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Ep. 45 - Was Samson A Short King? · Martyr's Row

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This week on Martyrs Row, was Samson a short
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king? Wait, wait, where's, wait, where's, where's,
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where's Paul? I don't know. Let's find out. Three,
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two, one. Pancras, a youth of tender years, yet
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ripe in faith, came from Phrygia unto Rome, where
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he was instructed in the way of Christ. In the
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persecution under Diocletian, he was brought
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before the judge and commanded to deny the Lord
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and sacrifice to the idols. But neither threats
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nor promises could move him, for he answered
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that Christ was his life. Though scarcely fourteen
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years of age, he endured the sentence of death
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with consistency beyond his years and was beheaded
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for the confession of the gospel. Thus, this
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young martyr put to shame the wisdom of the world,
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showing that strength is not measured by years
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and that the grace of God perfects courage even
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in youth. Anno Domini, 304. Hey guys, this is
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Stephen from Martyrs Row and This is a solo episode
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first one we've ever done first one and hopefully
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last one but maybe not maybe this is something
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that we do periodically from You know, whatever
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it happens whenever it happens But you know,
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I was thinking about something recently and I
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don't know if this is something that you've experienced
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but this is definitely something I've experienced
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and the weird thing about it is you're not sure
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exactly who is right. What I mean by that is
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this. Have you ever experienced a memory that
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doesn't actually come from your mind and experience
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but comes from seeing a photograph? Like you've
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seen a photograph or your parents have a photo
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album on your coffee table or just around your
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house and you saw this picture growing up and
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you just see it over and over and over again
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and so that picture becomes a memory in your
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mind. And then you can't really distinguish,
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did I actually remember that memory or is that
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something that I just remember through the stories
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around the photo and what actually makes up a
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memory? How does that actually work? And to be
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honest with you, I don't really know. I think
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one of the things that it reminds me of though,
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is the idea of faith. The idea of myth and the
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idea of story, history. How do we define these
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things? How do we prove any of it is true? And
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I think at the end of the day, I think that it
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all kind of comes down to the idea of what was
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I created for? What can I define? And what can
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I understand? And when we look at those things,
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I think that we realize the answer is nothing.
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I think the actual answer is we are extremely
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unreliable in and of ourselves. I mean, I'm sitting
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here doing a solo episode and I don't know if
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anything I'm going to say is going to make any
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sense because no one is bouncing off of me. And
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the truth is, is when I actually think about
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that, there's this baseline of understanding
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where if everything that I believe is based off
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of reasons why I would believe anything then
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I'm my own God and I'm my own standard and whatever
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I think goes, which is not great because from
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day to day I feel either really good or I feel
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terrible. And would that change my history and
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my truth? Would me saying this is a photo and
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so I remember the photo, but I don't actually
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remember being there in the photo, therefore
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did the did that event actually happen in my
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history? And I think you could argue in some
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ways, logically, that that is evidence, physical
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evidence, but the fact is it's not physical evidence,
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it's a photo. And if I wasn't a kid that grew
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up in the 90s, then I would say, well, that photo
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could be AI, it could be Photoshopped, it could
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be whatever, but the photos that I have from
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my childhood are there. they're analog enough
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for me to go, no, I think that's actual evidence
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that I actually was there and I actually did
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do that because in the 90s, it would have been
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really hard for my mom to have to create and
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build something that would make it look like
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I'm somewhere where I'm not. But now I'm not
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sure that that's true. So if everything is built
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off of evidences and photos and all of those
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things, then the reality is, Maybe all of it's
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not true, but I think this is what brings validity
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to the Bible, which is it's not just me, and
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it's not just a photo, and it's not something
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that somebody could have just created. In fact,
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over thousands of years, people over and over
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and over and over and over more than any ancient
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book has gone back and said that this is actually
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true. This is actually worth fighting for. This
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is actually something that we should hold onto,
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and this is actually something that we should
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not change. We should preserve it, and moving
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it from language to language, we have to be true
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to the language of the original text and the
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way it was originally given, because although
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we are modern people, we have to respect the
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way it was originally given. And so I think when
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we look at the stories through the Bible and
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we look at the historical pieces that are there
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and then we see the evidences of things like
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the Talmud and the ancient texts and even even
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guys like Josephus who talk about what went on
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back in the biblical times that we take that
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to heart as those were people that were trying
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to explain why we're here and what we're doing,
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but not intentionally not doing it as this is
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what I think, but instead, hey, I'm trying to
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humbly preserve what the Lord has said and the
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Creator and what the Creator has said about us.
