When God Moves

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. 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. 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.” 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.’” 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, 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.” ¹¹ And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the 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?” 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 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. 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.

The final person recognized as a “judge in Israel” is Samson. His story is legendary. He ranks as a sort of “superhero” in the story of God’s people as he is endowed by God with super-human strength when it is needed. It’s a compelling story because despite his place as a “hero” he is most certainly a flawed one.

His story begins with his parents because his birth is somewhat remarkable. They receive a visit from “the angel of the Lord”. This is a visit from the pre-incarnate Christ! Because God has heard the cries for mercy from His people, He will send one more judge to bring rescue. This judge will be born right in the heart of enemy territory. While Jephthah was busy fighting the Ammonites in the north, the Philistines have moved into the area west and south of Jerusalem. This is where Zorah (Samson’s hometown) is located. God is ready to move again. He has allowed Israel to be punished for their idolatry for 40 years. Now the time for release is near.

Samson’s birth is a miraculous one as his mother is barren. Just as God promised a child to Sarah (mother of Isaac) and Elizabeth (mother of John the Baptist), so too He promises one to Manoah’s wife. (The poor woman is not actually named in the text.) God even declares that the child shall be set aside for His purposes as a Nazarite. (If you wish to learn more of the Nazarite vow, read Numbers 6.) She willingly makes this vow on behalf of her unborn son because she knows that he is a miracle gift from God to her.

What we find here is that God is moving. For the time being, these two peasants are the only ones who know about His actions, but He is definitely up to something. If you do a mental survey of the stories in the Word you will find that His biggest movements are quite often done with the knowledge of only a few. That doesn’t negate the power or the effectiveness of the plan. The birth of Jesus, while espoused by the angels to the Shepherds was basically a very quiet event. When Elijah was taken into heaven by the fiery chariot the only witness was Elisha. When John saw his visions of the End Times he was alone on the Island of Patmos. God’s movements are sometimes just a flicker on the world stage. But when God simply breaths out, stars are flung into the heavens. When God makes the smallest blink of an eye, big things happen.

Those thoughts make me aware of the need to stay vigilant as I watch what is going on around me. We need to keep an eye on what God is doing and then go there and watch Him move. Manoah and his wife had a front row seat to a private drama that will end in God rescuing His people from their captivity to the Philistines. This reminder brings me hope. When it looks like there’s nothing going on, perhaps those are the times when God is really doing something big. And when we are stumbling all over ourselves over what looks like something huge, it’s just a tempest in teapot. Perhaps this is a good day to remember that.