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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines."
Then the woman went to her husband and told him, "A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. But he said to me, 'You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.' "
Then Manoah prayed to the Lord : "O Lord, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born."
God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. The woman hurried to tell her husband, "He's here! The man who appeared to me the other day!"
Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, "Are you the one who talked to my wife?"
"I am," he said.
So Manoah asked him, "When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy's life and work?"
The angel of the Lord answered, "Your wife must do all that I have told her. She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her."
Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, "We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you."
The angel of the Lord replied, "Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord." (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the Lord.)
Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, "What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?"
He replied, "Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding." Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: As the flame blazed up from the altar toward Heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.
"We are doomed to die!" he said to his wife. "We have seen God!"
But his wife answered, "If the Lord had meant to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this."
The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Judges 13
This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Most everyone in life will have the opportunity to be a parent. After all, the Lord designed a man and woman to come together as one flesh, joined together in marriage and able to consummate their love for each other through sexual activity, sexual activity that is the impetus for procreation.
Now, having children is one thing. Raising them up is the challenge of a lifetime, full of ups and downs, successes and failures. No father or mother is given an instruction manual for parenting at the hospital when the baby is born and so thankfully, God has provided directions in His holy Word. One such place is in today’s passage from the 13th chapter of the Book of Judges.
There we find that the nation of Israel has once again gotten into trouble with God, this time resulting in the judgment of oppression at the hands of the Philistines for forty years. We know this has been an ongoing trend in this book and should note that the period of punishment increases every time after God’s people returned to reject Him and return to sinful living.
And once again, the Israelites found themselves in need of a deliverer who will soon be Samson.
As we go back to this chapter, we see the origins of Israel’s future judge by being introduced to a man named Manoah and his wife who were members of the Danite clan.
Similar to prior Old Testament women we have studied, Sarah and Rachel, Manoah’s wife was childless and sterile, something considered a sign of disfavor from God. This is because the Israelites viewed childbearing as one of the greatest blessings the Lord gave a woman.
It was into this space that we find God enter in to work a miracle in her life. For we read where an “angel of the Lord appeared to her”, saying:
"You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines."
Here we should note that Manoah’s wife was promised the gift of pregnancy but with strict guidelines to follow which modeled the required restrictions of a Nazarite. Nonetheless, what a blessed encounter this had to be for Manoah’s wife! For it was a distinct privilege to be singled out by God in such a special way and receive the news from His divine representative. Do a survey of the Bible and see how many women had this opportunity given to them and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Well, after receiving the angel’s visit, we see Manoah’s wife unable to keep it to herself as she races to her husband and makes the following report:
"A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. But he said to me, 'You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.'"
How did Manoah respond?
His reaction is nothing short of fantastic for we see where he doesn’t question his wife or even start to doubt what she told him. Instead, he automatically turns to the Lord and prays, asking for Him to send His representative back in order to teach he and his wife “how to bring up the boy who is to be born."
The actions of these parents-to-be from this point forward offer all parents today a real primer for raising their own children. This is why I feel we all should feel blessed by this account and takeaway the following three points that can help us be the parents the Lord wants us to be.
First, a father and mother need to trust in God.
Manoah’s wife didn’t question the angel of the Lord when he brought her the holy guidance from God. Neither did her husband question his wife when she told him about the visit by the angel and what was to come. Rather, both believed in God so much that they never doubted that what He said would come true.
We should strive to do the same from the moment God blesses us to have a child through the many, many years that we’re blessed to raise them.
Second, we need to consistently and persistently communicate with the Lord.
In regard to the matter of communication, it’s critically important to remember that it requires a speaker and a listener to be done properly.
We first see Manoah’s wife demonstrate these skills as she first listened intently to God’s word from the angel and then shared that message with her husband. In turn, Manoah then listened to everything his wife said before bringing his petition to God in prayer.
Successful parenting requires these same communication skills, with a father and mother constantly talking and listening to one another on all matters relating to a child while allowing their conversations to be dictated by what they both receive from the Lord first. This comes by ever seeking His will for the child’s upbringing, the child He has entrusted to the parents’ care.
And this leads to the third point…
Parents need to always seek God’s guidance.
Notice that once Manoah learns that God was going to grant him and his wife a son, he immediately turns to God in prayer and asks how they should raise their son. We need to do likewise because it’s the only way that we can ensure we are parenting properly…doing the right thing every time because we will be doing what the Lord wants, no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in. We will never have that level of success if we try to rely on our own understanding and wisdom.
So again, we find three critical steps to always take as parents in the first part of this passage and they are as follows:
1. Trust in God
2. Communicate with Him and then one another
and
3. Always seek God’s guidance.
Well, after Manoah prayed to God and asked for parental guidance, we read where his prayer was heard as the Lord sends the angel back to his wife “while she was out in the field”. This prompted her to run and tell him this:
“He's here! The man who appeared to me the other day!"
