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I bout I140 8.C., when God st i l lA ruled lsrael through judges,

L I there was a Levite named El-kanah who had two wives. One, Han-nah, was favored of her husband, buthad no children. The other was Pe-ninnah.

Each year the family journeyed toShiloh to worship the Eternal. This iswhere Joshua, about 300 years be-fore, had placed the tabernacle andthe ark of the covenant containingthe Law of God. And each year Pe-ninnah would chide Hannah for hav-ing no children.

Praylng for a son

When the time came once againfor the trip, Hannah was provoked totears.

While at Shiloh, she prayed ear-nestly to God for a son, vowing that ifGod would grant her petition, shewould make the child a Nazarite,dedicated to serving the Eternal allthe days of his l i fe (see Num. 6:2-8).And as she silently prayed, Eli thepriest thought she was drunk, for shewas moving her lips but making nosound ( l Sam. l :13).

He rebuked her, but she explainedher grief. And Eli said, "May theGod of Israel grant you your prayer."That day Hannah went out from thetabernacle with complete faith thatGod would give her a son. And Goddid.

She named the chi ld Samuel(meaning asked of God), and whenhe was weaned, about 3 years old, shetook him to Eli. There he grew upminister ing to the Eternal God(priestly duties). He wore the linengarment of a priest, and each year hismother made him a new coat.

El i 's wicked sons

Now Eli was not a young man. Hehad already judged Israel nearly 30years and had given most of the ad-ministrative duties over to his sons,Hophni and Phinehas. But they werecorrupt.

Whenever the people came tomake an offering, Hophni and Phi-nehas took the best portion of themeat for themselves. The leftovers

SAUL'S ELESS,NG bpposite page) bySamuel marked God's choice of the firstking ol lsrael. From lSamuel9, 10.

were presented to God. They alsocotnmit ted fornicat ion with thewomen who served at the door ofthe tabernacle.

Eli scolded them about their be-havior, but he was too old and weakto administer discipline. They paidno attention. By the law of Moses,they should have been taken outand stoned to death for pollutingthe tabernacle and sinning againstGod.

God sent a prophet to Eli, con-demning him for allowing his sonsto behave so wickedly. The manprophesied that Eli's priestly linewould be destroyed except for aremnant, and that Hophni and Phi-nehas would die on the same day.In the place of this Levitical line,God would raise up a new priest,one who would be faithful.

God speaks to Samuel

Samuel was yet a child, but he wasloved by both God and the people heserved. Unknown to him, he was be-ing groomed by God to take over thepriesthood after Eli's death.

What happened next was remark-able, indeed. God had not spoken di-rectly with men for many years, andeven the word of a prophet was rare.But now He spoke directly to youngSamuel ( I Sam. 3: l -4).

God called to Samuel just after heand Eli had gone to bed for the night.Upon hearing his name, the boythought Eli was calling and ran to hisroom. But the old priest told him hehadn't called and sent him back tobed. This happened twice more be-fore Eli realized the voice may havebeen from God. He advised Samuelto await God's message.

The lad did as he was told, and theEternal God came and stood by hisbed. There He pronounced again thepunishment on the house of Eli. Hetold Samuel that Eli had sinned bynot taking action against his ownsons, and now nothing could makethe house of Eli clean (verse l4).

In the morning Samuel obedientlyrelated to Eli all that had happened.Eli simply said, "It is the Eternal: letHim do what seems good to him."

Through the years that followed,God continued to appear and speakto Samuel in Shiloh, and the youngman grew to adulthood holdingGod's word in high esteem. All Israel

o 1979, 1980 Worldwide Church of GodAll Rights Reserved

knew he was appointed to be a greatprophet.

Philistines capture the ark

Now the Philistines were oppress-ing Israel and slew about 4,000 menin one battle. Bewildered, the eldersof Israel asked Hophni and Phinehasto carry the ark of God into battle,hoping this would give them the vic-tory.

But the Philistines won the battle,captured the ark and slew Hophniand Phinehas (on the same day, asprophesied). When Eli heard thetragic news of the ark, he fell overbackwards off his bench and brokehis neck. He died at 98 years of age,leaving Samuel in charge of thepriesthood.

The Philistines, after rough treat-ment by God, eagerly sent the arkback to Israel seven months later (seeI Sam. 5 and 6). After a brief andunfortunate stay at an Israeli towncalled Beth-shemesh, the ark wastaken to Kirjath-jearim, to the houseof Abinadab. where it remained untilthe time of King David.

Samuel preaches repentance

The Philistines had now oppressedIsrael for about 20 years, and thepeople lamented to God for deliver-ance. (Samson evidently had just be-gun his own private war against themin the southwest.)

Samuel knew God had shown Is-rael no mercy because of the wicked-ness of both the people and thepriesthood under Eli. The peoplewere bowing down to the false gods,Baal im and Ashtaroth, and thepriests had made a mockery of theoffice, intent only on serving theirown pleasure (I Sam. 7:3-4).

So Samuel spoke to all Israel. Hetold them to change - to purge theland of false gods and to turn to theEternal God, serving Him with alltheir hearts. Then, he said, Godwould deliver Israel from the Philis-tines.

The people obeyed Samuel and de-stroyed their idols.

Then he called all Israel to Mizpehfor prayer. He spoke before thepeople and poured water out uponthe ground before God as a symbol ofHis Holy Spirit (see John 7:37).Then the people fasted and prayed,repenting of their national sins. They

God told Samuel to do as the people requested, saying,rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not

(I Sam. 8:7). So on that duy, the people rejected God

"They have notreign over them"as their king.

began to serve God once more, andHe heard their prayers.

The Philistines sent a great armytoward Mizpeh, intending to smashany possible uprising, but God sentpowerful thunder and lightning di-rectly into the Philistine camp. Theywere thrown into confusion and de-feated.

This marked the first militaryvicto-ry for Israel in 20 years. They evenrecaptured some of their lands alongthe Mediterranean Sea. The Philis-tines didn't dare to fight against God'speople as long as Samuel governed.

Samuel, in the meantime, workedtirelessly serving all Israel. He trav-eled a regular circuit - from Ra-mah, his home, to Bethel, Gilgal andMizpeh - each year to make judg-ments for the people. For God wasking in Israel, and Samuel was hisadministrator ( l Sam. 7:15-17). Aslong as the people obeyed God, therewas no oppression by the Philistinesor Amorites.

