Judges 13:1-25
1 And the children of Israel did evila 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.
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 orderb 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.
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.c
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.
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 campd of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
[Now, again] The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. There was a certain man from Zorah, he was of the tribe of Dan, and his name was Manoah; and his wife was barren (Judges 13:1-2),
And one day she was out in the field and an angel of the Lord visited her there in the field. And told her that she was going to become pregnant, she was going to bare a son and through her son God was going to begin delivering the children of Israel from the Philistines.
Now the angel said, "The son is to be dedicated unto God. You're not to allow a razor to come to his head." A Nazarite vow, not cutting your hair. Also he was not to drink any wine, strong drink, anything that came from the vine for he was to be a Nazarite from his birth, dedicated his life. His life was to be dedicated unto God, a commitment of his life to God. Well, she was all excited. She ran and she told her husband about this man that met her in the field, told her that she was going to become pregnant and have a son and that she was not to shave his hair and not give him any wine or strong drink.
And he said, "What did he look like? And what did he tell you?" And he said, "Oh God, if it's really you that appeared, appear again so we can get some further instructions what we are to do with this child."
So she was out in the field again and the angel of the Lord appeared again. And she said, "Would you mind waiting here. My husband wants to meet you." So she ran and got her husband and said, "The man who appeared to me in the beginning is here again." So Manoah came running up and said, "I just, you know, I heard the story and I didn't know what to do. I just wanted to know, you know, a little bit more instructions. She was sort of excited and I wanna make sure I got the, you know, the instructions straight. How we're suppose to raise this kid and what we're supposed to do with him and all, and tell me again." So the angel repeated he said, "Just like I told her. Don't give him any wine, anything that comes from the vine, don't cut his hair. He is to be a Nazarite, dedicated unto God."
And so Manoah said, "Look, I want-" well he wanted to-
Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, [verse fifteen] I pray thee, let us detain you, until we have made ready a kid for thee. And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though you detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD. So Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is your name, so that when your sayings come to pass that we might honour you. And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? (Judges 13:15-18)
That word secret, in the Hebrew, is actually wonderful. "Why you ask me my name seeing it is wonderful?"
So Manoah took the kid with a meal offering, and he offered it on a rock unto the LORD: and the angel of the LORD did wondrously; while Manoah and his wife looked on (Judges 13:19).
For while the fire was coming up, the angel stepped into the fire and descended up to heaven And Manoah fell on his face and said "Oh, we're gonna be wiped out. We saw an angel of the Lord face to face."
And his wife said, "Hey, what do you mean? If God wanted to wipe us out why would he tell us we're gonna have a baby and all this and give us all these promises."
And so he said, "Well, I guess you're right." So the level head prevailed of Manoah's wife.
So she bare a son, called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him in times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol (Judges 13:24-25).
And so, the valley of Zorah and Eshtaol are actually eight miles from Jerusalem towards Tel Aviv. And that it is a very beautiful fertile valley through there. It was part of the inheritance of the tribe of Dan. And so this is where he grew up and God's Spirit began to move on him at various times. "