Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible recap.

Today we beat our 12th and final judge, Samson.

He may be the only one you've heard of before.

He's definitely the most famous.

In part because his story is the most detailed in the book, but also it might have something

to do with the fact that he feels like the closest thing Christian culture has to a

traditional superhero.

I hope today's reading helped paint things a little more clearly because he's probably

the worst and most wicked of all the judges in the book.

Not only that, but he probably doesn't actually have big muscles like we usually imagine.

I'll tell you why tomorrow when we wrap up this story.

As for today, the people of Israel have fallen into sin again and are oppressed by the

Philistines for 40 years.

And according to 1017, this is all probably happening simultaneously as to the stuff we

read about yesterday, yesterday's battle with the Ammonites was happening in the Trans

Jordan east of the Jordan River.

And this stuff with the Philistines is happening along the Mediterranean coastline of Israel,

west of the Jordan River.

First, we meet a man named Manoa and the angel of the Lord who is likely God the Son shows

up to tell Manoa's bear in wife that she's going to have a son.

He says her son will play a role in helping rescue Israel and that she should raise him

to live under the Nazareth Vow.

...