And with that, we read where “Manoah got up and followed his wife” and “when he came to the man”, he asked him if he was the one who had come to his wife to which the angel replied he was. We then find Manoah inquiring about what the rule should be for his son’s “life and work”.
Of interest, instead of telling Manoah what his son should do, the angel tells him what the boy’s mother should do as she carried her son saying:
“Your wife must do all that I have told her. She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her."
The message from the angel let Manoah know everything that was expected of his wife, important because he would be responsible for helping her through the pregnancy in a way that adhered to God’s guidelines.
Now it was customary for an Israelite to show hospitality and so we see Manoah offering to feed the angel, unaware that he was talking with a divine, heavenly being. In response to this, we find the angel rejecting Manoah’s offer but he does propose that Manoah “prepare a burnt offering” and “offer it to the Lord." And so Manoah asked the angel for his name so they could pay tribute to him when his word came true.
Once again, we see there is a complete show of faith by Manoah as he fully accepted everything the angel said would happen with no doubting or questioning.
Going back to the scriptures, we see where the angel responds to Manoah’s question with one of his own, asking:
“Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding."
Indeed, Manoah still had no idea who he was speaking to.
So “Manoah took a young goat” and “together with the grain offering…sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord” and at that moment, the scriptures tell us that “the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched” the sacrifice burn. For “as the flame blazed up from the altar toward Heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame”.
Put yourself in the place of Manoah and his wife for a moment as they witnessed an awesome display of the Lord’s power and wonder first-hand. We see them respond immediately by falling with their faces toward the ground, realizing that they had been engaged with a real angel of the Lord. It was an awareness that struck fear into Manoah’s heart as he cried out to his wife:
“We are doomed to die! We have seen God!"
To which his wife responded:
“If the Lord had meant to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this."
In other words, the wife asserted that they were both going to be fine. They had shown themselves to be obedient servants and the Lord still had much for them to do.
And so go on they did.
Manoah’s wife “gave birth to a boy and named him Samson” who grew and was not only blessed by the Lord but stirred by His Spirit “while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol”. Over the coming messages, we’ll see how his life played out but as I close this message, I would like to add three more points to add to the three previous ones regarding parenting:
Parents should always seek to honor and pay tribute to God.
Manoah and his wife didn’t hesitate to want to show their gratitude to the angel for what he had done, even though at first they didn’t realize who he was. After the angel turned down their offer of food and instead asked for a burnt sacrifice, Manoah and his wife honored him as he had requested…such was their sense of obedience and thanksgiving for what God was about to do for them.
As we parent today, fathers and mothers shouldn’t cease to honor and respect God in everything they do as well. For He and only He is the One who can assure we parent properly and produce a family that glorifies Him in all things and at all times. We also need to show our gratitude for his He blesses our families with every good and perfect thing from above in accordance with His will, ever working things out for our good (James 1:17, Romans 8:28).
Next, parents should expect the Lord to do amazing things in the life of their family.
When Manoah and his wife offered the goat to God in the form of a burnt offering, the Lord did an amazing thing before them as the angel ascended back to Heaven through the flame. This revealed to the couple that the Lord had indeed been in their presence, finding their offerings and sacrifice acceptable.
Today, we still serve the same awesome God of ancient Israel who never ceases to do amazing things each and every day. If the truth be known, the blessings He doles out are far more than can be humanly measured.
And so as parents turn full authority of their families over to the Lord and allow Him to lead and guide them in the way they should raise their children, they will see the manifestations of God’s amazing work over and over again in their lives and the lives of their children.
Finally, parents need to always remember that God keeps His promises.
When it was all said and done with Manoah and his wife, the Lord delivered on His vow to bless them with a son. For we read where Samson was born to them, just as the Lord had promised and would soon become Israel’s deliverer.
Indeed, we serve a God who never fails to keep every promise He has made and every parent needs to remember this. They need to always be in the scriptures, fully knowing and understanding all of the Lord’s assurances so they can recognize them when they come to fruition in their lives and the lives of their children.
Further, all parents need to teach their children about God’s promises so they know of them and can place their trust in them when they grow into adulthood…one day to have children of their own.
I would like to share one last observation on this passage, one I think makes it all the more incredible for I see this chapter as a sign of what’s to come for the Israelites and the world at large.
For soon a virgin named Mary will be also be visited by an angel of the Lord and be told that she conceive, bearing a son who will be named Jesus…a Son who would be born to deliver all mankind from the sure destruction of sin to the free gift of eternal life if they would just simply believe in Him.
And Mary, like Manoah’s wife in these verses, will simply accept what God is asking her to do in a display of incredible faith and trust. She submits to the angel’s message and gave birth to the Savior of the world, the long predicted Messiah who would live, die, be resurrected, and then ascend to the heavens, one future day to return to bring salvation to all Christ believers, just as God, His Father and ours, had promised.
Thanks be to God for His unmistakable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15).
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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