Tuesday,  April 14  Judges 12-16; Psalm 146; Luke 24

Judges 12: How did Jepthah and his men determine if the men crossing the river were Ephraimites?

Judges 13: What did Manoah ask of the angel and what was the angel’s answer?

Judges 14: Who did Samson marry? Why was it a sin for Samson to have taken the honey from the carcass of the Lion?

Judges 15: Why is the story of Samson found in the book of Judges?  Why did he kill 1000 Philistines?                                              

Judges 16:  How did the Philistines finally capture Samson?  What were Samson’s final recorded words?      

Luke 24: Which women went to the tomb and what questions did the angels ask the women? What did Jesus do to ‘prove’ to the disciples that He had been resurrected? Where did the disciples go after Jesus ascended into heaven?

Journal Prompt:  Why do you suppose Jesus joined the two men walking to Emmaus?

Judges 12:  The Ephraimites apparently spoke with a lisp and were unable to pronounce “sh” – so the Gileadites controlled the crossing of the Jordan and when and Ephraimite tried to cross and was unable to say the word “Shibboleth”, they would identify him as an Ephraimite and kill him.  42,000 Ephraimites were killed this way.

Judges 13: Manoah asked “what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?”  The angel never answered Manoah’s question.

Manoah asked the angel to tell him his name, and the angel replied that his name was beyond understanding.

Judges 14:  Samson married a Philistine woman.  It was unclean for the Israelites to touch the carcass of a dead animal – and since Samson was a Nazirite, it was a sin (Numbers 6:6-7)

Judges 15: It seems out of place to me – four chapters dedicated to such an unusual character.  Samson is included because he was one of the judges – he led Israel for 20 years.  I read a comparison of Samson and Jesus in that they brough Spirit-empowered redemption to the Israelites in similar ways.  An agnel proclaimed his birth explaining that he would be a savior.  He took a nazarite vow and was empowered by the Holy Spirit to lead God’s people.  However Samson is an example of one who abandons his principles, he let pride domina  te him and succumbed to the temptations of the world.

Luke 24: From Luke’s account, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and some other women went to the tomb with spices. The two angels asked the women, why are you looking for a living person in this place for the dead? and Do you remember what he told you in Galilee?  

Jesus said “Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have a living body as you see I have.” and He also ate fish. After Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples “stayed in the Temple all the time, praising God.”