Judges 13:1-25
The Birth of Samson (cf. Numbers 6:1–21)
1 Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. 5 For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”
6 So the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name. 7 And He said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”
8 Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, and said, “O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.”
9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, “Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me!”
11 So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, “Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?”
And He said, “I am.”
12 Manoah said, “Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy’s rule of life, and his work?”
13 So the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 14 She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her let her observe.”
15 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, “Please let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You.”
16 And the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD.” (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the LORD.)
17 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, “What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?”
18 And the Angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?”
19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the LORD. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on— 20 it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar—the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. 21 When the Angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the LORD.
22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!”
23 But his wife said to him, “If the LORD had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this time.”
24 So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
After the people of the LORD again turned away from Him to their sin and were enslaved for a generation to the Philistines, God raised up another judge called Samson to deliver them yet again. This child would be a Nazirite to God from birth then deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines when he was old enough. God showed grace and mercy to those who turned away from Him because He called and loved them, otherwise they would d have been left to suffer for the con of their sins. This is a pattern for the gospel because it is God’s unchanging character. He is both our judge over and redeemer to deliver from our sin. The birth of this Samson was announced by a man of God came to his barren mother, whose awesome countenance was like the the Angel of God as she described Him. This Angel of the LORD then returned and she brought him to meet the Man for further instruction on how to raise this chosen one to be called Samson. They wanted to make a burnt sacrificial offering to the Man, but were told offerings are only for the Lord God, a hidden way of pointing them to understand God Himself had appeared before them as Jesus similarly told the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:17 after He came in the flesh as the Son of Man to us. When they asked His name, they were told it was wonderful, incomprehensible, and extraordinary and He asked why they asked the name to point them to who He was. When they therefore offered the goat and grain on the altar, the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar to heaven and they knew then they had seen a theophany (or christophany) there. The husband Manoah then exclaimed the truth revealed to them, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!” He knew nobody should be able to see God without perishing (Exodus 33:20), yet they were able to look upon Him as a Man in flesh (Genesis 32:30) and not die, just as those before us saw the divine Son of Man and God, Jesus Christ, and lived. They did not see Him in His full glory (John 1:1-2, 14, 10:30, Philippians 2:8), but in a form that was closer to ours and so was able to be seen in part and they were able to live. This is how we are able to see the Son of God like Saul did on the road to Damascus and still survive, as we are insulated from the divine presence in all His fullness that would completely overwhelm and end our earthly lives. Samson’s parents loved to tell the tale and raised their only son well as promised to become wise and strong in God’s grace (Luke 2:52) for the LORD and His work to come. Seeing God in Jesus the Christ (John 1:14, 1 John 1:1,3) come in the body of a Man like the Angel of the LORD, we also live to tell the tale of our deliverance from the Judgment to come (Acts 24:25, Revelation 14:7, John 5:24) by the Judge and Deliverer Himself. This is seeing God face to face and living as a result by grace.
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