The Mystery Babylon religions have always posed a serious threat to the Israelites.
And of course, this included the pagan practices of the Philistines whose ways were no less tantalizing.
Let me give you an idea of just how far Israel had fallen from the Lord in terms of obeying His instructions to be separate from the gentiles.
First, mixed marriages between the Israelites and the Philistines were now commonplace…which meant there were a lot of mixed children running around.
And few Hebrews openly opposed it…because they were afraid as being seen as bigots.
In addition to intermarriage, business partnerships between the Hebrews and the Philistines were also a normal thing.
And again, no one spoke out against this either…because there was some serious moolah to be made on both sides.
Now here’s a mind-blowing fact you might find interesting.
During the 11th and 12th centuries, Hebrew culture had become so thoroughly mixed together with the Philistine culture that the pottery produced by both cultures was virtually identical.
That’s right.
Only expert archaeologists with trained eyes can tell the difference.
If this doesn’t give you an idea of the extent the Hebrews had integrated into Philistine culture, I don’t know what will.
So this was the world Samson was born into…
Which if you think about it, isn’t much different than the world we’re living in today.
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