Judges · chapter 13 of 21
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Judges 13 tells that, during forty years of Philistine oppression, the angel of the Lord appears to the barren wife of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan, and announces that she will have a Nazirite son who will begin to deliver Israel. Manoah asks that the angel return, offers a sacrifice, and the angel ascends in the flame. Samson is born, the Lord blesses him, and his Spirit begins to stir him.
Judges 13 opens the last great judge story, Samson, which fills chapters 13 to 16. It is a fresh beginning after the civil war of Judges 12: facing another oppression, now by the Philistines, God himself takes the initiative and announces the birth of the deliverer before Israel cries out.
Israel again does evil, and the Lord gives them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. At Zorah lives Manoah, of the tribe of Dan, and his wife, who is barren. The angel of the Lord appears to her and tells her she will conceive and bear a son. She must take care not to drink wine or strong drink or eat anything unclean, and the child will be a Nazirite from the womb: no razor will touch his head, and he will begin to save Israel from the Philistines.
The woman tells her husband that a man of God, with a very awesome appearance like an angel, came to her. Manoah prays that the man will return and teach them how to raise the child. God listens, and the angel appears again to the woman in the field. She runs to get Manoah. He asks whether he is the man who spoke to his wife, and the instructions are repeated. Manoah wants to prepare a young goat for him, but the angel says that if he prepares it, he should offer it as a burnt offering to the Lord. Manoah asks his name and the angel replies that it is wonderful.
Manoah offers the young goat and the grain offering on a rock. As the flame goes up, the angel of the Lord goes up in it, and Manoah and his wife fall on their faces. Manoah realizes it was the angel of the Lord and fears they will die because they have seen God, but his wife reasons that the Lord would not have killed them if he wished to destroy them, since he accepted their offering and told them these things. The boy is born, they call him Samson, he grows and the Lord blesses him. The Spirit of the Lord begins to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The angel says the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb and will begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. The word begin announces that the deliverance will not be completed in his lifetime.
Manoah prays that the man of God will return and teach them what to do with the child. Though they do not yet know him, he wants to raise the coming son well, and God hears his prayer.
Manoah asks the angel's name, and he replies that it is wonderful. The text suggests that what Manoah has seen surpasses his understanding, and the word echoes a title of the Messiah in Isaiah 9:6.
The boy is born, they call him Samson, he grows and the Lord blesses him. Before he does anything, the text underlines that his life begins with God's grace.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Forty years. — Judges 13:1
Answer: The tribe of Dan. — Judges 13:2
Answer: Wine, strong drink and anything unclean. — Judges 13:4
Answer: A razor, because he would be a Nazirite. — Judges 13:5
Answer: That it was wonderful. — Judges 13:18
Answer: That if the Lord meant to kill them, he would not have accepted their offering or told them these things. — Judges 13:23
Judges 13 shows that God can begin his work without anyone asking him to. Israel does not cry out in this chapter, and God is already preparing a deliverer. In a small group we can give thanks for grace that comes before we know how to ask for it, and reflect on how salvation in Christ also began at God's initiative.
The chapter also highlights the role of parents. Manoah and his wife ask for direction to raise a son whom God has set apart. Even without knowing how, they turn to God, and that attitude of dependence in parenting remains a good model for families today. Manoah's wife also shows a calm faith that quiets her husband's fear.
Judges 13 ends with the boy growing up blessed and the Spirit of the Lord beginning to stir him. In Judges 14, Samson goes down to Timnah, notices a Philistine woman, and a series of episodes begins in which God uses his choices to act against the Philistines.
A Nazirite was someone set apart to God by a vow: he did not drink wine or strong drink, did not cut his hair and avoided touching dead bodies, according to Numbers 6. Samson was a Nazirite by God's appointment from the womb, not by personal choice.
The text calls him the angel of the Lord, and Manoah says they have seen God. Many Christians understand him as an appearance of the Lord before the incarnation, others as a messenger with God's authority. His name, wonderful, points to something beyond the human.
Because in the Old Testament it was understood that no one could see God and live. His wife calmly replies that the Lord would not have treated them so kindly if he wished to destroy them.