SCRIPTURE: JUDGES 13
THE BIRTH OF SAMSON (vs. 1-24)
Manoah was from the clan of the Danites. He had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her that she was going to conceive and have a son. But she must not drink wine or other fermented drinks and should not eat anything unclean. The boy is to be a Nazarite, set apart to God to deliver the Israelites from the hands of Philistines.
The wife told her husband and the husband prayed to the Lord to let her see the man of God. God heard Manoah and the angel of God came again to his wife. The wife hurried to tell her husband that he saw the angel of the Lord. Manoah got up and met him. The angel of the Lord told him that his wife must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drinks nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her. Manoah told the angel of the Lord to stay because he will prepare a young goat for him. But the angel of the Lord told him to prepare a brunt offering and offer it to the Lord instead. When Manoah offered the sacrifice and the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven and the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Both of them fell with their face down and they realized that the man was the angel of the Lord. The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him with the presence of the Spirit of the Lord.
THOUGHT:
Samson means “sunny”. He brought sunshine to his house and to Israel during their dark period. But his life ended in darkness because he did not fully obey the Lord.