Samson is Born — TDW Kids

Again. “Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord” (13:1). Judges says these sad words again and again (3:7; 4:1; 6:1). Israel kept falling into the same sin. Forty years. The Philistines ruled Israel for forty years. That was longer than any enemy before them in Judges. Still loved. Israel did not deserve help, but God began a rescue anyway. That is grace: kindness we do not earn. A woman with no children. Manoah's wife “was barren and had no children” (13:2). Barren means not able to have a baby. In Bible times this brought great sadness. Good news for her. “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman” (13:3). He came to her first, with good news. A son promised. “You shall conceive and bear a son” (13:3). Conceive means a baby begins to grow inside. God once asked Sarah's husband, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14). Given to God. “The child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb” (13:5). A Nazirite was a person set apart to belong to God in a special way. Only a beginning. “He shall begin to deliver Israel” (13:5). Samson would only begin the rescue. A greater Rescuer would one day finish it. What this means for you. God's plans start before we can see them. He knew Samson before Samson was born, and He knows you too.

The pattern (13:1). “Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.” The words echo 3:7, 4:1 and 6:1. Judges 10:6 names the sin: Israel served the gods of the nations around them, including the gods of the Philistines. The longest oppression. Forty years is the longest enemy rule in Judges. The Philistines lived along the coast in five strong cities, and later they kept the secret of making iron weapons (1 Samuel 13:19-22). Dan (13:2). Manoah was a Danite from Zorah, close to the Philistine border. The tribe of Dan had been pushed into the hill country (1:34), so families like Manoah's felt the Philistines' power every day. Barren (13:2). The Hebrew aqarah (say: ah-kah-RAH) means barren. Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and later Hannah were barren before God gave them sons. God often begins a rescue where human hope has run out. From the womb (13:5). Usually a person chose to become a Nazirite for a set time (Numbers 6:2). Samson was chosen by God before he was conceived, and for his whole life. Even his mother kept the rules while she carried him (13:4). Begin (13:5). The verb comes from chalal (say: khah-LAHL), to begin. Samson started the work. The Philistines were not fully subdued until the days of David (2 Samuel 8:1). Grace first. Israel had not turned back to God, yet God was already preparing a deliverer. “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4). God's greatest rescue also began with a promised birth. Why it matters. God's plan for rescue was in motion before Samson's parents even knew it.

Israel did wrong things again. They kept turning away from God. So God let the Philistines rule over them. That lasted forty long years. But God did not stop loving His people. He already had a plan to help them. His plan began with a woman who had no children. The angel of the Lord came to her. He told her that she would have a son. Nothing is too hard for God! The boy would belong to God in a special way. He would begin to save Israel. God's plans start long before we can see them. He was already at work.

Israel did wrong again. But God still loved them. He made a plan to help them. God's plan began with a baby.

Good news shared. “So the woman came and told her husband” (13:6). She said the visitor's “countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome.” Countenance means face or look. A father's prayer. “Then Manoah prayed to the Lord” (13:8). He asked God to “teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.” Faith in the prayer. Manoah did not say, if a child is born. He spoke of “the child who will be born.” He believed God's promise. God listened. “And God listened to the voice of Manoah” (13:9). The Angel came again. The same Man. Manoah asked, “Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?” He answered that He was (13:11). The rule of life. Manoah asked, “What will be the boy's rule of life, and his work?” (13:12). Rule of life means the way he should live. Be careful. The Angel said, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful” (13:13). Even before Samson was born, his mother kept the Nazirite rules. Ask for wisdom. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God” (James 1:5). Manoah did exactly that. What this means for you. God loves it when parents ask Him how to raise their children. You can pray for your family, and you can ask God how He wants you to live.

Awesome (13:6). His countenance was “like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome.” The Hebrew nora (say: noh-RAH) means fearsome, causing holy fear. No name (13:6). “I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name.” The question of His name comes back in 13:17-18. Manoah's prayer (13:8). “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.” He asked for teaching, not for a sign. Answered (13:9). “And God listened to the voice of Manoah.” God gladly answers a parent's prayer for wisdom (James 1:5). Rule of life (13:12). The Hebrew mishpat (say: mish-POT) usually means judgment or justice. Here it means the way of life the boy should follow. No new rules (13:13-14). The Angel repeated what He had already said. God's first word was enough, and Manoah needed to obey what he had already been told. Raising children for God. Moses told parents, “You shall teach them diligently to your children” (Deuteronomy 6:7). Paul told fathers to bring children up “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Why it matters. Parents need God's wisdom to raise children who belong to Him, and God loves to give it. Children can pray for their parents, too.

Manoah's wife told him all the good news. Manoah believed what God had said. He prayed right away. He asked God to send the man again. He wanted to know how to raise the boy. That was a wise prayer. Manoah knew he needed God's help to be a good dad. God listened to Manoah. The angel came back to the field. Manoah asked how the boy should live. The angel said the mother must keep every rule. God cares about children and their families. Your mom, dad or teacher can pray for you. You can pray for them too.

