Bible in one year 5/19/2022 Judges 10-14 Jephthah ; the birth of Samson By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospel music; Pastoral ministry & Counseling
Judges 10 Tola’s Judgeship; Jair’s
Judgeship and Ammonite Oppression and Jephthah’s Deliverance.
Tola led Israel twenty-three years,
then he died. Jair led Israel twenty-two years then, died. Mizpah (v.17)means
“watchtower” and could indicate one of several places.
Judges 11 Jephthah the Gileadite was
a mighty warrior
Jephthah became a kind of bandit
chief in the outlying area of Tob, N. of Ammon. Jephthah went with the elders
of Gilead and the people made him head and commander over them. (v.11). He
repeated all his words before the Lord in Mizpah. To solemnize agreement
between Jephthah and the elders of Gilead that they would make him their ruler.
Jephthah states the correct facts concerning the Ammonites’ claim to the
disputed land (v.13). When Israel first captured it, it belonged to the
Amorites, not the Ammonites.(vv.14-23). Chemosh
(v.24) was the god of Moab, and Milcom (or Molech) of Ammon, though Molech may
be a tilte for Chemosh, who was worshiped by both peoples(since they had much
in common). Moab made no attempt to regain the territory Israel captured from
Sihon until some three hundred years later.(v.25) The latter part of the verse
may be translated: “ …shall surely be the
Lord’s (if a human being comes first), or I will offer it up for a burnt
offering(if an animal appears first).” (v.39). The joy of victory was
suddenly turned to sorrow when Jephthah saw his daughter and remembered his
vow(v.31). Jephthah’s daughter wept because she would never marry and never
bear children. Some understand that Jephthah’s daughter was only dedicated to
the service of God in a life of celibacy and not actually slain. Others hold
that she was killed according to Canaanite practices, which Jephthah had
embraced.
Judges chapter 12 Ibzan’s Judgeship;
Elon’s Judgeship; Abdon’s Judgeship
The
Ephraimites complained again that they had not been called on to help fight
against the Ammonies, which charge Jephthah denied. (vv.1-3). The taunt of the
last part of this verse implies that the tribes on the E. of Jordan had
deserted from Ephraim and Manasseh on the W. side. (v.4). Blocking the fords of
the Jordan, the Gileadites applied a linguistic test to screen out the
Ephraimites, who pronounced Shibboleth as Sibboleth. (vv.5-6). Seventy
donkeys(v.14). A sign of rank and affluence (10:4).
Judges chapter 13 Annunciation and
birth of Samson
The angel of the Lord (v.3) appeared
to the wife of Manoah, who was the clan of the Danites. That she wouild
conceive a son, the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth. On
the Nazirite vow(v.5) refer to Num.6:1. In this instance it was a lifelong vow.
It is beyond understanding.(v.18) The Hebrew is from a root meaning
“surpassing,” “ineffable”. Grain offering
(v.19) refer to Lev.2:1. The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He
grew and the Lord blessed him and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him
while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Judges chapter 14 Marriage of Samson
Timnah (v.1) though occupied by the Philistines,
was only about four miles SW. of Zorah, Samson’s home. The undesirable marriage
to a Philistine was ultimately used by God for His purposes. This was from the
Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; at that time
they were ruling over Israel.(v.4). Verses 8-9 In the summer heat the carcass
dried quickly, leaving a suitable cavity for the bees.To touch the carcass was
a violation of the law of the Nazirites(Num.6:6). Linen garments(v.12), large rectangular sheets worn next to the
skin or slept in at night. My heifer
(v.18) a scornful reference to Samson’s wife. Ashelon (v.19) a Philistine city, was on the Mediterranean coast
about twenty-three miles away. Samson’s wife was given to the friend who had
attended him at his wedding. The best man, rather than Samson, consummated the
marriage.
10:1 After the time of
Abimelech a man of Issachar, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save
Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country of Ephraim.
10:2 He led Israel
twenty-three years; then he died, and was buried in Shamir.
Jair
10:3 He was followed
by Jair of Gilead, who led Israel twenty-two years.
10:4 He had thirty
sons, who rode thirty donkeys. They controlled thirty towns in Gilead, which to
this day are called Havvoth Jair.
10:5 When Jair died,
he was buried in Kamon.
Jephthah
10:6 Again the
Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD. They served the Baals and the
Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods
of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites
forsook the LORD and no longer served him,
10:7 he became angry
with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites,
10:8 who that year shattered
and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the
east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.
10:9 The Ammonites
also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and the house of
Ephraim; and Israel was in great distress.
10:10 Then the
Israelites cried out to the LORD, "We have sinned against you, forsaking
our God and serving the Baals."
