We come to Samson, the last Judge who gets four chapters, the most of any judge: 96 verses! We saw that Abimelech chose himself to be the leader. Jephthah was recruited by his family to lead. By contrast, Samson was chosen by God, before he was born:

At that time there was a man named Manoah from Zorah from the tribe of Dan. His wife was barren and childless. The angel of God appeared to her and told her, “I know that you are barren and childless, but you’re going to become pregnant and bear a son. But take much care: Drink no wine or beer; eat nothing ritually unclean. You are, in fact, pregnant right now, carrying a son. No razor will touch his head—the boy will be God’s Nazirite from the moment of his birth. He will launch the deliverance from Philistine oppression.” (Judges 13.2 – 5, MSG)

The angel’s appearance reminds one of Zechariah in Luke 1 EXCEPT:

• The angel appears to the wife(!), and we don’t even know her name.
• She’s already pregnant.

There are also similarities:

• Samson will be a Nazirite from the moment of his birth (see Numbers 6)
• John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit from his birth and also avoid wine and strong drink (but the word “Nazirite” is not used).

[Zechariah’s son, called John the Baptist later on] will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. (Luke 1.15, ESV)

Manoah wants to see the angel for himself! So there is another conversation with the angel who ascended back to heaven in the flame of a burnt offering. It’s disturbing…

So Manoah took the kid and the Grain-Offering and sacrificed them on a rock altar to GOD who works wonders. As the flames leapt up from the altar to heaven, GOD’s angel also ascended in the altar flames. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground. Manoah and his wife never saw the angel of GOD again. Only then did Manoah realize that this was GOD’s angel. He said to his wife, “We’re as good as dead! We’ve looked on God!” But his wife said, “If GOD were planning to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted our Whole-Burnt-Offering and Grain-Offering, or revealed all these things to us—given us this birth announcement.”

The woman gave birth to a son. They named him Samson. The boy grew and GOD blessed him. The Spirit of GOD began working in him while he was staying at a Danite camp between Zorah and Eshtaol. (Judges 13.19 – 25, MSG)

A good start, but things go downhill rapidly. Stay tuned.

[John the Baptist] grew up, healthy and spirited. He lived out in the desert until the day he made his prophetic debut in Israel. (Luke 1.80, MSG)