Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her. – Judges 14:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 11, 2012): Judges 14

One of the things that bothers me is to hear a parent excuse the behavior of their child because of their age. I agree that we should have age appropriate expectations for our children, but the key words are age appropriate and expectations. We seem to forget that the things that we learn as children set a course that we will follow for the rest of our lives. And, as parents, in the early years we are the ones that are responsible for setting that course. That means that things like reading to our kids and getting them involved in the arts (like music, drama, or dance) will be very important to who they are as they grow up. And so will the things that we expect of them as they grow. Each element is a building block that will eventually produce a mature person – and hopefully a person that will strengthen their community.

Samson may have been a person called by God to a particular task, but he also had some key character flaws. Eventually it would be his own pride that would bring him down. He would end up valuing his own strength over his relationship with God. And the result of that pride would have disastrous consequences. But the seeds of that pride were apparent early on.

In eastern cultures, social interaction between the sexes was both rare and limited. Unlike modern Western cultures, marriages were arranged by the parents of the couple, and contact between the man and the woman often did not happen until after the engagement had been agreed on by both sets of parents. Add to that the fact that the engagement was also a permanent contract and that the dissolution of an engagement required a divorce just as a marriage would, and we begin to see how inappropriate, in that culture, Samson’s conversation with the girl was. But Samson at some point just stopped believing that the rules of the society applied to him. And that was the advent of his pride.

And maybe we begin to see why pride goes before a fall. Pride brings us into situations that we should not be in – and allows disaster to follow. Pride overrules the natural caution with which we should enter into every situation, and considers unnecessary open eyes and ears and even the knowledge of what is expected of us in that situation. Pride declares openly that all that is important is itself. And that is what makes pride so dangerous.

   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Judges 15

Note: In some countries, today is the day that we celebrate those who put themselves in harms way so that we can enjoy our freedom. Thanks does not seem to be enough, but to all of our military and veterans -  we are very thankful.