And there was a certain man of Zoreah, of the family of the Danites, and his name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and did not bear.
Israel has lived under Philistine rule for forty years, and this time no cry for help goes up. Against that silence, the story turns to one unknown household. The man comes from a tribe with a poor record, and his wife cannot have children.
In Judges the people usually cry out to God in their trouble, and He answers. This time there is no cry.
We read of fresh departure, but of no return nor cry to Jehovah. He does act toward them in goodness, and provides a deliverer. But the deliverance itself still depends on their repentance, so it cannot happen. Samson's victories bring, at most, only some relief from their distress. And he himself fails at the last and dies, though he kills more of the Philistines at his death than in his life.
The verse names the tribe before the man. Dan was not a promising choice.
In the case of Samson we see how everything shows God's hand working in sovereignty. He chooses the tribe of Dan, already disgraced as the first in Israel to fall into idolatry (Judges 18). He can do as it pleases Him. No one asked Him to, yet the Lord appeared to Manoah's wife and announced the birth of this child — to her, who had been barren until then.
The names themselves carry meaning — the tribe, the town, and the man.
The predicted deliverer is of the family of Dan. Dan already speaks of the service of rule — a rule that must first of all be over oneself, if it is to bring blessing. Manoah is a man of Zorah, a name that reminds us of the sting of sin. His own name, "rest," already announces victory over that sting. That victory comes through submission: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Here is the Danite spirit from which the helper springs.
A childless woman receiving a promise is something the Bible returns to again and again, and one writer draws the common thread.
This time God chose to prepare a deliverer from the tribe of Dan, and He begins with the mother of the child to be born. The Angel of the Lord appeared to her, telling her that though she was barren, she would conceive and bear a son (v.3). The same was true of Sarah (Gen. 18:11-14), and later of Hannah (1 Sam. 1:2, 20), then also of Elizabeth, wife of Zacharias (Lk. 1:7, 13). In all such cases, does the Lord not seek to make it plain that the son born is to be in a special sense His?
The verse gives the husband's name but never hers, and she carried the added weight of being childless.
The angel of the Lord appeared to the wife of Manoah, a Danite. She was not the one that men would have chosen. Even her name is not given. She was a barren woman — a reproach among the people of Israel, despised in the eyes of the other women. But this nameless, despised woman, from the lowest of Israel's tribes, was the vessel God chose. Through her He could work out His own will. So we see the great truth emphasized, that His ways are not the ways of men. "I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing." That is the boast of a Christianity gone worldly. It walks by the flickering gleam of its own dim light. But "God chose what is foolish in the world... God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God," 1 Cor. 1:27-29.
When a whole nation stops listening, God still keeps a few who do listen.
In the middle of this hopeless situation, God set apart a godly remnant, and sent His messages to them. Manoah and his wife feared Jehovah, listened to His voice and spoke to one another (compare Mal. 3:16). They are a striking picture of the remnant — the Marys, Elizabeths, Annas, Zacharias and Simeons — who waited for the true Messiah, the Saviour of Israel.
The deliverer born to this home would be a Nazarite — someone set apart to God.
From Philistine bondage the deliverer is a Nazarite... For the Nazarite pictures the separation from the world that belongs to the true church. It is separation from the world's intoxicating joys, from its legal claims, and from its pollutions. Let that separation be lost, and all strength is lost. The conqueror becomes the slave. The clear sight of the judge becomes blindness. The history of Samson repeats itself. How many times has it been, in fact, repeated!
- Silence. Israel never turned back and never cried out. God still gave a deliverer, but full rescue waited on a repentance that never came.
- Sovereignty. No one asked Him, yet God passed over the likely choices and took the disgraced tribe of Dan. He can do as it pleases Him.
- Weakness. God chose a nameless, childless woman as His vessel. He picks what the world despises, so that no one can boast before Him.
- Remnant. A whole nation stopped listening. One couple still feared the Lord and talked together — that is what faith looks like in a ruined time.
- Separation. The deliverer's strength was Nazarite strength, held by separation. Lose the separation, and the conqueror becomes the slave.
And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold now, thou art barren and bearest not; but thou shalt conceive and bear a son.
Israel had lived under Philistine rule for forty years, and this time nobody cried for help. God moved anyway, and the first person He told was a woman with no name and no children.
In the book of Judges, rescue had always followed a cry of distress.
Because of Israel's further disobedience, the Lord brought them under bondage to the Philistines for forty long years (v. 1). In this case we are not told that Israel was broken enough to cry to God for deliverance. It seems that as time went on, Israel became less and less sensitive to the seriousness of their evil condition. But God nevertheless had His eye on His people.
