Judges 13 "Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, so that the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines forty years."  

We know the story of Samson.. but this chapter is about his parents. Manoah and his wife were from the tribe of Dan. They lived in Zorah, an area near the border of Judah, and also near the territory where the Philistines lived.  This couple were barren until the day that the angel of the Lord approached Manoah's wife while she was alone. "Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son." he told her. 

Manoah's wife was never named in the Bible and yet, she was the one that the angel came to.. and she is the one who took heart to do all that the angel of the Lord said.  This child would be a "Nazarite".. a consecrated one.. devoted to the Lord. His mother was commanded to "be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing."  The child would be set apart for the Lord.. "..no razor shall come upon his head for the boy shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines." 

The woman immediately went to her husband and told him what happened. This led Manoah to pray, asking the Lord for wisdom to raise this child. " O Lord, please let the man of God whom Thou has sent come to us again that he may teach us what to do for the boy who is to be born."   And God listened. The angel of God came again to the woman.. while she was alone in the field.  This time she ran and got her husband, and they went together to speak to the angel of God. 

Manoah had some questions.. 

"Are you the man who spoke to the woman?" he asked.  "I am" answered the angel of God. 

"Now when your words come to pass, what shall be the boy's mode of life and his vocation?"  He wanted to know the future...  or perhaps he was testing whether this was actually the truth..  but the angel was focused on the present.. "Let the woman pay attention to all that I said... " 

Manaoah wanted to bring a meal for the angel, but he answered, " I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord."  Then Manoah wanted to know the angel's name, but the angel answered, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?"

If Manoah had any doubts about the identity of this "man" he soon understood! For when they offered the burnt offering... the angel of the Lord went up to heaven in the fire!  "Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord."  This caused him to fear.. "We shall surely die, for we have seen God." he told his wife.

But.. his wife was not afraid.. "If the Lord desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time." 

The next thing that happened is that Samson was born.. "and the child grew up and the Lord blessed him." 

Samson judged Israel for 20 years.. but his life was nothing like any of the other judges.  He won victories, but experienced defeat. He failed to be faithful to the Lord in his marriage.. but ended up acting in faith at the end of his life.  There are only 4 judges mentioned in the Hebrew's list of men of faith.. Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, and Samson.  There are things we don't know about Samson's parents.. but we know that when they were visited by the angel of the Lord... their lives were changed forever.  Some believe that this "wonderful" one was Christ.. before His incarnation.  Manoah's wife must have been a very special woman.. what a blessing to have been in the Presence of God.. whether an angel or the Lord Jesus, Himself! 

Father in heaven, teach us to have the faith of this unnamed woman of old.  She believed and she obeyed Your commands.  She raised a son in a difficult time and watched him do great things.  She also watched him make a great error in choosing a wife.  We also have watched our loved ones do great things and sometimes make grave errors.  We pray for those who are not walking in faith and obedience to Your Word. We ask that You would bring them to seek Jesus today.. that they might come into Your Holy Presence. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.