The Birth of Samson Part 1
Samson has always and probably will be one of my favorite stories in the Bible. I look forward to one day meeting him and seeing how big he really is, and test how strong he really was! We never know how GOD is going to work, and we never know who he is working through. Samson was a great example of these two points.
- Chosen at birth for a specific life and purpose
- Lived a life that most would have judged him for really being a believer of the one true GOD
Today we are going to talk about these points, and others, but really focus on the wonderful story of the birth and life of Samson.
Before we begin reading the verses I want to highlight this point. Could you name an amazing event in the birth story of Samson? I ask this, because many focus on the life of Samson, but I think what’s just as amazing is the story of his birth. So today I want to start reading about when it all began for Samson and his parents.
Judges 13:1-25
1And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
Sometimes we don’t think about it, but the Bible gives us many details like this to help us reference when the timing of this event took place. So to give you a little backdrop. During the time of Samson’s birth the nation of Israel was being controlled by the Philistines. The people forgot what their GOD had done for them, and began to seek after the ways of the evil nations around them (1 Samuel 12:9). This allowed them to become weak from lack of protection from GOD and so the Philistines were able to have their way. Here’s a few points of perspective:
- The prophet Samuel was about 10 years older than Samson, so he had been given to the High Priest already and would have known Samson and witnessed his feats of faith and strength.
- King Saul would have been around 3 years old when Samson ended his life in the Philistine temple, making the Philistine oppression begin to come to the end of 40 years like we just read.
- We will see that Samson, his family, and his tribe grew up in the area that was the closest to the land of the Philistines, and so it was believed he would have known the oppression more than others.
2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children.
This verse gives me my first point I want to address in this story. Our Father in Heaven always knows how to show up big time! You’ll see he has done it again and again throughout history! So far we have Israel in oppression, a horrible time where they need a Savior more than ever. Then the Creator chooses a couple who can’t have kids, and is about to make things happen. Have you ever heard of a story like this in the Bible? Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob & Rachel & Leah, and many others. Check out Luke 1:6-7 and Luke 1:11-15 Can you see now that our Father in Heaven has a pattern. He loves us so much and he definitely knows how to save and bless those that love Him.
3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
Now we begin to get to my favorite part, and hopefully I’ll explain this well. First, why did GOD choose Manoah and his wife to bring about the birth of Samson? Why does GOD choose any of us to be used for his glory? I’ll give my answer, but back to my point a moment ago, our GOD really knows how to show up big with a memorable story. I hope you will remember this story after today! You see his emphasis in verse 3, the woman is told “behold, you are barren…”. & “Have not borne children”. You would think she would have known this, why state the obvious. Well my thought is that the point is being made that look this woman is barren, she will be made pregnant by the mercy and power of the Father in Heaven. This starts the story of Samson as, See what our GOD is about to do. GOD chose this couple to showcase his glory and magnificent ability to make people who can’t have kids, be changed and have them. Important information to remember, Manoah’s wife is visited by “the angel of the Lord”, remember this phrase, we will see a great example of who this angel was.
(Numbers 6:1-21) Samson was chosen by GOD for a specific purpose and that was to be dedicated to Him through a Nazarite vow based on Numbers 6, where a man or woman could take part in this vow. Also Samson was chosen to be a man that would act as a Savior for his people that would bring the destruction of the Philistines and their oppression.
6 Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, 7 but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”
The wife of Manoah tells her husband about this “Angel of the Lord”. Check out this description
- A man of GOD
- Appearance like the angel of GOD
- Very awesome, I love this
- She’s so impressed she didn’t even get a chance to ask him where he was from or his name
8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” 9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah (but came again to his wife), and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah, her husband was not with her. 10 So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.”
Remember I said I would give you my reason why I thought GOD chose this couple. First, I do believe mainly GOD chose this couple because of the circumstances they were in(barren) and close proximity to Philistia. I also believe we see another reason in verse 8, “Manoah prayed to the Lord”. I believe Manoah, was a man of faith, right after he hears the message from his wife he goes right in and begins to pray to the Lord for more wisdom, he wants to get this right. Then it tells us that “GOD listened to the voice of Manoah”. Isn’t it a blessing our voices can be heard? Many go all over the place with this verse, but I do believe Manoah was a man of faith, and would have become more faithful after this encounter he and his wife are about to have. I also believe that Manoah’s wife was also a woman of faith, and you see that in that she seemed to accept and was ready to do what GOD wanted. I do think it’s funny that after he prays GOD listens to Him, but chooses to appear to his wife first again.
