The Mercy of Promise - Judges 13

How many of you have heard the advice that you should never try to meet your heroes?

The reason is because we tend to idolize our heroes, and in our minds it seems that they can do no wrong. Their public accomplishments, their public persona, all the things they they have going for them that cause us to look up to them are not a full reflection of who that person is in their entirety. Once you meet them you may learn something about them that is.....less than you had envisioned. Your hero may become an object of disgust in your mind.

I recall a time years ago when there was someone I held in very high regard as someone who was very mature in the faith and very wise. I began spending more time with that person I learned many things about them that made me scratch my head. I got to the place where I wondered why I ever looked up to them so much in the first place.

Perhaps you have had similar experiences with those you admire.

Well, I have found the first time someone really begins to study the book of judges, a similar dynamic occurs. We’ve all heard the amazing stories of Gideon, and Deborah, and Ehud, and they become heroes of the faith! After all, are not some of them listed in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11?

But then we start moving through the book of Judges itself and we find that these individuals are far from perfect. They are deeply flawed individuals that were used tremendously of God, but are by no means models to emulate. In fact, the author of the book of Judges seems to desire to accomplish two primary things in the midst of telling their stories:

Highlight the graciousness of God use to broken people to accomplish his purposes among a people who continually reject Him and his word.

Demonstrate the increasing canaanization or worldliness of the people, including the leaders that God raised up in His mercy.

What this demonstrates is that the people needed a king. The judges were insufficient leaders, and we know from the rest of the OT that the human kings were also insufficient. Everything points to the depravity of man, and the need for a divine savior, Jesus Christ. This highlights the mercy of God in bearing with a people who insist on doing everything they can to depart from their God.

We are about to move into the story of the of Samson. Samson is the last judge in the book of Judges, though there are several more chapters after his death. In many ways, Samson represents everything wrong with the Israelite people.

In many ways, the life of Samson stands in stark contrast to the rest of the judges. He is the only one who gets four chapters devoted to his life. He is the only one with a birth narrative. He is the only one to not fully deliver the people from their oppressors. In fact, it is in this cycle that the people not only fail to cry out to God for deliverance, but they seem perfectly content in their predicament and twice show Samson their displeasure for picking fights with the Philistines.

And yet, once again, we find God at work accomplishing his purposes in the face of a stubborn, godless people and their scandalous judge.

We will be in Judges 13 today, where we find God’s mercy on display through his promise to Manoah and his wife.

The Promise Given

The Promise Reiterated

The Promise Fulfilled

Judges 13 ESV

1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. 2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, 7 but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ” 8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” 9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” 11 And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12 And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?” 13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 14 She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.” 15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you.” 16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) 17 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?” 18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?” 19 So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground. 21 The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” 23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.” 24 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.