Transcription

Connor:
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris:
Hey everybody. Thanks for tuning in for another episode of The Bible Guys.

Jeff:
That should be the new rolling.

Chris:
I’m Chris, this is Jeff. And if you’re brand new, tell your friends about us, if you like us.

Jeff:
If you’re a long timer, tell your friends about us.

Chris:
It’s about time. Yeah, it’s about time.

Jeff:
Why are you hiding this? It’s about time. What are you trying to hide? What are you trying to hide?

Chris:
That’s funny. So, hey, we’re going to start off today’s show with a segment written by Desiree called National Holidays Today.

Jeff:
Oh, wow.

Chris:
And she’s saying that today is National Potato Day and National Soft Ice Cream Day.

Jeff:
Well, what more do you need?

Chris:
Right there, man. Can you imagine like soft ice cream on a potato?

Jeff:
It would not be good, would it? Well, it depends on how the potato was prepped.

Chris:
I was in Duck, North Carolina one time and went to a place called Donuts on a Stick. And they had donuts with sticks and ice cream. And I’m telling you, it’s one of the best things ever.

Jeff:
So we lived in Texas for a while and they have everything on a stick down there. You go to the county fair and it’s everything on a stick. Yeah, everything’s on a stick. ice cream, soft serve and potatoes. Haven’t you ever dipped your fries in a Frosty at Wendy’s?

Chris:
Oh, yeah, I’ve done that.

Jeff:
There you go. Well, then that’s it. So go to Wendy’s today, get a Frosty and dip your fries in the Frosty. And you’ll be honoring both of these national holidays. Wow. Yeah.

Chris:
Okay, so Desiree’s segment says, if you could make up your own national holiday, what would it be and how would you celebrate?

Jeff:
Oh, so we get to make our own national holiday?

Chris:
Yeah, I’m tempted just to pick another food, but I guess it could be anything, right?

Jeff:
Okay, yeah, yeah, let me see. I think if I could make up my own national holiday, because it can be anything. Yeah. Let me be anything. Yeah. I would have it. I would celebrate Chris Sarbaugh day. Oh, come on. And I would, I would, I would paint, I would paint, I would paint on a response. I would paint on a little goatee. And then I would walk around with a raspy voice and saying, good morning. Good morning. No. That’s what I would do all day, all day on National Chris Zarba Day.

Chris:
And you’d have to squat down to my height. Okay. So thank you for that. That was interesting.

Jeff:
How wonderful that’d be if everybody was dressed up like Zarba. And then everything would be hyperbole. The whole day would be hyperbole.

Chris:
Only the thousands who even know me would even understand what that national holiday would be. Oh, that would be. And the dozens who love me.

Jeff:
But they deserve to find out about, everybody else deserves to find out about the wonder.

Chris:
Would be the only ones to enjoy it.

Jeff:
Yeah. Okay. So everything would be hyperbole. I would either be about ready to jump off a bridge or on my way to heaven. Those would be the, every response to everything the whole day.

Chris:
Yeah. That’s, that’d be great. You know, I’ve, I’ve, I’ve, I don’t know what to say about that.

Jeff:
Just be flattered. Okay. I’m flattered. The fact that I want to dress up and pretend like I’m you every once in a while.

Chris:
Well, you know, we all aspire and fantasize and dream. I’m going to say that my day will be National Sushi Day.

Jeff:
National Sushi Day.

Chris:
Oh, you know what there probably is.

Jeff:
We’ve got to look it up. No, because if you’re going to celebrate it, you should celebrate hard.

Chris:
Because it’s my favorite food. It has become my favorite food. And, you know, I grew up Italian. In fact, I’m wearing a shirt for those who are watching today. Did you see the quote on this? I’ve worn it before.

Jeff:
Yeah. Yeah. You wore it a few weeks ago.

Chris:
Yeah. A few weeks ago. Because I go right from here to train with HFP because Heritage is our church.

Jeff:
Well, you’re a tough guy.

Chris:
No, I’m not a tough guy, but I, but I dress sometimes to go directly from here to there. Yes. So this is what I’m wearing today. So anyway, this is one of my shirts that I, that I work out in. So anyway, it says, it says, take the gun. No, I’m sorry. Leave the gun, take the cannoli. That’s right. I was trying to read it. I know the quote. So, and anybody who’s anybody in the Italian world knows that’s from?

