Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the site of the LORD, so the LORD gave them in to the hands of the Philistines for 40 years.  There was a certain man living in the town of Zorah in the region of the tribe of Dan, whose name was Manoah.  His wife was barren; she had borne no children.  Then the Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her,

“Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son.  Now therefore, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing.  For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son.  And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”  Judges 13:1-5.

God brings His promise and direction not to Manoah but to his wife.  We are not told her name.  But she is clearly the focus of the visitation.  The Angel’s comments are about her and His instructions are specifically to her.

Manoah’s wife immediately reports to Manoah the Angel’s visitation.  Manoah entreats the LORD to return to teach them how to raise the child.  The Angel of the LORD does return.  But again, He visits his wife rather than Manoah.  She brings Manoah to the Angel.  Manoah asks the Angel what will be the child’s “rule of life, and his work.”

The Angel does not answer Manoah’s question.  He repeats his earlier promise and instruction, and admonishes Manoah’s wife to pay attention and carefully observe all He has said.  Manoah’s response:  Would you stay for dinner?

So much like a dad.  Manoah wants to know the “how.”  Manoah wants to know what Manoah is to do to prepare his son for future success.  What are the “rules?”  What will be his future vocation?  The child is not even conceived yet and already Dad wants son thriving in son’s career.  God has genetically imprinted us dads with this motivation to train our kids, especially our sons, not to be bums, and to excel.

In this zeal of fatherhood Manoah misses the point.  Manoah, misses the fact that the instruction was to his wife, and about her role.   Manoah skips right past the sheer joy of conception delivering his wife from the barrenness and shame that would have in particular been his wife’s in that culture.

But there was more.  The Angel declared the son would be a Nazirite to God from the womb until his death.  A Nazirite was a man or women who voluntarily took a vow of dedication to God, and of particular holiness and purity.  “Nazirite” (also spelled “Nazarite”) means consecrated or dedicated, set apart.  The details are provided at Numbers 6.

The period of the Nazirite vow included total abstention from any form of alcohol or grape product whatsoever, including fresh or dried grapes (raisins), unfermented grape juice and even grape seeds, grape skin, vinegar.  The Nazirite was also not shave his or her head or cut his or her hair during the period of the vow.  The son, Sampson, would partially live out this vow, and also violate it, resulting in profound good and bad consequences, respectively.

But for now, what is remarkable is the Angel declares this son, not even yet conceived, will be a Nazirite from the womb.  The Nazirite vow was a voluntary one, and not lifelong, but of a set duration, 30 days unless the person declared a longer period.  Therefore it is surprising that the Angel declared that this “vow” of dedication would be from conception, rather than Sampson’s knowing choice.

God’s purpose and call for Sampson began before he was conceived.  And so the plan necessarily included his mother who would carry him.  She was to start keeping his Nazirite vow now, even before his conception.

Manoah’s wife, Sampson’s mother, is among number of women who were blessed and charged with a responsibility for carrying and caring for one who represented God’s promise and purpose:  Sarah the mother if Isaac, Rebecca the mother of Jacob, Rachel the mother of Joseph, the mother of Moses, Hannah the mother of Samuel, Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist, and Mary the mother of Jesus.  God’s setting apart of Sampson from conception parallels John the Baptist being filled with the Spirit from his mother’s womb.

The visitation of the Angel of the LORD is to launch what will ultimately be the beginning of deliverance from the Philistines.  But the emphasis is not on the future, not on Sampson’s father Manoah, or even on Sampson.  God is in the moment.  The recipient of this divine announcement is the one and only one who can conceive and carry the one promised to accomplish God’s deliverance.

The promise is far bigger than Manoah or his wife, or even Sampson.  The promise will extend beyond all of their lifetimes.  But it starts now, and it starts simply.

Manoah and his wife were called upon to do little more than have marital relations and have a baby.  The instruction to abstain from alcohol and unclean foods hardly seems burdensome.  But it was all terribly important.  This ordinary, minimal instruction had a profound future in view.

What are we “carrying?”  What has God entrusted to us?  Is it something that will exceed our own reach and lifetime?

We may have in our heart a germ of a vision, goal or purpose that is from God.  The ultimate scope may be grand, such as the abolition of slavery as accomplished through William Wilberforce, or the eradication of human trafficking or poverty.  Or it may be faithfully serving in a Sunday School class, launching a work-place Bible study, attending to a single relationship that needs mending, or ministering to one person that needs care.  Whether macro or micro, the call of the moment is to simple obedience and consecration.  Faithfulness to the call we know now is what is required, and all that is required.  The ultimate working out of the purpose belongs to God and will always be vastly larger than us.

How are we to respond to God’s visitation, and entrusting us with a call and promises in our lives?

• We consecrate ourselves to care for and nurture the vision God has given us.  We offer our bodies – our whole selves – as living and holy sacrifices, acceptable to God, which is our spiritual service of worship.

• We trust God for the results.  It was not up to Manoah or his wife to see that Sampson succeeded or even obeyed.  Their job, and ours, was and is simply to obey what we know God has spoken to us to do.

• We offer worship, thanksgiving and praise.  While the ultimate result may still be distant, the present circumstance is cause for thanksgiving and rejoicing.  For Manoah’s wife, her barrenness was ended.  For all of us, we have experienced the visitation of God and the remarkable offer of life more abundant than we can contain.

To spiritual barrenness God entrusts us with His promises life and deliverance that will overflow the limits of our own lifetime.  We have the joy of saying yes.

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