Although the congregation was instructed not to set up idols or make trophies to worship, in this chapter a whole shrine is set up as a place of worship and draws a Levite to it as priest.

Samson’s tragic end after being repeatedly betrayed by yet another lover.

When Samson gets mad he rages with supernatural strength and massacres his enemies, then all but demands the Lord who gave him victory also give him a drink; and gets it!

Samson, strong in spirit and in strength but apparently not in matters of the heart, marries a foreign woman (as did many of the forefathers), and it goes bad FAST!

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus uses parables to help us understand what the kingdom of God is like. In this chapter, Jesus uses agricultural parables to explain the one thing God doesn’t know and how God finds it out.

Super strong Samson and his family are introduced in this chapter. His birth announced by an angel with special instructions for his diet and lifestyle before he’s even born. Her husband seems to reflect on when Moses has a divine encounter in Exodus 33: 20 about seeing the face of the Lord carrying a death sentence with it.

In one of the most outlandish displays of patriarchy, a virgin female is used as a bargaining chip by her father with God in exchange for victory in battle & then offered as a human sacrifice!

This is a short chapter reviewing others who rose to power and died after the era of Moses & Joshua.

The various leaders of the congregation rise & fall, and the people revert to idolatry and worshipping other deities, repeatedly.

Could this be the “spell” to make God appear??