In today's section, we read about:
The end of Samson (good riddance!)
Micah's idols and the tribe of Dan
Israel hits new depths with the story of the Levite's concubine and the civil war against the tribe of Benjamin
The story of Ruth the Moabite, who is blessed by God for her faithfulness
God answers the prayer of Hannah by giving her a boy, who grows up to be a mighty prophet
Some things that stuck me today:
Jdg 15:17-19 - Samson is so sure of his own strength that he boasts, and even makes it sound as if God owes him a big favour.
Jdg 16:3 is surreal - Samson carries the city gates from Gaza to Hebron (which according to http://www.cyber-contact.com/routes.html is 94 km!!)
Jdg 16:30 sets the seal of the prodigious waste that Samson represents. "He killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime."
Jdg 19:22 - Israel becomes Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:5)
Jdg 21:25 shows the descent from Jdg 1:1 - "the Israelites asked the Lord" becomes "all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes."
Ruth 1:1 - Elimelech goes to Moab, a people whom the Israelites have been commanded to shun (Deut 23:3-6), and yet through a Moabite, God's people are shown what faithfulness really is (Deut 32:21)
Ruth 1:16 is an amazing promise of commitment
Ruth 2:12 - Boaz prays to the God under whose wings Ruth has taken refuge, as she promised in 1:16
Ruth 4:11 - it is an amazing blessing that the town elders pray over a Moabite (in apparent contradiction of Deut 23:6), but they could not possibly have imagined how much more than this God would actually do. Ephrathah is the village prophesied in Micah 5:2 and where Rachel was buried (Gen 35:19)
1 Sam 2:1-10 Hannah's prayer is one of the great prayers of scripture, even if she can't resist the temptation to have a dig at her husband's other wife (v5). When I first read v8 in the NLT a few weeks back, I thought immediately of the Giraffe Project - "He lifts the poor from the dirt / and the needy from the garbage dump. / He sets them among princes / placing them in seats of honour. / For all the earth is the LORD's, / and he has set everything in order."
1 Sam 2:10 - Hannah is taken out of herself and out of her situation the more she prays, and I am intrigued by the phrase "he increases the strength of his anointed one", bearing in mind my sermon yesterday and the part on anointing.
1 Sam 2:22-26 - Eli is weak in his condemnation of his sons' behaviour and is held just as culpable as they are ("scoundrels who had no respect for the LORD" v 12). Samuel on the other hand was respected for his faithful service to God
1 Sam 2:29 is a terrible indictment of Eli "why do you give your sons more honour than you give me - for you and they have become fat from the best offerings of my people Israel"
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