Judges 13:1 ¶ And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. 2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. 3 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. 4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: 5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name: 7 But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.
Now comes a longer period of distress for the Israelites because
of their disobedient ways. The Philistines are descendants of Ham through Mizraim,
founder of Egypt. Crete is an island in Mediterranean Sea. Some of them may
have settled in Crete and then returned to the Middle East if some
archaeologists’ conclusions are to be believed. Just remember, as you are
studying on your own that evidence is neutral. It says nothing of itself. It
must be interpreted to be made relevant to a certain historical question. The
interpreter is always affected by who he studied under, his own personal view
of him or herself and the world, and generally accepted statements and narratives
about history. Interpretations can be very subjective, even fanciful, and still
be considered scientific if they agree with the established consensus, the conventional
wisdom, the accepted narrative.
Genesis 10:6 ¶ And the sons
of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. 7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and
Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the
sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. 8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a
mighty one in the earth. 9 He was a
mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty
hunter before the LORD. 10 And the
beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the
land of Shinar. 11 Out of that land went
forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, 12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same
is a great city. 13 And Mizraim begat
Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom
came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.
Philistine kings encounter Abraham and Isaac. See Genesis 20:1
through 21:34 and then read Genesis, chapter 26.
The Exodus takes the Israelites away from the Philistine
territories to prevent their fear from changing their minds about their escape
from Egypt;
Exodus 13:17 And it came to
pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way
of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest
peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:
The tribe of Dan produces Manoah and his unnamed wife, who cannot
conceive a child. This is not the first time that God has given a woman who was
barren the opportunity to bear a child. I think of Sarah and Rachel in Genesis
as examples.
An angel of the LORD, L-O-R-D or Jehovah God, appeared to Manoah’s
wife. This brings to mind an important doctrine of the Bible whose
misinterpretation has clouded a great deal of Biblical imagery, preaching,
teaching, and artwork.
An angel is not, at least Biblically, some effeminate looking guy
with wings. An angel is a presence of someone whose physical body is somewhere
else. An angel represents something or
someone. Notice these verses;
Isaiah 63:9 In all their
affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his
love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all
the days of old.
Matthew 18:10 Take heed
that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in
heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
Acts 12:15 And they said
unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then
said they, It is his angel.
Revelation 1:20 The mystery
of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden
candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the
seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
The child will be a Nazirite, drinking neither wine nor other
alcoholic beverage or cutting his hair. The promise is that he will begin to
deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.
See this reference in Numbers, chapter 6;
Numbers 6:1 ¶ And the LORD
spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto
the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall
separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the
LORD: 3 He shall separate himself from
wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong
drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or
dried. 4 All the days of his separation
shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to
the husk. 5 All the days of the vow of
his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be
fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy,
and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. 6 All the days that he separateth himself unto
the LORD he shall come at no dead body. 7
He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for
his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his
God is upon his head. 8 All the days of
his separation he is holy unto the LORD. 9
And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of
his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on
the seventh day shall he shave it. 10
And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons,
to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: 11 And the priest shall offer the one for a sin
offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him,
for that he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day.
12 And he shall consecrate unto the LORD
the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a
trespass offering: but the days that were before shall be lost, because his
separation was defiled. 13 And this is
the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled: he
shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: 14 And he shall offer his offering unto the
LORD, one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and
one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram
without blemish for peace offerings, 15
And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil,
and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat offering, and
their drink offerings. 16 And the priest
shall bring them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin offering, and his
burnt offering: 17 And he shall offer
the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, with the basket of
unleavened bread: the priest shall offer also his meat offering, and his drink
offering. 18 And the Nazarite shall
shave the head of his separation at the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the
hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the
sacrifice of the peace offerings. 19 And
the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake
out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands
of the Nazarite, after the hair of his separation is shaven: 20 And the priest shall wave them for a wave
offering before the LORD: this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and
heave shoulder: and after that the Nazarite may drink wine. 21 This is the law of the Nazarite who hath
vowed, and of his offering unto the LORD for his separation, beside that that
his hand shall get: according to the vow which he vowed, so he must do after
the law of his separation.
