WAIT… THAT’S IN THE BIBLE? — DAY 42
A lighthearted look at some of the wonderfully unexpected things you discover when you actually read your Bible context still matters!
Judges 15:4–5
“So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines.”
Wait.
Back up.
HE CAUGHT 300 FOXES?!
I have questions.
So many questions.
Because before Samson could tie them together
HE HAD TO CATCH THEM.
Not three.
Not thirty.
THREE. HUNDRED. FOXES.
I can’t get past this part.
SAMSON’S TO-DO LIST
Fox #1: Caught.
Fox #2: Caught.
Samson:
“Great. Only 298 to go.”
At fox number 147, surely you’d be sitting there thinking:
“There HAS to be an easier way to do this.”
And where exactly are you keeping the foxes you’ve already caught?!
Modern reader:
“Samson, what exactly is your plan?”
Samson:
“I’m going to need 300 foxes.”
Modern reader:
“That answered absolutely nothing.”
And somehow he eventually has all 300.
Then he pairs them up.
Ties their tails together.
Attaches torches.
Lights them.
And releases them into the Philistine fields.
I HAVE READ SOME UNUSUAL BIBLE STORIES…
BUT THIS ONE HAS LOGISTICAL QUESTIONS.
CONTEXT REALLY MATTERS WITH THIS ONE!
As funny as the mental picture can sound to modern readers, the situation surrounding it wasn’t funny.
Judges 15 is part of an escalating conflict between Samson and the Philistines.
Samson discovers that his wife has been given to another man. Furious, he retaliates against the Philistines by destroying their grain, vineyards and olive groves.
The retaliation doesn’t stop there. What follows becomes increasingly violent as one act of revenge leads to another.
So Scripture isn’t giving us “Samson’s Guide to Creative Pest Control.”
It’s showing us part of a much bigger and increasingly destructive conflict during Israel’s oppression by the Philistines.
But I still can’t get past one detail
300 FOXES.
Because the Bible tells us what Samson did.
It does NOT tell us
HOW ON EARTH HE CAUGHT THEM ALL.
Maybe that’s a question for eternity:
“Samson, before anything else
THE FOXES.
HOW?!”
Sometimes the Bible leaves us with theological questions.
Sometimes historical questions.
And sometimes
YOU JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW ONE MAN CAUGHT 300 FOXES.
Context still matters!
A lighthearted look at some of the wonderfully unexpected things you discover when you actually read your Bible context still matters!
Judges 15:4–5
“So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines.”
Wait.
Back up.
HE CAUGHT 300 FOXES?!
I have questions.
So many questions.
Because before Samson could tie them together
HE HAD TO CATCH THEM.
Not three.
Not thirty.
THREE. HUNDRED. FOXES.
I can’t get past this part.
SAMSON’S TO-DO LIST
Fox #1: Caught.
Fox #2: Caught.
Samson:
“Great. Only 298 to go.”
At fox number 147, surely you’d be sitting there thinking:
“There HAS to be an easier way to do this.”
And where exactly are you keeping the foxes you’ve already caught?!
Modern reader:
“Samson, what exactly is your plan?”
Samson:
“I’m going to need 300 foxes.”
Modern reader:
“That answered absolutely nothing.”
And somehow he eventually has all 300.
Then he pairs them up.
Ties their tails together.
Attaches torches.
Lights them.
And releases them into the Philistine fields.
I HAVE READ SOME UNUSUAL BIBLE STORIES…
BUT THIS ONE HAS LOGISTICAL QUESTIONS.
CONTEXT REALLY MATTERS WITH THIS ONE!
As funny as the mental picture can sound to modern readers, the situation surrounding it wasn’t funny.
Judges 15 is part of an escalating conflict between Samson and the Philistines.
Samson discovers that his wife has been given to another man. Furious, he retaliates against the Philistines by destroying their grain, vineyards and olive groves.
The retaliation doesn’t stop there. What follows becomes increasingly violent as one act of revenge leads to another.
So Scripture isn’t giving us “Samson’s Guide to Creative Pest Control.”
It’s showing us part of a much bigger and increasingly destructive conflict during Israel’s oppression by the Philistines.
But I still can’t get past one detail
300 FOXES.
Because the Bible tells us what Samson did.
It does NOT tell us
HOW ON EARTH HE CAUGHT THEM ALL.
Maybe that’s a question for eternity:
“Samson, before anything else
THE FOXES.
HOW?!”
Sometimes the Bible leaves us with theological questions.
Sometimes historical questions.
And sometimes
YOU JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW ONE MAN CAUGHT 300 FOXES.
Context still matters!
WAIT… THAT’S IN THE BIBLE? — DAY 42
A lighthearted look at some of the wonderfully unexpected things you discover when you actually read your Bible context still matters!
Judges 15:4–5
“So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines.”
Wait.
Back up.
HE CAUGHT 300 FOXES?!
I have questions.
So many questions.
Because before Samson could tie them together
HE HAD TO CATCH THEM.
Not three.
Not thirty.
THREE. HUNDRED. FOXES.
I can’t get past this part.
SAMSON’S TO-DO LIST
Fox #1: Caught.
Fox #2: Caught.
Samson:
“Great. Only 298 to go.”
At fox number 147, surely you’d be sitting there thinking:
“There HAS to be an easier way to do this.”
And where exactly are you keeping the foxes you’ve already caught?!
Modern reader:
“Samson, what exactly is your plan?”
Samson:
“I’m going to need 300 foxes.”
Modern reader:
“That answered absolutely nothing.”
And somehow he eventually has all 300.
Then he pairs them up.
Ties their tails together.
Attaches torches.
Lights them.
And releases them into the Philistine fields.
I HAVE READ SOME UNUSUAL BIBLE STORIES…
BUT THIS ONE HAS LOGISTICAL QUESTIONS.
CONTEXT REALLY MATTERS WITH THIS ONE!
As funny as the mental picture can sound to modern readers, the situation surrounding it wasn’t funny.
Judges 15 is part of an escalating conflict between Samson and the Philistines.
Samson discovers that his wife has been given to another man. Furious, he retaliates against the Philistines by destroying their grain, vineyards and olive groves.
The retaliation doesn’t stop there. What follows becomes increasingly violent as one act of revenge leads to another.
So Scripture isn’t giving us “Samson’s Guide to Creative Pest Control.”
It’s showing us part of a much bigger and increasingly destructive conflict during Israel’s oppression by the Philistines.
But I still can’t get past one detail
300 FOXES.
Because the Bible tells us what Samson did.
It does NOT tell us
HOW ON EARTH HE CAUGHT THEM ALL.
Maybe that’s a question for eternity:
“Samson, before anything else
THE FOXES.
HOW?!”
Sometimes the Bible leaves us with theological questions.
Sometimes historical questions.
And sometimes
YOU JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW ONE MAN CAUGHT 300 FOXES.
Context still matters!
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