Judges 13:1-14:20

Outline :

Chapters 13,14 :
Samson (part 1)

13:1-25

Samson's Origin 1-7
Israel is disobedient again, and this time the philistines do the dirty work. after ~ 40 years, the barren wife of a man named manoah (of zorah of the danites) is visited by an angel and told that she will have a son who will begin to deliver them from the philistines, that he will be a nazarite, and that she should avoid booze. for the record, see num. 6 on what a nazarite is; their three rules are don't cut hair, don't 'come near' a dead body, and don't eat anything grape (including wine, grapes, and raisins).
8-25
She tells her husband this, and he asks the lord for more info; the angel comes again and retells the prophecy etc. manoah and wife ask him to stay so that they can cook a goat for him, he says that he won't eat, but that they can offer the goat as a burnt offering...he then rides the flame up toward heaven and disappears. and, in due time, the woman has her son.

14:1-25

Samson's new wife (or Samson and the lion) Samson spots a philistine woman whom he wants as a wife; he tells his father to get her for her. Samson then goes with his father/mother to Timnah (the city where she lived) to talk to her; on the way he kills a lion with his bare hands, but not in the presence of his parents. evidentally, things go ok, because he comes down later 'to take her'; on his way, he stops by his lion corpse (against the nazarite vow, if he was one at this point) and eats some honey from it (some bees had made their home there). After arriving at Timnah, he starts his wedding feast with a puzzle about the lion; if they get it right, he gives them 30 changes of clothes and 30 linen wraps, but if they don't, then they give the same to him. in any case, they push his wife to ask him for them, which she does; he eventually tells her, and she tells them. he figures out what happened when they get the riddle right, and in a rage, goes and kills 30 philistines and takes their clothing (to fulfill his end of the bet). his wife is given to someone who had been a friend.

13:1-25
Samson's Origin	1-7 Israel is disobedient again, and this time the philistines do the dirty work. after ~ 40 years, the barren wife of a man named manoah (of zorah of the danites) is visited by an angel and told that she will have a son who will begin to deliver them from the philistines, that he will be a nazarite, and that she should avoid booze. for the record, see num. 6 on what a nazarite is; their three rules are don't cut hair, don't 'come near' a dead body, and don't eat anything grape (including wine, grapes, and raisins). 8-25 She tells her husband this, and he asks the lord for more info; the angel comes again and retells the prophecy etc. manoah and wife ask him to stay so that they can cook a goat for him, he says that he won't eat, but that they can offer the goat as a burnt offering...he then rides the flame up toward heaven and disappears. and, in due time, the woman has her son.
14:1-25
Samson's new wife (or Samson and the lion)	Samson spots a philistine woman whom he wants as a wife; he tells his father to get her for her. Samson then goes with his father/mother to Timnah (the city where she lived) to talk to her; on the way he kills a lion with his bare hands, but not in the presence of his parents. evidentally, things go ok, because he comes down later 'to take her'; on his way, he stops by his lion corpse (against the nazarite vow, if he was one at this point) and eats some honey from it (some bees had made their home there). After arriving at Timnah, he starts his wedding feast with a puzzle about the lion; if they get it right, he gives them 30 changes of clothes and 30 linen wraps, but if they don't, then they give the same to him. in any case, they push his wife to ask him for them, which she does; he eventually tells her, and she tells them. he figures out what happened when they get the riddle right, and in a rage, goes and kills 30 philistines and takes their clothing (to fulfill his end of the bet). his wife is given to someone who had been a friend.