10:11 The LORD
replied, "When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the
Philistines,
10:12 the Sidonians,
the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did
I not save you from their hands?
10:13 But you have
forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.
10:14 Go and cry out
to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!"
10:15 But the
Israelites said to the LORD, "We have sinned. Do with us whatever you
think best, but please rescue us now."
10:16 Then they got
rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear
Israel's misery no longer.
10:17 When the
Ammonites were called to arms and camped in Gilead, the Israelites assembled
and camped at Mizpah.
10:18 The leaders of
the people of Gilead said to each other, "Whoever will launch the attack
against the Ammonites will be the head of all those living in Gilead."
Judges Chapter 11 Jephthan
11:1
Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother
was a prostitute.
11:2 Gilead's wife
also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away.
"You are not going to get any inheritance in our family," they said,
"because you are the son of another woman."
11:3 So Jephthah fled
from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a group of adventurers
gathered around him and followed him.
11:4 Some time later,
when the Ammonites made war on Israel,
11:5 the elders of
Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.
11:6 "Come,"
they said, "be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites."
11:7 Jephthah said to
them, "Didn't you hate me and drive me from my father's house? Why do you
come to me now, when you're in trouble?"
11:8 The elders of
Gilead said to him, "Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us
to fight the Ammonites, and you will be our head over all who live in
Gilead."
11:9 Jephthah
answered, "Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD
gives them to me--will I really be your head?"
11:10 The elders of
Gilead replied, "The LORD is our witness; we will certainly do as you
say."
11:11 So Jephthah went
with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over
them. And he repeated all his words before the LORD in Mizpah.
11:12 Then Jephthah
sent messengers to the Ammonite king with the question: "What do you have
against us that you have attacked our country?"
11:13 The king of the
Ammonites answered Jephthah's messengers, "When Israel came up out of
Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the
Jordan. Now give it back peaceably."
11:14 Jephthah sent
back messengers to the Ammonite king,
11:15 saying:
"This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the
land of the Ammonites.
11:16 But when they
came up out of Egypt, Israel went through the desert to the Red Sea and on to
Kadesh.
11:17 Then Israel sent
messengers to the king of Edom, saying, 'Give us permission to go through your
country,' but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent also to the king of
Moab, and he refused. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.
11:18 "Next they
traveled through the desert, skirted the lands of Edom and Moab, passed along the
eastern side of the country of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon.
They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was its border.
11:19 "Then
Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and
said to him, 'Let us pass through your country to our own place.'
11:20 Sihon, however,
did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He mustered all his men and
encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel.
11:21 "Then the
LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his men into Israel's hands, and
they defeated them. Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in
that country,
11:22 capturing all of
it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.
11:23 "Now since
the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people
Israel, what right have you to take it over?
11:24 Will you not
take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the LORD our God has
given us, we will possess.
11:25 Are you better
than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or
fight with them?
11:26 For three
hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and
all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn't you retake them during that time?
11:27 I have not
wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against me. Let the LORD,
the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the
Ammonites."
11:28 The king of
Ammon, however, paid no attention to the message Jephthah sent him.
11:29 Then the Spirit
of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through
Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites.
11:30 And Jephthah
made a vow to the LORD: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands,
11:31 whatever comes
out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the
Ammonites will be the LORD'S, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt
offering."
11:32 Then Jephthah
went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands.
11:33 He devastated
twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim.
Thus Israel subdued Ammon.
11:34 When Jephthah
returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter,
dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he
had neither son nor daughter.
11:35 When he saw her,
he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me
miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot
break."
11:36 "My
father," she replied, "you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me
just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the
Ammonites.
11:37 But grant me
this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills
and weep with my friends, because I will never marry."
11:38 "You may
go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went
into the hills and wept because she would never marry.
11:39 After the two
months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she
was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite custom
11:40 that each year
the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of
Jephthah the Gileadite.
Judges Chapter 12Jephthah and Ephraim
12:1 The men of
Ephraim called out their forces, crossed over to Zaphon and said to Jephthah,
"Why did you go to fight the Ammonites without calling us to go with you?
We're going to burn down your house over your head."
12:2 Jephthah
answered, "I and my people were engaged in a great struggle with the
Ammonites, and although I called, you didn't save me out of their hands.
12:3 When I saw that
you wouldn't help, I took my life in my hands and crossed over to fight the
Ammonites, and the LORD gave me the victory over them. Now why have you come up
today to fight me?"
12:4 Jephthah then
called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites
struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, "You Gileadites are
renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh."
12:5 The Gileadites
captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of
Ephraim said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead asked him,
"Are you an Ephraimite?" If he replied, "No,"
12:6 they said,
"All right, say 'Shibboleth.'" If he said, "Sibboleth,"
because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed
him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at
that time.
