Monday, November 12, 2007

By Faith... the Judges, Part 22 of 62

TEXT: "What more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets" (Hebrews 11:32).

IDEA: The end of our lives can often be traced back to how our lives began.

PURPOSE: To help listeners appreciate the contribution Samson’s parents made to his life.

When we say that the Bible is Great Literature, what do you think that means?

Do you yourself think of the Bible as “literature”?

In Hebrews 11:32 we read the name of a judge named Samson. His story back in the Old Testament is an example of great literature.

I. In the story of Samson, the author tells us a great deal about his parents and his birth.

The writer has a sense of humor in writing about the relationship between Samson’s father and mother.

What was the name of Samson’s father? What was the name of his mother?

Which one has the focus in the story?

Which of the two seems to be the sharper? Why?

Read Judges 13:1-24 with three characters: Narrator, Manoah, Samson’s mother.

II. One fact stands out: Samson’s mother could not have children.

Twice we are told that she was “sterile and childless” (13:2, 3).

That was also said of Sarah, the mother of Isaac (Genesis 11:30; 16:11), of Rebecca, the mother of Esau and Jacob (Genesis 25:21), of Hannah, the mother of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:2), and of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist (Luke 1:7). Why is being childless a significant detail in the lives of these women?

What else does this detail tell you about the couple?

What do you think Samson’s mother and her husband (Manoah) felt about their son, Samson? How do you think they reared him?

He was very special to them. It seems that he was spoiled.

He was their only child. (Do you think this explains their response to Samson in 14:1-3?)

They were eager to bring up their son correctly (13:12).