Israel was not just silent. They had settled into the arrangement, and they turned on the man who came to break it.
The Israelites in this instance did not raise the cry for deliverance as on former occasions. They seem to have accepted the yoke and become contented with their lot. This became very evident when Samson began to deliver them, for they scolded him, saying: "Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?" They were so completely out of sympathy with all his efforts that they bound him with cords and handed him over to his foes.
The message names her barrenness before it names the son.
With Samson we see, from the very start, the sovereign grace which prepares the deliverance. The angel of the Lord announces his birth, with no apparent seeking on man's part. He is the son of a woman who is naturally barren, and the preparation for his coming begins before his birth. This last point implies that there are still conditions to be met if deliverance is to come.
Notice too what the verse leaves out. Her husband has a name; she does not.
The angel of the Lord appeared to the wife of Manoah, a Danite. She was not the one that men would have chosen. Even her name is not given, and she was a barren woman — a reproach among the people of Israel and looked down on by the other women. But this nameless and despised woman of the smallest of Israel's tribes was the vessel chosen by God, through whom He could work out His own will. So we see the great truth emphasised, that His ways are not the ways of men… The woman received God's message in simple and unquestioning faith. Her weakness and reproach are made to stand out, so that it might be clear that this deliverance was to come from God, and not by the power of man. It was out of weakness, barrenness, and death that God was to bring strength and victory.
The text calls the visitor "the angel of the LORD." That title runs through the Old Testament for the One who brings God's mind to people.
The word for "messenger" is "angel," and this suggests a supernatural revealer of the mind of God. We find this often throughout the Old Testament, where the "angel" made known the will of God (see Judges 2:1; Judges 13:3). The "angel of Jehovah" is indeed His representative, so completely so that He is spoken of as Jehovah Himself.
In some of these appearances the Lord Himself is the speaker. The proof is in what He says.
In certain cases it is plainly the Lord who so presents Himself. See the instances of the Angel who spoke to Abraham… and again of the Angel who visited Manoah, bringing the news of the approaching birth of Samson. In each case the language the Angel used could only have been used by Jehovah Himself.
The son's vow begins with his mother. She must carry it before he can.
What marks a remnant at all times is Nazariteship — complete "separation to the Lord." This woman had to take Nazariteship upon herself, because she was the one God chose to present the promised deliverer to the people… The Nazariteship of Samson involved that of his mother. In order to honour the deliverer of Israel, his witnesses needed to carry his own character before the eyes of all. This is true at all times. If we do not show Christ down here in His character of complete separation to God, we are not witnesses for our Saviour.
The nation had stopped listening. God found a husband and wife who had not.
In the middle of this hopeless state of things, God separated a godly remnant and addressed His communications to them. Manoah and his wife feared Jehovah, listened to His voice and spoke to one another (compare Mal. 3:16) — a striking picture of the remnant — the Marys, Elizabeths, Annas, Zacharias and Simeons who waited for the true Messiah, the Saviour of Israel.
- Silence. Israel had grown comfortable under Philistine rule and never cried out. God's eye was still on them.
- Visit. Grace moves first. God announces the birth before anyone asks, through a messenger who speaks as the Lord Himself.
- Weakness. God picks a barren, unnamed woman from the smallest tribe. Out of weakness He brings strength and victory.
- Separation. The son's separation to God begins with his mother. Whoever presents God's deliverer must first carry his character.
- Remnant. When a whole nation stops listening, God speaks to the few who still do. Those who waited for the Messiah were such a few.
And now beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat nothing unclean.
Israel lay under Philistine oppression when a messenger promised a childless woman a son. First, though, came rules for her own eating and drinking: the mother had to live as her son would live.
The kind of deliverer God raises up says something about the state of His people. One writer sees this lifelong separation as proof of how far Israel had drifted from God:
In the next chapter (Judges 13) we begin a new kind of instrument God raised up for His purpose. In this case the state of the people was such that God separates him to Himself as a Nazarite. There could be no stronger proof that the people, as a whole, were far from God. In all ordinary cases a Nazarite was someone who had taken a special vow of separation to God. But that vow lasted only a short time. Here it was an extraordinary Nazariteship, stretching through his whole life.
The ban is not on something shameful. Wine belongs to harvest, celebration and song, which is exactly why giving it up says so much:
Wine, the grape, is a figure of human joy and human strength. The harvest time, when they gathered the grapes and the juice burst from the vats, always meant celebration, songs and gladness. It was the time of joy... It comes at the high point of the year, when everything is ripe and ready to enjoy.
Giving up wine raises a question: where do joy and strength come from instead?
