Ministries
Resources
1And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, so the LORD gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
2There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines." 6Then the woman came and told her husband, "A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, 7but he said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.'"
8Then Manoah prayed to the LORD and said, "O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born." 9And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. 10So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, "Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me." 11And Manoah arose and went after 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." 12And Manoah said, "Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?" 13And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 14She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe."
15Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you." 16And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the LORD." (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.) 17And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?" 18And the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?" 19So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the LORD, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. 20And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the LORD went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.
21The angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. 22And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God." 23But 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." 24And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the LORD blessed him. 25And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
We have been introduced to five of the six major leaders in the book of Judges. There has been a pattern of steady moral and spiritual deterioration as we moved from one judge to the next, and the nation has faithfully followed suit from one generation to the next. In the Samson cycle we come closest to what one might call a fresh start.
The birth narrative of Samson almost seems idyllic compared to the Tohu-wa-wohu of the preceding episodes. Manoah and his wife from the tribe of Dan leave a positive and much appreciated first impression in this chaotic time. But what appears to be a model Israelite home is beset with numerous troubling features upon closer examination. The disturbing nuances of the text arise primarily from a comparison of Manoah and his wife. Our text is part of a theme that runs through Judges, namely, that of women taking charge where men fail to fulfill their roles. Manoah's better half towers over her dim-witted husband in spiritual things and plain old common sense. She simply believes the word of the angel, and she does not get into the habit of asking stupid questions.
We could draw attention to a list of details that cast more than a shadow of doubt on Manoah's leadership qualities in the home. So, for example, his question about the angel's instruction in 13:8 glaringly reveals his obtuseness (13:8). His wife had just told him what the couple was to do, but Manoah wants to be spoon-fed. When the angel actually does reappear, he can only repeat—almost verbatim—what has already been said. The words of the angel sound like, "…And I thought I was perfectly clear the first time."
The husband's exclamation in 13:22 also deserves some attention: "We shall surely die, for we have seen God!" Manoah eventually recognizes the messenger as the angel of Yahweh. But the logic of his words is ridiculous, for they imply that God reveals his will to his people in order to strike them dead afterwards. His wife's answer puts him in his place: "If Yahweh wanted to kill us, we would already be dead…"
Manoah is a spiritual infant, but as such he is only representative of the people of God in this dark time. In the words of 1 Sam. 3:1-3, "…the Word of Yahweh was rare in those days, and there was no revelation…." There was more than one reason for Israel's spiritual poverty in the days of the judges. But sin and slothfulness certainly topped the list. Israel saw no need to grow in their knowledge of God. They thought they had everything they needed and, consequently, did not seek the Lord's face.
The writer to the Hebrews exhorts us with the following words: "Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to maturity…" (Heb. 6:1). Without paying attention to the details, this text expresses what we all should know: Growth for a Christian is not an option. It is a necessity. If we become dull of hearing and slow to obey God's Word, we do not only endanger the outcome of our own pilgrimage. A person's life and conduct influences life and conduct of others. If the parents' testimony has grown stale over the years, how can they be a positive influence for their children? The same is true for husbands and wives and virtually all the relationships that God gives us in life.
The author of these devotionals, the Rev. Martin Emmrich, is an ordained OPC minister (Westminster OPC, Corvallis, Oregon) as well as the author of Pneumatological Concepts in the Epistle to the Hebrews, a book on the teaching of Hebrews on the Holy Spirit. We are happy to make these devotionals on Ecclesiastes and other passages of Scripture available to you.
© 2025 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church
