It’s a miracle birth. A woman in despair delights at the news that she’ll bear a child. And not just any child—a rescuer. Does this narrative trajectory sound familiar? It should, but I’m not talking about Elizabeth, Mary, or the nativity. This miracle narrative about Manoah’s wife is found in the days of the Judges.
In Judges 13, we’re given the account of Samson’s miracle birth. It’s the story of ancient Israel’s need for a savior from enemy nations, and it points us to humanity’s great need for a Savior from sin. This passage shows us that the miracle of God’s Word is our only remedy.
Miracle’s Announcement (vv. 1–7)
The book of Judges is structured like a spiral with a steady decline. The pattern has four main elements: (1) Israel sins before God, (2) God permits Israel to be oppressed, (3) Israel cries out to God, and (4) God sends a judge to rescue them. Once rescued, Israel sins and the pattern begins again but with a steady decline each time.
By the time we reach Judges 13, Israel doesn’t repent, and they don’t cry out for help (v. 1). God in his grace simply acts to rescue his people. This is the God we know, love, and serve. The God who takes the initiative. The God who pursues us before we realize we need to be rescued.
This is the God we know, love, and serve. The God who takes the initiative.
At the beginning of Judges 13, the emphasis isn’t only on God’s grace but on the two main characters’ barrenness (vv. 2–3). Despair becomes delight, however, as a miracle birth is announced (vv. 3–5).
This is God’s immeasurable kindness. He always announces his solutions to his people’s problems. In Eden, God announces the judgment and salvation he’ll exact. In creating a people for his glory, God announces to elderly, barren Abraham and Sarah that they’ll have descendants as numerous as the stars. When leading his people out of Egyptian slavery, God announces the way of salvation through a Passover Lamb. Repeatedly, God announces his solutions to his people’s problems. We need only turn to his promises in the Scriptures.
Miracle Doubted (vv. 8–14)
The narrator of Judges next wants us to pick up on the contrast between Manoah and his wife. Manoah is named while his wife remains nameless, but she’s who we should seek to emulate. As Daniel Block points out, “The narrator casts [Manoah] as a comical figure bound by ignorance and obtuseness.”
Though God has already sent his angel to the woman, Manoah asks God to speak again. Either Manoah doesn’t trust his wife or he doesn’t trust his God—neither of those options is good. Yet God is gracious, so he both hears and answers Manoah (vv. 9–10).
God has a sense of humor. Manoah asks God to send to him the angel that spoke to his wife, to which God responds by sending the angel to the woman again. Furthermore, Manoah interrogates the angel in verses 11–14 and gets no new information. All the angel tells him is what his wife already told him.
Manoah analyzes what God has said because he didn’t say it directly to him. Too often, we’re Manoah. We neglect the revelation God has given us and go seeking more. We neglect what we already know about God and examine him for answers and irreverently analyze what God has already announced in his Word. Peter is clear: God has given us all we need for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3). In our Bibles, we have the words of God, breathed out by him and profitable for our lives as Christians.
Miracle Accomplished (vv. 15–25)
The end of Judges 13 is complicated. First, the angel of the Lord reveals himself to Manoah and his wife (vv. 15–19). Given that the angel’s name is too wonderful for Manoah to hear and he and his wife offer the angel worship (v. 20), I judge the angel of the Lord to be a preincarnate appearance of the Son.
Second, Manoah seems to regress. The immensity of the event reveals he remains comically ignorant (vv. 21–22). Theologically, Manoah is correct: no one can see God and live. But he’s not been listening to all God is saying. Mercifully, Manoah’s wife exhibits her superior character again. If God meant to kill them, she reasons, he wouldn’t have promised Israel’s next deliverer to be born to them (v. 23). This is basic common sense, but that too is a gift from God.
It’s a short phrase in a lengthy chapter, but “the woman bore a son” (v. 24) is a monumental statement. God announced this miracle, the ignorant Manoah irreverently analyzed it, and in his power and greatness, God accomplishes the miracle. He’s faithful. God flowers each promise of his Word.
Real Miracle
Echoes of this miracle reverberate in Christ’s nativity. Barren women hear God’s Word promising a coming savior—except this Savior is no Samson; he’s God incarnate. This is the fulfillment of centuries of divine promises recorded in the Old Testament.
God announced this miracle, the ignorant Manoah irreverently analyzed it, and in his power and greatness, God accomplishes the miracle.
In Jesus, we witness powerful grace, deliverance, promises kept, salvation, and much more. Scripture testifies to this, and we’d do well to avoid following Manoah’s doubting example. We must see and trust Scripture’s testimony to God’s saving work in the person of Jesus.
Dale Ralph Davis wisely warns, “We must not allow our focus on the savior God raises up to eclipse the God who saves.” So in Judges 13, the Samson narrative, and all Scripture, we must never forget it’s first and foremost about God saving his people. Our heavenly Father does this not just by sending us his written Word but by sending us the incarnate Word—that’s the real miracle.
Why Do So Many Young People Lose Their Faith at College?
It’s often because they’re just not ready. They may have grown up in solid Christian homes, been taught the Bible from a young age, and become faithful members of their church youth groups. But are they prepared intellectually?
New Testament professor Michael Kruger is no stranger to the assault on faith that most young people face when they enter higher education, having experienced an intense period of doubt in his freshman year. In Surviving Religion 101, he draws on years of experience as a biblical scholar to address common objections to the Christian faith: the exclusivity of Christianity, Christian intolerance, homosexuality, hell, the problem of evil, science, miracles, and the Bible’s reliability.
TGC is delighted to offer the ebook version for FREE for a limited time only. It will equip you to engage secular challenges with intellectual honesty, compassion, and confidence—and ultimately graduate college with your faith intact.