God's governmgnt rejected

Samuel served Israel long andwell. Besides making his circuit everyyear, he also apparently taught agroup of prophets at Geba (I Sam.l0:5, l0). He was dedicated to keep-ing the people directed toward God.

As he grew older, however, the rig-orous duties of his office were morethan he could handle alone. He madehis two sons, Joel and Abiah, judgesin the south of Israel, but they beganto misuse the office by taking bribesand polluting justice.

Worried about the future, the el-ders began to wonder who would ruleafter Samuel's death. He couldn'tlive forever, and his sons were cor-rupt. There was also some fear abouta possible invasion by Nahash, kingof Ammon.

Up to this time - from Moses toSamuel (nearly 400 years) - Israelhad been a theocracy. God had beentheir king. When they served Him,times were good. When they dis-obeyed and served other gods, He

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abandoned them to foreign oppres-sion. Now many of them began toreason that it was time to have amonarchy, a human king of theirown who would provide constant pro-tection against anyone at any timewho threatened their security.

The elders, lacking faith in God,decided this was in the best interestsof all Israel. So they met with Samu-el to make their request official. Heknew what they wanted was wrong,but prayed to God about it.

God told Samuel to do as the peoplerequested, saying, "They have not re-jected you, but they have rejected me,that I should not reign over them" (lSam. 8:7). So on that day, the peoplerejected God as their king.

Through Samuel, God told thepeople what to expect under a humanking. Their young men would bemade into soldiers and laborers forthe government. Their daughterswould be drafted into service as mili-tary cooks and suppliers.

There would be heavy taxes tomaintain the government and armies.Their servants and animals would betaken for any work the king desired,and eventually the people would allend up servants to the government.Then they would cry out because ofoppression, expecting God to hear.

Nevertheless, the people refused tolisten to Samuel, and were promiseda king.

Samuel establishesthe monarchy

God, in reviewing all Israel, toldSamuel that a young man namedSaul, of the tribe of Benjamin, wouldbe king. Through a series of events,Saul was introduced to Samuel andanointed. Later, at a great publicgathering, Saul's office was con-firmed.

Some didn't like the choice andopenly spoke out against it. But later,after God gave Saul his first militaryvictory, Samuel called another meet-ing of all Israel, and all the tribeswere united under Saul's leadership.

At this meeting, Samuel also madehis very moving farewell speech tothe people (l Sam. l2). He pointedout that God. when He had beentheir king, had always served themfaithfully. And so had Samuel ad-ministered fairly.

He also told them they had be-haved foolishly in wanting a humanking, but if the people and the kingobeyed God, all would be well. Dis-obedience, however, would surelybring God's wrath.

Then, calling on God to confirmhis speech, he asked for thunder andrain. Black clouds suddenly gatheredin the heavens. Thunder clapped, andit poured down rain.

The people were amazed andfrightened of both God and Samuel,for it was the dry season, harvesttime, and what they were seeing wasa miracle. They admitted their sin.Yet they wanted Saul as king andasked Samuel to pray to God on theirbehal[.

Now Saul was humble in God'ssight at first, but later he repeatedlysinned and disqualified himself frombeing king. While he yet held office,God chose the young shepherd, Da-vid, as his replacement. Samuelanointed him as God's chosen kingwhen he was but a youth. It wasyears later, after the death of Saul,that David took control of the kins-dom officially.

His last years

Samuel continued to judge Israelduring this transition from a theo-cratic government to a monarchy. Heworked hard to make the new gov-ernment a success, consulting God atevery turn. After the anointing ofKing Saul, he even wrote a bookabout how the kingdom ought to berun, for the benefit of both the kingand the people ( l Sam. l0:25).

Samuel died during the reign ofSaul. and all Israel mourned him. Hewas buried at his home in Ramah,the lastjudge of Israel and faithful toGod all the years of his life.

Jonah was one of the mostsuccessful spokesmenGod ever used, but hefailed to appreciate hiscommission because heresented what God wasdoing through him.

I mong the people God has called

A to thunder His messages to aI \ rebel l ious mankind. theprophet Jonah may be uniquethroughout history.

Not necessarily because he. a loneIsraelite, was sent to warn a largegentile city of God's coming punish-ment. Not because of his 72-houradventure inside the bellrv of thegreat fish. And not because his bookis the only' one among the minorprophets that records a prophet's ac-tivities rather than his prophecies.

All these facts make Jonah singu-lar enough. to be sure. But the mostoutstanding thing about Jonah isthat. among all biblical prophets, heuas success-ful in his mission. At Jo-nah's preaching the ancient metrop-olis of \inereh repented of its sinsand caused God to spare it, theAss.v-rian capital. from destruction.

Just as incredible. though, was Jo-nah's great anger and bitterness overthis verl succ6s. Jonah never wantedto fulfill God's commission in thefirst place. and all the while God wasworking through him. he resented it.In Jonah's experience are several les-sons for God's people today.

Jonah's mission

Jonah prophesied in northern Is-rael during the reign of Jeroboam II(792-753 B.C.). He foretold Israel'sterritorial expansion to roughly thearea held during the time of Davidand Solomon (l l Kings 14:25).

Israel was enjoying relative pros-perity at the time. but it didn't meanGod was pleased with the nation. TheIsraelites, God's elect group, and of-ten blessed at other nations' expense,had sinned worse than the peopleGod drove out of the promised landbefore them and had failed to be thegood example God wanted them tobe to the world. But Israel was not toescape retribution for its covenant

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the Reluctant Prophet

breaking. God intended to use a Mes-opotamian power to humble His na-t ion (Amos 2:6-16, 5:27).

It was at this time that God com-manded Jonah to pronounce Hisjudgment on Nineveh. The son ofAmittai may have suspected thatGod was going to use Assyria tochasten Israel. lf Jonah's warningfrom God caused the Assyrians torepent and be spared, he would beinstrumental in his own nation'sdownfall. So Jonah rebelled againstGod's every instruction, not seeingthat the Creator had an overall planin mind. Jonah didn't believe Godknew what He was doing.

