JUDGES - CHAPTER 13
COMMENTARY
In total, there were 12 judges in the Book of Judges. Samson was the last one. The story about him shows that matters had got much worse. People turned away from God. They suffered pain for what they had done wrong. They did not change their ways. The Israelites made friends with the Philistines. They married people from other nations now. The men from Judah’s tribe chose to remove Samson because otherwise, they would spoil their good relations with the Philistines. They let the Philistines rule.
In the story about Samson, they never called God Yahweh. They did not consider him as the covenant God. Israel’s people went away from God and they stopped fighting against the Philistines. They could not see the difference between God and the world that was evil. However, God continued with His plans. He even used Samson’s selfish actions for his own purposes.
Samson was not a leader with great skills, who worked together with God. He was an example of how God can use people’s lack of skill. By this, He can do what He has planned.
The Philistines made their home in the plain near the sea. This happened about 40 years after the Israelites entered the country. The Philistines lived in Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath. Before that time, Dan’s tribe had lived near them. But because of the Philistines’ power, very many people from Dan’s tribe went away. They went to live in the north. They may actually have gone there before the time when Samson was the judge. He began the fight against the Philistines. And Samuel continued it. There is a parallel in the stories about Samson and Samuel. They were both born to a mother who could not have children.
VERSES 1-5
v1 Again, the Israelites did what God did not want. The Lord let the Philistines rule them for 40 years. v2 In Zorah, there was a man called Manoah from Dan’s tribe. He had a wife that could not have children. v3 The angel of the Lord came into her view. He said: ‘You are not able to have children. However, you will become pregnant and you will have a son. v4 Now make sure that you do not drink wine or strong drink. Do not eat any food that God’s rules do not allow you to eat. v5 You will have a baby and you will give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair. He shall be a Nazirite. You shall give him to God from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel’s people from the Philistines.’
COMMENTARY
An angel appeared to Samson’s mother. Neither she nor her husband understood who he really was until verse 20. Until then, they thought that he was ‘a man of God’ (a prophet). Or otherwise, he was an angel of God. Samson was a Nazirite. This means that he made a special promise. There were many things that he could not do. He could not drink wine (from grapes) or strong drink (from fruit or grain). He could not touch a dead body and nobody could cut his hair. He must definitely refuse some natural things. This showed how definite was his ‘yes’ to God.
Samson’s mother had to obey some things in the promise. She could not eat or drink anything that God did not allow. Samson obeyed only the rule that nobody should cut his hair. He did not obey the other rules. He only began to remove the Philistines. Samuel, Saul, Jonathan, and David continued to do it.
VERSES 6-14
v6 Then the woman went to her husband. She said, ‘A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God. He frightened me. I did not ask where he came from. He did not tell me his name. v7 But he said to me, ‘You will have a baby. You will give birth to a son. So now, do not drink any wine or other strong drink. Do not eat anything that God does not allow. The child will be God’s Nazirite from his birth until he dies.’
v8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord. ‘Lord, you sent the man of God to us. Please let him come again. Teach us how to train the boy that will be born.’ v9 God heard Manoah. And the angel of God came again to the woman. She was out in the field at that time. Her husband was not with her. v10 The woman hurried to tell her husband, ‘He is here! The man that appeared to me a few days ago has come again.’ v11 Manoah got up and he followed his wife. When he came to the man, he spoke to him. ‘Are you the person that talked to my wife?’ ‘I am’, he said. v12 So Manoah asked him a question. ‘It will happen as you have said. When it happens, what must the boy do? How must he behave in his life?’ v13 The angel of the Lord gave this answer: ‘Your wife must do all that I have told her. v14 She must not eat anything from the plant that grows grapes. She must not drink any wine or strong drink. She must not eat any food that God does not allow. She must do everything that I have commanded her.’
COMMENTARY
In the Bible, when God promised to give a son, He promised this to the most unlikely people. It seemed impossible that they could have a child. And therefore to have one was a miracle. Manoah believed what the person with the message had said. He asked what they should do. He believed in a very simple way. Manoah’s wife had not mentioned that Samson would kill the Philistines. The person with the message was an angel from God. Neither Manoah nor his wife knew that. They welcomed an angel, although they did not know it.
VERSES 14-25
v15 Manoah spoke to the angel of the Lord. ‘We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.’ v16 The angel of the Lord gave this reply. ‘I will stay, but I will not eat anything. If you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.’ Manoah did not know that it was an angel of the Lord. v17 Then Manoah asked the angel of the Lord, ‘What is your name? It will happen as you have said. Then we will want to give you honour.’ v18 He replied, ‘Why do you ask my name? It means “wonderful”.’ v19 Then Manoah took a young goat together with a grain offering. He offered it on a stone table to the Lord. And the Lord did a wonderful thing while Manoah and his wife watched. v20 The flame burned up from the stone table towards heaven. Then the angel of the Lord went up in the flame. Manoah and his wife saw this. Then they fell with their faces down on the ground.
v21 The angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that it was an angel of the Lord. v22 ‘I am sure that we will die’, he said to his wife. ‘We have seen God.’ v23 But his wife gave this answer. ‘The Lord does not intend to kill us. If he had intended to kill us, he would not have accepted our burnt offering and grain offering. He would not have let us see all this. And he would not have let us hear it.’ v24 The woman gave birth to a son and she called him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him. v25 The Spirit of the Lord began to affect him. The Spirit did this while Samson was in Mahaneh Dan. This is between Zorah and Eshtaol.
COMMENTARY
Manoah invited the visitor to a meal. The visitor suggested that they should offer a sacrifice to the Lord. So Manoah brought meat and a grain offering. He asked what the visitor’s name was. The visitor told him that it was ‘wonderful’. In other words, it was something that they would not be able to understand. The visitor called ‘Wonderful’ acted in a wonderful way. He went up to heaven in a flame. This was the flame that came up from the altar (stone table). Manoah was afraid. But his wife was more understanding about how things were in reality. She had gained this from experience of life. She said that God would not kill them. He would not kill them because he had planned special things for them in the future.
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