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Bible Teaching, Bible Study, Teaching, Verses, Sermons, online, mp3, classesA Bible Teaching Ministry of Galyn Wiemers


Daily Devotions, Evening and Morning Devotional

 

Sunrise on Temple Mount in Jerusalem; Back to Previous Devotion

March 20 - Morning

“One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 

The people of Gaza were told, ‘Samson is here!’

So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, At dawn we’ll kill him.’

But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

Sometime later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.”

- Judges 16:1-4

Sunset on the Sea of Galilee; Click to go to next devotion  
The Gates of Gaza    

Later in his twenty year career as “judge” of Israel Samson is still hanging out in Philistia, this time in one of the Philistine’s major cities, Gaza. Why? Is Samson so attracted to the Philistines that he cannot stay away? Is Samson so shunned by his own people for being a nonconformist that he has no social life in Israel? Surely, this was not God’s best plan for this man who had been anointed from a birth that had been announced by the Angel of the Lord?…hang out in Philistia, live like a Philistine, use the Pagan prostitutes and then rip up their city gates like a juvenile painting graffiti? Could this not have been another Joshua story or a victory account like David’s life?

There does appear to be a two sided attack in this story: one, against the Philistines in Gaza, and the second, against the people of Judah in Hebron (who had betrayed him for stirring up trouble with the Philistines in Judges 15:11-12). After spending time with the prostitute Samson rips up Gaza’s city gate after apparently walking (or, fighting) his way through the troops that had surrounded the prostitute’s house to wait for Samson make his exit. Samson again demonstrates to the Philistines that he (and, the Lord) were not limited by the Philistine’s restraints and could do what they wanted, when they wanted.

By taking the gates of Gaza into Judah to be displayed outside of Hebron for everyone in Judah to see, the Lord was announcing through Samson that the tribe of Judah, that they would have to answer to the Philistines for this action. Judah wanted compromise, but Lord would not let them rest peacefully under Philistine oppression. Samson’s motive was not to urge Judah to respond to their divine calling, but he was taunting them merely for personal vengeance for their betrayal and lack of support.

Samson carried the gates “to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.” The first hill outside of Hebron would be Jebel Jalis which sets 39 miles from Gaza outside Hebron on the west side or the mountain of Halhoul to the north of Hebron. Since Samson would have carried the gates 39 miles from sea level at Gaza up 3,040 feet above sea level to Hebron, some try to explain this Herculean feat by say Samson only took the lock and key of the Gaza gate to Hebron or that Samson took the gate of Gaza outside the city of Gaza and set it on one of the first hills facing Hebron, but did not carry them 39 miles away to set them on a hill outside of Hebron. But, this feat is possible for Samson if he would have ripped up the posts and the hinged wooden doors covered in metal plates that swung on the posts, as the context of the text likely indicates, and carried them through the night and into the next day.

Either way, the carrying off the gates of Gaza was a declaration of war against the Philistines assigned by Samson to the tribe of Judah.  Israel’s warrior tribe had been handed the responsibility for further military interaction with the Philistines. The Lord had said that Samson would, “begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” The rest would be up to the tribe of Judah.

  Christian Quote from Church History
"In the decade of the 1980s,
a massive and comprehensive study of religion in American life was undertaken by the Gallup organization. …
The results of the study were as terrifying as they were revealing.…
Americans, even evangelical Americans, are woefully ignorant of the content of Scripture and even more ignorant of the history of Christianity and classical Christian theology." 
- R. C. Sproul
Something to Ponder??
In 1998 25% of the world’s Christians were Pentecostal/Charismatic
or a total of 450 million.
67% of those Pentecostals/Charismatics
live in Asia, Africa and
Latin America. Pentecostal/Charismatic churches are growing at
19 million per year.
These numbers and this growth indicate that Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity will be a force in the next millennium.
Because of this growth Christianity is now bigger in South Korea than Buddhism. (more here)
 
Hebrew and Greek Word Study   Facts and Information

Tsaba (Hb) – Army (Eng) – tsaba is the Hebrew word where several idea s come together including “a group,” “a difficult task,” and “to force into action.” These concepts come together to give the Tsaba the meaning of “service as a group” and is applied in the military sense. It is used as “host” (including angelic host) in military service, war or as an army. Tsaba also is used to communicate “work,” or “a labor force,” “forced labor,” Tsaba can even be translated as “conflict.”

 

Governor Pliny the Younger writes to Emperor Trajan around 110 AD concerning Christians in his jurisdiction. Pliny mentions these practices concerning early Christians in Asia Minor:
- Followers of Christ gather early in the morning
- They responsively sing a song to Christ as if to a God.
- They vow not to commit theft, robbery, adultery, lie
or fail to pay their bills
- assembled latter to partake of a meal
- they are common and harmless people
(Details here and here.
See the content of the
letter here and here)

     
Confession to Action   Facts and Information
I will consider hardships as an opportunity to allow the power and truth of the Lord to be revealed to me and manifested in my life for others to witness and glorify God.   "The spirit of man is the
lamp of the Lord,

    searching all his innermost parts." - Proverbs 20:27
     
Read the Bible in a Year; Bible Reading Program
Read one chapter each day to read through the narrative portion (or, the story line) of the whole Bible Genesis-Acts in one year. Read the General Text of the Bible Read the Complete Text of the Bible in a Year
Numbers 12 Judges 15 Deuteronomy 28
 
Prayer for Today
Personal Prayer Church Prayer Item National Prayer Concerns World Prayer Concerns

Children’s education

Spiritual Warfare understanding and victory

Government Reform

Bulgaria
 
Photo of Jerusalem; Pictures of Israel Bible Map and Diagram

Robinson's Arch, Jerusalem

This is a view of the ancient Nabatean city of Avdat in the Negev
in southern Judah.
(More details here and here. Photos here.)
(click on image for larger size)

Nehemiah's Wall in Jerusalem 445 BC
  Details of the Church of Heptapegon which honors the traditional site where Jesus multiplied the bread and fish. (click on image for larger size)
   
Details and Explanation of Sets & Reps Devotional System Here Make a donation to support Generation Word Bible Teaching Ministry
   
 
 
 
Reps & Sets is a daily Bible devotional for Christians from Generation Word Bible Teaching used each morning and evening.
 

 
 
 
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Generation Word - Bible Teaching Ministry   Generation Word - Bible Teaching Ministry