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And one of the things I love is that the Bible
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is full of people getting things wrong over and
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over and over and over again. And I think if
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we were trying to have a text that was like,
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this is the truth, this is the actual truth,
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I think you'd remove all of that. To me, I think
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that's one of the greatest apologetics for the
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validity of the Christian text, the Jewish text,
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is that it is full of people getting things wrong
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over and over again and kings being humbled and
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judges being humbled and the people who were
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supposed to be first being last. It's the opposite
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of the rest of history. Because what do we know?
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We know that, what is it? The history is written
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by the winners. But that's not actually true
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in the Bible. The history was not written by
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the winners. In fact, Israel means he who wrestles
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with God. So if Israel means he who wrestles
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with God, why wouldn't it be, why wouldn't the
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main people group or the main individual that
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the whole thing comes from, why wouldn't his
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name be he who wins or the winner backed by God,
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but he who wrestles with God? I just feel like
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Even in our own lives, we've talked about this
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before on Martyrs Row, but the idea that myths,
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we all have myths actually in our own lives.
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Things that we know for sure happened, but we
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can't explain tangibly how and when or even where
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they happen sometimes because of our memory.
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Is it something that I'm recalling from my mind?
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The recesses of my mind? Or is it just a photo
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I looked at growing up? I don't know. Who knows?
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But I think it's worth exploring and maybe looking
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at the differences in what people would say and
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declare. Because a lot of people say the Bible's
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not true. And then over and over again, their
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lives are not something I would want to emanate.
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Their lives and their truths are not something
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that holds from year to year to generation to
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generation from one people group to another.
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Instead they all fall apart with the fall of
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every civilization. But the Word of God remains
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true and heaven and earth will pass away, but
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His Word will not. So is that memory, did it
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happen or was it just a photo? Who knows? Three,
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two, one. A giant in the sacred art But scripture
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never names his height Just as the spirit stood
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his heart Measured by myth, not by text or breath
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We crown our heroes larger than flesh Strength
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he comes and goes God muster the small we never
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chose Set apart before he knew A vow on his tongue,
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dust on his hands Strength enough to break the
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ropes of one too weak to rule his own demons
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measured by men not by text or breath we crown
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our heroes barging flesh landed I still learn
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to pray and the people of Israel again did what
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was evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord
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gave them into the hand of the Philistines for
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forty years. There was a certain man of Zorah
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of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah,
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and his wife was barren and had no children.
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And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman
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and said to her, Behold, you are barren. And
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have not borne child, but you shall conceive
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and bear a son. Therefore be careful, and drink
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no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean,
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for behold you shall conceive and bear a son.
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No razor shall come upon his head, for the child
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shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb, and
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he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of
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the Philistines." Then the woman came and told
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her husband, This is not talking about Jesus.
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although you think it might be, it is talking
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about Samson. Yeah, Samson. And every time I
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hear Nazarite, I think of Nazareth, which is
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kind of interesting. And maybe I should have
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looked that up. Maybe we'll get into that. We'll
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see. But my question, I think, that has been
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on my mind for a while now is was Samson a short
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king? Now, the funny thing is Samson actually
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wasn't a king at all. He was a judge, and he
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was a judge for about 20 years that he was a
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judge of Israel. And the period of the judges
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is kind of interesting because it comes before
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the period of the kings. So in the Old Testament,
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you have the Israelites finally after 40 years,
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which again, is there's all these 40 year periods
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showing up. I mean, even right here that we just
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read in Judges chapter 13. that there's another
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period of 40 years because what? The people of
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Israel were sinning against God. They were going
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after other gods. Every time they did that, it
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seemed like there was a period of 40 days or
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40 years that had to be paid almost as a sacrifice
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of time in order to bring back and restore what
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had been lost. And basically what that was is
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a resetting of a generation. But the guy Samson
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so Samson is not a king but Samson is a judge
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and the judges come Basically after the children
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of Israel finally make it into the promised land
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land flowing with milk and honey Moses gets them
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there But doesn't get in and so Joshua gets in
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and when Joshua gets in Joshua actually takes
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them in and he leads the children of Israel and
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he is Their leader in the same way that Moses
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was and Moses was not a king Joshua also not
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a king. Joshua also not the son of Moses. Instead
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his brother. Wait, actually Aaron was his brother.
