Judges 13:1-10
Once again Israel gives way to wickedness and once again the LORD disciplines them by the hand of the Philistines. Once again it seems that the testing has unfortunately not borne fruit. Forty years go by. In vain God waits and listens but this time there is no cry sent up to Him. The people have become accustomed to their miserable state of slavery. However, here and there, are faithful witnesses who fear the LORD. Amongst them God shows us Manoah and his wife who are a believing but childless household of the tribe of Dan. One day a heavenly visitor appears to the woman. He has a wonderful message for her: she is to be the mother of the man who is to begin to save Israel from the Philistines. This incident makes us think of the beginning of the Gospel of Luke where the angel Gabriel announces to Mary the glorious coming of the Saviour to earth.
This time however, there are conditions which the child (and his mother) must fulfil. A Nazarite according to Numbers 6, he must be separated to God and he must abstain from pleasures and enjoyment which others partake of (the fruit of the vine). It is not socially easy for a family to have this character, but this is what God wants to see in the homes of His people (cf. Jeremiah 35:6).