Daily Scripture

Judges 13:1-14

1 The Israelites again did things that the Lord saw as evil, and he handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, from the Danite clan, whose name was Manoah. His wife was unable to become pregnant and had not given birth to any children. 3 The Lord’s messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, “Even though you’ve been unable to become pregnant and haven’t given birth, you are now pregnant and will give birth to a son! 4 Now be careful not to drink wine or brandy or to eat anything that is ritually unclean, 5 because you are pregnant and will give birth to a son. Don’t allow a razor to shave his head, because the boy is going to be a nazirite for God from birth. He’ll be the one who begins Israel’s rescue from the power of the Philistines.”

6 Then the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and he looked like God’s messenger—very scary! I didn’t ask him where he was from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 He said to me, ‘You are pregnant and will give birth to a son, so don’t drink wine or brandy or eat anything that is ritually unclean, because the boy is going to be a nazirite for God from birth until the day he dies.’”

8 Manoah asked the Lord, “Please, my Lord,” he said, “let the man of God whom you sent come back to us once more, so he can teach us how we should treat the boy who is to be born.”

9 God listened to Manoah, and God’s messenger came once more to the woman. She was sitting in the field, but her husband Manoah wasn’t with her. 10 So the woman hurriedly ran and informed her husband. She said to him, “The man who came to me the other day has just appeared to me.”

11 Manoah got up and followed his wife. He came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?”

“I am,” he replied.

12 Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what should be the rules for the boy and how he should act?”

13 The Lord’s messenger answered Manoah, “The woman should be careful to do everything that I told her. 14 She must not consume anything that comes from the grapevine, drink wine or brandy, or eat anything that is ritually unclean. She must be careful to do everything I have commanded her.”

Reflection Questions

Although the book of Judges held stories of many leaders who temporarily delivered Israelites from the power of various enemies, the book only gave a birth story for the colorful strongman Samson. The story reflected its male-dominated times by giving the father’s name while calling Samson’s mother simply “the woman.” Nevertheless, as happened again in the story of John the Baptist, she showed greater hope and faith than her husband.

• “Against all expectations, if there is a hero in Samson’s story, it is Samson’s wise and faithful mother, whose name we do not even know.”* Have you known, and perhaps had your life changed for the better, by “heroes” whose names only a small circle of people around them will ever know? Samson grew up with great physical strength, but severe inner weakness. What kinds of spiritual exercises help you build your inner strength?
• “Nazirite means ‘consecrated or dedicated one’ and designated a group of people who lived according to promises like those in Numbers 6:1-21.”** When Samson grew up, he refused to abide by many of those promises, and limited his impact for good. After a 20-year career, Judges summed up his work by saying, “He killed more people [Israel’s enemies] in his death than he did during his life” (Judges 16:30). What choices can you make to give your life a better epitaph than that?

Prayer

Lord God, help me to match whatever efforts I make to build my physical strength with a determination to work with you in building robust inner, spiritual strength. Amen.

* J. Clinton McCann, study note on Judges 13:1-25 in The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible. HarperSanFrancisco, 2005, p. 366.

** Brad E. Kelle, study note on Judges 13:4-5 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 392 OT.