Bible Teaching #1, part 1: A lesson from Samson

At a YA group meeting held early spring 2006, I got an opportunity to teach about Samson, the imperfect hero in the book of Judges, who presided over Israel for 20 years.

During this time, the Israel nation was undergoing a major transition as they were taking hold of the land that God promised them.

Contrary to the time during Joshua's leadership where the people were obedient to his in gaining territory, they grew self directed, focusing on their own desires and forgot about God and His tenets. Focusing on their wants and senses, they could not get rid of the non-Israelite peoples who were occupying that same area of land. At first glance, you wouldn't think there would be trouble for God's people to mingle with the other peoples in the land.

But, there was trouble.

In fact, while co-habiting with these other non-Israel tribes like the Philistines and Canaanites, they had taken on foreign ideas and idols such as Baal and Ashterroth, while associating with these local area tribes.

Who were the Judges?

Judges served in a different way in comparison how Judges work today.

Specifically, I spoke about the way God uses ordinary people in the Bible for His good and for us to implement His will, although the people God appointed weren't always the most effective or most qualified in getting the job done. Samson served as an example as a regular person whom God used for His purposes. For the casual observer or reader in the OT, some people would view God as a distant and harsh God. With an in-depth reading of the bible, we can see that several books show that God warns His people and tells them to repent from their self directed ways, as well talk about His love for His people. In other words, He desires His people to be in relationship with Him.

In the teaching, we discussed how the self will and our own senses interfere with the personal relationship with God and with other people. In the natural world, we rely on senses to relate to the world.

We base our individual will with our own selfish thoughts and physical senses, which can be easily fooled.

For example, what is a mirage? A mirage is a visual illusion. Someone in the distance can see what they think is water at a certain location. When that person arrives to that certain location, there really is no water present, but our eyes are easily fooled.

We can apply the principles of redemption in regards to the experiences of Samson in Judges 13-16. A PPT presentation and handouts were used in the group teaching, with our group sitting in couches facing each other to facilitate conversation and questions.

To be continued ... Part two will follow later.

On a related note, I'll enumerate the bible teachings for posterity, starting with this one.