Jeff:
The Godfather.

Chris:
The Godfather. That’s right. Right. Take it, leave the gun, take the cannoli. So is there a national sushi day?

Jeff:
There is, June 28th.

Chris:
Holy Christmas.

Jeff:
International. It’s not just National Sushi Day. It’s International Sushi Day. Wow. It’s taken the world by storm. So I think people are going to start skipping 4th of July and Thanksgiving and just celebrating Casarbaugh Day and International Sushi Day, which then essentially would be the same day for us. I have to change my answer. Oh, okay. Because it’s already a day.

Chris:
Okay. So I’m going to say National Movie Binge Day.

Jeff:
Okay. Let’s see if that one’s out there.

Chris:
Oh, come on. There can’t be a national movie binge day movie or a series binge day binge watch day. Maybe there’s no way it’s not going to promote binge watching.

Jeff:
Binge day is celebrated annually on September 25th as a fun and relaxing day to binge watch your favorite movie series or TV show.

Chris:
Who in their right mind celebrates this?

Jeff:
I don’t know, but a lot of people on September 25th.

Chris:
There’s no way. Yeah, that’s what it says. Binge day. So you chose. Okay, fine. I changed my answer. National Jeff Forrester Day.

Jeff:
No, you don’t get to do that.

Chris:
Yes. Nope. Yes. I’m going to.

Jeff:
It’ll be you and my mom. Those will be the two people celebrating that day.

Chris:
National Jeff Forrester Day. I’m going to walk around and tell everybody what to do and watch Indiana Jones.

Jeff:
Yes. Okay. That’s it. And grill. Grill and pack your suitcase. That’s pretty much my life. Yeah. That’s it. That’s it.

Chris:
That’s right. Pack your suitcase. That’s actually pretty accurate.

Jeff:
Well, there you go. That was super exciting. It never dawned on me. You could just like choose your own holiday.

Chris:
Well, apparently everybody has. I’ve tried to choose two ridiculous ones.

Jeff:
And they were already there. And they were already there. Yeah. So there’s a website called Days of the Year.

Chris:
Well, there’s probably something every day.

Jeff:
There is. History of binge day. There’s all kinds of stuff on there.

Chris:
So super exciting. And according to Desiree, this day is shared by Potato Day and National Soft Ice Cream Day.

Jeff:
Very specific. Not scooped ice cream. Not gelato. Hand dipped. Not custard. That’s next week. Okay, well here we are. We are back talking about Samson. We ended last week. on the first two chapters in Samson’s life. Yes. And the first one, his parents are promised that they’re going to have a child. They’re super excited. The next day we find out he’s kind of spoiled and he demands.

Chris:
Oh, the next day of the podcast.

Jeff:
Yeah, the next day of the podcast. But for him, it was years. It was years. Yes. And he demands his own way and then he uses his gifts for his own benefits. So then what happens, because I have to set this up, if you weren’t with us on last week, He is, he finds a Philistine girl who he wasn’t supposed to marry, but he wants her, he demands her. So next thing you know, they’re engaged and they have this long wedding ceremony or a celebration, oftentimes it’d be a week or a month long celebration. During that time, he’s assigned by her father, a bunch of groomsmen. And so he does a wager with them. And if they can guess the answer, then to a riddle, Yeah, to this riddle, then he would give all of them a suit of clothes. But if they couldn’t guess it, then they would owe him 30. So they keep pressuring his fiancée, pressuring his fiancée. She puts pressure on Samson. Samson agrees, tells her. She goes back, tells the guys. And so Samson gets mad. Samson gets so mad, he goes and kills 30 Philistines, brings the clothes, gives it to these guys. And the family feels like he, and he went home. He, like, he leaves the wedding ceremony.

Chris:
And gives the wife to the best man.

Jeff:
Well, he doesn’t, but the family does. So he doesn’t give her up. He thinks they’re married because that’s what we’re going to read today. But the family gives her to the best man instead.

Chris:
Because it says, so his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson’s. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff:
So today, that sparks a whole series of offense and revenge, offense and revenge. And so Judges chapter 15 says, later on during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a present to his wife. Super romantic gesture, by the way.

