Sermon Tone Analysis
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Superman’s Origin Story!
Today we have observe a baby dedication, one of the greatest in all the Bible.
The setup is perfect, the call is clear, the baby is dedicated… and the stage is set for this baby to be a perfect human Savior.
This is one of those models of baby-dedication.
Together with Samuel, the very best of models of a child dedicated from the very start, given to God.
This is the calling of a hero, the origin story of superman, the beginning of a Savior.
Let’s see how it goes..
This is one of those models of baby-dedication.
Together with Samuel, the very best of models of a child dedicated from the very start, given to God.
Samson’s Baby Dedication
Again? generation after generation.
This isn’t the same people returning to their sin, but new generations not learning the lessons of the generation(s) before.
Judges 13:2
Israel is in pain.
This couple is in pain.
How do you know that you are barren?
There is no fertility doctor to tell you.
You know because you try… and you hope… and you wait… and you try… and you hope… This is an experience of disappointed hope, unanswered prayers, presumably over a long time period.
Judges 13:3
The very first instructions after telling her she will have a son, the very first thing, is instructions in the Nazirite vow.
From the womb he shall be a Nazirite.
Nazirite?
“What is a Nazirite?”
you may ask.
The word means dedicated, and the instructions are found in .
For a limited time, a man may “dedicate” himself, kind of making of his own life a temporary sacrifice.
He avoids grapes, not just wine but the fruit itself.
He avoids becoming unclean through any contact with dead bodies.
And he doesn’t cut his hair as an outward sign of this vow.
For a season, a period of time, he does this.
Then at the end, he brings a sacrifice of worship, and shaves his head, and brings his sacrifice before God… and then it’s done.
But Samson.... Samson shall “be a Nazirite to God from the womb” with no endpoint.
He is “dedicated” entirely, predestined in this way, entirely given over into the service of God, for the mission of saving God’s people.
The woman is excited and ran to tell her husband, Manoah.
=7
Hear the repetition there?
Underlining the vow as a Nazirite.
But Manoah isn’t taking the random stranger’s word, he asks God what His plan is.
God listened:
Judges 13:
Judges 13:9
I love this question, as a parent.
This is a good one to write down.
What is the be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?
Manner and mission?
Way and purpose?
What is my child’s “why” and “how” is he going to walk in it?
What is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?
And again, we hear the Nazirite vow:
Judges 13:
Manoah invites the angel to dinner and, like the angel that approached Gideon, he says you could make an offering.
Manoah asks his name:
My name is wonderful (like I have a wonderful name).
Or even, you want my name?
You can’t handle my name!
It would melt your face off.
Judges 13:1
Or my name is wonderful (cool name).
Perhaps even, as in, “For unto us a child is given… and his name shall be Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God”.
And so they offered the goat and the grain on the rock…
Judges 13:2
And Manoah says “we’re going to die!”
And Manoah’s wife says “No dummy, he just told us we are going to have a kid, weren’t you listening?”
Judges 13:
Samson, before he ever even had a choice, had this road set before him.
Wholly dedicated to the Lord’s service.
Predestined for great works.
Blessed by God.
Foretold and fore-ordained.
Child of prophecy and great expectation.
We will talk in coming weeks about how successful that was.
We will talk about Samson as Savior-figure.
Dedicated Baby - A Little Much
Nazairite
But today, I want to zero in on what the text says over and over again.
This child will be absolutely dedicated to the Lord’s ministry.
and that is what “Nazirite” means.
The word means dedicated, and the instructions are found in .
For a limited time, a man may “dedicate” himself, kind of making of his own life a temporary sacrifice.
He avoids grapes, not just wine but the fruit itself.
He avoids becoming unclean through any contact with dead bodies.
And he doesn’t cut his hair as an outward sign of this vow.
For a season, a period of time, he does this.
Then at the end, he brings a sacrifice of worship, and shaves his head, and brings his sacrifice before God… and then it’s done.
But Samson.... Samson shall “be a Nazirite to God from the womb” with no endpoint.
He is “dedicated” entirely, predestined in this way, entirely given over into the service of God, for the mission of saving God’s people.
But Samson.... Samson shall “be a Nazirite to God from the womb” with no endpoint.
He is “dedicated” entirely, predestined in this way, entirely given over into the service of God, for the mission of saving God’s people.
Or even, in the way that the vow of the Nazirite was a period of self-sacrifice, finally symbolized by shaving the hair (the outward sign of the Nazirite vow) and placing it “as a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD”
Or even, in the way that the vow of the Nazirite was a period of self-sacrifice, finally symbolized by shaving the hair (the outward sign of the Nazirite vow) and placing it “as a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD”
Number 6:18
Making of himself a peace offering to the LORD, alongside a sin offering and a burnt offering and a drink offering… all the kinds of offering.
The Nazirite is making of himself an offering, a sacrifice to God.
And Samson is commanded to live his WHOLE life this way.
Never is he supposed to shave and burn his hair, from birth to death, he is a living sacrifice.
Isn’t that a little much?
That’s a lot to ask from a baby.
That’s a lot to lay on a kid!
We meet these parents at baseball games, in the theater, people who dedicate their child to EXTREME measures to a sport or a life goal.
And they live vicariously, perhaps because they never made it themselves.
… and we often hear about the burnout of the kid, because it’s just too much!
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