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So Joshua in that way is not following a king
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lineage. And it's interesting in that way because
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that's what kingship looks like. It looks like
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this guy's the ruler and everybody should bow
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down to him as the king. But instead with Israel,
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God was their king. Yahweh was their king. And
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I think that that's kind of interesting because
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That means that when they get into the kingdom
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of Israel, when they finally get to the promised
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land, the land of Canaan, and they take back
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that land, or they take that land really for
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the first time, as promised to Abraham long before
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that moment, when they get into that space, they...
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don't have a physical king, but instead they
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have Yahweh as their king, and then they have
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a leader who listens to Yahweh and obeys His
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commands. And then through that leader, the commands
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of God are reinforced. So we see that with Joshua,
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but once Joshua dies, then the people of Israel,
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they turn away from God again. The same reason,
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the same way that when Moses went up on the mountain,
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for 40 days, the people of Israel went to Joshua
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and they said, well, we want to worship this
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God that brought us out of Egypt. Will you make
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us a golden calf so that we might worship Yahweh?
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Well, Yahweh is not a golden calf. So they ended
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up turning towards their own ways. And Moses
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comes down and breaks the tablets, the commands
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and how to obey Yahweh. And so what we see is
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that happening again, almost from generation
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to generation. It's like after a generation,
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everything resets again. So we get this period
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of the judges, and Samson is one of those judges,
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but this phrase, a short king, that's a modern
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phrase. And I think it's interesting because
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one of the things that we always think about
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with strong characters in the biblical text is
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associating their strength with their stature.
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And sometimes their stature is described But
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in the case of Samson, his stature is actually
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never described. It's not described in the text.
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It's not described in antiquity. How tall or
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how big or how strong Samson was physically was
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never actually described. Not in any historical
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Philistine texts outside of the scriptures. Not
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actually in the book of Judges. Not anywhere
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in the Bible does it express the physical nature
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of Samson when it comes to strength, when it
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comes to stature, when it comes to how big he
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was. That's just not part of what we know about
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Samson, which is pretty interesting. The other
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thing is Samson is not in the lineage of Jesus.
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And you would kind of think he was because of
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how important he is and seemingly how much we
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hear about him and how big of a character he
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is, even through history and through Sunday school
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and all of those things, and maybe just because
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he's so interesting. But he's not even a judge
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in the Old Testament that rules for a long time.
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He's only a judge for 20 years, which is not
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very long, and his death is pretty tragic. But
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in the way of the prophets that come after him,
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So you have the judges and then you have the
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kings, and then you have the prophets that kind
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of come through those periods of times during
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the kings, but not really during the time of
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the judges. So in the judges, you kind of have
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this character, this person who is both a judge
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who settles disputes. And then he's also kind
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of a king in that he's leading, he's casting
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vision, he's hearing from God and he's casting
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vision. But with the kings, there was always
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a rabbi or there was a priest or there was a
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prophet who would bring the word of the Lord
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to the king. And so, like even with King David,
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who was very much after the heart of God as the
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Bible describes him, he had Samuel. And he had
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other priests and he had other prophets that
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would give the word of the Lord to him. So David
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didn't even really get that word directly most
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of the time. But the judges seem to have gotten
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them directly. And we can see that in that they
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would bring judgment upon Israel, but then also
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upon others with the power and the the might
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of Israel. In other words, a lot of the judges
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were mighty warriors. And maybe that's why we
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think that Samson is massive in stature. Because
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Samson does things like rip the jawbone off of
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a donkey and slay a bunch of people with a jawbone,
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which is just insane and extremely brutal. But
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that doesn't mean that he's this massive guy.
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It actually doesn't even mean that he's strong
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physically at all. There's not really any reason
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for us to believe that he was, unless we're filling
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in the gaps, because we're uncomfortable with
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the supernatural explanation that even the text
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itself gives us. So then Samson, well, if Samson's
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not in the line of Jesus, then what line is he
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from? So Samson, it tells us, is of the Danites,
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that his father, as we read, was Zorah, sorry,
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Manoah. And Manoah is of the house of Zorah.
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Oh, a certain man of Zorah. Zorah's a location,
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sorry. And he's the tribe of the Danites. Now,
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Dan is one of the 12 sons of Jacob. So Jacob
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has 12 sons. And one of the 12 sons, and obviously
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Jacob becomes Israel, so then the 12 sons become
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the 12 tribes of Israel. One of those sons is
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Dan. And Dan is interesting because the role
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of Dan in Israel is actually, they're always
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on the outpost. They're always guarding from
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exterior forces that are trying to get into Israel.