12:7 Jephthah led
Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died, and was buried in a town in
Gilead.
Ibzan, Elon and Abdon
12:8 After him, Ibzan
of Bethlehem led Israel.
12:9 He had thirty
sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters away in marriage to those
outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty young women as wives
from outside his clan. Ibzan led Israel seven years.
12:10 Then Ibzan died,
and was buried in Bethlehem.
12:11 After him, Elon
the Zebulunite led Israel ten years.
12:12 Then Elon died,
and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.
12:13 After him, Abdon
son of Hillel, from Pirathon, led Israel.
12:14 He had forty
sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel eight
years.
12:15 Then Abdon son
of Hillel died, and was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of
the Amalekites.
Judges Chapter 13The Birth of Samson
13:1 Again the
Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into
the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
13:2 A certain man of
Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile
and remained childless.
13:3 The angel of the
LORD appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are
going to conceive and have a son.
13:4 Now see to it
that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat
anything unclean,
13:5 because you will
conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the
boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the
deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines."
13:6 Then the woman
went to her husband and told him, "A man of God came to me. He looked like
an angel of God, very awesome. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he
didn't tell me his name.
13:7 But he said to
me, 'You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or
other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be
a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.'"
13:8 Then Manoah
prayed to the LORD: "O Lord, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us
come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born."
13:9 God heard Manoah,
and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field;
but her husband Manoah was not with her.
13:10 The woman
hurried to tell her husband, "He's here! The man who appeared to me the
other day!"
13:11 Manoah got up
and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, "Are you the one
who talked to my wife?" "I am," he said.
13:12 So Manoah asked
him, "When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy's
life and work?"
13:13 The angel of the
LORD answered, "Your wife must do all that I have told her.
13:14 She must not eat
anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented
drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded
her."
13:15 Manoah said to
the angel of the LORD, "We would like you to stay until we prepare a young
goat for you."
13:16 The angel of the
LORD replied, "Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food.
But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD." (Manoah did
not realize that it was the angel of the LORD.)
13:17 Then Manoah
inquired of the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that we may
honor you when your word comes true?"
13:18 He replied,
"Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding."
13:19 Then Manoah took
a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to
the LORD. And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched:
13:20 As the flame
blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the
flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground.
13:21 When the angel
of the LORD did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized
that it was the angel of the LORD.
13:22 "We are
doomed to die!" he said to his wife. "We have seen God!"
13:23 But his wife
answered, "If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a
burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things
or now told us this."
13:24 The woman gave
birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him,
13:25 and the Spirit
of the LORD began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and
Eshtaol.
Judges Chapter 14 Samson’s Marriage
14:1 Samson went down
to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman.
14:2 When he returned,
he said to his father and mother, "I have seen a Philistine woman in
Timnah; now get her for me as my wife."
14:3 His father and
mother replied, "Isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or
among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a
wife?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She's the
right one for me."
14:4 (His parents did
not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront
the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)
14:5 Samson went down
to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards
of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him.
14:6 The Spirit of the
LORD came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands
as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his
mother what he had done.
14:7 Then he went down
and talked with the woman, and he liked her.
14:8 Some time later,
when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion's carcass.
In it was a swarm of bees and some honey,
14:9 which he scooped
out with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he
gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken
the honey from the lion's carcass.
14:10 Now his father
went down to see the woman. And Samson made a feast there, as was customary for
bridegrooms.
14:11 When he
appeared, he was given thirty companions.
14:12 "Let me
tell you a riddle," Samson said to them. "If you can give me the
answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen
garments and thirty sets of clothes.
14:13 If you can't
tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of
clothes." "Tell us your riddle," they said. "Let's hear
it."
14:14 He replied,
"Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something
sweet." For three days they could not give the answer.
14:15 On the fourth
day, they said to Samson's wife, "Coax your husband into explaining the
riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father's household to death. Did
you invite us here to rob us?"
14:16 Then Samson's
wife threw herself on him, sobbing, "You hate me! You don't really love
me. You've given my people a riddle, but you haven't told me the answer."
"I haven't even explained it to my father or mother," he replied,
"so why should I explain it to you?"
14:17 She cried the
whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her,
because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her
people.
14:18 Before sunset on
the seventh day the men of the town said to him, "What is sweeter than
honey? What is stronger than a lion?" Samson said to them, "If you
had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle."
14:19 Then the Spirit
of the LORD came upon him in power. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down
thirty of their men, stripped them of their belongings and gave their clothes
to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he went up to his
father's house.
14:20 And Samson's
wife was given to the friend who had attended him at his wedding.
Bibliography,
Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie
study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986
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