Bible

 

Judges 15

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1 καὶ ἐγένετο μεθ' ἡμέρας ἐν ἡμέραις θερισμοῦ πυρῶν καὶ ἐπεσκέψατο σαμψων τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐρίφῳ αἰγῶν καὶ εἶπεν εἰσελεύσομαι πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκά μου εἰς τὸ ταμιεῖον καὶ οὐκ ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῆς εἰσελθεῖν

2 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῆς λέγων εἶπα ὅτι μισῶν ἐμίσησας αὐτήν καὶ ἔδωκα αὐτὴν ἑνὶ τῶν ἐκ τῶν φίλων σου μὴ οὐχὶ ἡ ἀδελφὴ αὐτῆς ἡ νεωτέρα αὐτῆς ἀγαθωτέρα ὑπὲρ αὐτήν ἔστω δή σοι ἀντὶ αὐτῆς

3 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς σαμψων ἠθῴωμαι καὶ τὸ ἅπαξ ἀπὸ ἀλλοφύλων ὅτι ποιῶ ἐγὼ μετ' αὐτῶν πονηρίαν

4 καὶ ἐπορεύθη σαμψων καὶ συνέλαβεν τριακοσίας ἀλώπεκας καὶ ἔλαβεν λαμπάδας καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν κέρκον πρὸς κέρκον καὶ ἔθηκεν λαμπάδα μίαν ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν δύο κέρκων καὶ ἔδησεν

5 καὶ ἐξέκαυσεν πῦρ ἐν ταῖς λαμπάσιν καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν ἐν τοῖς στάχυσιν τῶν ἀλλοφύλων καὶ ἐκάησαν ἀπὸ ἅλωνος καὶ ἕως σταχύων ὀρθῶν καὶ ἕως ἀμπελῶνος καὶ ἐλαίας

6 καὶ εἶπαν οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι τίς ἐποίησεν ταῦτα καὶ εἶπαν σαμψων ὁ νυμφίος τοῦ θαμνι ὅτι ἔλαβεν τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὴν τῷ ἐκ τῶν φίλων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνέβησαν οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι καὶ ἐνέπρησαν αὐτὴν καὶ τὸν πατέρα αὐτῆς ἐν πυρί

7 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς σαμψων ἐὰν ποιήσητε οὕτως ταύτην ὅτι εἰ μὴν ἐκδικήσω ἐν ὑμῖν καὶ ἔσχατον κοπάσω

8 καὶ ἐπάταξεν αὐτοὺς κνήμην ἐπὶ μηρὸν πληγὴν μεγάλην καὶ κατέβη καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐν τρυμαλιᾷ τῆς πέτρας ηταμ

9 καὶ ἀνέβησαν οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι καὶ παρενέβαλον ἐν ιουδα καὶ ἐξερρίφησαν ἐν λευι

10 καὶ εἶπαν ἀνὴρ ιουδα εἰς τί ἀνέβητε ἐφ' ἡμᾶς καὶ εἶπον οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι δῆσαι τὸν σαμψων ἀνέβημεν καὶ ποιῆσαι αὐτῷ ὃν τρόπον ἐποίησεν ἡμῖν

11 καὶ κατέβησαν τρισχίλιοι ἄνδρες ἀπὸ ιουδα εἰς τρυμαλιὰν πέτρας ηταμ καὶ εἶπαν τῷ σαμψων οὐκ οἶδας ὅτι κυριεύουσιν οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι ἡμῶν καὶ τί τοῦτο ἐποίησας ἡμῖν καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς σαμψων ὃν τρόπον ἐποίησάν μοι οὕτως ἐποίησα αὐτοῖς

12 καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ δῆσαί σε κατέβημεν τοῦ δοῦναί σε ἐν χειρὶ ἀλλοφύλων καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς σαμψων ὀμόσατέ μοι μήποτε συναντήσητε ἐν ἐμοὶ ὑμεῖς

13 καὶ εἶπον αὐτῷ λέγοντες οὐχί ὅτι ἀλλ' ἢ δεσμῷ δήσομέν σε καὶ παραδώσομέν σε ἐν χειρὶ αὐτῶν καὶ θανάτῳ οὐ θανατώσομέν σε καὶ ἔδησαν αὐτὸν ἐν δυσὶ καλωδίοις καινοῖς καὶ ἀνήνεγκαν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς πέτρας ἐκείνης

14 καὶ ἦλθον ἕως σιαγόνος καὶ οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι ἠλάλαξαν καὶ ἔδραμον εἰς συνάντησιν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἥλατο ἐπ' αὐτὸν πνεῦμα κυρίου καὶ ἐγενήθη τὰ καλώδια τὰ ἐπὶ βραχίοσιν αὐτοῦ ὡσεὶ στιππύον ὃ ἐξεκαύθη ἐν πυρί καὶ ἐτάκησαν δεσμοὶ αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ χειρῶν αὐτοῦ

