Manoah and His Wife, Who Conceived Samson

1The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight; and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. 2There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and childless. 3Yahweh’s angel appeared to the woman, and said to her, “See now, you are barren and childless; but you shall conceive, and bear a son. 4Now therefore please beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and don’t eat any unclean thing: 5for, behold, you shall conceive, and give birth to a son. No razor shall come on his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb. He shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” 6Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me, and his face was like the face of the angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he was from, neither did he tell me his name; 7but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink. Don’t eat any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

As I sowed all kinds of seed in the field, it amazed me, and delighted me too, that fruit could come from seeds so small. As time went on and every kind of fruit began to hang from the plants, I tasted the joy of reaping what I had sown. Learning how precious a single seed is, I came to think that God, too, would want our small faith to grow to maturity, like a mustard seed.

I have wondered whether this was what was in God’s heart when he sent Samson into the world. There is not one righteous person in this world who can rescue sinners from death, and so the sinless Jesus came himself. Just as Jesus atoned for sin, God meant to save Israel by raising up Samson, a Nazirite who was to live a holy life, free of sin.

As always, when Israel was oppressed by the Philistines, the people cried out in their suffering, and God took notice of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan. Manoah and his wife had no child, and they prayed earnestly to God, the Lord of life, for a baby. Then Yahweh’s angel came in person to Manoah’s wife and answered that she would bear a son.

What I wonder here is this: God could simply have given them a son, so why did he take the trouble to come and tell them that she would bear one? We can find the answer in what Yahweh’s angel said to Manoah’s wife. The angel told her that to bear this son, she must first live as a Nazirite. As a rare and precious treasure is placed in a clean and lovely vessel, God wanted Samson’s parents to live as Nazirites, with a holy and pure faith, as they carried Samson.

The word is perfect, restoring the soul and making wise the simple. God wanted Samson’s parents to be made pure through the fear of Yahweh, and to raise Samson with wisdom. Since it is wise parents who can raise a child in faith, God made them live as Nazirites.

Scripture tells of other times when God announced a conception in advance, as he did to Manoah. He came to Abraham and Sarah and told them that they would have a son and should name him Isaac. He told Mary that she would conceive Jesus, and that he would save his people from their sins. He announced Samuel to Hannah, John the Baptist to Zechariah, Solomon to David, and to Rebekah the birth of Jacob and Esau.

To be born into the world by God’s special providence is a wonderful thing. In the same way, God remembers your name, has called you in a special way, and has made you live as one of his saints. That is an astonishing blessing, and we ought to give thanks for it.

Judges 13:7

7but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink. Don’t eat any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

God commanded this couple to leave behind the whole way of life they had known and to live a life set apart. In return for the child Samson, they had to make a new resolve: for the sake of Samson, who would be a Nazirite, they first had to live as Nazirites themselves. Nazirite means one who is set apart, and there is real hardship in having to live differently from ordinary people. It is the same principle by which we beat our bodies and bring them into submission so that we can live differently from the world.

With water scarce in Israel, wine served as the common drink. When God told them not to drink even that, life must have been hard. Paul told Timothy, whose health was poor, to use a little wine for his body’s sake, which shows that in Israel, where water was scarce, drinking wine was common. Still, God told them not to drink it. Wine means the fermented juice of grapes, while shekar, strong drink, means wine made from fruit or grain. God forbade not only strong drink but even the wine people drank every day.

A Nazirite was not to eat or touch anything unclean and was always to live a life set apart and holy. For Manoah and his wife, who had lived as ordinary people, that would have been hard. It is hard to restrain yourself from what everyone else does freely, but because this was for God’s Kingdom and his people, they had to obey even to the point of death. If the mother carrying Samson drank, it would affect him; if his father were drunk, he could not teach Samson properly, because wine robs people of their reason.

Noah’s sons were put to the test because their father came out of the ark and lay drunk and naked. Shem and Japheth, thankfully, covered their father’s nakedness with a garment, but Ham mocked him and came under a curse. True, it was presumably because his character was flawed that Ham mocked his father when he saw his nakedness. Yet if Noah had not fallen asleep drunk, Ham would not have faced that test, and there would have been no reason for a curse. That Noah drank wine and fell asleep drunk means he was used to drinking it, and that he drank so much he lost all control of himself, so it was not conduct that set an example for his children. Had Noah, before rebuking and cursing Ham, looked back on what he himself had done in front of his son, he would have repented to God first.

