Judges

Judges 13:1

It's like the same song, different verse.  The cycle continues as the children of Israel did evil in God's sight.  The Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines.  If you look back to the beginning of the Jephthah cycle you'll see the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord worshiping all the gods of the surrounding cultures.  They forsook the Lord.  Then:

So the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the people of Ammon. (NKJV; Judges 10:7; 1982, Thomas Nelson)

This went on for forty years, twice as long as the next longest oppression – which was the Deborah/Barak cycle after twenty years.  With each cycle, the apostacy becomes deeper, more normal and the oppression becomes a way of life.  They don't cry out to the Lord.

The Philistine territory is centered around the five cities in the coastal region west of Judah.  The cities are Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gaza and Gath.  Shamgar had driven them back out of Israel previously.

 Judges 13:2-5

Manoah was a Danite (of the tribe of Dan) but lived in Zorah, a city sixteen miles west of Jerusalem in a pass to the coastal plains, which bordered the Philistine regions.  Manoah's wife, though unnamed, has good company in her plight of being barren.  She joins Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah and Elizabeth in the New Testament.  The thoughts of barrenness come from the idea that God controls the womb, He determines if and when a child will be born.  To be childless then was thought to be cursed by God.  Alternately then, conception was a divine blessing and answer to prayer.  Great value was seen in large families in those times.  Therefore, a barren woman was grounds for divorce.  She was at the mercy of her husband; she would have felt unfulfilled, unfavored and in time worthless.

It is interesting that Manoah's wife remains unnamed, even further lowering the view of her.   The Angel of the Lord appeared to her and gave her the greatest news of her life, she would become pregnant and have a son.  He was instructed to keep a Nazirite vow for her son in the womb who would be raised under this vow.   A Nazirite vow was typically a conditional agreement between God and man.  It was normally done for days or weeks.  The completion was done with offerings to the Lord seeking an answer for the petition that initiated the vow.  In this case there was no obvious petition – though maybe the unspoken petition was the deliverance from the Philistines.  Samson's Nazirite vow was for a lifetime and his life seems to be the offering. 

1. He was not to drink wine or similar drink.
   1. The Nazirite vow of Numbers 6 seems to make this restriction particularly of those drinks made from grapes. 
   2. As a staple of the diet of this time, this may be a type of fasting.  However, it s more likely a restriction due to the way Canaanite cults viewed this drink
2. He was not to eat anything unclean.
   1. Numbers 6 defines this as uncleanness from going near a dead body.  They could not even mourn over direct family members.
   2. This may be positioning him as a statement against the cult of the dead.  There was to be no ancestor worship in a family.  All worship was done in community.  Ancestry was acknowledged only through worship of Yahweh.
3. A razor was not to touch his head.
   1. In the culture around Manoah and his family, hair was used in magic and for religious reasons.  Hair was offered similar to the way blood was offered – it was also seen as the essence of a person.
   2. To keep his hair was a statement against the cults.  Others harvested locks of hair for various reasons, Manoah's wife would bear a son that would keep his hair.
   3. Long hair on a man was virile and manly – baldness implied shame. 

The call on his life was to deliver Israel from the Philistines.  The entirety of his life would be directed toward this action of deliverance by the Lord.  

Judges 13:6-7

Manoah's wife called the Angel a Man of God.  She may have thought He was a prophet.  In a sense He was and is The Prophet, Priest and King.  We call Him Jesus.  She noted that there was something about the Man that made her think He was more than a prophet.  She had some thought of what The Angel of God would look like and He was very much like that.  Manoah wanted to know this man's origins and name.  These bits of information were required to evaluate the validity of the encounter. 

Judges 13:8-11

We see a glimpse of Manoah's lack of respect or belief of what his wife told him.  She didn't get all the information he felt like he needed.  When confronted with an Angel of God, it would be better to listen than ask questions.  His wife experienced this and He seemed a bit incredulous that this visitor would meet with her and not him.  He prayed to the Lord for additional teaching or possibly confirmation of her story.  Since the Lord's will had been revealed, then this is but different style of fleece, not unlike Gideon's.  The Lord heard his prayer but came again to Manoah's wife.  The Lord lifts this woman's status by saying she would be a child and by coming to her twice.  While the Lord answered the prayer, he wouldn't be controlled by Manoah. 