Chris:
Young goat.

Jeff:
He said, I’m going into my wife’s room to sleep with her, but her father wouldn’t let him in. I truly thought you must hate her, her father explained, so I gave her in marriage to your best man. But look, her younger sister is even more beautiful than she is. Marry her instead. Samson said, this time I cannot be blamed for everything I’m going to do to you Philistines. Then he went out and caught 300 foxes. He tied their tails in pairs and he fastened a torch to each pair of tails. Then he lit the torches and let the foxes run through the grain fields of the Philistines. He burned all their grain to the ground, including the sheaves and the uncut grain. He also destroyed their vineyards and olive groves. Who did this? The Philistines demanded. Samson was replied because his father-in-law from Timna gave Samson’s wife to be married to his best man. So the Philistines went and got the woman and her father and burned them to death. Because you did this, Samson bowed, I won’t rest until I take my revenge on you. So he attacked the Philistines with great fury and killed many of them. And then he went to live in a cave in the rock of Etem. The Philistines retaliated by setting up camp in Judah and spread out near the town of Lehi. The men of Judah asked the Philistines, why are you attacking us? And the Philistines replied, we’ve come to capture Samson. We’ve come to pay him back for what he did to us. So 3,000 men of Judah went down to get Samson at the cave in the rock of Edom. They said to Samson, don’t you realize the Philistines rule over us? What are you doing to us? But Samson replied, I only did to them what they did to me. But the men of Judah told him, we’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines. All right, Samson said, but promise that you won’t kill me yourselves. We will only tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines. They replied, we won’t kill you. So they tied him up with new ropes and brought him up from the rock. As Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines came out shouting in triumph, but the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson and he snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt strands of flax and they fell from his wrists. And then he found the jawbone of a recently killed donkey. He picked it up and killed a thousand Philistines with it. And then Samson said, with the jawbone of a donkey, I’ve piled them in heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey, I’ve killed a thousand men. When he finished his boasting, he threw away the jawbone and the place was called Jawbone Hill. Samson was now very thirsty, and he cried out to the Lord, You’ve accomplished this great victory by the strength of your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of these pagans? So God caused water to gush out of a hollow in the ground at Lehi. Samson was revived as he drank, and then he named the place the Spring of the One Who Cried Out, and it is still in Lehi to this day. Samson judged Israel for 20 years during the period when the Philistines dominated the land.

Chris:
I love how he named the place after himself.

Jeff:
Yes. It’s, it’s so Samson.

Chris:
Yeah. That is so Samson.

Jeff:
It is. Well, so I was thinking about that. I actually, I actually looked up. other names of places. Yeah.

Chris:
Right. They’re all named after the one who provides.

Jeff:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jacob named Bethel, which means house of God. That’s where he met God. So it wasn’t the house of the place where the man met God.

Chris:
Right.

Jeff:
Jehovah Jireh, Abraham named this place Jehovah Jireh, which means the Lord will provide. It was named after a ram was substituted. It wasn’t named the place where I found a ram. Right. It was the place God provided, right?

Chris:
The place where the one found the ram.

Jeff:
Hey, do you remember the story when Jacob wrestled with God? Yes. So he named that place Peniel, right? Or Peniel or whatever. It means the face of God, not where I wrestled with God. Right. Right. It’s hysterical.

Chris:
the one who wrestled with God.

Jeff:
But he calls this spring, God makes water bubble out of the ground, and he goes, I’m going to name this place the Spring of the One Who Cried Out.

Chris:
He named it after himself. The One Who Cried Out.

Jeff:
Yeah. Not the place where God provides water.

Chris:
It’s so unbelievable.

Jeff:
He could have named it, God is Refreshing, but no.

Chris:
Oh yeah, God is Refreshing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Quencher of Thirst. Yeah. Right. Anything.

Jeff:
Right. Pick one. But no, Samson did it. He named it for himself. He’s so unbelievably narcissistic.

Chris:
Yeah. The Spring of the One Who Cried Out. Samson’s Spring. Yep. And yeah, I mean, there’s only what, four chapters on this guy’s life? Yes. I had totally forgotten because the last time that I didn’t, you know, I didn’t prep. I got here a few minutes late. I didn’t even read ahead. I totally forgotten that he went back expecting to still be married.

