Judges 13

Judges 13

Israel endured one of the hardest times in their nation’s history up to this point under the Ammonites. The time leading up to Jephthah’s reign was a dark period in their history, for God had declared that He was not going to help them overcome their enemies any longer. After Jephthah’s intervention, and a period of more than 25 years of peace, you would think that Israel would stay on track. But we have to remember that more than likely this was a new generation in Judges 13. Some of the men might have remembered the days of Jephthah and the judges that followed, but there were probably many new Israelites at this point. They turned away from the Lord, and entered into another incredibly dark point of history. For another 40 years, Israel endured hardships under the hands of the Philistines.


Even in the midst of their struggles, God was at work yet again. He was preparing to deliver Israel from the hands of their enemies. But after all they had done, why would God deliver them? He was not planning on delivering them because of them. After the way they had treated Him, how could He reward them by rescuing them from their afflictions? As God always does, He was doing it for His glory. Every time God rescued Israel or protected one of His children, He was the one who received the glory. We must be careful to remember this today as well. It is easy to take the glory for something that God accomplishes through us. When we have great success, our human nature wants to seek the fame and honor for it. We must be careful to give that to God, for He is the only one who deserves the glory.

God’s plan this time was to raise up another judge, one who would be a Nazirite, a holy man. He went to Manoah and his wife, sending an angel to Manoah’s wife to tell her of the son she was about to have. He warned her to be careful what she drink and how she lived during this time so that the baby would be pure. Then, once the young boy was born, she was to follow a specific set of instructions for he was to be a Nazirite. She accepted all the angel told her by faith, but when she told her husband, it seems as if he had some doubts. He seemed to believe his wife, but he wanted to speak to the angel himself, and he wanted further instructions. Instead of believing his wife and following the instructions they had, he asked for more. God agreed and sent the angel again, and this time they both heard the instructions, but the angel did not tell them anything new.

Manoah then decided to honor this man and thank him for the message, but it almost appeared as if Manoah was close to worshipping this angel (although he did not know it was an angel). Before he went too far, the angel warned him not to do so and encouraged him to give a sacrifice to God instead. Manoah did as he was told and thanked God for the message and promise that they had received. It became clear to them that this man was truly an angel sent by God, and Manoah and his wife worshipped God. But after seeing the angel return to Heaven in the midst of the burnt offering, Manoah feared for his life, fearing that he had seen God. He told his wife that they would surely die. Again, Manoah did not completely understand everything. If he died, how would God’s promises come true? His wife assured him that they would be alright for they had just been told that they would soon have a son. God fulfilled His promise and gave them Samson some time later.

It is easy to beat up on Manoah in this passage, but I wonder how I would have reacted to such an extraordinary situation. Manoah’s biggest problem, however, was a lack of faith. He wanted to believe what his wife had told him, but by calling for the angel again, he showed that he was not fully convinced. Then in the end when he was fearing for his life, it seemed as if he had forgotten the promise that had just been made to him. When God makes a promise, He keeps it! We never have to wonder if God is going to do all that He says He will. We can trust that God will never lie to us and will always be there for us. It is easy to lose faith, and we will probably find ourselves in Manoah’s position at some point in our lives (and many of us have probably already done so). In those moments, we must learn to trust God.

Matt