The Nazarite had to stay away from "wine and strong drink." These would point to what gratifies, stimulates and excites the flesh... As Nazarites we do not need the joys of men. We do not need the world to hold us up. Our joy and strength are in the Lord.
The second half of the command reaches beyond drink. This vow also differs from the law of separation in Numbers 6:
Compare Numbers 6:1-8, which chapter speaks of the vow as being voluntary. But God had decided this for Samson before his birth... Eating unclean meats would speak of indulging in unclean, sinful practices. Her character and actions would shape the son she was to have. We too have a responsibility not to be a bad influence on others.
Why do the restrictions fall on her at all? Because a witness has to carry the mark of the one he represents:
The Nazariteship of Samson involved that of his mother. To honour the deliverer of Israel, his witnesses had to carry the stamp of his own character where everyone could see it. This is true at all times. If we do not show Christ down here in His character of entire separation to God, we are not witnesses for our Saviour.
The account never names her, and the angel's message passes over her husband. One writer finds purpose in that silence:
It is to the woman, however, that the angel first appears, and we are not told her name. The angel reminds her of her barrenness, so that God's grace and power may stand out all the more. She herself is nothing. Her name does not matter, and the angel's message does not mention her husband's name either. Everything here is of God... What a blessing follows when God receives all the glory! Man admits that by nature he has forfeited everything, so that grace may be grace.
A separated calling can still be blurred by the company a person keeps:
Samson had to be a "Nazarite to God from the womb." He was to deliver God's people from the unholy oppression they were under. So he had to be completely separate from all the enjoyments among them. His mother is taught this, and trains him accordingly. Our early training has a special and lasting effect on our later life. By training I mean the company that surrounds us. Samson was a Nazarite, but he grew up close to the Philistines and at home among them. As a result, he never seems aware of the great moral contrast that should exist between a Nazarite and a Philistine.
- Cause — Israel had fallen far from God under the Philistines. So God called for separation that lasts a whole lifetime, not the short vow of ordinary cases.
- Gift — The deliverer starts in a barren womb, and the story never gives the mother a name. All the credit goes to God.
- Cost — She gives up wine, not sin. Wine stands for natural joy and strength, and unclean food goes too. Her joy and strength must come from the Lord instead.
- Reach — Numbers 6 makes the vow a free choice. Here God decides it before birth, and the mother's character shapes the son she will raise.
- Result — Separation kept is strength. Samson grew up at ease among the Philistines, and he never seemed to feel the difference between a Nazarite and a Philistine.
For lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head; for the boy shall be a Nazarite of God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
Israel had sunk so low under the Philistines that no one even cried to God for help. Yet God promised Manoah's wife a son set apart to Him from the womb, with hair no razor would touch, sent only to begin Israel's rescue.
Every earlier decline in Judges records Israel crying to the Lord. This one does not.
This is the sixth and last decline of Israel in this book, and the darkest period. The Philistines lorded it over Israel. This time we miss the words found in every earlier departure from Jehovah: "And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD." There is no cry here, and no return to the Lord. It seems the greatest indifference controlled the people, so that they had no desire to cry to the Lord. And when we come to the deliverance we find that it was an imperfect one. God announced Samson's work in one phrase: he would begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. And how did he end? He died as a captive of the Philistines.
A man took the Nazirite vow on himself, and only for a set time. Samson's case was different in two ways.
The name Nazirite means "a separated one." According to Numbers 6 a man might vow to separate himself to the Lord for a set period. If he did, he came under a threefold obligation, which he had to keep "all the days of his separation." The only case recorded in the Old Testament is Samson. He was to be a lifelong Nazirite from his birth, as we see in Judges 13:5. He did not take the vow on himself — God placed it on him, and his supernatural strength depended on his keeping it faithfully. We all know the story of how he was seduced away from it.
One writer explains what long hair on a man stood for.
Long hair separated the Nazirite, in figure, from self, his dignity, and all that goes with it. It was at the same time the token of dependence and dishonour (1 Cor. 11). The Nazirite's long hair announced in public that he had given up his dignity and personal rights as a man, so that he could devote himself to the service of God. What was glory for the woman was shame for him. The man born to this dignity set it aside; the man appointed to rule submitted to the Lord as a wife to her husband. Without this dependence there can be neither service for God nor power for it. What was a sign of weakness for the Nazirite became the source of his strength.
The words to God matter more than the list of things the boy had to avoid.
