Judges 13
This is the story of a man names Manoah and his wife whose name I don't know.
They were from the tribe of Dan.
Once again, the Israelites had turned away from God.
He handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.
Anyway, Manoah and his wife had no children.
One day an angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah's wife (I really wish I knew her name) and told her that she would be having child. However, there were rules to follow. She couldn't drink beer or wine, eat anything unclean, and could never cut her son's hair. He was going to help save Israel from the Philistines, so he needed to be set apart.
The son's name would be Samson. (The angel didn't tell them that; Samson's mom named him that after he was born)
But what interested me about this story wasn't so much about Samson's birth. I knew a little about that. It was more about the messenger of the Lord. The angel.
The first time the angel appeared to Manoah's wife, she ran home to tell her husband.
In fact, she told Manoah that this "man" looked like an angel of God. His appearance was frightening.
Manoah, much like I would have done, prayed to God for the messenger to return.
Sure enough, the angel appeared AGAIN. To Manoah's wife.
She ran home to get her husband.
The angel reiterated the instructions from God to Manoah that he had already shared with Manoah's wife.
Manoah offered to feed this visitor.
The visitor refused, citing that he would not eat their food. Instead, he suggested an offering to God.
Then Manoah asks the visitor for his name.
The angel responds that the name is too "amazing" for them to understand.
So Manoah gives an offering to the Lord.
And as he does, the angel of the Lord went to heaven in the flame.
Later, Samson was born.
We forget, I think, that there is a whole spiritual world that we don't see.
Angels. And demons.
But there are.
And they aren't these cute little angels like we hang on the Christmas tree as ornaments with cute little halos and wings.
These are messengers of God.
They are not for us to understand.
But they are there.
Working for Him.
Tomorrow's reading:
Judges 14
Reba
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