{"id":4468,"date":"2023-01-01T15:57:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-01T21:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazareneblogs.org\/pastorscott\/?p=4468"},"modified":"2023-01-01T15:57:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-01T21:57:00","slug":"devotional-on-judges-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-judges-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Judges"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-NAdZZgnvP-I\/Xa9eA4pUByI\/AAAAAAABCK8\/OZQysLqyrdw00wzu-_y4636r-0fgmjSOQCKgBGAsYHg\/s1600\/100_3349.JPG\" width=\"1600\" height=\"901\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">2014 &#8211; Grand Canyon, AZ<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A good story<br \/>\nJudges 13: The angel of God appeared to her.&#8212;<br \/>\nThe set up for the story of Samson begins with the visitation of an angel. Manoah\u2019s wife (unnamed in the Bible) is minding her own business when the angel appears to inform her that she\u2019s going to have a baby boy. The child is to be raised under a strict code including his partaking of no fruit of the vine or ever having his hair cut. While the Nazirite vow was introduced in Numbers 6 this is the first time we hear of anyone actually under that vow and his case is (obviously) extraordinary. Not only does his being under the Nazirite vow set up the unique \u201chaircut\u201d feature of the story of Samson there\u2019s also the fact that in Samson\u2019s case being a Nazirite is not so much a vow as it is a lifetime assignment. His faithfulness to this vow is such a big deal that the angel has arrived early to stop his mother from drinking or doing anything that would constitute a breaking of the vow while Samson is still in his mother\u2019s womb! When Manoah asks the angel his name he\u2019s told that it\u2019s a name beyond his vocabulary and comprehension. Then, as a burnt offering is made, the angel suddenly blends into the flames and ascends heavenward. It\u2019s all very impressive and fun to read and think about. In fact, that\u2019s all I\u2019m doing with this passage because I don\u2019t have a compelling devotional point to make. Sometimes a good story is just a good story!<\/p>\n<p>Take Away: Most of God\u2019s people just live their lives without visions or miracles. When those things happen, though, we have a story worth repeating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A good story Judges 13: The angel of God appeared to her.&#8212; The set up for the story of Samson begins with the visitation of an angel. Manoah\u2019s wife (unnamed in the Bible) is minding her own business when the angel appears to inform her that she\u2019s going to have a baby boy. The child [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1511,7],"tags":[137,722,942,1136,1138],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4468"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4468"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14158,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4468\/revisions\/14158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}