Nazariteship was the outstanding feature in the man who was to overthrow the power of the Philistine. Twice over in the announcement to Manoah's wife the angel of the Lord stated: the child shall be a Nazirite to God. A Nazirite had to be separate from certain things. But what he was separated to mattered more than all of this. He was to be "to the Lord," a devoted vessel for the service of God.
God promised a start, not a finish.
Samson had in him the Spirit of Nazariteship, that is, separation to the Lord. Note it well, my reader: he was raised up to "begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines." He would only start the work, for he was not Christ! He might "begin" the work; the true David alone could finish it. Note too that his name, Samson, means "Sun-like," from Shemesh — the "Sun" of Righteousness Himself.
How far does Samson picture Christ? One writer limits the likeness to his mission.
Samson, the Nazirite, is hardly a type of Christ except in his mission (Judges 13:5). He is rather a picture of the testimony that the church of God gives. That testimony stands in separation from the world, in the power of the Spirit, and in communion with the Lord. His history, though full of acts of power, is still one of the saddest accounts in the word. Compare his Nazariteship with that of Christ, and how striking Samson's shortfall appears!
The rule holds beyond Samson.
Samson is the only person in Israel spoken of as a Nazirite, and his being "a Nazirite to God from the womb" was the secret of his great strength. Separation to God is the secret of spiritual strength. Whenever a man gives up moral separation, he loses spiritual power and the sense of the Lord's support.
- Grace first. Israel never cried for help this time. God announced a deliverer anyway. The rescue started on His side, not theirs.
- Grace given, not earned. Samson never chose the vow. God placed it on him before birth, and his strength hung on keeping it.
- Grace worn openly. The uncut hair was a public surrender of a man's dignity and rights: weakness by nature, strength before God.
- Grace aimed somewhere. He was separated to God, a vessel for His service; what he was separated from mattered less than who he was for.
- Grace unfinished. God promised him a beginning only. The full rescue waited for another, and Samson died a prisoner of the enemy he came to break.
And the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of an angel of God, very terrible; but I did not ask him whence he was, neither did he tell me his name.
Israel had lived under Philistine rule for forty years. Then a stranger walked up to a childless woman and told her she would have a son. She went to her husband with the news. Her report describes a visitor she could not identify. His face frightened her, and He left no name behind.
Nothing in the chapter records anyone praying for a deliverer. The visit arrives entirely from God's side.
From the very start, Samson's story shows us the sovereign grace that prepares the deliverance. His birth is announced by the angel of the Lord, apart from any apparent seeking on man's part. He is the son of a woman naturally barren, and the preparation for his coming comes before his birth. This last point implies that there are still conditions to be met if deliverance is to come.
Her barrenness is not an obstacle to the plan; it is part of it. One writer puts the point sharply:
She received God's message in simple, unquestioning faith. Her weakness and shame are made to stand out. This makes it clear that the deliverance was to come from God, and not by the power of man. It was out of weakness, barrenness, and death that God was to bring strength and victory.
She calls Him "a man of God" and compares His face to an angel's. Commentators read this appearing as God Himself coming in visible form.
It is true that in Old Testament times there were heavenly visitors to earth, who appeared as angels. In certain cases it is plainly the Lord who presents Himself this way. Take the Angel who spoke to Abraham. Abraham recognised who He was when the doom of the cities of the plain was announced. Take the Man who wrestled with Jacob at the brook Jabbok. Take again the Angel who visited Manoah with the news that Samson was about to be born. In each case the language the Angel used could only have been used by Jehovah Himself.
The name He held back here is given later in the chapter. One writer ties the answer to Isaiah's prophecy:
The messenger, the Angel of the Lord, is the One who appeared to Moses in the burning bush — Jehovah Himself. When asked "What is your name?" He answers: "It is Wonderful" (Isaiah 9:6).
Her own words admit two gaps: she did not ask where He came from, and He did not tell her His name. Commentators read her differently. One notes the simple faith with which she took the message. Another reads her admission as a measure of how little she knew God.
This poor woman had very little understanding. She did not know where the angel came from or who He was. She did not even ask Him. That shows how slight her acquaintance with God was. The presence of the God of promises did not give her confidence. It frightened her. All she saw in the angel's face was something "very terrible."
(Older translations read "very terrible" where the ESV has "very awesome.")
Manoah prayed for a second visit so he could learn more. The answer he received put something else first.
Knowledge is not the first thing God requires. Manoah and his wife had genuine godliness. But neither that nor knowledge is enough to keep us in the middle of the ruin. What they needed before knowledge was true personal separation to God.
She did not keep the encounter to herself. Her report sent her husband to prayer.