11 And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man(this angel came in the form of a man) who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12 And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?” 13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 14 She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”
15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you.” 16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) 17 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?” 18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”
We’re getting close to my favorite part of this story! So finally Manoah is going to meet this man like “the angel of the Lord”, and check out how he handles the meeting. Manoah wants to prepare a meal, and look at what the angel says. He says I won’t eat your meal, but if you decide to offer it as an offering make it to the Lord. We’re then told that Manoah doesn’t really get what this means, because he’ll soon realize that this “angel of the Lord” is not just a created spirit being sent to give a message. This “angel of the Lord” is the Lord, GOD in human form, and He tells Manoah to make an offering unto Him here.
So Manoah then continues, because he doesn’t get it yet, asking this visitor his name. If you don’t think that this is GOD in human form, look at His reply back to Manoah, “ seeing it is wonderful” (some translations say “incomprehensible”. Do you realize that “wonderful” is the name of our Son of GOD? Turn with me to Isaiah 9:6. We are seeing here that this “angel of the Lord” is actually GOD in flesh, and Manoah with his wife are seeing a preview of the one who would be Jesus Christ. If you haven’t guessed it, knowing this “angel of the Lord” is the wonderful WORD of GOD (Jesus Christ) in the form of man is my favorite part!
19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works[a] wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.
He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on: The Angel of the LORD proved He was wonderful by doing a wondrous thing – ascending in the flame of sacrifice to heaven. How amazing would this experience, miracle, and spectacle be to witness. This is not the first incident of this. Let’s read some verses in Judges chapter 6
Verse 11 “Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah” Verse 12 “the angel of the Lord appeared to Him(Gideon). Verse 18 “Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present…”Verse 19 “Gideon went into his house to prepare a young goat and unleavened cakes Verse 20 “Take the meat and cakes and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over it all. Read verse 21-24 We now see another example where GOD, in the form of the Son of Man, or a preview of Jesus Christ reveals himself to another judge Gideon. There are many more instances of this “angel of the Lord” in the old testament, but not all show Him vanishing in a fire made from an offering of a goat and flour. Judges 2:1-5
21 The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” 23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.” 24 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
“Brother, if the Lord had meant to destroy us, he would not have shown us our sin, because we were happy enough previously, were we not? In our own poor way we were content enough, and if he did not mean to pardon us, it was not like the Lord to show us our sin, and so to torment us before our time, unless he meant to take it away.” (Spurgeon)
This chapter appears to be one of the most significant in the entire O.T., because of what is said here about the Angel of the Lord. Back in Judges 13:11, when Manoah asked if “the man” was the same one who had earlier appeared to his wife, the answer was, “I AM.” These very words were often used by Jesus Christ himself as his identification; for instance, see John 8:58; Mark 14:62; John 18:5, etc. This strongly supports the belief that the Angel of the Lord was none other than the pre-incarnate Son of God.
Proverbs 30: 4 Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Surely you know!
(ACTS 1.9-11; KJV) And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Well I hope you have enjoyed this survey of the birth of Samson, a “man of the sun”, or a man destined by the “Son of Man” to be a tool used by GOD to showcase his glory. As we saw in verse 5 that Samson was chosen before birth to be an instrument for GOD’s glory in ultimately leading his people Israel out of oppression and back to worship with Him.
This birth story should be an example for all of us who believe. Let’s go through a few points:
- GOD chose Samson, and all who are believers in Jesus the Son of GOD are also chosen by our Father for a great purpose. It is up to us to realize our calling and step up to the plans he has made for us.
- Our Creator really knows how to show up BIG, although we might not be barren, we do have times of trials in our lives. These are the times GOD wants to use us the most so he can receive more glory. 1 Corinthians 1:27 (NLT) Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.
In our next part we will go through the life of Samson and focus on our second point. Samson lived a life that many of this world would have judged him quickly as not being a follower or believer in GOD. Although as we read the account and other references like in Hebrews we find that GOD found Samson faithful, and His name is in the “Book of Life”.
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