Judges 13:18-20

18Yahweh’s angel said to him, “Why do you ask about my name, since it is incomprehensible?” 19So Manoah took the young goat with the meal offering, and offered it on the rock to Yahweh. Then the angel did an amazing thing as Manoah and his wife watched. 20For when the flame went up toward the sky from off the altar, Yahweh’s angel ascended in the flame of the altar. Manoah and his wife watched; and they fell on their faces to the ground.

Suffering may follow for those who bear a child through God’s special providence, since they cannot raise that child in an ordinary way. Joseph loved Mary, yet when he learned she was with child he meant to part from her quietly. That tells us that for Mary, too, bearing a child conceived by the Holy Spirit meant suffering. But when they came to know that the child was the Savior who would save the world, they bore every hardship to protect him and praised God that she carried the Savior. Even so, what they suffered went beyond anything we can imagine.

How stunned must Manoah and his wife have been when they heard that they would bear Israel’s deliverer? Yet because she was not yet with child, they had to believe the word and live by faith until the moment they held the baby in their arms. Thinking that the one speaking with him was a prophet, Manoah said that if he would stay at their house, he would prepare a young goat to serve him. But when Yahweh’s angel replied that he could not eat the food Manoah prepared and that Manoah should offer it to Yahweh as a burnt offering, Manoah was taken aback. He had wanted to honor his guest with his best, and when the angel refused, he asked to know his name, so that he could honor him when the promise of a son came true.

Yahweh’s angel answered that his name was incomprehensible, a name too wonderful to grasp. The word speaks of what is beyond understanding, mysterious and marvelous. It expresses the nature of God, who does wondrous things that no human being can judge or comprehend. In the Old Testament, the same word is used in the prophecy of the Messiah’s birth to describe the nature of the Messiah.

That Jesus Christ became our atoning sacrifice is not something human ability can understand. It is the power of God, beyond the highest reach of human thought. A faith that says, I will believe in God once I understand, is therefore not a right faith, because obeying God only when his providence makes sense to us amounts to saying we will not believe him. When we first obey the word, God will make us understand its deeper spiritual meaning. As James said, faith without works is dead in itself. Such faith is dead because it is the faith of people who say they believe God exists yet never live it out in what they do. Some say they believe in God though they never go to church, or that they enjoy pleasure just as the world does but believe in God in their hearts. As the body apart from the spirit is dead, such faith is dead.

Isaiah 9:6 says, “For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders (meaning leadership and rule; to carry the government on one’s shoulders is a symbol of authority). His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father (everlasting comes from his divine nature, carrying the sense of a patron and protector), Prince of Peace (a king who cares for his people and takes responsibility for them, a king of peace).”

The angel of Yahweh who appeared to Manoah is none other than Jesus Christ, at work in the Old Testament age. Christ is the one who created all things by his word, and who has never once left humanity’s side in his work of saving sinners. Jesus Christ, then, is the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. This great Christ could have kept his glory for himself, yet he sacrificed himself to rescue people who had fallen into death through Satan’s deceit. Salvation was accomplished because God came to humanity himself.

People think they have become holy by worshiping God, and that they are saved because they go to church. That is a grave mistake. God made humankind in his own image, and because humanity sinned, he laid aside his throne and glory, took on a human body, and came into this world; that is how the work of atonement was accomplished. It is like parents sacrificing themselves for a child who has gone astray.

Foolishly, the people of the world try to reach God by their own strength. They seek to approach their gods with every kind of devotion, and they believe that by making images of every kind of creature and bowing down to them, they can have their wishes granted. But apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, no one can ever come to God, because a god who comes when people call is no god at all.

God raised up Samson, a Nazirite, as Israel’s deliverer to show that a people who deserved to die for their sin could live because of Samson the Nazirite. If they realized that they had received grace because of Samson, who strove with all his might not to sin, they too would strive to live as Nazirites — that must have been God’s hope. But Samson did not live as a Nazirite, and Israel worshiped idols and did not turn back to God.

Manoah and his wife had to live as Nazirites for Samson’s sake, and from this we learn that we, too, are a holy people called to be Nazirites. Like the Nazirite who must not drink wine, we must live holy lives that reveal God’s glory. If we ask why we cannot do what everyone in the world does, the question itself shows that we have not grown into a mature faith.

If we say, “Everyone in the world lives like that now; anyone can do it; don’t make such a fuss, pretending you’re the only one with faith,” we will never conceive a special Samson. The heaven we long to reach is not a place easily entered. As we see in the Bible, it is the place for those who gladly laid down their lives for the gospel, who endured persecution and slander for the sake of God’s greater work, who persevered to the end and stayed faithful.