The woman then came to her husband, Manoah, to tell him of this unusual visit and the message given her by the Angel. Manoah was impressed, but felt it a heavy responsibility to raise a son who was to have a special place in Israel. So he prayed that God would send the Angel back to teach them how to care for and train their son. God answered this request by the Angel appearing again to the woman while she was alone.
- Unsought. No one asked for a rescuer. Sovereign grace began the deliverance before the deliverer was born.
- Unnamed. She could only call Him a man of God with an angel's face. Commentators say this was the Lord Himself. The name He held back is given later: "Wonderful."
- Unknown. Her honest report shows how little she knew Him. His presence frightened her; it did not reassure her.
- Unhurried. Manoah asked for more information. God pressed separation to Himself first, not a fuller explanation.
- Unkept. She did not hold the news back but carried it home, and a praying household received a second visit.
And he said to me, Behold, thou shalt conceive and bear a son; and now drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not anything unclean; for the boy shall be a Nazarite of God from the womb to the day of his death.
Manoah's wife repeats the messenger's words to her husband. She adds one detail: the boy's separation will last his whole life. Why does God set a man apart before he is born? And what happens when that man lets the separation go?
God now raises up a new kind of deliverer, and that difference says something about the nation's state.
In Judges 13 we begin a new kind of instrument God raised up for His purpose. The state of the people was such that God separates him to Himself as a Nazarite. You could not ask for stronger proof that the people, as a whole, were far from God. Normally a Nazarite was someone who had taken a special vow of separation to God, but only for a short time. Here it was an extraordinary Nazariteship, stretching through his whole life.
When God's people have accepted the rule of their enemies, one road back remains open.
When God's people lose the truth of their calling, and through unfaithfulness submit to the rule of the enemy, only one thing gives power: Nazariteship — entire separation to God... Samson was raised up to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. He could only fulfil that mission by being separated to God from his birth, by staying apart from the joys of human life and from all the defilements of the world, and by keeping complete subjection to God's authority and dependence on His strength.
The title itself carries the meaning, and the meaning stings. (Older translations spell it "Nazarite".)
The very word "Nazarite" means separation. How it cuts, that word "separation"; how it hurts; how self-righteous it sounds. But God says that true victory for His people must come on the lines of Nazariteship — separation from the very things the world counts absolutely necessary.
Numbers 6 describes a vow a person takes up for a set time and then lays down. Samson's case reverses the order: God announced the separation before Samson could agree to it.
In Numbers 6 Nazariteship is a vow of separation to the Lord for a particular time and purpose. When the time ended, the Nazarite kept the prescribed rites and returned to the ordinary life of one of God's people. He therefore pictures someone called out for special service. In the power of the Holy Spirit, such a person rises above the claims and enjoyments of nature. He gives up his name and place among men. Nothing distracts or entangles him, so he walks the path of holiness completely at the Lord's disposal. God marked Samson out for a particular mission. But this came before his birth, so he pictures something wider: Christians in general. They are set apart to God from the very start, whatever position they may finally have to occupy.
The instructions about wine and unclean food in this verse fall on her, not on the child.
This woman had to take Nazariteship upon herself, because she was the vessel chosen by God to present the promised deliverer to the people... The Nazariteship of Samson involved that of his mother. To honour the deliverer of Israel, his witnesses had to carry the stamp of his own character where everyone could see it. This is true at all times. If we do not show Christ down here in His character of entire separation to God, we are not witnesses for our Saviour.
Samson's uncut hair looks like an arbitrary rule until you watch what happens when it goes.
Samson's strength was a mystery to the Philistines... But that great strength depended entirely on his consecration as a Nazarite. When his hair was cut off, he became as weak as a child: even a woman, Delilah, was then stronger than he.
Samson kept the position described in this verse. He did not keep the walk that belongs to it.
A child can be a Nazarite; but this is the work of God. We have two examples of Nazarites from birth. One went on blamelessly, the other failed sadly: John the Baptist and Samson... Samson served God, and did great things too. But he also sought and did his own will, so his life ended with him as a prisoner... So you see it is not everything to be in the place of a Nazarite. There must be self-denial and patient perseverance in the ways of God.
- Separation begins in ruin. The nation as a whole had drifted far from God, so He set one man apart for life. An extraordinary collapse called for an extraordinary separation.
- Separation is the word. "Nazarite" means separated — separation from the very things the world counts necessary.
- Separation is given, not chosen. The Numbers 6 vow was temporary. Samson's began in the womb — a picture of believers marked out for God from the start.
- Separation spreads. The mother lived under the same rules. Those who present the deliverer must carry his character.
- Separation is strength. Samson's power rested on his consecration. But holding the place without self-denial ended in captivity, not victory.