Jonah didn' t t rust God

God commanded Jonah to cryagainst Nineveh because of its evils,but Jonah went in the opposite di-rection on a ship bound for Tar-shish. God cont inued to work wi ththe reluctant prophet by sending agreat wind to batter the vessel atsea. As the ship appeared to beheaded for tragedy, the men aboardbegan to cry to their various godsfor protection.

They roused Jonah, who of allthings was asleep, and urged him todo likewise. When they cast lots tolearn whose fault the tempest was,Jonah was singled out. Desperately,they asked him what to do to calmthe raging waves.

And it appears Jonah would ratherhave died than do what God asked.He replied that they should cast himinto the churning waters. How hope-less Jonah's rebell ion had left him.

The mariners tried to row the shipto land, but in vain. They finally didas Jonah said they should and threwhim into the deep. Even they realizedthat this act had been planned bylsrael's God, and they asked theEternal not to lay Jonah's fate totheir charge (Jonah l :14).

And God was working out a grandpurpose. He had prepared a greatfish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah wasto remain in the creature's belly forthree days and three nights. Later, inHis own wicked generation, JesusChrist would give only this sign ofJonah to prove He was the Son ofGod. After His murder, Christ was tobe buried three days and three nightsbefore being resurrected (Matt .I 2:39-40).

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This outstanding series of God-ordained events must have soberedJonah somewhat, for he thanked Godfor rescuing him from what wouldhave been a watery grave (Jonah 2:l-9). God then caused the fish to expelJonah out onto dry land.

God again told Jonah to preach atNineveh. By this time the prophetshould have sensed that God's willwas going to be done one way oranother. Perhaps dejected, Jonahwent on his way to the city.

God's anger turned

One of the most spectacular eventsrecorded in the Bible followed. AtJonah's announcement of Nineveh'simminent fall, the entire community- from the king to the least beast inthe herds - put on sackcloth andbegan fasting. The king ordered thatevery Ninevite abandon his violentways, "Who can tell if God will turnand repent, and turn away from hisfierce anger, that we perish not?"(Jonah 3:9).

And though Jonah's message hadbeen final, "Yet forty days and Nine-veh shall be overthrown," God sawhow the Assyrians reacted and didn'toverthrow them. God is not willingthat any human should ever perish,and Christ recognized the Assyrians'repentance as real (Matt. 12:41).

Success! Jonah's effort had helpedavert the destruction of one of theworld's largest cities. Did he jump forjoy and praise God for such a mira-cle?

Unfortunately, no. Jonah st i l lfailed to see that God's will, whateverit is, must be done. Instead he satoutside Nineveh, moping over whathad happened.

Jonah missed the point

It was hot that day. So God, toteach Jonah a lesson, prepared agourd to spring up and shade him,and the prophet was glad. But thenext morning God prepared a wormto smite the gourd and make it with-er. Then when the burning sun andthe vehement east wind tormentedJonah, he wished he could die.

When God asked him if his angerwas justified, he sneered, "l do wellto be angry, even unto death" (Jonah4:9). The book of Jonah ends withGod explaining to the sullen prophetthat everything had turned out well.

"Thou hast had pity on the gourd,for the which thou hast not laboured.neither madest it grow; which cameup in a night, and perished in a night:And should not I spare Nineveh, thatgreat city, wherein are more thansixscore thousand persons that can-not discern between their right andtheir left hand: and also much cat-t le?" (verses l0- l I ) .

Jonah had fulf i l led God's plan.The Creator didn't have to destroythe populous Assl'r ian capital. ButJonah ma1' never have gotten thepoint.

A lesson in trust

Jonah didn' t understand that Codreal l r loves al l mankind. not just Is-rael . God's ul t imate goal is to br ingal l humans into His fami ly. lsraelfa i led to pioneer in that respect.

True. God did use Assyria to carryIsrael's northern l0 tribes into cap-tivitf in 721 B.c. (to find out wherethose so'called "lost l0 tribes" went,write for our fascinating free booklettitled The Ltnited States and Britainin Prophecy). But Jonah failed to seeGod's overall plan. refused to believeGod could and would work every-thing out for the best and balked atdelivering the message God gavehim.

We must realize our insignificancecompared to God. We were createdto fulf i l l His wil l, and we wil l only behappy by'doing so cheerfully, not inan attitude of doubt and resentment( l Cor. l0:31, Rev. 4: l l ) . God'speople today have been given a mes-sage to deliver to a doomed world.And that message-mankind's ulti-mate hope-has far greater importthan did Jonah's announcement2.700 years ago.

Whether we're taking care of thelarge or small responsibilities in ourdaily lives or going forward in faithworldwide to announce the comingKingdom of God, we should under-stand that our calling is a great priv-i lege.

We must follow wherever andhowever God leads.

Then we won't be like Jonah, thereluctant prophet, who performed aunique mission for God but never ap-preciated his call ing. He didn't puthis heart into the work before him. Itwas Jonah, not God, who didn't knowwhat he was doing.

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B.C.) , about 50years after Gid-eon, God punishedIsrael at the handof the Philistines.He allotted the en-emy 40 years to exact tribute (Judg.l3: l ) .

But God also planned a deliverer.

Birth of Samson - a miracle

God chose to bring a champion outof the tribe of Dan. He sent an angelto visit the barren wife of a mannamed Manoah, promising her a son.She was warned, however, that dur-ing her pregnancy she should abstainfrom wine, strong drink and any un-clean food (Num. 6:2-8, Lev. I l), forthe child would be a Nazarite untoGod.

She was told that the youth shouldnever have his hair cut or his beardshaven: and he would grow up tochallenge the Philistines and begin tothrow off their yoke of oppression.

The woman immediately ran andtold her husband these things. But hewas skeptical. He prayed to God tosend the angel again, and Godobliged. This time, as before, the an-gel appeared to the woman. Sheasked.him to wait while she went andfound her husband. So the man thenheard the message with his ownears.

Manoah's wife conceived, just asthe angel had said, and bore a son.They called him Samson (meaning a"ray of sunshine"). And God waswith him from birth.

A Philistine brldeWhen Samson was about 20, he

went to Timnath, a city of the Philis-tines. There, infatuated by a beauti-ful young woman, he asked his par-ents to get her for his wife. But theydiscouraged him, saying he shouldmarry a girl of Israel.

