this festival of Unleavened Bread, for it will remind you that I brought your forces out of the land of Egypt on this very day. This festival will be a permanent regulation for you, to be kept from generation to generation.”
“Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron during the night. ‘Leave us!’ he cried. ‘Go away, all of you! Go and serve the LORD as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, and be gone. God, but give me a blessing as you leave. All the Egyptians urged the people of Israel to get out of the land as quickly as possible, for they thought ‘We will all die!”
Lord remember me again
Samson
“The angel of the LORD replied, ‘Be sure your wife follows the instructions I gave her. She must not eat grapes or raisins, drink wine or any other alcoholic drink, or eat any forbidden food’. Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, ‘Please stay here until we can prepare a young goat for you to eat’ ‘I will stay’ the angel of the LORD replied, ‘but I will not eat anything. However, you may prepare a burnt offering as sacrifice to the LORD’. (Manoah didn’t realize it was the angel of the LORD). Then Manoah asked the angel of the LORD. ‘What is your name? For when all this comes true, we want to honor you’. ‘Why do you ask my name?’ the angel of the LORD replied. ‘You wouldn’t understand if I told you’. Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered it on a rock as a sacrifice to the LORD. And as Manoah and his wife watched, the LORD did an amazing thing. As the flames from the altar shot up toward the sky, the angel of the LORD ASCENDED IN THE FIRE. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell with their faces to the ground.”
“So the philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he has bound with bronze chains and made to grind grain in the prison. But before long his hair began to grow back. The philistine leaders held a great festival, offering sacrifices and praising their god, Dagon. They said, ‘Our god has given us victory over our enemy Samson! When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying ‘Our god has delivered our enemy to us! The one who killed so many of us in now in our power! | Half drunk by now, the people demanded, ‘bring out Samson so he can perform for us!’ So he was brought from the prison and made to stand at the center of the temple, between the two pillars supporting the roof. Samson said to the servant who was leading him by the hand, ‘place my hands against the two pillars. I want to rest against them!’ The temple was completely filled with people. All the philistine leaders were there, and there were about three thousand on the roof who were watching Samson and making fun of him. | Then Samson prayed to the LORD, ‘Sovereign LORD remember me again. O God, please strengthen me one more time so that I may pay back the Philistines for the loss of my eyes’. Then Samson put his hands on the centre pillars of the temple and pushed against them with all his might, let me die with the philistines, he prayed. And the temple crashed down on the philistine leaders and all the people. So he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire life time.” | Judges 16: 21 -30
If I perish, I perish
“Then Esther told Hathach to go back and relay this message to Mordecai; ‘The whole world knows that anyone who appears before the king in his inner court without being invited is doomed to die unless the king holds out his gold scepter. And the king has not called for me to come to him in more than a month.”
“Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai; ‘Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king if I must die. I am willing to die.”
Who is this uncircumcised Philistine?
“But David persisted, ‘I have been taking care of my father’s sheep’, he said ‘When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and take the lamb form its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the Jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears...”
“Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was a giant of a man, measuring over nine feet tall! He wore a bronze helmet and a coat of mail that weighed 125 pounds. He also wore bonze leggings, and he slung a bronze javelin over his back. The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed fifteen pounds. An armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a huge shield. | ‘Goliath stood and shouted across to the Israelites, ‘Do you need a whole army to settle this? Choose someone to fight for you, and I will represent the Philistines. We will settle this dispute in single combat! If your man is able to kill me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves! I defy the armies of Israel! Send me a man who will fight with me!’ When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.”
“As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him. Reaching into his shepherd’s bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it from his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in and Goliath stumbled and fell face downward to the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine Giant with only a stone and sling. And since he had no sword, he ran over and pulled Goliath’s sword from its sheath. David used it to kill the giant and cut off his head. | ‘When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they turned and ran. Then the Israelites gave a great shout of triumph and rushed after the philistines, chasing them as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron. The bodies of the dead and wounded philistines were strewn all along the road from Shaaraim, as far as Gath and Ekron. Then the Israelites army returned and plundered the deserted philistine camp.”
Dynasty of kings for you
“But that same night the LORD said to Nathan, ‘Go and tell my servant David, This is what the LORD says... Now I will make your name famous throughout the earth... | ‘And now the Lord declares that He will build a house for you – a dynasty of kings! For when you die, I will raise up one of your descendants, and I will make his kingdom strong. He is the one who will build a house - a temple for my name. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he sins, I will use other nations to punish him. But my unfailing love will not be taken from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed before you. Your dynasty and your kingdom will continue for all time before me, and your throne will be secure forever.”
Chapter Four | I will pay the price
“That day Gad came to David and said to him, ‘Go and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite’, So David went to do what the LORD had commanded him. When Araunah saw the king and his men coming towards him, he came forward and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. ‘Why have you come, my lord?’ Araunah asked. And David replied, ‘I have come to buy your threshing floor and to build an altar to the LORD there, so that the Lord will stop the plague’ | ‘Take it, my lord, and use it as you wish’ Araunah
