The Birth of Samson

Israel again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, and the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. In Zorah there lived a man named Manoah from the family of the Danites. His wife had no children. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to her and said that she would conceive and bear a son.

The messenger gave special instructions for the mother. She was not to drink wine or strong drink or eat anything unclean. The child would be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and no razor was to come on his head. He would begin to save Israel from the Philistines. Then the woman told Manoah what had happened.

Manoah prayed and asked the Lord to send the man again, so they would know what to do about the child who would be born. God listened. The angel of God appeared again to the woman while she was sitting in the field, and Manoah was not with her. She hurried to call her husband, and Manoah came and asked if this was the man who had spoken to his wife.

Manoah asked about the child’s way of life and mission. The angel told him that the woman must carefully keep the instructions already given: she must not eat anything that comes from the vine, drink wine or strong drink, or eat anything unclean. Manoah offered to prepare a young goat, but the angel said he would not eat their food. If Manoah prepared a burnt offering, it must be offered to the Lord.

When Manoah asked the visitor’s name, the angel answered that it was beyond understanding. Manoah then offered the young goat and the meal offering on the rock to the Lord. As Manoah and his wife watched, the angel went up in the flame from the altar. They fell with their faces to the ground.

After that, Manoah realised this was the angel of the Lord and became afraid, but his wife reminded him that the Lord had accepted their offering and shown them these things. Later she gave birth to a son and named him Samson. He grew, the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to move him in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.