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Aim: Understand The Story Of Samson. Samson’s hair was not the source of his power; it was simply an outward sign that his life was set apart for God’s service. Taken from the BB Juniors Pro Pack Spirit S2-10

Resources

The Story

Activity 2
Possible costumes and props to act out the sketch.

Activity 3
• Either the story or the play from activity one or two
• A space where the children can sit around the leader.
• A Bible

Instructions

Activity 1 - Spotlight On Samson (1)

Aim:
To learn from the story of Samson.

Preparation:
Read the Bible passages. Judges 13-16 and this version.

Instructions:
Read the story

Yet again the Israelites had done evil in the eyes of the Lord so He delivered them into the hands of the Philistines. Soon God wanted to send someone to help free the Israelites, so he sent an angel to see the wife of Manoah from the Danite tribe who would become Samson’s mother. Samson’s mum actually couldn’t have any children, but an angel of the Lord came to her and said, “You can’t have any children now, but God is going to give you a son. Make sure you don’t drink any wine or eat any animals considered to be unclean. You will have a special son. He should never cut his hair, eat grapes or raisins, drink wine or touch a dead body, and most importantly his purpose will be to save the Israelites from the Philistines.’

This special boy was Samson. As he grew up he realised that he had a special gift, he was incredibly strong. As Samson got older he was able to kill a lion with his bare hands and defend himself against 1000 Philistines. He was a bit like a super hero! I guess you could say Samson didn’t like the Philistines and the Philistines didn’t like Samson. The Philistines were constantly trying to figure what the secret was behind Samson’s strength. If they could figure that out then they would get rid of him. After all Samson had killed many Philistines.

As Samson became a young man he started to like girls. There was one girl he especially liked, her name was Delilah. The rulers of Philistine noticed that Samson was coming to see Delilah a lot more lately. So they decided to go to Delilah and make a deal with her. Delilah was just on her way home from a walk, thinking about the next time she would see Samson, when some of the rulers of the Philistines approached her. One of the men asked her, “Delilah, we were wondering if you could find out what makes Samson so strong. We are so curious; if you find out we would like to give you 5,500 pieces of silver.” This was about £3000, which was a lot of money. Imagine getting £100 from your parents to go and buy sweets. The amount of money Delilah got seemed to her as big as that!

Delilah was just about to say no, when all of a sudden she starting thinking about all the fabulous things she could buy with all that money. She really hadn’t taken that much time to think about it when she said, “I’ll do it!”

So Delilah went home and started to think about how she could get the secret out of Samson. She thought maybe she could make his favourite dinner for him and just ask him. After all he did love hen maybe this would be easier than she thought. So Delilah got busy making a nice meal and waited for Samson to arrive. As they sat down to eat. Delilah asked how Samson’s day was and after a few minutes she just decided to ask. “Samson. could you please tell me the secret of your great strength? I guess I’m just curious and want to know how your enemies can tie you up and how you can get out so easily.” Samson answered her, if anyone ties me up with seven brand new bowstrings (from a bow and arrow) that have not been dried. I’ll become as weak as any other man,’

So later that night after supper Delilah made an excuse to go for a walk and met up with the rulers of the Philistines and told them what Samson had said. They immediately went out and found seven bowstrings to give to Delilah and told her, “We want you to tie Samson up when he is asleep. Let us into your house when the coast is clear and when you wake him up we want to be there to capture him.’

So Delilah did what the men asked her to do. It was a little tricky because it took Samson a while to fall asleep, but once he was snoring she started to tie him up. When she was done the men came in and hid all around, and when they were ready Delilah shouted, “Samson. the Philistines are here!’ But without any difficulty at all Samson snapped the strings like there was never anything around his hands.

Well, Delilah felt quite silly and was a little hurt that Samson wouldn’t tell her the secret of his strength. (It’s funny she felt upset as she was trying to trap Samson). She started to think that the Philistines wouldn’t think that she could find out the secret and then she wouldn’t get any money. So Delilah put on her sad face and looked up at Samson and said, “You made a fool out of me Samson, you lied to me. Seriously now, tell me how you can be tied.’

