09-11-05

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(Gen 1:1-4)  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided [separated] the light from the darkness.

1.       darkness = Heb: the dark; hence (lit.) darkness; fig. misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness: dark (-ness), night, obscurity.

2.       light = Heb: illumination or (concr.) luminary (in every sense, including lightning, happiness, etc.): bright, clear, + day, light (-ning), morning, sun.

(Judg 13:1)  And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years [a number symbolic of “testing”].

1.       (Judg 6:1)  And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years [a number symbolic of “completion”].

2.       Philistines = Heb: rolling, i.e. migratory /// to roll (in dust): roll (wallow) self.

3.       The Philistines were a non-semitic (different language root than Hebrew) people from the Aegean and Asia Minor called “the sea people” who settled on the western coast of Palestine in the twelfth century B.C. “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea” (Rev 13:1). They were sometimes referred to in Scripture as “the uncircumcised” (Jud 14:3; 15:18; 1 Sam 14:6; 31:4; 2 Sam 1:20; 1 Chr 10:4). David twice made reference to Goliath as “this uncircumcised Philistine” (1 Sam 17:26,36). Their knowledge of metallurgy and access to sources of iron for weapons (1 Sam 13:19-21) gave them great advantage over other nations and most of Palestine.

4.       (1 Sam 17:16)  And the Philistine [Goliath specifically, and by extrapolation all Philistines] drew near morning and evening [implication: times of the morning and evening sacrifices], and presented [Hebrew: religious connotations] himself forty days [testing the Israelites for the Lord, i.e. successfully distracting them (“among thorns” Mark 4:7), and thereby completely negating their service to the Lord by figuratively “choking them” and they “yielded no fruit”].

5.       Macro-symbolism = The Philistines represent all unsaved peoples, the sea of humanity out of which Goliath (“the beast” of Rev 13:1,2) arises possessing powers symbolized by a leopard, bear, and lion.

(Judg 13:2)  And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.

1.       Zorah = Heb: a wasp (as stinging): hornet /// to scourge, i.e. to be stricken with leprosy: leper, leprous.

2.       (Exo 23:28)  And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.

3.       Dan = Heb: judge /// to rule; by impl. to judge (as umpire); also to strive (as at law): contend, execute (judgment), judge, minister judgment, plead (the cause), at strife, strive.

4.       Manoah = Heb: rest /// quiet, i.e. (concr.) a settled spot, or (fig.) a home: (place of) rest.

5.       Manoah’s wife was the fourth of seven barren women in Scripture, and the only one not named: Sarai (Sarah had Isaac), Rebekah (had Esau and Jacob), Rachel (had Joseph and Benjamin), Manoah’s wife (had Samson), Hannah (had Samuel), Michal (died barren), and Elizabeth (had John the Baptist). Reference the seven churches of Rev 2,3.

6.       (Isa 54:1-3)  Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife [in Jewish lifestyle, an engagement is a marriage yet to be consummated], saith the LORD. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

7.       Macro-symbolism = Manoah’s wife represents then Israel, and now the church.

8.       Macro-symbolism = Manoah represents man in his sin. (this picture is developing)

(Judg 13:3)  And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman [the church], and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son [a son of promise].

1.       (Judg 6:11,12)  And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak [strong tree (a type of the cross)] which was in Ophrah [female fawn], that pertained unto Joash [Jehovah-fired (perhaps the fire of Jehovah)] the Abiezrite [father of help, i.e. helpful]: and his son Gideon [feller, i.e. warrior /// to fell a tree] threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites [brawling, contentious, strife]. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him [Gideon], and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour [“God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were” Rom 4:17b].

2.       (Mat 25:34)  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation [founding; fig. conception] of the world:

3.       (Eph 1:4,5)  According as he [God] hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us [predetermined us] unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

4.      (Rev 13:8)  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the beast, Goliath], whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. [Rev 17:8]

 THE NAZARITE VOW OF SEPARATION

(Judg 13:4,5)  Now therefore beware [be on guard, take heed, look narrowly], I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel [he will rule as God, prince with God] out of the hand [power] of the Philistines [the uncircumcised unsaved].

1.       Nazarite = Heb: separate, i.e. consecrated (as prince, a Nazirite); hence (fig.) an unpruned vine (like an unshorn Nazirite): separate, vine undressed.

2.       (Num 6:1-8)  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD: He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body. He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head. All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD.

3.       The Nelson Study Bible: The angel declared that the woman’s son should be a Nazarite from birth and for the rest of his life. The regulations of the Nazarite vows are found in Numbers 6:1-21. Any man or woman could take a vow of separation to God. The vow was voluntary (Num 6:2), had limited duration (Num 6:5,8,13,20), and included three provisions: 1. abstinence from wine, strong drink, and the fruit of the vine [including rasins]; 2. not cutting the hair (Num 6:5); 3. no contact with the dead (Num 6:3-8). A Nazarite who became unclean went through elabotate cleansing rituals (Num 6:9-21). Note that both Samson’s mother and Samson himself were to follow the regulations (Jud 13:4,5,7). Samson’s Nazarite service was remarkable in three ways. First, he did not take his vow voluntarily; it was before his birth (Jud 13:5,7). Second, his service was to be lifelong, not temporary (Jud 13:5,7). Third, he eventually broke every one of its stipulations: his head was sheared (Jud 16:17,19); he associated with the dead (Jud 14:6-9; 15:15); and he drank at his wedding feast (Jud 14:10-20).

4.       Macro-symbolism = (Subject to revision). Samson represents each child of God individually, and by extrapolation all children of God, in our fallen sinful state. Samson’s (sunlight) pathway to Heaven is a lifeline of extremes, thereby illuminating within the wide margins of his life, our own perhaps less radical more narrow path to ultimate righteousness.

 “and God divided the light from the darkness” Gen 1:4

Amen

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