God, however, intended to use thewoman to provoke Samson againstthe Philistines. And so the prepara-tion for marriage began.

On a subsequent trip to see hisfuture bride, Samson was attackedby a lion. Reacting suddenly to de-fend himself. he slew the animalwith his bare hands, as if it had

been a tiny lamb. No one couldhave been more surpr ised thanSamson. He kept the thing a secret,however, even from his parents, forhe knew the supernatural strengthmust have come from God.

Later. when vis i t ing the youngwoman again. he stopped to look atthe carcass of the l ion. He saw ithad been taken over by a swarm ofhoney-bees, and they had fi l led thechest cavity with honey. He tookout several pieces of the honeycomband saved some for his mother andfather. St i l l , he didn' t te l l themwhere he got it.

The wedding day arrived, andSamson's family made a feast at thebride's home. But when the Phil is-tines saw the intended groom - astranger with a mass of curled hair,accompanied by a host of relatives -they were suspicious of trouble andsent 30 young men to the banquetpretending to be guests.

Samson, a bit aggravated by theirpresence, challenged them with a rid-dle, "Out of the eater came forthfood, and out of the strong cameforth sweetness" (Judg. l4:14). Hegave them seven days to solve it. Ifthey failed, he would receive 30 shirtsand changes of clothing. If Samsonlost, he would furnish them each ashirt and change of clothing.

They agreed.Three days of the wedding feast

went by, and the young Phil istineshad no answer. On the seventh day,they became desperate to save face aswell as their shirts. They took thebride to one side and threatened toburn her and her father's house. ac-

bilk them out oftheir possessions.

Frightened, shepressured Samsonwith tears for theanswer. He re-

fused; but she persisted, saying hedidn't love her or else he would tellher. The seventh day of their honey-moon became an agonizing ha-rangue. Finally, toward sunset, hegave in and told her the answer.

She immediately passed it to theyoung men, and they triumphantlytold it to Samson.

He knew his wife had betrayedhim and simply replied: "If you hadnot plowed with my heifer, you wouldnot have solved my riddle" (versel8). Meaning, of course, they hadpressured the answer from his newwife.

God's spirit then directed him tothe Philistine city of Ashkelon, wherehe slew 30 men to avenge himself,taking their garments to pay his debt.Then he angrily went home to Israel,leaving his bride behind.

The rebellion begins

A few months later, having cooleddown, Samson took a gift and visitedhis wife's home, intending to solvetheir differences (Judg. l5:l). To hissurprise, he found his father-in-lawhad given her to another man.

Now he was really angry, especial-ly at the young men of Philistia. Hedecided to avenge himself by burningthe Philistines' grain fields, for it washarvest time.

He began by catching jackels(foxes). When he had 300, he tiedtheir tails together in pairs with alighted torch between them and sentthem running through the fields. Hisplan took considerable time, but thedamage was devastating.

The Philistines, hearing that Sam-son did this in anger because his wifehad been given to another, burnedthe young woman and her father toappease his wrath.

But this provoked Samson all themore. He slew many of them in ven-geance and then left for refuge inJudah.

By now the Philistines were inarms against him. They brought an

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army to Judah to take him captive.Fearful, the men of Judah talkedSamson into giving himself up andtook him bound to the Phil istines.

On the return to Phil istia, howev-er, God's spirit f i l led Samson withsupernatural strength. He broke hisbonds, picked up the fresh jawbone ofan ass and slew a thousand of hiscaptors. The rest fled in terror. Godthen gave him water to drink from acleft in a nearby rock.

This slaughter began a 2}-yearperiod when Samson single-handed-ly protected southern Israel againstthe Phil istines, The chain of eventsleading to this personal wrath were:Samson's attraction to the Phil istinegirl, an attacking l ion, the honey,the marriage, the riddle, the be-trayal of his answer, his anger, theloss of his wife. It is a remarkableexample of God's hand in humanaffairs.

Samson, grieved by his unfortu-nate experience with marriage, nevertook another wife. He began, instead,to seek the company of harlots, whichled to his ult imate downfall.

Once in Gaza, while he visited aharlot, the Phil istines locked the citygates, intending to wait and kil l himin the morning.

He knew their evil scheme, howev-er, and left the house at midnight. Inhis escape, he tore the heavy gates -posts and all - lrom the walls. car-ried them out of the city and stoodthem on a hil l facing toward Israel.

Del i lah

The woman who finally broughtSamson down was Deli lah (meaning"coquette"). She lived in a town onthe main highway between Israel andthe coast of Phil istia. She was beauti-ful, immoral and devil ish. But Sam-son loved her. Whether she was Isra-elite or Phil istine isn't known, anddoesn't matter, for her first loyaltywas to money.

She was offered 1,100 pieces ofsilver by the Phil istine elders if shecould find the source of Samson'sstrength (Judg. l6:5).

So with the promise of a generousreward, she appealed to his mascu-line ego and displayed a bondless cu-riosity about the source of his physi-cal power. She asked him, "Is thereanything you can be tied with thatyou cannot break?" He told her "sev-

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en leather bow strings, stil l wet"would hold him.

On his next visit, he fell asleep,and she bound him with new bowstrings. There were Philistines hidingbehind the curtains to see whatwould happen. She shouted, "Wakeup, Samson, there are Philistineshere!" And he broke the bonds likescorched thread.

Delilah pretended her feelingswere hurt. She chided him, saying,"You don't really love me or youwouldn't lie about your strength!"

This little game continued throughtwo more episodes. He told her rope,never used, would bind him. But thesame thing happened. Then he toldher if the seven locks of his head werewoven together his strength wouldleave. While he slept, she tried thisalso, but to no avail. Yet she keptwearing his resistance down with talkof mutual love and honesty.

Finally, just as his wife had wornhim down in his youth - pressinghim for the answer to his riddle -Delilah's feigned emotions and per-sistence paid off. Samson told her thetruth, and she knew he spoke thetruth from the heart. The strengthwas from God. but because he was aNazarite from birth. If his hair werecut. the vow would be broken and hisstrength lost.