Jeff:
Yeah.

Chris:
And that’s why he did it. I remember the fox story and everything else, the jawbone story, which by the way, holy cow. Right. Right. Jawbone of donkey. Are you kidding me? It’s crazy. And I’ve seen a jawbone of donkey, like an actual jawbone. I went to Cuba. Yeah. It’s about, yeah. About what foot? A little over a foot. I went to Cuba. And there was a guy who had a jawbone of a donkey and the teeth were, were, you know, still in place. And he grabbed, he used it as a musical instrument and he was doing. He was just like, you know, dragging it along and it sounded awesome. And he’s, and he’s playing this jawbone. And then this other guy has this makeshift ukulele type thing or whatever it is. And, uh, and they were sitting on the side of the road and I filmed them and I was like, this is amazing. And I, and I said, what is that? And he said, it’s the job of a donkey. And I was like, are you kidding me? And of course I immediately thought of this, right? Like, you know, when you kill somebody with that, you know, I mean, how could you do that? And you know what the answer is supernatural strength.

Jeff:
Yes. From God, the Spirit of God came on him. Yes. Yeah. That’s the theme. The theme is the Spirit of God comes on him, but then he takes all the credit and does whatever he wants to with it.

Chris:
Right. So God uses Samson in spite of himself.

Jeff:
Yes.

Chris:
Like, in other words, you know, you knew that he was born to take on the Philistines. You knew that he was born to, you know, combat them and deliver the children of Israel from their oppression. All of that was announced. And, you know, he, He basically is doing that, you know, right? So he’s killing a thousand men. He’s making a ruckus. You know, he’s, he’s declaring war upon them single-handedly. So he’s sort of doing the prediction, but he’s doing it his own way, which leads me to believe that this wasn’t necessarily the way that God wanted him to do it.

Jeff:
Right. Well, up to this point, he’s doing it as a citizen. He’s not even the, He’s not even the judge until verse 20. So he’s just doing it because he wants to do it.

Chris:
Well, he’s doing it because he’s mad.

Jeff:
Yeah. Angry. Well, as a matter of fact, that’s the verse that jumps off the page for me is verse 11. He said, I only did to them what they did to me. Right. So there’s this cycle back and forth. It’s literally, uh, was it, uh, Dr. Egrich, uh, in Emerson or Emerson. It was Emerson. Yeah. Emerson Egrich. Yeah. Emerson Egrich. He talks about the crazy cycle, right? Couples get on this crazy cycle where they, they get revenge back and forth, back and forth. You know, you don’t, you don’t show me respect. So I’m not going to be romantic. And, then, you know, you’re not treating me with love. And so I’m going to be disrespectful. And they go back and forth, back and forth. It’s not always a conscious decision. A lot of times it is, but it’s not always, a lot of times it’s reflexive. It’s just a natural response. And it’s, it’s basically a cycle of revenge. We’re seeing that in geopolitics right now. In the Middle East, we’re watching Israel get revenge and then Iran getting revenge and then Israel getting revenge. And then Iran getting revenge and they call it, what was it? It’s an honor. What do they call it? Like honor revenge almost is the idea is, Hey, you offended us. We’re going to hurt you back. And, and they just wait. Okay. Shoot some more rockets in. All right. We’re going to go blow this person up or assassinate this person. And it’s just punishment back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And there’s no end to that. Right? So they, the Philistines get mad. Well, first of all, he feels like he’s offended because this Philistine father gave his wife away. Well, there is an offense there, no lie. So he just goes ahead and burns down all of the food for next winter for the Philistines. Destroys it all. For everybody. That’s a little heavy handed.

Chris:
Well, he’s going to take out probably more people that way than he did with the Jabba.

Jeff:
So then they go and burn to death his wife and her father. And so then he goes, oh, well, I’m going to go fight a bunch of people. And what is it? He kills a bunch of people, right? He goes in and takes revenge. He attacks the Philistines with great fury and killed many of them. It doesn’t say how many, and then he’s going to hiding in a cave. And so then they come hunting him. They’re threatening. They’re starting to spread out through Judah now, and they’re threatening him. And so the men come and get him. And in that, then he winds up killing a thousand people. And, but his, his defenses, I’m only doing to them what they did to me. And I wonder how often we use that same, you know, we feel justified.

