Elonda’s summary of Judges 16-18

Judges 16-18
Chp 16 Samson and Deliliah
After the death of Joshua, God raised up judges to lead and governor the Israelites. Samson was one of those judges and served for 20 years against the Philistines.  He was from the tribe of Dan and a Nazirite.
 
Nazarite --- one dedicated to the special service of God, usually through a vow of abstinence from strong drink, from shaving or cutting the hair, and from contact with a dead body.
 
Now, before Samson was conceived in the womb, his mother was visited by an angel who told her that her son was to be a Nazirite and that his head was never to be shaved.  For he possessed extraordinary physical strength which was due to his hair. 
One day Samson met a Philistine woman by the name of Delilah and fell in love.  As time goes on, eventually, Delilah is approached by local offices and accepts a bribe which in return she would reveal the secret of Samson’s strength.
 
 Delilah asked Samson on numerous occasions the source of his strength, and he gave her different answers. She continued to inquire of him daily and he finally told her that shaving his head would make him weak.  Upon one occasion as Samson was sleeping,
Delilah had his hair cut and betrayed him. He was captured, blinded, and imprisoned by the Philistines.
 
The ruler of the Philistines gathered to offer a sacrifice to Dagon their god rejoicing saying “our god has delivered Samson into our hands. While they were celebrating, they brought Samson out to perform for them.  As Samson stood among the crowd between the two pillars of the temple, he asked the Lord for strength one more time, which God granted.  As he pressed against the pillars, the entire temple collapsed and all those that were there including Samson died.
 
Ch 17 Micah
Micah, who was from the tribe of Ephraim, steals silver from his mother and after confessing to his mother what he had done, she returns a portion of the silver back to him. He in turns have an image made and displays it in his home along with other idols which turns into a shrine.  He decides to appoint one of his sons as priest --- because Israel had no kings at this time, so everyone did as they pleased. 
 
As a young Levite was traveling to a destined land, he encounters Micah and is invited to his home to reside and become his priest. Since the Levites was residing in his home, Micah felt that “the Lord was with him.”
 
In Chp 18, the tribe of Danites were seeking a place to settle because they had not yet received their inheritance.  They select five of their leading men to go and spy out the land. While on their journey, they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the Levite.  They asked why he was there.  He spoke of what Micah had done for him.  they asked him to go before the Lord and inquire whether they journey would be successful.  He affirmed that it would. They continued and come to the land of Laish.  Upon returning to their home, they give a report that the land is good to conquer. Armed with 600 warriors they proceed to conquer Laish.  As they pass near Micah’s house again, they five spies enters to visit with Levite and decide to steal Micah’s idols.  They convinced the Levite to go along with them and become their priest. They encounter Micah and a group of men who tries to overtake the Danites in order to get his idols back but the Danites were to0 powerful.  The Danites conquer Laish and settled there.  With no king or judges, they continued to do as they pleased.

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