Manoah’s wife told him that, “A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of GOD, very awesome; but I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name. And He said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.'”
Manoah prayed to the LORD and asked Him to let the Man of God whom He sent to come to them again and teach them what they shall do for the child who will be born. And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field but Manoah, her husband was not with her. Then, the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, “Look, the Man has just now appeared to me, the One who came to me the other day!”
Manoah arose and followed her. When he came to the Man, he asked Him, “Are you the Man who spoke to this woman?” And He said, “I am.”
Manoah asked Him to let His words come to pass and what would be the boy’s rule of life and his work.
The Angel of the LORD told him, “Of all that I said to the woman, let her be careful. She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her let her observe.”
Then, Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, “Please let us detain You and we will prepare a young goat for You.”
And the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD.” Manoah didn’t know that He was the Angel of the LORD.
Manoah asked Him for His name so that when His words came to pass, they could honor Him. And the Angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?”
Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the LORD. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on: as the flame went up toward heaven, from the altar, it happened that the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.
When the Angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the LORD. Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!”
But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this time.”
So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him (Judges 13:6-24).
Who were Manoah and his wife and why did the Angel of the LORD appear to them? Well, Manoah was from the town, Zorah and from the tribe of Dan. They didn’t have any children because his wife was barren. The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. Their son, Samson was to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
For years, the couple tried but couldn’t have any children, then one day, they were told that they would have a son. At the right time, God blessed them with Samson. Sometimes, we pray and it seems like God isn’t going to answer our prayers but we must remember that His timing is not our timing. Sometimes no forthcoming answer to our prayer could be a delay. God is waiting for the right time or He is working things out.
Although it can be difficult at times, we must learn to wait and trust in the Lord. It took years for the prayers of Manoah and his wife to be answered. God remembered them and gave them a son. God will remember you too. It takes lots of faith and courage to wait upon the Lord but in the end, it’s always worth it.
Notes to Women 