Grace Before Asking

The final cycle of judges begins with evil and forty years of Philistine rule, but with no cry for help from Israel. God acts anyway. He chooses a barren woman from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, the wife of Manoah. The birth would clearly be God's gift.

The angel's message set the child apart. The mother must avoid wine, strong drink, and anything unclean, because the boy would be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and no razor would come on his head. He would only begin to save Israel from the Philistines; the full deliverance would come later. Manoah prayed that the man of God would come again and teach them. God listened.

When the angel returned, Manoah asked his name. The angel answered that it was incomprehensible. Manoah offered a young goat on the rock, and the angel ascended in the flame of the altar while the couple watched and fell on their faces. Manoah feared death, but his wife wisely noted that God had accepted their offering and shown them these things. The woman bore Samson. The child grew, Yahweh blessed him, and Yahweh's Spirit began to move him in Mahaneh Dan.