived.

Samson and Delilah, an oil painting 47.4 x 36.8 inches, attribute by Italian Antonio Carneo in 1692. Now it is in the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queens’ University. It was a gift of Dr. and Mrs. Alfred Bader in 1976. The painting is Baroque style and depicts a Biblical story, gives viewers impression of shock and lead people thinking.