Manoah prayed to God. He asked for help to raise his boy. God heard him. God hears you too!

A kind welcome. “Please let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You” (13:15). Detain means ask someone to stay. Worship God. “Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord” (13:16). The Angel pointed Manoah to God. Not knowing yet. “For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord” (13:16). What is Your name? Manoah asked so “that when Your words come to pass we may honor You” (13:17). Wonderful. “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?” (13:18). Wonderful here means too amazing to understand, something only God can be. The same word. Isaiah promised a Child: “And His name will be called Wonderful” (Isaiah 9:6). That Child is Jesus. Who was the Angel? Many Christians see the Angel of the Lord as the Son of God appearing long before He was born in Bethlehem. Manoah later said, “we have seen God” (13:22). Thoughts higher than ours. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord (Isaiah 55:8). What this means for you. Jesus is more wonderful than we can understand, but He came close so that we could know Him and love Him.

Hospitality (13:15). Offering a young goat was a generous welcome, like Abraham's meal for his visitors, when he “took a tender and good calf” (Genesis 18:7). Worship goes to God (13:16). “If you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord.” The visitor would not let Manoah's gift be anything less than worship of God. Wonderful (13:18). The Hebrew is pil'i (say: pil-EE), from pele (say: PEH-leh), a wonder beyond human understanding. Isaiah uses the same word for the Child: “And His name will be called Wonderful” (Isaiah 9:6). Jacob asked too. At Peniel Jacob asked the Man who wrestled with him for His name and heard, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” (Genesis 32:29). Then Jacob said, “For I have seen God face to face” (32:30). The Angel of the Lord. In the Old Testament the Angel of the Lord speaks as God and is treated as God. Hagar said she had seen “Him who sees me” (Genesis 16:13), and at the bush “the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire” before God spoke (Exodus 3:2-6). Many Christians see. Many Christians see the Angel of the Lord as the Son of God appearing before He took on flesh. “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18). Why it matters. The One who would be born in Bethlehem was already coming close to His people, showing them who God is.

Manoah wanted to be kind to the visitor. He offered to cook a young goat. But the angel said he would not eat. He told Manoah to give an offering to the Lord. Manoah still did not know who the visitor was. He asked for the visitor's name. The angel said his name was too wonderful to understand. Many years later, Isaiah wrote about a Child. Isaiah said His name would be called Wonderful. That Child is Jesus. Many Christians believe the angel of the Lord was God's Son. He came to visit His people long before He was born. Jesus is more wonderful than we can understand. But He came close so we could know Him.

Manoah asked the angel's name. The angel said it was wonderful. Jesus is called Wonderful. Jesus is God's Son.

A wondrous thing. Manoah offered the goat and grain “upon the rock to the Lord. And He did a wondrous thing” (13:19). Up in the flame. “The Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar!” (13:20). Ascended means went up. Faces down. Manoah and his wife “fell on their faces to the ground” (13:20). Afraid. “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!” (13:22). Manoah knew God is holy, and sinners cannot stand before Him. Wise faith. His wife answered, “If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands” (13:23). What God had done showed His kind heart. The boy is born. “So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him” (13:24). The Spirit. “And the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him” (13:25). Samson's strength would come from God's Spirit. A picture. Many Christians see a picture of Jesus here. He “offered Himself without spot to God” (Hebrews 9:14), and then He went up to heaven. What this means for you. God accepted Jesus' sacrifice. Everyone who trusts Jesus can be sure that God is for them, not against them.

A wondrous thing (13:19). “And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on.” Wondrous comes from the same Hebrew root as wonderful in 13:18. The Angel showed what His name meant. The flame (13:20). “The Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar!” The One who received the offering went up in it. Holy fear (13:22). Manoah remembered that sinners cannot look on God and live. God had told Moses, “no man shall see Me, and live” (Exodus 33:20). Faith that reasons (13:23). His wife reasoned from what God had done. He accepted the offering, He showed them wonders, and He told them the future. God does not make promises to people He means to destroy. Samson (13:24). The name is likely related to shemesh (say: SHEH-mesh), sun. Zorah sat across the valley from Beth Shemesh, the house of the sun. The Lord blessed the child as he grew. The Spirit (13:25). “The Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him.” The Hebrew verb means to stir or push. God's Spirit, not Samson's muscles, would be the source of his strength (14:6). Romans 8:31-32. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Paul reasons like Manoah's wife: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

Manoah offered a young goat and grain on a rock. Fire came up from the rock. The angel went up into heaven in the flames! Manoah and his wife bowed down to the ground. Manoah was scared. He thought they would die because they had seen God. But his wife was wise. God had accepted their offering. God had told them His plan. So she knew God did not want to hurt them. Soon Samson was born, and God blessed him. God's Spirit began to work in Samson. Jesus gave Himself as the offering for our sins. So we can know God is kind to us.

Manoah gave a gift to God. The angel went up in the fire. God was pleased. Then baby Samson was born!