Judges Chapter 13 {Read on in your bible: Very interesting}
After this the people of Israel sinned again and displeased the Lord by worshipping idols. Again they became slaves, this time to the Philistines for forty years,
A man named Manoah and his wife were among those who still worshipped the Lord, but they were sad because they had no children. One day the Angel of the Lord came and told Manoah’s wife that she and Manoah would have a son. The Angel of the Lord said their son was set apart for God and must never drink wine or whiskey and must never have his hair cut. The son was grown, he would free Israel from the Palestine’s.
The woman ran and told her husband that a prophet had spoken to her, for she did not realize he was an angel. Then Manoah prayed. “Lord, let the prophet come again and teach us how to raise the child You are going to give us.”
The Lord heard Manoah’s prayer, and the Angel came again to the woman as she was out in the field. She ran to her husband and told him the man had come again. Manoah went with his wife and said to him,
“Are you the man of God who was talking to my wife?”
“I am,” he said.
Then Manoah asked him. “How shall we raise raise the child you have promised us\?”
The angel answered. “Be sure to do everything I told your wife before .”
Manoah begged the Angel to stay and eat with them, for they still didn’t know it was an angel. But the Angel said, “Even if I stay I will not eat your food.”
Then Manoah said, “Tell us your name so that we can honor you when the child is born as you have promised us.”
The Angel answered, “Why do you ask my name? It is a secret.”
Then Manoah took a young goat as a burnt offering and sacrificed it upon a rock. The Angel did a wonderful thing as the fire was burning on the rock, its flame and disappeared! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell flat upon the ground in worship.
Manoah was frightened. “We have seen God.” he said for he believed the Angel was the Lord. “We shall surely die because we have seen Him.”
But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had intended to kill us, He wouldn’t have accepted our burnt offering nor promised us a son.”
A few months later, God gave Manoah and his wife the son He had promised them, and they named him Sampson. As the child grew, the Lord was kind to him and blessed him.
Questions:
What happy news did the Angel tell Manoah and his wife?
What would be special about their son?
Who was the Angel?
"Only Life Changes" 