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So at first, in Judges, we see that Dan is actually
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in the southern region. which was weird because
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when I was in Israel, I went to the area of Dan
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and it was in the north region. And so as I went
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back in and looked at this, you see that Dan
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actually starts out in the lower region. And
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Dan is in the lower region, which is where the
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Philistines were, in the Gaza area, which again
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is kind of interesting for modern day. But we
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see that in that area and in that region that
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the Danites were tasks with keeping the Philistines
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out of the land of Israel, but they failed miserably.
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They failed over and over again. And what we
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see with Samson is that Samson, in this moment,
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begins to do these weird things that seem like
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they're counterintuitive, that they seem like
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he shouldn't be doing them, but also that He's
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making decisions as a leader that is completely
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against the day and night culture. One is that
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in chapter 14 of Judges, it says, Samson went
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down to Timna, and at Timna he saw one of the
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daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up
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and told his father and his mother, I saw one
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of the daughters of the Philistines at Timna.
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Now get her for me as my wife. But his father
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and mother said to him, is there not a woman
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among the daughters of our relatives or among
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all of our people that You must go to take a
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wife from the uncircumcised Philistines." But
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Samson said to his father, get her for me, for
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she is right in my eyes. Now, if this is Solomon,
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or if this is a story told by Solomon or by Jesus,
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we would go, well, okay, Samson is, this is his
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hubris. This is something that he's desiring,
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not something that he's supposed to be doing.
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This is his downfall, except that After that,
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right after that, it says, his father and mother
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did not know that it was from the Lord, for he
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was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines.
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At that time, the Philistines ruled over Israel.
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So Dan was not doing their job, the Danites were
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not doing their job in the southern region, and
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the Philistines were ruling over the Danites.
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So the southern region of Israel was chaos. And
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Samson seemingly doing something that he wanted
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to do was actually doing something that the Lord
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was telling him to do, almost like a prophet
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would do something that looks insane or is perceived
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to be insane, but actually has a purpose and
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a representation that how the Lord is going to
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work through this individual is the opposite
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of how the world would perceive it. So one of
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the things that we see, and we're not really
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going to get into that too much, I really just
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want to chat about What Samson looked like but
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the interesting thing with Samson is again answering
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the question of is he from the line? Why is he
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not in the line of Jesus? Well Samson doesn't
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have kids He doesn't he never produces kids,
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but he's also from the line of Dan which means
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he's not from the line of David right because
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David is from Bethlehem and David's line is a
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priestly line. And so it's important that the
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line, this is actually a character from outside
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the line of Jesus, but part of the 12 tribes
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of Israel, because Jesus doesn't come through
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Isaac and then through all 12 tribes. He comes
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through one tribe. So it's interesting because
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You think he comes through Israel and he does
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come through Jacob Jacob is his Ancestor, but
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he doesn't come through Dan It goes through and
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actually I'm gonna look that up But one of the
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things that okay, so let me let's look at it
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in real time what tribe of Israel is Jesus from
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And I want to say it's the Levites. No, Judah.
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Of course. Jesus was from the tribe of Judah.
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Of course. Duh. The royal tribe from which the
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Messiah was prophesied. So Judah. Right, the
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Lion of Judah. Come on, guys. I should have known
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that. The King David, the Lion of Judah. Literally,
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that's what it's not like Lion of Judah, the
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region of Judah, but literally Judah, the son
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of Jacob or the son of Israel. That's so... Judah
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is Dan's brother, right? So Judah and Dan, they're
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doing two different things. So that's the thing
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that's interesting about Samson is because Samson
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is this character that we would think Jesus,
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he would be in the bloodline, right? But then
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also, because of the great strength of Samson,
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maybe we think like, well, and then his interaction
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with the Philistines and all of that stuff down
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there, we might think, well, did Samson have
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some... cross contamination in his bloodline,
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making him potentially an off, was he like, descendant
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of the Nephilim? And we have no indication of
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that. In fact, we would have more indication
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that he has nothing to do with that, that his
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bloodline was pure. However, Samson didn't have
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kids. So there was no, there was no more coming
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from Samson. But also Samson is a Danite. He's
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not of the house of Judah. So Jesus wouldn't
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be like, in his bloodline or Samson's not in
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the genealogy of Jesus or of David because he's
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in he's a Danite. So that's kind of an interesting
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thing. And they have all these issues with the
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Philistines, but there's so many things with
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the Philistines and there's so many things that
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Samson does. And it's interesting all the things
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that he does, but One of the main things is his
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hair. So I'm going to try and stay focused, especially
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because it's just me tonight. But I'm going to
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try and stay focused in that there's a lot of
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things you could talk about with Samson. Let's
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just talk about what he looked like and his stature.