God wanted Manoah and his wife to live out the Nazirite life because he hoped Samson would grow well into his role as judge. God longs for his people to live holy lives. To them he wants to entrust precious souls like Samson, and he hopes that they in turn will nurture other souls well.

Are you living as the holy saint God so earnestly desires? Are you ready to take on whatever soul God may entrust to you? I hope that you, living holy lives, will hear God’s voice asking you to proclaim the gospel boldly to this troubled world.

Judges 13:24-25

24The woman bore a son, and named him Samson. The child grew, and Yahweh blessed him. 25Yahweh’s Spirit began to move him in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

God’s promise to raise up Samson as judge was fulfilled. If Samson followed the faith of his parents, who had lived as Nazirites in order to bear him, and obeyed the word, God would grant him astonishing grace.

His calling was to drive back the Philistines with the special power God gave him, and to be a judge who helped Israel live in the service of God. Sadly, though, we know from Scripture that Samson did not live by God’s will. The Spirit of God was with him and led him, but Samson set his eyes on the world; though he had received the promise of deliverance firsthand, he did not live a holy life.

So it is that a person born by God’s grace and kept under his protection will end life in failure if there is no gratitude for that love. God’s grace comes to us entirely from his side, but how we keep and use that grace is up to us. Most people do not give thanks, because God’s love comes to them so easily. Yet some give their lives to keep that love, and some suffer all their lives to preach the gospel.

For now, we live as we please, because we do not know how many plans God laid, or through how many years of providence he worked, before that love reached us. But on the last day, when God’s plan is complete, we will see it with our own eyes.

Friends, you must obey God’s word now, while you have the chance. Samson received God’s special grace and still fell. God meant to make him a judge above all others, but Samson did not grow in character or keep a pure faith, and so his great strength became his ruin. People think that if God chose Samson, he would not sin, and his character would be good as well. But a human being is a sinner by nature. Unless a person lays down their own righteousness even to death, whomever God chooses is still only a sinner, like Samson.

Even a man like the apostle Paul says that unless he puts to death the passions of the flesh daily to keep his faith, he cannot be born anew. God loves the saint who suffers without shame and gives everything to keep the word in Jesus Christ. We must rightly handle the word of truth and make ourselves clean vessels, fit to be used for holy purposes. Foolish human beings grow proud the moment they are lifted up a little and cannot control their evil character; unless they cast off their own righteousness, they cannot be used.

Friends, only the broken and shattered can carry God’s work. Only those who confess that they can do nothing in themselves are counted humble by God, and he will set them where he needs them.

Samson received special power from God, yet he used it as if it were his own, and came to a death that grieves us. God even made his parents live as Nazirites so that he could use Samson as judge, but Samson indulged in pleasure and met a miserable end.

You, too, are children who have received God’s special care. I hope you will not be like foolish Samson, who failed to receive the love prepared for him, but will share in the work of saving souls and live in peace and rest. Just as God watched over the lives of Samson’s parents and helped them so that he could entrust Samson to them, he will watch over your life for the sake of the souls he will entrust to you.

When God’s attention turns to you, if you show him a sincere and honest faith, you can experience his wondrous work for yourself. Living as a saint is not easy, but if you bear witness with confidence to Christ, the Lord of life, you will be able to taste the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.

As Manoah and his wife prayed earnestly to conceive a child, we must pray earnestly for the saving of a single life. The Holy Spirit answers those who pray for one person’s salvation and guards them closely so that they can go on living by faith. When we begin to carry a soul in prayer, Satan goes to work to hinder us, so without God’s protection we cannot even pray. That is why Yahweh’s angel came to Manoah’s wife in person and told them what kind of life they must live to bear Samson. He made it known that only by living as Nazirites could they hold Samson in their arms, and he told them plainly that the Nazirite life would never be easy.

Hebrews 6:9-10

9But, beloved, we are persuaded of better things for you, and things that accompany salvation, even though we speak like this. 10For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them.

Those who bear good fruit have the promise of salvation. Salvation comes by God’s absolute grace, but when we make it plain by our deeds that our faith is genuine, God gives us a greater assurance.

Had Manoah and his wife grasped God’s deeper purpose while living as Nazirites, Samson would have fulfilled his calling and become a judge for Israel. Seeing his parents fail to set him right every time Samson made a wrong decision, we are led to wonder whether they truly lived the upright life of Nazirites. We need to live by faith — not because deeds are what count, but because once we have learned God’s word, we can be approved by God only by living out what we have learned.

You, too, have been called by God and declared righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ. Now you must leave behind the first principles of the faith and press on to perfection. You are loved by God; I hope you will show him, by your faith, how hard you strive to do his will. May you be saints whom God approves, living holy lives.