Taken captiveDelilah immediately called for the

elders of Philistia, and they camewith the money. She induced Samsonto fall asleep on her knees and sum-moned a man to cut the seven locksfrom his head (evidently he had hishair divided into seven curls or braidsbecause of the great length). Thenshe tied his wrists and woke him asbefore. But God had left him, and hehad no strength.

He was taken captive. The Philis-tines plucked out his eyes and ledhim away to Gaza. There he was putinto prison and bound with brasschains to a gristmill - a humiliatingservitude for the champion of Is-rael.

But as Samson toiled day afterday, grinding grain and praying si-lently to God, the hairs of his headgrew back. The Philistines eitherdidn't notice or didn't think it posed athreat.

Then one day there was a great

celebration in honor of Dagon, thePhilistine fish god. All the lords ofPhilistia were gathered together -several thousand of the leading menand women. They praised Dagon forsubduing Samson and ridding themof their fiercest enemy. And whenthey were feeling especially festive,because of the wine, they insistedthat Samson be brought from theprison to entertain them. Theywanted to ridicule him publicly.

His final triumph

Samson was led into the courtyardby a young lad, and the crowd roaredits approval, mocking his humiliatingcondition. He was positioned on aplatform facing his audience on theground level, with 3,000 additionalspectators seated above them on theroof. They all ridiculed him, forcinghim to provide entertainment.

Samson knew the stage where hestood contained the support for theupper level, as this was a commonmethod of construction. But. notknowing where the pillars were, heasked the lad for permission to mo-mentarily rest against them. The boyunwittingly obliged. Upon feelingthem with his hands, Samson prayedto his Creator for renewed strength,repe ntant lor allowing Delilah tocome between himself and God.

Taking hold of the two pillars, heasked to be avenged of his eyes, will-ing to die with the Philistines. AndGod gave him strength.

In one last honorable effort. hebowed himself against the pillarswith all his might. They twisted,buckled and fell. The roof collapsedwith a roar, hur l ing the 3,000screaming spectators to their deaths,crushing those below.

Samson himself died beneath thefalling debris. But he killed more ofthe enemy on that one fateful daythan he had in all his previousyears.

His brethren, hearing what hadhappened, came and took his body.They buried it in the family sep-ulcher near his father. in his home-land.

He died at about age 43, havingjudged Israel for 20 years.

Samson was celebrated as a greatchampion in Israel; but more impor-tantly, an example of faith towardGod (Heb. I l:32), even to his death.

OldGstamcntPersonalitics

uring the time of the Judges,a man named Elimelech andhis wife Naomi left Israel to

dwell in Moab because of a famine.They had two sons, Mahlon andChi l ion.

Now God had preserved Moabfrom the armies of Israel in the day'sof Moses and Joshua. because Moabwas the inheritance of Lot. the neph-ew of Abraham. And though KingBalak hired Balaam to curse Israel.sti l l Israel didn't f ight against them.The Moabites had long ago rejectedthe God of Abraham and Lot, how-

ruTHever, and worshiped the false godsChemosh and Baal.

But after Joshua's generation haddied, Moab's fat King Eglon exactedtribute from Israel through militaryforce (Judges 3). He and his armyheld the upper hand for l8 years, un-til God raised up Ehud to defeatthem in battle (Judges 3:30) about1350 B.C.

Now, once again, there was a de-gree of peace, and Elimelech wasable to leave Bethlehem, Judah, andlive in this neighboring country eastof the Dead Sea without fear of ill

t reatment f rom i ts inhabi tants.However, before long he died,

leaving Naomi alone with her twoteenage sons. And in spite of carefulupbringing by Naomi, they fell inlove and marr ied Moabite gir ls,which was contrary to God's instruc-tions for Israel. Mahlon marriedRuth (meaning a 'woman friend').Chilion married Orpah.

More family tragedy

But tragedy struck the familytwice more. Both of the sons died.

Naomi, in her grief, decided she

should return to Bethlehem. For thefamily had been gone more thanl0 years, and the famine was over.

In spite of hardships, Naomi hadset her daughters-in-law a wonderfulexample of courage, faith and obe-dience to her God. They loved herdearly. And when she set out toleave, they were so concerned for herwelfare they decided to go with her toIsrael.

Naomi advised them to stayamong their own people, saying shecouldn't provide either of them withanother son of marrying age, andthey would surely find happinesswith a new husband in Moab.

Ruth leaves her homeland

Finally, after much embracing andmany tears, Orpah heeded her moth-er-in-law's advice and returned to herpeople and her gods. But Ruthwouldn't be persuaded. She spokethose now famous words that meltedNaomi's heart: ". . . Entreat me notto leave you, or to return from follow-ing after you: for wherever you go, Iwil l go; and where you lodge, I wil llodge: your people shal l be mypeople, and your God my God"(Ruth I ;16, paraphrased).

Naomi saw Ruth's conviction andsimply stopped trying to change theyoung woman's mind. They contin-ued on to Bethlehem, intending tolive together on the family parcel ofland.

Once inside the city, the townsfolkcould hardly believe their eyes. "Wasthis real ly Naomi?" Having lef tBethlehem more than l0 years be-fore, with a husband, two sons andsome financial means, she now re-turned a weary, impoverished womanwith a Moabite daughter- in- law.This was anything but a triumphantreturn.

She said, "Call me not Naomi[meaning pleasant], call me Mara[bitter]: for the Almighty has dealtvery bitterly with me. I went out full,and the Lord has brought me homeagain empty" (verses 20-21).

Gleaning bar ley

They had returned to Bethlehemabout harvest time, and since theyhad no food, Ruth volunteered to gointo the fields and glean grain. Itwas the law in Israel that some ofthe crop should be lef t by the

10

threshers in the field for the poor(Levi t icus l9:9-10).

So she took her place with thepoor, following after the reapers,stripping the kernels of barley off thescattered stalks left lying in thefields. By pure chance (or was it di-vine direction?), she entered a por-tion of land that belonged to Boaz, arelative of Elimelech.

Boaz was in Bethlehem at thetime. but when he returned he imme-diately spotted her as a stranger andinquired of his foreman who shewas.

Upon learning this was Naomi'sdaughter-in-law, and knowing of thehardships they had suffered, he wentover and welcomed her to his field. Infact, he told her not to glean in anyother field. He suggested she stayamong his own workers for protec-tion. She could drink from his welland glean all she wanted.

