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The Israelites drifted away from the Lord again, and the Philistines began to harass and hurt them. The Lord blessed a childless couple with the birth of a son named Samson. The Lord told Samson’s parents that Samson was to live by a vow (promise) never to cut his hair or drink any alcohol. He would be a Judge of Israel and have special strength from God. Samson kept the vow, and as he grew up, his strength became well-known throughout the land.

Bible verses used in this episode:

Judges 13-15

Outline:

1.           The birth of Samson (Judges 13:1-24)

2.           Samson marries a Philistine woman (Judges 14:1-20)

3.           Samson begins fighting the Philistines (Judges 15:1-20)

Tips for teaching children:

• Since the story is about a strong Samson, at the beginning of class, have the children do some arm wrestling.  Pair them up evenly according to their relative strength.  
• Another thing to do at the beginning of class is to let the children eat a spoonful of honey and tell them that in the story today, there will be some honey. 
• For a review activity, you can hand out paper and ask the children to draw and colour one of the scenes from the story.  When they are finished, have the other children guess which part of the story this is.  Additionally, you could have them retell that part of the story.

Tips for teaching adults:

• Divide the class up into three groups.  Tell each group to read Judges 13-15.  Give them a set of questions to answer after they read the text.  You can find a set of review questions on the Missions Bible Class website.  Here’s the link: https://missionbibleclass.org/old-testament/part2/judges-and-ruth/birth-of-samson/  Give each group about 20 minutes to read the text and answer the questions.
• After this bring the groups together asking for answers to each question.  As a teacher, you can decide how each group is to give their answers to the questions.
• To conclude, lead a discussion on what they learned about God in these chapters and what they learned about Samson.  Help the group consider the following:
  • Do you ever struggle with some of the things Samson struggled with? 
  • How have you handled these struggles?  
  • Give people time to formulate their answers.

Full teaching instructions free from Mission Bible Class:

Bible Lesson:  The Birth of Samson

Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.

Excerpts from Mission Bible Class used by permission.

Music: Upbeat Positive Culture (Acoustic Corporate Travel Promo Christian Rock), Individual License, Stock Media provided by HumansWin, pond5.com

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