The woman tells her husband she has been visited by a man of
God, which would be a man from God in this case as the use of the preposition
of in our language can denote different things in context suggesting,
for instance, that something has a particular trait of something like “a man of
taste and refinement,” or as in this case coming from someplace or someone as
in “a citizen of the United States.” This appearance is from God. He looked
like an angel and frightened her with his appearance. See how the appearance of
the glorified Christ frightens John.
Revelation 1:17 And when I
saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying
unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Manoah’s wife is so impressed by this heavenly visitor she doesn’t
need an introduction. It is interesting how the magnificence of this angel of
God impresses upon her His divinity.
Judges 13:8 ¶ Then Manoah
intreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst
send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that
shall be born. 9 And God hearkened to
the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat
in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed
her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that
came unto me the other day. 11
And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said
unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am.
12 And Manoah said, Now let thy words
come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto
him? 13 And the angel of the LORD said
unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. 14 She may not eat of any thing that
cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any
unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe.
The angel of the LORD appears again to Manoah’s wife and she has
to run get Manoah to come see. Manoah, like a good Jew, wants to confirm what
the angel told his wife. The angel repeats the instructions for her. The LORD
has commanded this.
Manoah and his wife are not asked their opinion or for their willingness
to obey. Now, imagine if you will, God’s plan for your life. You may not have
expected it. You may not have even wanted what He has given you; a chronic
illness, a handicap, an emotional burden of abuse or going without, but He has
given you a task. Will you bear it, as all that He commands you observe? He has
appeared to you in your reality no less than He has appeared to Manoah and his
wife in the form of the angel.
Judges 13:15 ¶ And Manoah
said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we
shall have made ready a kid for thee. 16
And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I
will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must
offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the
LORD. 17 And Manoah said unto the angel
of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may
do thee honour? 18 And the angel of the
LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is
secret? 19 So Manoah took a kid with a
meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the
angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. 20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up
toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the
flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on
their faces to the ground. 21 But the
angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah
knew that he was an angel of the LORD. 22 And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall
surely die, because we have seen God. 23
But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would
not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither
would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have
told us such things as these.
Remember the cultural demand to be a hospitable host as evidenced
by Abraham’s treatment of the preincarnate Christ and the two angels that were
headed toward Sodom.
Genesis 18:1 ¶ And the LORD
appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the
heat of the day; 2 And he lift up his
eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran
to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, 3 And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour
in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 4 Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched,
and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and
comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come
to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. 6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto
Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and
make cakes upon the hearth. 7 And
Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto
a young man; and he hasted to dress it.
8 And he took butter, and
milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood
by them under the tree, and they did eat.
Again, we have the fear Gideon had that they had seen God and
would die. God had said to Moses;
Exodus 33:20 And he said,
Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
Judges 6:22 And when Gideon
perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for
because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face. 23 And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto
thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.
Gideon and Manoah and his wife saw the preincarnate Christ, the
angel or appearance of Jehovah God.
John 14:9 Jesus saith unto
him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?
he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us
the Father?
Hebrews 1:3 Who being the
brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat
down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Colossians 1:15 Who is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Judges 13:24 ¶ And the
woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD
blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the
LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Now, just as the tribe of Dan, according to some historians,
historical writers, and mythologists, may have participated in the siege of
Troy, the colonizing of Ireland, and the founding of Greek civilization we have
the great champion and judge Samson, of whom later Greek Christian writers will
say was the inspiration along with Jonah for the myth of Hercules.[1]
[1] Christopher Eames, “Was Hercules
Samson?: Is there a man behind the myth?”, Armstrong Institute of Biblical
Archaeology, https://armstronginstitute.org/793-was-hercules-samson
(accessed 12.12.2022).
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