Judges 13
The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lordgave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children. 3 And the angel of theLord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are barren, having borne no children, you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Now be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, or to eat anything unclean, 5 for you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor is to come on his head, for the boy shall be a nazirite to God from birth. It is he who shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like that of an angel of God, most awe-inspiring; I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name; 7 but he said to me, ‘You shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the boy shall be a nazirite[c] to God from birth to the day of his death.’”
8 Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, “O Lord, I pray, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we are to do concerning the boy who will be born.” 9 God listened to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” 11 Manoah got up and followed his wife, and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12 Then Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the boy’s rule of life; what is he to do?” 13 The angel of the Lordsaid to Manoah, “Let the woman give heed to all that I said to her. 14 She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine. She is not to drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. She is to observe everything that I commanded her.”
15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Allow us to detain you, and prepare a kid for you.” 16 The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat your food; but if you want to prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) 17 Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?” 18 But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful.”
19 So Manoah took the kid with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to theLord, to him who works wonders. 20 When the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground. 21 The angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” 23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”
24 The woman bore a son, and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 The spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
As we are approaching our Sight & Sound trip, to watch Musical Samson, I thought it might be a good idea to walk through the story of judges. If you are interested, we still have seats left for this trip. Please contact Mark (mark@rcumc.org) for more information.
What does the passage say?
V. 1-7 The Israelites were doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and were under the hands of Philistines for forty years. God had a plan to use Manoah and his wife (Sad that the Bible do not mention her name).
An angel appears to her and tells her about God’s plan. The angel gives out precise directions for her pregnancy. All this is to prepare Samson to ‘be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb.’ And Manoah’s wife comes to Manoah and shares her revelation.
V. 8-14 Manoah requests for a confirmation to hear the directions himself.
V. 15-25 They offer the angel to be present in a feast they will offer to honor him. The angel says that any food will be consumed. Apparently what happens, is that when “the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame” (v 20 NIV).
And Manoah’s wife gives birth to a child ten months later.
What does the passage say to you and me?
God seems to have God’s plan to continue to reach out the God’s people, who continually turn away from God. As God prepared a plan to save the nation, through Jesus Christ, the angel comes to Monoah’s wife in a similar way. Like God used the weak, tribe of Benjamin, the weakest tribe, God uses Manoah’s wife who was barren and weak.
God intervenes in our weakness. Through times when we can’t do anything, we can see God’s hand working through us. Instead of asking for God to strengthen us, we need to ask that we can see our weakness, so we can see God working through our weakness.
So when God works through our weakness, we will be able to be obedient to God’s directions. May God continue to grow us in humility, so we see how God works in our lives.
Let us pray
Lord, help us to see our weakness. Help us to see how you still work through our weakness. And when you work, help us to be obedient to your directions. In the name who we follow, we pray. AMEN
What are your thoughts?
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