She ran and got Manoah who asked the man to confirm he was the same who spoke to his wife.  The response "I AM" is fitting.  Though the original text is a single word 'Ani' as if to say only, "I" with the verb implied.  This would normally be where one would give their name.  The Angel of the Lord does not reveal his name to Manoah. 

Judges 13:12-14

Manoah expresses confidence in the message delivered and asked for additional information on how to raise the boy.  The 'rule of life' is the overarching, authoritative idea that informs all that happens in his life.  We might say, "What is the verdict of his life?"  We are asking, either good or bad, what is the purpose and outcome.  Knowing that would tell Manoah how to direct the boy as he grew.  No additional information is given but only confirmation and exclamation of its importance.  The responsibility for the keeping of this vow seems to fall on his wife.

Judges 13:15-18

The custom of hospitality called for Manoah to invite the guest to stay and to feed Him.  He asked the Lord to stay for a meal.  The Angel suggested a burnt offering to the Lord instead of the meal.   

Manoah asked the Man His name not understanding this was The Angel of the Lord.  Providing your name was an act of favor and trust.  The highest name of Yahweh was held high and respected; it was not to be used for vain things.  The Lord's name is sacred and they often didn't want to speak it or write it.  There was an ancient belief that to know the name of a divine being gave one power over that being.  God would not be controlled that way nor would His name be used so flippantly.  Within the cultures around them names were needed to place a hex on someone or create some magic.  The Angel of God's name remains unknown and sacred.  His name is power, but no one would have power over Him.  No one would possess Him. 

Manoah's purpose for asking was not likely to control or manipulate but to establish the importance of this person and honor that was due.  The Angel of the Lord said His name is Wonderful!  His name could not be comprehended, nor His essence apprehended.  The word is 'peli' in Hebrew.  The word is only used a handful of times.  One of those times is very familiar to us:

⁶           For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷           Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Manoah would not have known this, but we can see the connection of the Angel of God to Jesus the Messiah.  What a interesting connection when the Angel of the Lord is speaking of the child that would come to Manoah and his wife.

Judges 13:19-23

The rock becomes the altar of a sacrifice rather than a table to eat a meal.  The goat is placed on the rock with a grain offering.  This would be a portion of grain, oil and incense that would be offered on the altar to the Lord.  Manoah and his wife watched as flame ascended from the rock to heaven, symbolic of the offering being received by God.  The Angel of the Lord ascended within that flame.  Oy!!  What a moment. 

Both Manoah and his wife were fully aware this was the Angel of the Lord and fell with their face to the ground.  They were struck with terror.  It was a common belief among all cultures that an encounter with a divine being would likely result in death.  Manoah says, "We're going to die!!"   His wife wisely out that if it was His intention to kill us, we'd already been dead.  Instead, the Lord came:

1. To proclaim the call of their son.
2. To receive their burnt offering
3. To show Himself to them; His countenance, His wonder and Power – leaving them in awe.

Judges 13:24-25

The nameless woman bore a son and called him Samson.  His name means sunlight.  He would become a light to a nation in a dark time; a nation that didn't realize they were living in darkness – for they didn't cry out or complain.  All around this family were pagans worshiping the sun, but devout Israelites recognized that Yahweh alone controlled and provided the power of the sun. 

The Lord blessed Samson and he grew.  The Spirit of the Lord began to move in his life.  Mahaneh Dan means 'camp of Dan' and was right between Zorah and Eshtaol.  These towns are only a mile apart.  Between them was a spring by a wadi – a likely location for this camp. 

The Lord was raising up a savior to a people that didn't have the sense to call out to Him.  They no longer recognized their crushing oppression under the hand of their enemy.  Therefore, they no longer cried out to God.  They had become comfortable in their idolatry and all the consequences of it.  God was clear, deliverance came from repentance; otherwise, they could cry out to the gods they worshiped.  But repentance required change they saw as greater suffering than the oppression they were under.

However, the Lord was preparing Samson for a coming time and day.  The Lord's timing was, and always will be, perfect.

© 2015, 2022 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater