What would have possessed Samson to marry a Philistine? He has been under a Nazirite vow and now he
wants to introduce something completely forbidden and unclean into his
life. This, we learn, is actually from
the Lord, seeking to infiltrate the Philistines rather than the other way round
as Balaam suggested to the Moabites as a way of destroying the Jews. Samson had strength but not wisdom. The Lord needed his strength rather than his
wisdom, however. He killed a lion with
his bare hands and then later began to destroy the Philistines in response to
his wife's betrayal of him to her people.
He is clearly not a man to be trifled with and he knows what he needs to
know concerning his wife's loyalties but will he heed that warning?
Jesus didn't have "to pass through
Samaria." Most Jews didn't pass
through there at all, they avoided it, such was their animosity towards the
Samaritans. This woman was simply
getting some water and met Messiah. The
disciples were marveling that Jesus was talking with a woman when they returned
from their errand to get food. They
didn't then understand spiritual things any better than Nicodemus or this
Samaritan woman. When Jesus talked about
food they though he was talking literally.
She left her water jar behind and went to tell everyone about this man
and, amazingly, they came to see him on her testimony. The last chapter closed with Jesus not
entrusting Himself to the people of Jerusalem because He knew what was in their
hearts and yet, to this unlikely woman, He fully disclosed Himself. Incredible.
Stephen's history lesson here certainly
would have met with the approval of the council. There is nothing out of place, he knows not
only the history but the interpretation of the history. I feel certain they were sitting and
listening and saying, "Ok, ok, get on with it, we know all
this." The history serves to
validate that he is one of them, not some outsider. The twist will come in the end. Like Samson, the Lord was working within the
society, but not to destroy it, to save it.
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