Bowing, she asked why such favor.And Boaz told her he had learned ofher hardship, of her loyalty to Naomiand her courage in leaving her ownpeople to become one of Israel. Healso expressed his confidence that theGod of Israel, whom she had come totrust, would reward her for her ac-tions.

Ruth humbly thanked him forshowing such kindness to a foreign-er.

Then Boaa without letting on thathe was a near relative of her deadhusband. invited her to eat the noonmeal with his reapers. This unprece-dented hospitality showed the work-ers that Ruth, though a poor widow,was someone special to Boaz.

She ate, but carefully saved a por-tion for Naomi. And when she re-turned to the field, Boaz instructedhis reapers to purposely leave stalksof grain for her handfuls -and to let her glean among thesheaves if she chose.

Naomi gets an idea

Ruth worked until evening, thenthreshed out her grain - nearly abushel! She took it home to Naomi,along with the food from lunch.

Surprised at Ruth's good fortune,Naomi asked where she had gleaned.And when told the field belonged toBoaz, she exclaimed: "May Godbless him, for he had not forgotten tobe kind to both the livine and the

dead! . . . the man is a relative to us,one who has the right to redeem"(Ruth 2:20). For in Israel, if a mandied without legal male heirs, thenext of kin had the first right to pur-chase (redeem) his dead relative'sproperty to keep it in the family. Ifthe relative left a widow and no maleheirs, his close kinsman was expectedto take the woman for his own wifeand raise up a legal heir for his deadbrother (Deuteronomy 25:5-6).

So Naomi, when she saw the spe-cial consideration Boaz had shownRuth, began to sense that God waspossibly working something out intheir favor. She told Ruth to continuein the fields of Boaz, working along-side his maidens. She wanted him toget better acquainted with Ruth, tosee that she was a hard-working, vir-tuous and physically attractive youngwoman.

Ruth, always careful to be a goodpupil, followed Naomi's advice faith-fully. She gleaned with the otherwomen in Boaz's field continuallyunti l the reaping was over. They un-doubtedly saw one another often, inthe fields and at the noon meal.

A proposal for marriage

By the end of the harvest, Naomiwas convinced Boaz had more thanjust a passing interest in Ruth. Yet,he had taken no action toward re-deeming the property and wife ofMahlon, her dead son. Naomi proba-bly reasoned that his age held himback. For Ruth was much younger.Boaz, being a considerate man, prob-ably felt she deserved a younger hus-band.

Naomi, however, felt sure thatwith the proper encouragement Boazwouldn't hesitate. She contrived aplan. She knew Boaz was workinglate at the threshing floor, and thismight afford just the right opportuni-ty to nudge him toward marriage.

She took Ruth aside and had amother-daughter talk. She explainedher concern for the young woman,telling her she should be married andhave the security of a home, a familyand children. She also told her howthis might be accomplished, rehears-ing for Ruth the laws of redemptionin Israel. She had observed Ruth'sgreat respect for Boaz over the pastweeks and asked her what shethought of becoming his wife.

Ruth evidently had no objection.Naomi told her to bathe, put on

perfume and her best clothing and goto the threshing floor. There she wasto remain hidden unti l Boaz hadstopped his work and had finished hismeal and wine. He would then makea place to sleep on the straw, for dur-ing the threshing season he workedlong hours and didn't bother goinghome at night.

After he fell asleep, Ruth was togo and lie at his feet, covering herselfwith the edge of his blanket. Naomiassured her that this was symbolic ofhis rights as a near relative and wasproper in every respect. Boaz wouldknow what to do from there.

Ruth left and did all that Naomisaid. She quietly slipped under theblanket at Boaz's feet, careful not toawaken him. He had drunk a goodportion of wine and had gone to bedfeeling merry after a long day's work.He was sleeping soundly.

About midnight, however, heawoke, frightened by the sudden re-alization that someone was sharinghis bed. He gathered his thoughtsand sat up. Then, peering at the formnear his feet, he realized it was awoman.

"Who," he asked, "are you?"Ruth repl ied, " I 'm Ruth your

humble servant: spread your protec-tion over me as your husband, forthat is your right as a next of kin"(Ruth 3:9).

Boaz was elated and deeply im-pressed. He said, "Blessed are you ofthe Eternal, young woman; you haveshown more kindness now than at thebeginning, for you haven't sought ahusband among the young men."Boaz immediately recognized thiswas a request to raise up an heir forNaomi to keep the line of Elimelechalive in Israel, but he also knew itwas a demonstration of Ruth's affec-tion for him.

He told her, however, there was arelative of even closer relation toElimelech, who had a greater rightthan himsel f . I f that re lat ivewouldn't exercise his right, then cer-tainly Boaz would. He would settlethe issue before the city elders, forthey knew by her example that shewas a virtuous woman

He told her to lie at his feet andrest unti l early morning, then sheshould slip away before the workers

arrived to avoid possible gossip abouta woman being at the threshing floorall night.

So at daybreak they arose. Hegave her all the barley she could car-ry and sent her home to Naomi. Hewaited to instruct the workers aboutthe day's chores, then left for Bethle-hem to settle the business regardingthe family of Elimelech.

Boaz buys a wife

Ruth was anxious, as you mightwell imagine. For she hadn't knownabout the other kinsman. Who washe? What kind of man was he? Therewas a possibility she might end theday married to a man she had neverseen. But because of her fine charac-ter and concern for her mother-in-law, she was willing to do what wasrequired to furnish the family anheir .

Naomi told her to sit down and re-lax. There was nothing to do but waitpatiently. Boaz, she knew, wouldn'trest until the business was settled.

Now it was custom for the men ofIsrael to conduct such business insidethe main city gate. Here, in the pres-ence of respected witnesses, contractswere made, debts paid, proclama-tions delivered and important eventsdiscussed. Here is where Boazwaited, watching for the other nearrelative to Elimelech.

When he saw him. he hailed himand mentioned there was business todiscuss. He also gathered l0 respon-sible men who sat down to witnessthe proceedings.

Then Boaz explained that Naomi,the widow of Elimelech, had no heirsand now wished to sell her land. Thenear kinsman had the first right, butif he chose not to exercise the privi-lege, Boaz would. The kinsman, how-ever, was quick to want the purchasefor his own family. Since Naomi waspast the childbearing age, he sup-posed he wouldn't be obligated to fa-ther an heir in Elimelech's name. Thenhis own sons could inherit the land.

