Samson and Delilah: the Lure of Sin

The death of Samson (freebibleimages.org)

Central Truth: God would rather forgive than judge.

Scriptures: Judges 16

Samson loved another Philistine woman, Delilah. The Philistines offered her eleven pieces of silver to discover the secret to Samson’s strength. Four times, Delilah begged Samson to reveal the secret to his great strength. Each time he told her his “secret,” the Philistines attacked him only to be defeated until the fourth time. Samson told Delilah that he was a Nazarite and no razor had ever cut his hair. When he fell asleep, Delilah called for a man to shave the seven locks on Samson’s head. When Samson awoke, he did not know that he had lost his strength. The Philistines overcame Samson, put his eyes out, placed him in chains, and took him to the prison house to grind.

After some time, Samson’s hair began to regrow. The Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god, Dagon. When the Philistines had drank their wine, they called for Samson to be brought to them. They placed him between two pillars. Samson asked the boy who had brought him in to place his hand on the pillars. Samson called upon the Lord to restore his strength so he can avenge himself. God heard Samson’s cry and restored his strength. Samson then pushed the pillars with all of his might, killing all of those who were in the building, including himself.

Bible Scrapbook

Each week the children will be adding to their scrapbooks what they have learned during Sunday School. I have always been fascinated by the Nazarite vow, and the children had questions, so we made a list of the rules concerning the Nazarite vow along with the scripture referring to it in the Old Testament. 

Samson's Riddle and Revenge

Central Truth: Samson’s actions are destructive, but God’s will is ultimately done.

Scriptures: Judges 14-15

One day the angel of the Lord appeared to a certain woman and her husband Manoah of the tribe of Dan. The couple had no children, and the angel told them they would have a son. He said the child was to be consecrated to God as a Nazarite from the womb. An Israelite taking the Nazarite vow was prohibited from cutting the hair, eating or drinking the fruit of the vine, and eating or touching anything unclean. Men and women might take the vow for a specified time, but this child was to have the vow for life, and even his mother must observe the vow while the child is in her womb.

When Samson was born, he was extremely strong physically. Throughout his life, he encountered the Philistines but never led an army. He killed them single-handedly using his strength. Samson found a woman of the Philistines he wanted to marry, which made his parents unhappy because they wanted him to marry a woman from their tribe. On his way to Timnah, he came across a young lion. The Spirit of the Lord came over him and he killed the lion without using any weapons. On his return from Timnah, he found honey in the mouth of the lion and took it and ate it. 

At the wedding feast, he told a riddle. If any of the guests could declare the answer to the riddle within the seven days of the wedding feast, he would give them thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes. If they could not solve the riddle during that time, they would have to give Samson thirty garments and thirty changes of clothes. The riddle:

Out of the eater came forth meat

And out of the strong came forth sweetness 

(Judges 14:14).

On the seventh day, the guests still had not answered the riddle, so they threatened Samson’s bride. She went to Samson complaining that he did not love her because he has not told her the answer. Samson tells her the answer and she tells her people:

What is sweeter than honey?

What is stronger than a lion?

(Judges 14:18).

Samson was angry. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, and he went to Ashkelon and killed thirty men, taking their clothes and gave them to the guests who had guessed correctly. Samson was so angry at his bride that he gave her to his companion. When Samson went to visit his wife, he discovered that her father had given her to his companion. Samson then took 300 foxes, tied their tails together and put a torch to each tail. He then turned them loose in the wheat fields, destroying the crop. As revenge, the Philistines then burnt the woman and her family. Samson then took revenge and slaughtered the Philistines.

Bible Scrapbook

Each week the children will be adding to their scrapbooks what they have learned during Sunday School. We continued our character sketches with the lesser-known judges Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon mentioned in Judges 12:8-15 (Inspired by the Judges Lapbook found on Bible Fun for Kids website):

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon - Judges of Israel

We also included Samson in our character sketches:

Samson

I also brought My Creative Bible to demonstrate how to apply bible scrapbooking to a bible journal. I first practiced drawing in our notebook:

Directions to draw this lion can be found on Activity Village website.

And then I added my notes and drawings in my bible along with a honeycomb design (using a stencil of a hexagon and colored pencils):

A close-up of the lion (created using a sharpie pen and colored pencils). 

Jephthah

Jephthah

Central Truth: Because of his faith and obedience, Jephthah destroyed the enemies of Israel.

Scriptures: Judges 11

Again, the Israelites turned against God and worshiped foreign idols of Canaan, including Baal and Ashtoreth. This time when the Israelites cried out to God, he told them to cry to their false gods, but the Lord had compassion on them and sent Jephthah to save them. Jephthah was the son of Gilead and lived in a territory called Gilead, which is east of the Jordan River. The Ammonites claimed that Gilead belonged to them and attacked the Israelites. Jephthah was cast out of his family by his half-brothers and fled to the land of Tob. While there, Jephthah led a band of men who raided and pillaged.

When the Ammonites attacked Gilead, the elders asked Jephthah to lead the Israelites against the Ammonites. Jephthah made the elders of Gleaned agree to make him their chief if the Lord delivered the Ammonites not his hand. The Lord delivered the Ammonites into Jephthah’s hand, and he destroyed twenty of their cities.

Bible Scrapbook

Each week the children will be adding to their scrapbooks what they have learned during Sunday School.  This week we did a character study of Jephthah as well as the lesser-known Judges Tola and Jair (inspired by the Judges Lapbook found on Bible Fun for Kids website):

Jephthah, meaning "promise-keeper."

