Judges 13

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Even though the story of Samson can be viewed as a separate story, we are reminded that it is just another part of a bigger story in Judges. The oh too familiar words set the scene...
“Again the Isrealites did evil in the eyes of the Lord”.
But the link to the rest of the book doesn’t stop there... Isreal has been sold into the hands of the Philistines and the hands of the Ammonites. Jephthah had dealt with the Ammonites and now it’s time for Samson to step up and deal with the Philistines.
Like Gideon’s story, here we have an angel and a burning sacrifice AND a troop of 300 pyromaniacs to harass the enemy (granted, this time they aren’t human!). Like Deborah’s story, there’s a dangerous woman “thrusting a peg” with evil intent and bees AND torches. Like Shamgar’s story, this one has a judge who is known for killing Philistines personally (AND with weird weapon choices!). And like Othniel’s story, this one sees the judge’s wife playing an important role.
The tribe of Dan were boarder neighbours with the Philistines. What could this have meant for this tribe?

Dan’s rightful land is occupied by Philistines and no matter what they did, they couldn’t get rid of them. How would this affect the people from that tribe?

Here we see Isreal up to it’s same old trick, but there’s no mention of repentance or “crying out”, and God is sorting it out. What’s going on?

[Activity] > Here we see an angel proclaiming a future birth. What other examples of this can you find in the bible? And how might they relate to each other?

Why does God chose to use Manoah and his wife?

Check out Numbers 6:1-21. So, that’s a Nazarite. Why did God want Samson brought up in this way?

Why is Manoah such a dumbass? He seems to not totally believe his wife, but then when he does believe her, he questions the angel, but asks all the SAME questions. What’s going on?

Verse 12 tells us some interesting things about Manoah. What are they?

Why might Manoah ask the angel’s name?

The angel’s name is “beyond understanding” and the original Hebrew translates to “wonderful”. This is linked with Isaiah 9:6. What could this tell us about the angel?

Verse 24 shows us that Samson “grew and the Lord blessed him”, this is echoed in 1 Samuel 2:26 AND in Luke 2:52. What comparisons can we make? What does this tell us?