But Boaz continued, explainingthat Naomi's sons had been heirs tothe land but died without children,leaving Ruth, the Moabitess, a wid-ow to raise up a son in the familyname. Therefore, the kinsman mustalso take Ruth as a wife for that pur-pose.

At this bit of news. the kinsman

immediately changed his mind. Whyshould he pay for land that wouldrevert back to the inheritance of an-other family, especially through ason that would be half his own bloodand half Moabite? It simply didn'tappeal to him. He had his reasons, ofcourse, but they were primarily self-ish ones.

Boaz then proclaimed before thewitnesses that he would buy the land.As kinsman with the legal right, hewould also take Ruth for a wife toraise up an heir for her dead hus-band. So the kinsman took off hisshoe, a custom that acknowledgedthe agreement. The elders pro-nounced the matter finished and pro-nounced a blessing on Ruth, sayingGod should give her children whowould be honorable to Boaz and allBethlehem.

A son is born

Boaz was a happy man with a hap-py bride. And God blessed her with afirstborn son.

Naomi no longer felt the reproachof having no heir for her husband.She looked upon the child as her own,caring for him as a nurse.

The women of Bethlehem praisedNaomi and her daughter-in-law andblessed the infant son, saying, "mayhis name become famous in Israel."They named him Obed, meaningserving.

And God did bless Obed. For helater had a son named Jesse, the fa-ther of King David. This was the l ineof Judah that formed the legal gene-alogy of Christ. It was preserved dur-ing this period of history by the mar-riage of Boaz to Ruth, a foreignerfrom Moab. Boaz himself was halfCanaanite. His father was Salmon ofJudah and his mother was Rahab, awoman of great faith who in heryouth had been a harlot at Jericho(Joshua 6:25, Matthew l :5) .

Ruth, though a foreigner to Israel,was a beautiful example of virtue, hu-mility and service to the true God. Forthese fine qualities, she has often beencited as a type of what God's Churchought to be like - willing to forsakeidolatrous kindred and lands to em-brace and serve the only true God.God, in turn, has repeatedly shownthat His blessings for such faith andactions will surpass one's greatest ex-pectations.

11

Old Gstament Personalities

I bout the time of Adam's death,fl the earth was experiencing a

4 I great population explosion.With life spans of eight hundred andnine hundred years, people could pro-duce dozens ofchildren during a nor-mal lifetime of marriage.

The natural death rate was low aswell. Adam's was the first recordednatural death, and that was 930 yearsafter creation. Anyone who can dosimple multiplication will concludethat there could easily have been morethan a bill ion people inhabiting theearth within the first thousand years.There were probably more.

But now the sad part. Wickednesswas multiplying just as fast as thepopulation. Most everyone had re-jected the commandments of the trueGod and disregarded any code ofmoral conduct.

An age of evll

By the end of another 1,300 yearsthe population had mushroomed;andmankind had sunk to new lows ofdepravity and corruption.

Evil men wrought havoc with eachother, being especially brutal to theposterity of Seth. Among his off-spring were a line of righteous men

(about 250 years after creation) whodedicated themselves to serving God,even though surrounded on every sideby wickedness (Gen. 4:26).

The most notable was Enoch (Gen.5:24), whose righteous example infu-riated the wicked. God may have res-cued Enoch out of this turbulence tosave him from a violent death at thehands of his enemies, for "God tookhim."

Genesis 6:2 tells us, however, thateven this righteous line of Seth even-tually gave in to the corruptionaround them. They began to marrywomen outside their faith and soon

The building of Noah's massive ark re-quired large amounts of t imber.

All earth's air-breathing l ite perished, ex-cept lhe ark's precious cargo.

Noah sutfered harassment and ridicule lormaking the great ship.

Hrrecl cratlsren wse .rocaai€Or ^eaes-sary lor the 5oai s ::-s?it'}-

The ark ran aground on Mt. Ararat aflerfive months on the waters

The work went on tor decades - whilelhe world relused to repeni.

A dove Noah sent out returned with anolive branch.

g

:

sNoah had to caremenagerie.

his ship's

were absorbed into the perverse so-ciety, totally losing sight of God andHis law of love.

It's important to note that this pre-flood society was not comprised of aragtag generation ofcave dwellers. Ithad, to the contrary, become some-what sophisticated.

Music, literature, art and architec-ture were quite advanced. Variousmetal-working skills were also prac-ticed (Gen. 4:22).The people knew agreat deal about physical things, buthad utterly rejected spiritual knowl-edge.

God, in reviewing the terrible stateof affairs, was momentarily sorry Hehad ever created the human race(Gen. 6:6). He determined to givemankind I 20 years to repent enmasse or be destroyed (verse 3).

Then, seeing they refused tochange, He decided to do just that -destroy the entire perverted society,both man and beast. in a flood.

Yet God did find one righteousman - Noah. the ninth descendant

from Adam through Seth. Noahwalked with God, following in thefootsteps of righteous Enoch, hisgreat-grandfather. And God ex-tended him mercy.

Noah found grace

Little is mentioned of Noah untilhe reached the age of 500 years.Then he had three sons - Shem,Ham and Japheth. There is no state-ment to identify any of these sons asNoah's firstborn, which leads tospeculation that he may have hadother children earlier - possiblysons who became wicked themselvesor fell victim to violence. Josephusstates that Noah at one point fearedfor his life and fled from his landwith his wife and children. (TfteAntiquities of the "/ews, Book I,Chapter III).

So it was this family - Noah, hiswife and his sons and their wives.eight persons in all - that Goddecided to spare. And this, becauseof Noah's righteousness.

God spoke directly to Noah, tell-ing him of His decision to destroywickedness from the earth. He toldhim to build a great ship throughwhich his family and all birds andmammals would be saved alive whileGod covered the earth with a flood.

God said that Noah wouldn't haveto go looking for the animals, for theywould come to him (Gen. 6:20), buthe would have to provide quantitiesof food and grain.