Tola, meaning "worm, grub, scarlet."

Jair, meaning "he shines."

Gideon as Judge

Luke 2:13-14 from the Time Warp Wife.

Central Truth: Gideon was choosen as a leader because God called him and Gideon obeyed.

Scriptures: Judges 11

Again, the Israelites turned against God and worshipped foreign idols of Canaan, including Baal and Ashtoreth. This time when the Israelites cried out to God, he told them to cry to their false gods, but the Lord had compassion on them and sent Jephthah to save them. Jephthah was the son of Gilead and lived in a territory called Gilead, which is east of the Jordan River. The Ammonites claimed that Gilead belonged to them and attacked the Israelites. Jephthah was cast out of his family by his half-brothers and fled to the land of Tob. While there, Jephthah led a band of men who raided and pillaged.

When the Ammonites attacked Gilead, the elders asked Jephthah to lead the Israelites against the Ammonites. Jephthah made the elders agree to make him their chief if the Lord delivered the Ammonites not his hand. The Lord delivered the Ammonites into Jephthah’s hand, and he destroyed twenty of their cities.

Bible Scrapbook

Each week the children will be adding to their scrapbooks what they have learned during Sunday School.  Since it was Christmas, I found a coloring page for the children to color. We also added a torch:

Gideon's torch

I found the template for the torch for free on Crafting the Word of God.

An Angel Visits Gideon

Central Truth: God chooses those who are the least.

Scriptures: Judges 6

The Israelites again did evil in the sight of the Lord who delivered them into the hands of the Midianites. They invaded Israel like a swarm of locusts, destroying crops and livestock. The Israelites were forced to hide in caves and dens in surrounding mountains. The Midianites oppressed the Israelites for seven years and the Israelites called out to God.

First, the Lord sent a prophet to teach and reprove the people. Then he sent an angel to appoint Gideon from the tribe of Manasseh to judge the people. The angel told Gideon that he was to save Israel from the Midianites and assured him that God will be with him. The first thing Gideon had to do was to tear down the altar of Baal built by his father. After Gideon destroyed Baal’s altar, the people were angry and demanded his death, but Gideon’s father told them that Baal should be the one to cast him down if he is god.

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, 

"The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor."

Judges 6:12

Bible Scrapbook

Each week the children will be adding to their scrapbooks what they have learned during Sunday School. This time, we drew angels and wrote Judges 6:12 using different color pens.

We also included a short summary of the story of Gideon, including facts like his father's name, that Gideon pulled down the altar of Baal, and he defeated the Midianites:

The cute little picture of Gideon came from the Bible Fun For Kids website.

Deborah and Barak

Deborah and Barak

Central Truth: God calls whomever he wishes to serve him.

Scriptures: Judges 4

Again the Israelites did evil. Jabin, a king of Canaan, oppressed them for twenty years. The judge at this time was Deborah, a prophetess and the only female judge. She lived in the hill country of Ephraim. While sitting under a palm tree, the children of Israel came to her for judgment. 

Deborah called for Barak out of Naphtali and said that God commanded to take 10,000 men of Israel from Naphtali and Zebulun to Mount Tabor. God would draw the Canaanite army to Barak and delivered the Canaanites into his hands, but Barak would not be the one to destroy the captain of the Canaanite army, Sisera. Instead, Deborah is chosen for that task.

Bible Scrapbook

Each week the children will be adding to their scrapbooks what they have learned during Sunday School.  The first addition to our scrapbooks was inspired by the Judges Lapbook found on the Bible Fun for Kids website. We added a page about Shamgar, the Judge who defeated the Philistines. Then we added a page for Deborah:

And then we had some fun! I found a wonderful coloring page at the Christian Resources Today website. On a blank page in our scrapbooks, we used glue sticks to glue miniature palm tree leaves on the page.

After we colored our coloring pages, we trimmed them down and glued them on top of the leaves.

Deborah and Barak coloring page on the left. On the following pages, I wrote out the Song of Deborah and Barak found in Judges 5:2-31.

Ehud's Dagger

The Book of the Judges

Central Truth: God can use any person and situation to accomplish his will.

Scriptures: Judges 3:12-30

The story of the Judges of Israel is a period of time between the death of Joshua and the establishment of the United Kingdom under Saul, David, and Solomon. During this time, the government of Israel was a loose confederation of tribes gathered around the Tabernacle. There was no national leader like Moses and Joshua. The judges were merely tribal leaders who usually led their own tribes and perhaps surrounding ones.

When Israel was conquered by the king of Mesopotamia, they had turned away from God and was worshipping idols. They served the king of Mesopotamia for eight years until they repented and God sent Othniel, Caleb’s younger brother, to deliver them. The next enemy was Eglon, king of Moab, who conquered Jericho with his allies. When the Israelites cried out to God, he sent Ehud from the tribe of Benjamin to deliver them.

Bible Scrapbook

Each week the children will be adding to their scrapbooks what they have learned during Sunday School. We now begin our study of the Book of Judges. As an introduction to Judges, I found some fun charts and maps to add to our scrapbooks:

I was also inspired by the Judges Lapbook found on the Bible Fun For Kids website. We are using parts of the lapbook to include in our scrapbooks:

Othniel the Judge before Ehud.

Othniel means "Lion of God."