An Angel Announces a Birth

A young goat lies on a rock altar. Flames leap up toward the sky. And in the middle of the fire, the visitor who has been speaking with them rises up, and up, and is gone.

Once again, the people of Israel had done evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for forty years the Philistines had ruled over them. In the small town of Zorah, in the hills west of Jerusalem, near the border with Philistine land, lived a man from the tribe of Dan. His name was Manoah. His wife is never named in the story, but she is at the centre of it. The Bible says simply that she was barren and had no children. In a land under enemy rule, in a family with no future, God was about to begin something new.

One day the angel of the Lord appears to the woman. You have no children, he says, but you will conceive and have a son. From now on, be careful. Drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. No razor is to touch your son's head, for the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth. “He shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” The woman runs to her husband. A man of God came to me, she says. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn't ask where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. But he said I will have a son.

Manoah does something lovely. He prays. O Lord, please let the man of God you sent come to us again, and teach us how to raise the boy who will be born. And God listens. The angel comes again, to the woman, as she sits in the field. Manoah is not with her, so she runs to get him. Here he is! Manoah follows his wife and asks the visitor, are you the man who spoke to her? I am, he says. Then Manoah asks, when your words come true, how should we raise the boy? And the angel repeats his instructions. Manoah, like a good host, begs him to stay while they prepare a young goat for him to eat. I won't eat your food, says the angel, but if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.

Manoah asks one more question. What is your name, so that when your words come true we may honour you? And the angel answers, why do you ask my name, seeing it is secret? So Manoah takes the young goat and the grain offering, and offers them on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord does something wonderful while they watch. As the flame goes up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord goes up in the flame. Manoah and his wife fall on their faces. We shall surely die, says Manoah, for we have seen God. But his wife is calmer. If the Lord had meant to kill us, she says, he would not have accepted our offering or shown us all this. Later, she gives birth to a son and names him Samson. The boy grows, and the Lord blesses him.

When the angel says his name is secret, the Hebrew word can also mean wonderful, something beyond understanding. The same root word appears in Isaiah's famous promise of a child: his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God. And the angel's action matches his name: Judges says the Lord did wondrously as Manoah and his wife looked on. A wonderful name, a wonderful act, and a child promised to begin to rescue God's people.

You'll find this story in Judges chapter thirteen. Samson would only begin to deliver Israel. Many years later, another angel would announce another birth, of a child who would save his people from their sins. So here is a question to carry with you. Manoah prayed, teach us how to raise this child. What do you need to ask God to teach you today?