Anything is possible, only to those who believe

Israel offended God again for 7 years. Midianites oppressed so hard that they ended up staying in the caves. They did own a donkey or even a cat. They were church mice.

God’s angel appeared to one man who wanted a sign that indeed God sent him. That man was Gideon. The angel caused fire from a rock to consume the sacrifice Gideon had made. Gideon was to seek further signs to prove God would be with him in his assignments.

Judges 6:37: ‘Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. v38: And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.

v39: And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. v40: And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.’

God then reduced Gideon’s army from 22000, to a 1000 and finally a mere 300. Judges 7v22: ‘And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout the entire host: and the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath.’ The Midianites killed themselves and gave Israel the victory.

Gideon pursued Zalmunna and Zebah, commanding the princes of Succoth to feed his war weary army. They questioned the logic because they were loyal to Zebah and Zalmunna. And he said to them, in Judges 8v7: ‘Therefore when the LORD hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.’ Men of war have humour sometimes. However, he carried out his threat and during his life, there was peace for 40 years.

Gideon had 70 sons of his own body, for he had many wives, and his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son called Abimelech. He died after living a long life. I do not know where he took the strength of satisfying his many wives and concubine and fight great wars. With God, anything is possible.

The power of seduction.

Samson was born at the times of the Philistines terrorizing the Israelites left right and centre. An angel of God appeared to his parents before his birth. His father, Manoah, asked what the angel’s name was.(He was not yet aware he was an angel) but then he said ‘Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?’ Manoah offered a burnt offering to God in his presence and ‘and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on.’ Judges 13v20: ‘For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar.’

We all know Samson was to be a Nazarite from his mother’s womb. That is to say, he drank neither wine nor strong drink, and never shaved his hair. Samson grew and went to the Philistines and met a beautiful lady named Timnath. His parent could not understand how he went, saw and wanted to marry a damsel of the uncircumcised Philistines while he could have married an Israeli woman, but he insisted, ‘Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.’

Him and his parents went to see this girl. While at the fields, Samson left his parents and proceeded alone. He met a huge lion wanting to tear him apart. Samson killed him bare handedly, as if he dealt with a young kid or lamb, but he kept it a secret. After meeting his girl, he returned to his parent, passing by the lion carcass he killed. He saw bees on its body and there was honey. He took the honey and ate and brought to his parents.

Samson made a feast for his woman and challenged his in-law companions to solve a riddle for a price within a week.  Judges 14v14: ‘And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.  And they could not in three days expound the riddle.’ The young men threatened Tamnath with burning her father’s house if she did not get the answer from Samson. She then seduced him to telling the answer, which she passed on.

Judges 14v18: ‘And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey?  and what is stronger than a lion?  And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.’ Samson met his end of the bargain farely, killing 30 Ashkelon men and taking their spoils for the wedger. His girlfriend was then offered to his buddy.

Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, tied their tails in pairs and set the tails alight. The foxes, their tails alight, ran with great speed into the fields of the Philistines, burning all crops. They then burnt his wife and father in law with fire and he was still angry with them. Judges 15v8: ‘And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.’

The Philistines invaded Judah and demanded the arrest of Samson. 3000 men of Judah went to the mountain to bind and deliver him to the enemies. When he came near to them, the Spirit of God filled him and he broke all that bound him, found a fresh jaw bone of a donkey and killed a thousand of the Philistines.

After throwing away that bone, ‘he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?’ Judges 15v19: ‘But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived.’

Samson came to Gaza and met a prostitute that he slept with. People of Gaza planned for his kidnapping hoping to kill him the next morning. Judges 16v3: ‘And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.’

Mr Loverman saw a woman in the valley of Solek and loved her. She was the famous Delilah. Their story is one of the commonest in the Bible. The Philistines bribed her to solicit to him to reveal to her the source of his powers. After several attempts, she repeated her probe she made here in Judges 16v13: ‘And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound.’ He poured his heart out to her, and she cut his hair and he was an ordinary man.

The Philistines arrested him, removed his eyes and jailed him because the Lord God departed from him. Then they organized a banquet to honour their gods in a huge theatre with many people. ‘When their hearts were merry, they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport.  And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport.’ The blind Samson asked the lad that led him to let him feel the pillars that supported the building so he could lean on them.

Samson remembered God,  ‘And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.’ Judges 16v28. Samson bowed and with all his might, pulled the pillars down and the building fell killing all the Philistine kings and their guests. He killed more people at his death than when he was alive. He was judge for 20 years.

Barak and Deborah

There was peace for 80 years and after Ehud’s death, Shamgar, the son of Anath, killed 600 Philistine men with an ox horn and delivered Israel. Then, it was back to square one, oh naughty Israel. They were then oppressed for 20 years by Canaanites. They were however delivered by Barak and Deborah.

The Canaanites king was one Sisera. In his battle with Israel, the leader of the Canaanites fled to a woman’s tent as he could not stand the firepower. He came to one Jael Heber’s wife, and way off. He went into her tent and stayed there a while.

Judges 4:20: ‘Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here?  that thou shalt say, No. v21: Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary.  So he died.’

Foolish death indeed. When he came in huffing and puffing, he asked water, and she gave him milk and she brought forth butter in a royal vessel. Women!!

A warrior called Joshua

After Moses retired as the general of the Exodus, entered Joshua. He conquered 31 kings in his life time. We are talking about the man who prayed for the sun to stop as he went about his war. It was so until he was done. Joshua led Israel to the Promised Land, circling Jericho 7 seven times to bring down its walls.

God hates idolatry and the Israelites liked it. It was their weakest points. Man is a worshipper. By not worshipping God, we worship something else and God gets very angry. All nations feared and revered Israel for their God, as they heard His power by the miracles of Egypt, the desert and upon other nations that fought against them.

After Joshua died, for 8 years Israel suffered from the Mesopotamian king because of their evil and forsaking of God. After that, Caleb’s young brother’s son, Othniel was judge. He went to war and delivered the Israelites. There was peace for 40 years. He died and they sinned.

Moabites, ruled by a very fat king called Eglon, oppressed Israel for 18 years. Moab was the son of Lot by one of his daughters. God raised a man to deliver Israel. The left-handed Ehud sent king Eglon a present, but secured a sharpened double edged 30 cm dagga on his right thigh, under his garment.

This reminds me of the war Joshua fought when he conquered Ai. He took few men to the city, while his army laid ambush, enticed his enemies out of the city. Ai and his army, and all the city went in hot pursuit of Joshua and the army entered an empty city, burning it to the ground. Ai was in Joshua and his burning city. The rest is history, indeed.

Anyway, Judges 3v20: ‘And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. v21: And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. v22: And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly and the dirt came out. v23: Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.’

Are you ready to deal with the things of this world? You better be.