Preparing the ark

Skeptics have claimed the arkcouldn't possibly hold all those ani-mals and provisions, but simple factproves otherwise, for the average sizeof the animal kingdom is roughlythat of a medium-sized dog. Therewas plenty of room for everything,including waste. The physical dimen-sions alone stagger the imagination:450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feethigh. It had three decks totalingmore than 2Vz acres of surface, andits capacity in volume exceeded 1.5

The ark was des,gnej to noid numerousprovrsrons arso

A year and 10 days alter the flood beganthe earth was again dry

God caused the animals to come lo Noahand board the shio.

Noah s unusual passengers disembarkedto reoooulate the earth

Peoole were lerrorskicken when Noah'sprediction came lrue.

Noah offered sacrif ices of thanksgiving toGod

God caused it to rain lor 40 days and 40ni9hts.

The rainbow symbolized God's promise tonever again deslroy all l iving things

million cubic feet. That's equivalentto 175 modest one-bedroom apart-ments!

Building the ark, then, was not asimple undertaking. Until the lasthundred years, it was the largestoceangoing vessel ever constructed.Considering that all the work wasdone without the help of modernequipment, it must have taken Noahand his sons - undoubtedly with theaid of hired laborers and craftsmen- several decades to build and outfitit with supplies. Some suspect it mayhave taken the full 120 years thatGod had allotted mankind.

Certainly Noah suffered an im-mense amount of harassment andridicule for building a great ship inthe middle of a dry field. But whenthe crowds gathered to jeer, he prob-ably took the opportunity to warnthem of how God viewed theirwicked society and remind them thattheir 120 years of grace was runningout. For Noah was a preacher ofrighteousness (II Pet. 2:5).

He also must have possessed con-siderable resources and wealth. asenormous quantities of timber, build-ing supplies and foodstuffs - pluslabor - had to be purchased orobtained by barter. Yet, his wealthshouldn't surprise us. God demon-strates time and again throughoutthe Bible how He physically blessedthose who humbly served Him.

The great flood

The preparation was finally fin-ished, and God told Noah to take hisfamily and enter the ark. Seven dayslater, in the 600th year of Noah'slife, it began to rain (c. 2370 B.C.).

This may have been the first rainever, as God had previously wateredthe earth with a mist (Gen. 2:5-6).He may have withheld rain as a partof the curse He placed on the land(Gen. 3:17) to inhibit easy growingof crops. For Lamech, the father ofNoah, prophesied that Noah would"comfort us concerning our work andtoil of our hands, because of theground which the Lord hath cursed"(Gen. 5:29). The name Noah meanscomfort.

So God began to erase the curse onthe land, but with a temporary actionmuch more devastating. Lamechdied before the rains came, butNoah's grandfather, ancient Methu-

14

selah, evidently died the same year asthe flood at 969 years of age - theoldest age recorded in the Bible.

It rained for 40 days and nights,during which time water also burstforth from great crevasses in theearth - called "fountains of thegreat deep." The flooding continuedunt i l water covered the highestmountain to a depth of 22 feet (Gen.7:19-20). All air-breathing life wasdestroyed except for the precious car-go on the ark.

After 150 days, the waters sub-sided sufficiently for the ark to runaground on Mt. Ararat in present-day Turkey. Noah and his familyhad been in the ark exactly fivemonths.

About 2/z months later, othermountain tops began to appear.Noah waited another 40 days, thensent out a raven and a dove to see ifthey would find dry ground in thevalleys below. But, finding no rest,they returned. Seven days later adove was sent again, and this timereturned with an olive branch.

Noah waited another seven days.Then, after sending out a dove thatdidn't come back, he removed a por-tion of the covering from the ark andlooked out at the dry ground. It wasnow one full year and l0 days sincethe beginning of the flood. And Godspoke from heaven, saying it wastime to disembark.

Once off the ark. Noah immedi-ately built an altar to God and of-fered sacrifices of every clean birdand animal (those fit for food). AndGod smelled the savor of the offeringand appreciated Noah's attitude ofthanksgiving and his acknowledge-ment of human frailty and sin.

Then God made a promise toNoah that He would never againcurse the ground or destroy all livingthings (Gen. 8:21). He told them tobe fruitful and repopulate the earth.He granted them rule over the ani-mal kingdom (Gen. 9:2), and He alsoestablished the death penalty for thesin of murder (verse 6).

Then God set a rainbow in the skyas a sign of His agreement not toflood the earth again (verse l3). Andso today, when we receive rain, weare also reminded of that assuranceby the rainbow.

Noah and his sons found them-selves in a fresh new world with plen-

ty of opportunity, along with plentyof work. They began to farm the landfor food, using seeds and plant cut-tings brought with them through theflood.

A curse on Canaan

As the years passed, Shem, Hamand Japheth each had several sonsand daughters, and once again therewas a working, thriving, small com-munity of people on the earth. Butthis new society was no better thanthe first. God well knew "the imagi-nation of man's heart is evil from hisyouth" (Gen. 8:21). And Noah, if hehadn't suspected how fast thingscould degenerate, was soon to findout - through Ham's youngest son,Canaan.

After the grape harvest and wine-making was over one fall, Noah wasguilty of celebrating a bit too much.He became drunk from the wine andpassed out in his tent, probably in thecompany of Canaan, his grandson.Later, Ham entered the tent andfound Noah alone, but lying nakedon the bed. He immediately toldShem and Japheth, who coveredtheir father with a blanket (Gen,9:23).

When Noah awoke out of his stu-por, he realized what his grandsonhad done to him (some sort of sexualdishonor) and placed a curse on Ca-naan and his descendants. He gaveShem the birthright and declaredthat Canaan would be a servant toboth Shem and Japheth. And true tohis prophetic blessing - and curse- Shem's future descendants (Is-rael) conquered and enslaved theprogeny of Canaan at the hand ofJoshua.

Noah lived for 350 years after theflood, making him 950 years old atdeath. During this time he probablyset the first nine chapters of the bookof Genesis in order, having broughtthe creation record (compiled byAdam) and the family genealogicalrecords through the flood, and per-sonally wrote the chapters pertainingto the preflood and deluge periods.

Noah was greatly beloved of God- a rare man. who had walked withGod in two different worlds (pre- andpostflood). He bridged those worldsin an ark of gopher wood and died apowerful example of faith and obe-dience to his Creator.