January 31, 2024

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. Judges 13:1. The story abruptly changed after that verse, and it goes into the prediction of the birth of Sampson, who would eventually become their deliverer. Was Israel’s oppression a total of 40 years, or was it 40 years plus the time they had to wait for Sampson to grow up? I don’t know. An angel of the Lord, though possibly Jesus, appeared to Sampson’s mother, who had been barren, and he told her she would have a son. He cautioned her to refrain from wine and strong drink and only eat clean food because he was going to be a Nazarite from before his birth, and no razor was ever to touch his head. After the angel left her, she ran to her husband, Manoah, and told him everything she had experienced. He wanted to understand what they should do and prayed that he would reappear. He then appeared to Manoah’s wife again, and she ran to get him. The angel told him everything he had told his wife. He was very grateful and offered to serve him a kid goat, but the angel told him to offer it to God. God sent fire down and consumed it, and the angel disappeared in the flame as it went up to heaven. 

For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. Judges 13:20

Never give up! Continue praying as Manoah’s wife did. She trusted in the Lord, and he gave her a son who would save Israel from the Philistines. As you can see, this story resembles the prediction of the birth of Jesus, our deliverer. That makes Sampson a type of Christ.