Samson said to her, “If anyone ties me with new ropes that have never been used. I’ll become as weak as any other man.’ So Delilah did what she had done before and tied him up with the new and improved ropes.

She shouted again, “Samson. the Philistines are here!” But without any difficulty at all Samson once again snapped out of the ropes like there was only thin thread tied around his hands.

Delilah was getting angry, but she didn’t want Samson to notice. She had to make Samson think she was sad that he lied to her. Delilah put on her saddest face (and even tried to cry a little) and said to him, ‘Oh, Samson how could you lie to me again (sniff, sniff)? Please tell me now how you come to be so strong; I really, really want to know.’

Even though Delilah seemed sad Samson told her another lie and Delilah was once again made a fool of. Delilah finally said to Samson. ‘How can you tell me you love me. when you don’t trust me with your thoughts and secrets?”

But Samson just decided to ignore her. The only problem was that Delilah wouldn’t stop asking. She asked in the morning during breakfast, when they were out for a walk, at lunch, at supper, before bed, she asked all day long and Samson just couldn’t take it anymore. Finally Samson said, “Enough already! I will tell you everything, just leave me alone! My hair has never been cut. I had to take certain vows when I was born and have been given this gift by God. If my head was shaved I would become as weak as any other man.’

Delilah could tell this was the truth, so she asked the Philistines to give her one more chance. They came as they had all the other times, but this time they brought Delilah’s money along with them. Samson fell asleep on Delilah’s lap so she got someone else to shave off his hair. As they were shaving it off Samson’s body began to get weaker. When it was completed Delilah called out, “Samson, the Philistines are coming!’

As he woke he wasn’t aware that his gift from God had left him and the Philistines grabbed him. This time Samson could do nothing to fight them off.

The Philistines had captured Samson, and put him in prison, but his hair began to grow again. God still had plans for him. In the end Samson regained his strength before they could kill him. They tied him up to two large pillars that held a large temple up and he was able to break free during a sacrifice to their god Dagon, but when he did the temple fell on him and a large number of Philistines.

This was how God freed the Israelites from the Philistines.

• Samson ended up breaking all of his promises. He didn’t seem to take God’s rules for him seriously. God still used Samson to defeat the Philistines but he could have done so much more if he had obeyed.
• Ask the children about what we learn from the story of Samson, some responses are below;

• Great strength in some areas of our Ufe does not make up for great weakness; Although Samson had great physical strength, he broke his vow to God and revealed his secret and made himself weak.
• He confided in the wrong people.
• God can use a person despite his mistakes,
• Close with a prayer.

Activity 2 - Spotlight On Samson (2)

Aim:
To learn the Story of Samson through drama.

Preparation:
This activity follows on from activity land the children should be aware of the story.

Instructions:
Read aloud the opening of the sketch below or make up your own beginning.

DELILAH Oh come on Samson, why won’t you tell me?
SAMSON Because I can’t
DELILAH Why can’t you?
SAMSON Because I can’t.
DELILAH I’ll cook you your favourite dinner
SAMSON Do you think I’m stupid?
DELILAH she obviously does. What makes you say that?
SAMSON Because when I told you my strength is taken away if I was tied by seven fresh bowstrings I would lose my strength what did you do? Delilah shrugs You tied me up so when I woke I was Tossed like a turkey

Continue the sketch. There is no need to write anything down, simply act out the scenes. Remember as well as the two main characters, there are lots of parts for the Philistines.

At the end, remind the children of what the story teaches us and close with a prayer.

Activity 3 - Delilah - Did Betrayal Help Her ?

Aim:
Look at what Delilah did and decide if she was right or not.

Preparation:
Read all of Judges 13-16

Instructions:
• After reading either the story or doing the sketch ask the children if they think what Delilah did was right.
• Ask if they think the motivation of money is wrong
• Briefly remind the children of the role Judas had in the betrayal of Jesus and ask them if they can see any similarities in the story. The main two you should look for are;
• They both betrayed someone to the enemy
• They both betrayed for money.
• Greed
• Although the Bible doesn’t mention Delilah again we know that Judas bought a field with his money and was killed there. Acts 1:18-19
• Even though these people betrayed, God’s plans still worked,

For full details see the BB Juniors Pro Pack S2-10

Tags

• spirit

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