Samson

Judges 13:1-23

     The people of Israel have sinned again and forgotten about God. They didn't want to follow God and so He sent the Philistines to come and rule over them. They made the Israelites lives a miserable mess. God wanted the Israelites to know what life without Him would be like. He still loved them and wanted them to choose Him.

    After 40 years, the angel of the Lord promises a son to Manoah and his wife. She was unable to have children. They are told that this son would rescue Israel from the Philistines.

         Manoah's wife tells her husband, "A man came to me today - and I think he was an angel!" she said. "He didn't tell me his name, or where he was from, but he said we are going to have a son!" "You must not drink any wine, or strong drink," the man continued, "and when your son is born, you must never cut his hair. He is going to be a Nazirite, a person set apart for God. He is going to save your people from the power of the Philistines."

      Now, never getting a haircut seems like an odd thing to command, but her son was going to be dedicated to God. Manoah wanted to know more about this son, and so he prayed to God to send this man back to them.  As the woman was out in the field again the angel of God came to her. So she ran to her husband and he followed her. Manoah asked the angel, "Are you the one who spoke to my wife?" And he said, "I am." And he told them to pay close attention to what he has told them.

     The angel of the Lord told Manoah to make a burnt offering to the Lord. "What is your name?" Manoah asked the man. "I cannot tell you. It is a name of wonder!"

So Manoah did as the man said, and he burnt a goat as an offering to God, the "God of Wonders."

     And then an amazing thing happened. The man stepped into the fire that was rising up from the altar - and went up into heaven in the flames! Manoah and his wife really had been talking to an angel!

     Manoah's wife gave birth to a son, and named him Samson, and the child grew up and the Lord blessed him.