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And let's pay attention to that. So his hair.
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So OK, so his hair is not a magic charm. And
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the text repeatedly anchors his power in God's
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presence. So in Judges 14 verse 6, it says, And
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behold, a young lion came toward him roaring.
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This is after he tells his father about the lady
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in Timna. Then the spear of the Lord rushed upon
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him. And although he had nothing in his hand,
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he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young
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goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother
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what he had done. So this is an interesting thing
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because he comes upon a lion and he literally
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rips it apart But he it doesn't say that he rips
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it apart It says then the spirit of the Lord
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rushed upon him and although he had nothing in
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his hands So it is not his strength. It's not
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his stature. It's not how he was physically built
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It was that the spirit of the Lord rushed upon
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him and then he was able to rip the lion apart
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You're like why did he even do that? Well? the
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lion becomes a sign because he takes the dead
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carcass of the lion and he shoves the beehive
30:00
into the lion, into the body of the lion, and
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then he scrapes out honey from that. So this
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is honey that is unclean. I mean, you're talking
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about in Israel, there's the land of milk and
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honey. It's honey, but he shoves it into the
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lion, this dead carcass, and then he pulls the
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honey out of the It says, there was a swarm of
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bees in the body of the lion. Oh, and he turned
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aside to see the carcass of the lion and behold,
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sorry. So after a few days, he shows up and bees
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had built, he doesn't put the bees in there.
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What am I talking about? He doesn't put the bees
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in there. But he sees that there's a swarm of
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bees in there and so he takes the honey out from
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the carcass. And he gives that. he ultimately
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gives that honey to his parents. But this is
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all a sign. It's something that he's doing. He's
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trying to set them up. Anyways, we're not going
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to do a Bible study on Samson. That's not what
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we're doing at Marder's Row. That's for your
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Sunday school. Okay, so over and over again,
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we see this idea that Samson, pretty much every
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time that he's about to do something with great
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strength, he does it when the spirit of the Lord
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rushes upon him. So with Samson, we're never
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told anywhere that he is big in stature. In fact,
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if you would look at the average height of someone
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from his family, someone from that tribe at that
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time, you're probably looking at someone in the
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mid to high at most five foot range. So maybe
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he's like 510 So like that would be at the high
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end at the low and he's like five three or five
31:57
four and We just don't have this stature. It's
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not given to us. So the other thing about Samson
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that is potentially really interesting is what
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if Samson is actually Not big in stature. What
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if physically and again, nobody says this but
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what if he's actually just a normal -looking
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guy And the importance of every time he does
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a feat of strength is that the spirit of the
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Lord rushes upon him is such a sign to the people
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seeing it and the people around him. Because
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even when the Philistines capture him, even when
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he's imprisoned and they chain him between the
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posts, they don't say it's because his stature
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was so great that they needed to restrain him.
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What they were afraid of is how strong He was
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when the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon Him.
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And they finally figured out that the Spirit
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of the Lord rushed upon Him because when His
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hair grew out and everything was how it was supposed
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to be and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon
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Him, then He was able to have this great strength.
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The thing with Samson is Samson's a short king
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for sure, but he was a Danite judge of Israel
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who judged Israel for 20 years and his strength
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didn't come from his hair. It didn't come from
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his physical stature. It came from the spirit
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of the Lord rushing upon him and using him. So
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is Samson a big guy? Probably not, because if
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every description of his strength is preceded
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by the Spirit Lord rushed upon him, then it's
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far more likely that we would believe that Samson
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was not impressive in appearance. But instead,
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he needed for the Spirit Lord to rush upon him
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so that he would have the strength to make up
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for his lack of physical stature. So is Samson
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a short king? For sure. But is he a mighty looking
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warrior? Probably not. If every time that they
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described him doing something of great strength,
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it was that the spirit of the Lord rushed upon
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him, not because he was so strong, like a Goliath
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who was a Philistine. So next time you think
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about Samson, maybe he's smaller than everybody
34:37
else, but was a special unique person called
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by God to do something by and only used by the
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power of God as a witness to the world of the
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power of God, not of His physical strength. Maybe,
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maybe not. Three, two, one.