Samson is part of the fabric of God’s tapestry. He was an important example of unfulfilled potential. Although Samson did great things for God, we can only wonder what he might have done or been for God. But despite his sin God still moved behind the scenes and used Samson for good. Though God can make even the evil of man to serve His purposes, it never justifies the evil that man does.
Earlier in Ezekiel 36:17-19, we learn that God had scattered and dispersed the Israelites among the nations because of their evil conduct and actions. He poured out His wrath on them because they had ‘shed blood in the land… and defiled it with their idols’.
God appointed Ezekiel to tell these scattered people of Israel that He will cleanse them from their sins, resettle them in their towns and rebuild the ruins; He will bless them again! He resolved to do all these despite the evil hearts of His people, because the surrounding nations were mocking God on account of the sorry state of the Israelites.
Israel had been oppressed by the Midianites for seven years because they did evil in the eyes of God. Despite their disobedience to God, He loved them, saw their suffering and set about His plan to rescue them.
Along came Gideon, a man who was the least in his family, from a clan which was the weakest in Manasseh. He was the lowest of the low and yet God chose to use him to in His plans to save the people of Israel.
We read in Exodus that the Israelites had been rescued from slavery and oppression in Egypt by the mighty works of God through Moses. They went through the 10 plagues and then later the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. But the generation after Joshua has forgotten all these miraculous encounters, or they were not told what the Lord has done for their forefathers.
Moses had sent the twelve spies, one from each tribe of Israel, into the land God had promised. He asked them to recce the place and to bring some of the fruit of the land. This would help them assess the situation of the people of the land they were to conquer, and to know how fertile was the land.
At the end of the forty days, the spies returned to report their findings and brought back the fruit of the land. The visible evidence of the fruit of the land showed that the land was a land that flowing with milk and honey. This was the land promised by Yahweh when the people were led out from Egypt.
