in classical bible style we read the story of a man bewitched by beauty and felt betrayed and abandoned, by the people in his life. truth be told the power and his faith in G-d allowed him to smote, smite ( i like both words equally they are really cool and don't get used enough so i am playing with them) the philistines, even after his desecration by delilah. in reality it was not the symbol of his hair that gave him strength it was his destiny laid forth by g-d to release our people from the tyranny of those nasty old philistines.... and his beautiful faith, once he wrestled with it a bit...he was just as filled with g-ds strength after his haircut....his faith was unyielding.
faith seems to comes up a lot at this time in our present world we either have it, want it, lost it, found it... or just own it... while reading the bible i have noticed that besides faith and smiting/smoting which happened a lot so many people were smoted/smited, that at times i wonder just how loving is g-d? yes we are his chosen, but as poor samson had to experience some time we don't want to be chosen, and look for a chance to step back from the power of g-d....
let's face it if he wants you to do something you have not a chance in "hell" of getting out of it, no matter how hard you try....
so the blessing of being chosen also comes with a ton of responsibility... and if you enjoy a good bible verse on occasion you see that almost every chosen one, had issues with being chosen.... 89% ( ok so i just made that up) really fought hard against becoming the person that g-d intended for them to be... i suppose the point that i am circling today is are we not all chosen to be special people in the eye of
g-d?
do the tales remind us that hey its ok to not be so keen to jump into a lion's mouth, or lay down your life for your faith... but once you understand that it requires more than choice to actually do it... and no song and dance is getting you out of it, you can really own the faith that g-d has given us.... and to be very sincere for a moment, not just own it but believe it in the core of your being that YES i must do as g-d directs...if i don't live to see the end result, there is a bigger picture that i might not be privy to...and who really does live to see the end result? not too many, even moses as well chosen as he was, did not get to step across the line and enter into the land of milk and honey.... yes he did get a better seat up in heaven one right close by g-d and the angels... so what if he looks down and says, wow nice job israel happy 70th year, mazel tov... pats himself on the back and says it took a lot to get there but hey we did it!
so tony says mazel tov to israel, thank you Moses, and Samson for all your hard work, no i am not forgetting Abraham and Joseph... Sarah, Ruth and Esther...if had 20 hours i would list everyone touched and chosen by g-d... but i don't and i am not going to, if you are curious pick up a bible if you know where it is and open it up and have some faith you will be moved...everyone has one around the house..i hope you do, talk about faith sheesh....
my suggested reading besides the bible, is james michener's THE SOURCE
powerful book and i studied judaism and i learned so much more.
tony
Yes I recommend the book The Source by James Mitchner also!!