Chris:
Yeah. It’s a complete justification. I mean, first of all, that’s not what they did to him and he didn’t do back with. Right. I mean, it’s not the same. Yes. Like those are not equal things. Right. Right. I mean, just the fire is the, is the common denominator, but those are not equal things. And, um, And so, yeah, I think that we all can learn from Samson. There’s a little Samson in all of us in that way, where we justify ourselves. And then if somebody tries to say, we’re like Samson, we say, well, wait a minute. No, no, no, no, no, no. My story is different. And everybody has their own story. Everybody has their own set of exceptions, don’t we? Yes, we do. But, but yeah, it’s just it’s pretty funny. Not funny, haha.

Jeff:
Well, revenge is always a dead end. I can remember not long ago, a couple had split up, they got a divorce, they had some children, and both of the parents were playing tug-of-war with the kids. And so it was constantly He would punish her by being extra late, dropping the kids off. And so because he was late dropping the kids off, she’d punish him by scheduling something on his day for visitation. And it would go back and forth, constantly escalating. And you know who lost? Everybody else.

Chris:
And the kids probably.

Jeff:
Right, the kids, that’s what I’m saying. And you see that a lot where somebody has to be the adult. What we see with Samson is he was so narcissistic and so juvenile in the way he behaved. So his strength, his physical abilities, when God would come on him, far exceeded his character or his maturity. Right? And so he never had the character, the maturity to just deescalate a thing. He always took it to the next level, you know, always took it too far. And then that would demand that the people come back and get revenge, they felt like, and it just kept going back and forth. And so here’s a guy that God chose to bring peace to Israel through through military combat, leading the people. And instead he’s just out there stirring the pot for all this time until he finally becomes the judge of Israel. But then, you know, he’s not a wise man and he’s not bringing peace. He’s constantly bringing chaos. As a matter of fact, there is no peace in his in his leadership. You think of all the others, Deren Deborah, she wins a victory and for the next 30, 40 years, there’s peace. You think of Othniel, you think of Ehud, right? You think of Gideon. During their time, after their big battle, from that point on, there’s peace, but not with Samson. So even though he was a judge, he wasn’t a wise judge and there was never peace during his leadership.

Chris:
Yeah. And the Philistines, were more brutal than at least it seems to be indicated, right? I mean, they carry all the way on through, you know, through David. I was going to say through David, right? Yeah. You know what I should have said, by the way, earlier? I should have said immediately, I’m going to make National Jeff Forrester Day to travel around the world with an Indiana Jones complex.

Jeff:
Okay.

Chris:
I should have said that.

Jeff:
Okay. So that’s a call back too. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that might be a good place to end. What? Just have people imagine the wonders and the glory of Indiana Jones. Should I get a fedora? Do you think I should get a fedora? You have a leather jacket. There’s no way you don’t have a fedora.

Chris:
I don’t have one. What? I don’t have one. Really? Why would you not have one?

Jeff:
Because nerds do that.

Chris:
I mean, there’s legitimate places where you would need it in the sun.

Jeff:
Yeah, I don’t know. I’m not going to do it. Son of a gun.

Chris:
Well, hey, that was a great chapter. There was a lot to learn. So yeah, I guess that we are at our time.

Jeff:
Yeah. Revenge. There’s no end to revenge. You have to be the grown up and decide to stop it. Because there was no peace ever. His job was to bring peace. He never brought peace because he was always in a revenge cycle.

Chris:
But then I’ll just I’ll go ahead and then do a call back to Emerson’s breaking the cycle. Yeah. So so the downward spiral of Emerson’s cycle is he would say, you know, you disrespect me and then I do something unloving. And then because you feel unloved, you disrespect me. And the way to break the cycle is to say, hey, wow, what you just did feels really disrespectful. So what did I do that was unloving? And then basically look at yourself. Right. And then, you know, she has the opportunity to say, okay, this is what you did. And then, you know, she can say the same thing. Hey, that felt really unloving. What did I do that felt disrespectful? Right. And that’s the way to break the cycle. So, so there you go.

Jeff:
Well, there you go.

Chris:
All right. Well, that ends our time together and we will see you next time on The Bible Guys.