Samson Chosen To Lead Israel

 After Jephthah’s defeat of the Ammonites, Israel followed the Lord as long as they had a Judge to lead them, but when Abdon and the older people who remembered what it had been like under the Amonites died, they turned away again.  For forty years they were under Philistine domination as Judges 13:1 describes. “And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.”

 

God knew that eventually Israel would begin to turn back to him, so during that forty years, he started preparing a man to Judge Israel again.  The man, Samson was to be a Nazarite from his birth, a man dedicated to God, as the angel who foretold his birth told his mother, in Judges 13:2-5.  “And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.  And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.  Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”

 

When Samson’s mother told her husband what the angel had said, Manoah prayed, asking God to send the angel again to tell them what they needed to do to raise the child as God wanted them to, in Judges 13:6-9 describes.  “Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name:  But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.  Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.”

 

God honored Manoah’s request sending the angel to instruct them, as Judges 13:9-14 describes.  “And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her.  And the woman made haste, and ran, and showed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day.  And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am.

 

And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?  And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware.  She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe. “  Because Samson was to be a Nazarite from birth, his mother would have to live as if she had taken the Nazarite vow herself, as the angel explained. 

 

Thinking the angel was just a prophet, Manoah asked his to eat with them, as was customary.  He also asked the angel’s name so they could tell others about his prophecy, in Judges 13:15-18.  “And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee.  And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD.   And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour?  And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?”

 

The angel said his name was a secret, and that the food would have to be offered to God rather than to himself.  When Manoah offered the food as a sacrifice to God, the angel miraculously burned it up, and ascended toward heaven in the smoke, making it clear he was an angel, as Judges 13:19-21 tells us.  “So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wonderously; and Manoah and his wife looked on.  For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.  But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD.”

 

Manoah was terrified at having seen the angel, thinking it might be God himself.  His wife calmed him down, pointing out that if God intended to kill them, he would not have wasted the time telling them that they would have a son and how they should raise him, as Judges 13:22-23 explains.  “And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.  But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these.”  It is important to remember that God would not promise such things if he did not intend to keep them.

 

Manoah and his wife followed God’s instructions, and Samson was born just as promised, as Judges 13:24-25 describes.  “And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.  And the spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.”  God blessed Samson,  sometimes leading him to do amazing things in the local area.