SET APART FOR GOD
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Opening Prayer
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your good gifts—for faith, for family and friends, for my Christian community. Help me remember that all I am and have come from you.
Read JUDGES 16:23–31
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
The Death of Samson
23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,
“Our god has delivered our enemy
into our hands,
the one who laid waste our land
and multiplied our slain.”
25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.
When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
31 Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led[a] Israel twenty years.
Footnotes
- Judges 16:31 Traditionally judged
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
God’s covenant calls his people to be holy, set apart from other nations and worshipping him alone.The Israelites are living among worshippers of the Philistine god Dagon, the god of agricultural prosperity. The capture of Samson, the Philistines’ arch enemy, is attributed to him (v .23). (This god is also mentioned in 1 Samuel 5 and 1 Chronicles 10.) God responds to Samson’s desperate cry for strength (v. 28) so that thousands of Philistines die with him as the temple of Dagon collapses, includ- ing ‘all’ the Philistine rulers. The lack of leaders may have served to weaken Philistine control over Israel. The God of Israel has proved to be the true Lord of all.
The book of Judges tells of God’s people compromising in wor- ship and lifestyle, with the occasional return in repentance to their Sovereign Lord. Community memory and religious practices are not sufficient to bind them to God, and they are unable to remain faithful.
Pressures on Christians today to compromise are attractively strong. But we live in a different era. Christ has died, has risen, and the Spirit has come. The apostle Paul writes: ‘In view of God’s mercy… offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God— this is your true and proper worship’ (Romans 12:1). It is possible to remain a ‘holy, chosen people’ because the Spirit is constantly with us.
Apply
Where do your words and actions influence the next generation for the gospel?
Closing prayer
Thank you, Father, for the gift of your Spirit and for his power at work in me that continues to draw me closer to Christ.
Book and Author Intros
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