The story of Samson. I thought that it was interesting how we go from the beautiful story of Ruth, who finds her redeemer to the story of Samson, who though he has superhuman strength, cannot get his 'flesh' under control. I think the same is true of us spiritually- after we meet our Redeemer, we have unlimited spiritual strength available through the Holy Spirt but we are so busy with our 'flesh' and it's desires that we don't put that strength to any good use. Pictured here are a couple guys on our tour immitating Samson.
A little side note here. The never conquered land of the Philistines still exists today. You may know it better as the "Gaza Strip". Even on ancient maps it is known as Gaza. When Rome ruled Israel they wanted to wipe out the name that Israel was most commonly known as -
Back to Samson! Honestly, has a more hormone driven man ever lived? I just love how people's flaws are not glossed over in the Bible. They are right out there for us to relate to. If you bought an offical book of Bill Clinton's presidency, a 'White House' approved one, do you think it would mention Monica Lewinski? Those things are usually reserved for tabloid type press. But, here in the Holy Bible, we have everyone with all their warts.
You would have thought that Samson would 'catch on' after the first couple times the Philistines come after him. (That reminds me of a joke. God told Adam that he made him two fantastic organs. One to think with, and one to reproduce with. Only problem is the two could never be used at the same time). It seems to me that here the biggest issue is pride. Even when he did tell the 'real' secret of his strength, he still thinks he can just rise up and take them. Then he realizes that the Lord has departed from him. I think he was forgetting who was the 'real' source of his strength all along. Easy to do.
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