Second clue: A divine messenger, representing God, is talking to the woman initially instead of the man. Dynamics of marriage and power rise to the top here. She tells her husband the news. He believes her and prays that God will come again…and elaborate.
The messenger does return, but the husband is not there. The angel could have picked a time when husband and wife would have been together, spoken just with Manoah, or been more communicative when the father was present.
Their parental partnership begins here, even before, or when Samson is conceived. These appearances are called theophanies — face to face encounters with The Divine. I am too wonderful for you to understand. This spiritual practice was imperative, not only to her pregnancy; but to her temple her body , in which she carried her child.
Oftentimes, we do not associate eating or preparing food, as a spiritual practice. In this story, we learn how important food is to the body, not just in contemporary living; but even in biblical times. Eating clean was and is a practice of obedience that has a spiritual outcome. Eating clean is pleasing to the body AND pleasing to the Lord. For contemporary sisters, who often eat first and think about it later, what does eating clean mean to us?
The next thing that happens in the story is Manoah prays to the Lord. They are partners in life, partners in parenthood, and partners in prayer. Prayer and devotion is an obvious pattern of their marriage and it also is a spiritual practice for both of them. While the practice of personal prayer is important and necessary, for those of us who are in partnerships and marriages, prayer is communal and is a necessary element of a healthy, godly relationship.
When the angel of the Lord ascends through the burnt offering, which the couple offers to the Lord; both of them bow down to God, together in worship. The story is a wonderful example of how important prayer and worship is in partnership. There is obvious love between Manoah and his wife.
The demonstration of love between the two, figuratively jumps off the pages of their story. They have love for each other and they have love for God.
Yet, these two are NOT joined at the hip. Each demonstrates their own level of faith and understanding in God. Her revelations of God are deeper than his; yet, in their story, we sense nothing but mutual respect, admiration, and love.
Ultimately, their partnership is an example for healthy relationship and marriage. Each one recognized and respected the strength of the other, while being obedient and loving to a God working on their behalf, and caring for every detail of their lives.
As women who are in partnership with men marriage, love, etc. When God granted her a son and commanded her and her husband to raise the child as a Nazirite, she herself had to keep the Nazirite vows so that her son would do the same. The birth announcement of a son to a sterile woman is a typical biblical scene. Here no background is offered—whether like Sarah the woman was old, or like Rachel she complained to her husband about childlessness, or like Sarah and Rachel she tried other means of obtaining a child.
She does not pray for a child, as does Hannah , nor does her husband pray for her, as Isaac prays for Rebecca. Even her name is not reported, though her role in the story is as important as that of her husband, Manoah. She is alone when the divine messenger appears to her to announce birth.
The Nazirite; person who vows to abstain for a specific period or for life from grape and grape products, cutting his hair, and touching a corpse. God grants the prayer, but the messenger appears again to the woman only to underscore this point, the text adds in v. She must bring Manoah to the man. The woman is more perceptive than her husband. Upon realizing that they have seen a divine being, Manoah fears they will die—a common response to such a revelation—but the woman recognizes a divine purpose behind the revelation, and thus assures Manoah that they will not die.
Usually, in such circumstances, this assurance is given by God. The woman, as is frequently the case in the Bible, names the child. Samson tells both his father and his mother about seeing the woman he wants to marry, and both parents object to his choice of a Philistine neither knows that this is all part of a divine plan.
Both parents accompany Samson to Timnah in Judg , but his mother is not included in v. Samson does not tell either parent about killing the lion or finding honey in its carcass he gives both some honey to eat. These two events give rise to his famous riddle.
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