15 καὶ εὗρεν σιαγόνα ὄνου ἐκρεριμμένην καὶ ἐξέτεινεν τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔλαβεν αὐτὴν καὶ ἐπάταξεν ἐν αὐτῇ χιλίους ἄνδρας

16 καὶ εἶπεν σαμψων ἐν σιαγόνι ὄνου ἐξαλείφων ἐξήλειψα αὐτούς ὅτι ἐν τῇ σιαγόνι τοῦ ὄνου ἐπάταξα χιλίους ἄνδρας

17 καὶ ἐγένετο ὡς ἐπαύσατο λαλῶν καὶ ἔρριψεν τὴν σιαγόνα ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκάλεσεν τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον ἀναίρεσις σιαγόνος

18 καὶ ἐδίψησεν σφόδρα καὶ ἔκλαυσεν πρὸς κύριον καὶ εἶπεν σὺ εὐδόκησας ἐν χειρὶ δούλου σου τὴν σωτηρίαν τὴν μεγάλην ταύτην καὶ νῦν ἀποθανοῦμαι τῷ δίψει καὶ ἐμπεσοῦμαι ἐν χειρὶ τῶν ἀπεριτμήτων

19 καὶ ἔρρηξεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν λάκκον τὸν ἐν τῇ σιαγόνι καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ὕδωρ καὶ ἔπιεν καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔζησεν διὰ τοῦτο ἐκλήθη τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῆς πηγὴ τοῦ ἐπικαλουμένου ἥ ἐστιν ἐν σιαγόνι ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης

20 καὶ ἔκρινεν τὸν ισραηλ ἐν ἡμέραις ἀλλοφύλων εἴκοσι ἔτη

   

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Exploring the Meaning of Judges 15

Napsal(a) New Christian Bible Study Staff, Julian Duckworth

Judges 15: Samson defeats the Philistines.

At the beginning of this chapter, we learn that the one who gave Samson’s wife to another man was his father-in-law, who thought that Samson truly hated her. He then offered Samson her younger sister instead, saying, “Is she not better? Take her.”

Samson, enraged, took three-hundred foxes and tied them tail-to-tail in pairs, with a lit torch between them. He then released them in the Philistines’ standing grain, vineyards and olive groves to burn up their crops, as revenge for the loss of his wife. In retaliation, the Philistines went and burned her and her father. In a final act of vengeance, Samson killed very many of the Philistines, then went to dwell in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

The Philistines went to Judah, stating their intent to arrest Samson, and the men of Judah passed on the message to him. Samson made the Judeans promise not to kill him themselves, but only to bind him with two new ropes before giving him to the Philistines as a prisoner.

When the Philistines came, Samson broke apart the ropes, and killed a thousand of them with the jawbone of a donkey. Then he threw the jawbone away, and complained to the Lord that he was thirsty. The Lord answered his cry for help by splitting the ground where the jawbone fell, so that Samson could drink the water that flowed from it.

The final verse of this chapter tells us that Samson judged Israel twenty years.

*****

Samson’s marriage to a Philistine woman speaks to the appealing, or even enticing, nature of ‘faith alone’ spirituality, represented by the Philistines. We must stay on our guard, to ensure that we are not caught up in thinking that faith alone will save us. The father offers Samson his wife’s younger sister, saying she is even better, but Samson had already learned to be wary by that point.

The foxes, tied together with their tails lit on fire, vividly describes the twisted and destructive nature of faith alone, and the way it consumes our potential to lead a fruitful life. The Word often depicts the state of a nation or religion through a story illustrating its true nature (True Christian Religion 130)

The cycle of revenge between Samson and the Philistines represents our personal struggles during temptation and our wish to regenerate. Our whole effort during regeneration is to resist sins that might lure us in, and to maintain our intention to live the Word (see Swedenborg’s work, Divine Providence 83[6]). The men of Judah who bind Samson represent our love for the Lord and for everything of the Lord, although this seems contradictory on a surface level. In this case, being ‘bound up’ means to be bound in our commitment to the Lord, so that we are restrained from doing evil (see Swedenborg’s work, Heaven and Hell 577[4]).

Samson stands for the power of the Word acting in our lives to assert what is true, to protect what must be upheld, and to defend against evils. He uses the jawbone of a donkey because a jawbone allows us to eat food (spiritually, nourishment from the Word), and also to proclaim the Lord’s truths. This gives us the power to expose and reject the belief that spirituality consists of faith alone (see Swedenborg’s work, Arcana Caelestia 9049[6]).

Bible

 

Mark 9:42

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42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.