Judges

Judges Chapter 13

• Judges 13:1  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.

This is the longest of all the times the children of Israel became under bondage of another nation after they coming out of Egypt and conquering the land of Canaan. Had they not done evil. This would never had happened. God delivered them to the Philistines 40 long years. They never learn just as people of today never learn. We must teach history, admit mistakes and sins, teach children the word of God and live by example before our children. When God's hand of protection is removed from a nation, anything can happen. At His word we stand or fall. We shall see though that God has plans for Israel and this bondage was not to be permanent.

• Judges 13:2  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. 
• 3  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. 
• 4  Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: 
• 5  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. 

Many times in scripture God heals barren women who conceive when they couldn't conceive previously, some even when they are at the age way past the age when a woman can bear children. Sarah the wife of Abraham and Elizabeth the mother of John the baptist were examples of that. Younger ones were Rebecca the wife of Isaac, Rachael, Jacob's wife, Hannah, the mother of Samuel, Hazelelponi, wife of Manoah father of Samson, and Michel, wife of King David. The name Hazelelponi is the name of the mother of Samson by other Jewish sources.

Miracle babies some times come after angelic visitations. Samson is one, Jesus and John the Baptist are examples. There are probably many others unknown to us.

Nazarites were those set apart for the service of the Lord. More about Nazarites are found in Numbers chapter 6. They were not to cut their hair or drink strong drinks, not even any fruit of the vine. Unclean food according to the law given by Moses was also forbidden to them. Nazarites were those that vow to live this way for a time period but it seems as if Samson was chosen by the Lord to live this way his whole life.

• Judges 13:6  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: 
• 7  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. 

The word terrible actually means awesome or breath taking not terrible as we would take it in today's language.

• Judges 13:8  Then Manoah intreated 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. 

I must really commend Manoah here. He believed his wife and didn't take her words lightly. He believed that she heard from the angel. In other words, he believed God. He wanted to make sure though that they would raise the child right. They didn't want to mess this thing up.

• Judges 13:9  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. 
• 10  And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day. 
• 11  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. 
• 12  And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him? 
• 13  And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. 
• 14  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. 

I'm not surprised at the way God sends an angel to the woman and not to the man first even when God sent the angel the second time as an answer to Manoah's prayer. God seems to act in a direct manner. He came first to the wife so He continued to work that way in this incident. In this case we see the husband was supposed to listen to his wife. Perhaps and this is my speculation not "Thus saith the Lord," but perhaps since the wife was the chief cook and served the food and drink, she would have more control over what Samson would eat and drink since neither she nor he was supposed to be under the influence of strong drink or unclean foods. It would seem as if how a pregnant woman eats and drinks influences the baby in the womb.

• Judges 13:15  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. 
• 16  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. 

This was a good angel. He made sure that Manoah and his wife would worship the Lord God of Israel and not him as a messenger of the Lord. They were to make offerings to the Lord not him. We can learn from that today. We are messengers bearing the word of God, we are not to be exalted above one another and rob God of His glory.

• Judges 13:17  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? 
• 18  And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? 
• 19  So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. 
• 20  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. 
• 21  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. 
• 22  And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. 
• 23  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 shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these. 

They now had proof that this visitation from someone who wouldn't even give him his name was an angelic being sent by God to bring them this message. We see an angel return to God in the flames refusing any honor or worship for himself but gives glory to God. God accepted their offering. Monoah's wife had a lot of wisdom in that she acknowledged that they wouldn't die because God accepted their offering. This seems to be a rumor though that those that seen God would die. Perhaps it came from the time in the wilderness when Moses instructed them not to touch or come near the mountain when God descended upon it.

This account can be found in Exodus chapter 19. It shows the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. They couldn't go too close to the mountain when God came upon it or they might die. This also shows us the plan of God that through receiving His Son Jesus as Lord, we are cleansed from sin and born again by God's Holy Spirit and can now come into His presence freely. Oh my how awesome it is to think about. Thank you precious Jesus.

• Judges 13:24  And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. 
• 25  And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol. 

One thing I noticed is that in this incident, the children of Israel didn't cry to the Lord before the Lord sends this deliverer. This time God decides to send one but he has to grow up first from a baby. The Spirit of the Lord was on him in a town located in Judah although Samson's family was from the tribe of Dan. Samson will have judged Israel for 20 years. The story of Samson continues showing us that even those chosen of God can yield to temptation. DC

Judges Chapter 14