Could this really have happened?

Because that's not the only function of a midwife? I guess cavemen weren't "dumb" either.I think whether you imagine God is with you, or if God is actually with you or not, there is a power to be had in this. God gets rid of many fears for people.Science would even agree, that there is power in the mind. Take a look at martial arts, power lifting, etc. If you don't believe your going to break that board, or make that lift, you probably won't.Asl any professional baseball player about his routine before playing ball. I mean what does that have to do with his abilities?The power is in the hair dude

Well then it must have been God, and the king knew it. The mid-wives were lawful in what they said, and knew they could get away with it. The child births came easy to the Jews, because God was protecting them from what the king had ordered. The hair was a symbol of God's covenant with him. His power did not return when the hair grew back, but only after he reconciled with God.
Possibly the philistines did not think he would get his power back, since he broke his covenant with God.Covenants were not a dime a dozen in those days.

Are they illogical, or are we ignorant to how things where back then.Example, the wild west, and a shoot-off in the street. Ten paces and fire? Now there's some good logic, but it obviously happened.

Is that what we do with everything that happened in the past and we can't explain, we call it myth?It couldn't have happened, it's not logical.I wonder what they will say about us in 300 years?"You know, back in the day they would actually get in their cars and do drive-bys, now we just shoot them through the internet"
"Can't be, must have been a myth"I am sure that the pyramids would be a myth if they weren't still standing.

Why can't it be God?You can look at the story from 2 perspectives. You can say it was God, or not, then try to make the story fit from there. But either way, it is an over generelized story of what happened, and not short hand from a court case. There are way to many details left out for you to try and logically break it down to the level you are trying to, and make sense out of it. He knew because God was blessing the jews by allowing them to multiply. Thats the moral of that whole passage. I didn't say telling a lie was lawful, I said what they said to him was considered lawful. Again you try to break it down too far, even what I said, and turn it into something it's not. Yes, that is exactly what the story is about, the Jews multiplying.
That statement has nothing to do with the midwives being there or not, it's information that lends itself to the growth of the Jewish population, and how God was protecting them. I wasn't there, so I don't "know this". It is what the story is about, and why I think the possibility remains that it is not a myth.

quote:

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Judges 13:3 The angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman, and said to her, "See now, you are barren, and don't bear; but you shall conceive, and bear a son.

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4 Now therefore please beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and don't eat any unclean thing:

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5 for, behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb: and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."

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Sure sounds like his power came from God, and it was in his hair, a sign of the convenant made between Samsons parents, and God.When his hair was cut, God left him, not his strength.

quote:

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Judges 16:28 Samson called to Yahweh, and said, "Lord Yahweh, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once, God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes."

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29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and leaned on them, the one with his right hand, and the other with his left.

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30 Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" He bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people who were therein. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who he killed in his life.

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How can one say God didn't give him power to topple the temple, according to the story?He sacrificed himself in the end to get his power back one more time, and do what God had made him to do. He fulfilled his calling, that's power.

jar knows, because he was there.

We can't, so why claim it is one or the other?

The topic is, could this have happened. I am saying yes it could have. We can't prove it either way. You seem to agree.The texts we are reading from are thousands of years old, so we don't know how much of it could have been constructed or not. But they have been the same for thousands of years at least. Again I remind you that some of the stories, and points made in the OT are way over generalized, and are told to make specific points. That is why it is so bad to take these stories out of context, and then try to over analize them to the point that they no longer become true. Then you miss the point.I can totally believe in the classic shoot-out. The fight could have been an evolution of facing off with swords, or fencing? I do not think that every shoot-out went this way.To me it is possible, because it could have been the accepted way of doing things. If you didn't then I could see people being outraged, and killing off the person who wasn't following the rules. I guess it all depends how ruthless the gunslinger was, and what they were fighting over.I challenge you to a duel, ninja style!
j/k

I never said it was, so I don't know why your telling me this. I am not a literalists.However there was misconceptions of the tale, whether it was fake or not. He did not get his power back from his hair growning back, and there was a covenant made between him and God, that gave him his strength, and the symbol of it was his hair. We of course cannot relate to this anymore, because the Holy Spirit is with us now, thanks to Jesus, and we no longer need to make convenants with God to be with Him, or experience His strength. I believe this true for everyone regardless of what you believe, in fact it may be what drives your disbelief, if you don't. The OP is "could this have happened." I am saying yes, it could have.Do I think it did? Who cares, has little to do with why I believe in God. I come from a school of thought that is "anything is possible". It is a humble position.

Maybe it's you then.

OF course not, but the other extreme is living your life according to how we think things are, and then all of a sudden, they aren't that way anymore. We never stop learning, that's what I have learned.

It's not a plot twist, it is consistency with where we draw our strength from. His hair grew back, but his strength did not until he call out to the Lord for it.I experience the same thing in my life with the Lord. That is why I can find this story possible.Psalm 29:11 Yahweh will give strength to his people. Yahweh will bless his people with peace.

It was from his hair. But not the hair itself. That was just a symbol. He betrayed God as soon as he told the woman his secret.

They were dumb enough to believe it was in the hair in the first place.

Story makes no reference that his power would return if his hair grew back. Remember the hair was never cut, so the power was there from birth. Once they cut the original birth hair, the power was gone forever. This was confirmed in the story, because his hair grew back, and he did not have the power. This must have been what they were thinking.