The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/judges/13.htm

Noah’s Ark, David and Goliath, the Birth of Jesus, and Samson and Delilah, likely the most “turned into children’s books and movies” stories of the Bible. And the story of Samson and Delilah is usually about Samson getting his strength from his long hair, and Delilah cutting it off so he lost all of his strength. And if you remember it like I remember it, the strength was magically in his hair.

But it wasn’t. His strength came from God. And Samson was one of the judges of Israel.

The children once again sinned greatly, and God removed His hedge of protection and Israel fell prey to the Philistines. Philistia was on the west bank directly opposite the Dead Sea. And Israel was under Philistine rule for 40 years, so God raised up another judge to save them.

We don’t know the name of Samson’s mother, it is never mentioned, but his father was Manoah, from the tribe of Dan. And Manoah’s wife was barren, unable to have children. How many women have been barren so far through which God has not only worked miracles, but raised up great leaders of the Bible?

And Jesus appeared to Samson’s mother, telling her not to eat anything unclean nor to drink wine or other drink as she would have a child who would deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. We know it is Jesus because He is called an “Angel” of the Lord, which is capitalized, and a “Man” of God, which is capitalized. Be wary of some translations as they do not capitalize these words, so you may not perceive them as Holy.

So Manoah’s wife went and told him about the Man and what he had said, so Manoah prayed to God for the Man to return, and He did. Manoah questioned Him about what his wife had said, and Jesus confirmed, adding that the son would be a Nazarite, so it was important for her not to eat anything unclean or from the vine. A Nazarite was dedicated to the Lord, didn’t cut their hair or shave their face, and stayed away from grape vineyards and anything having to do with grapes. And the word “wine” is a derivative of the word “vine”, so while some believe it is okay to drink wine as it says in the Bible, others believe that “wine” refers simply to grape juice and not an alcoholic beverage. Regardless of what you believe, God warns of the drunkard, so if you choose to drink wine, you should probably do it in great moderation to avoid getting intoxicated by it. Intoxication leads to a loss of inhibitions which leads to sin.

Now Manoah offered to feed Jesus, although the Bible says that Manoah didn’t know He was Jesus, and Jesus told Him that He would not accept the meal, but instead, offer it as a burned offering to the Lord.

Now Manoah said to his wife, “Surely we shall die because we have seen God”. Why would he say that? Why would you die from seeing God?

Because it was well known that you could not look on the face of the Lord because His Glory was too great to withstand. Stories had been passed down from generation to generation, about how Moses face shone just from being in the presence of God, not even looking at him. And I’m sure the stories about Nadab and Abihu were passed along to, where God showed himself to the sons of Aaron and His Glory was so great that they perished, but their clothing was unharmed.

People knew of God’s Glory, and knew that if you saw it, you would die. Jesus has this same Glory, but I assume it is hidden when He is on earth as a Man. And this chapter specifically calls Him a “Man of God”. He also showed Himself to Joshua as the Commander of God’s Army, but it did not affect Joshua, and Jesus with two angels appeared to Abraham on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah. So, one can only conclude that when Jesus takes on the form of a Man, His Glory is not seen, but just like God, He has the ability to make an appearance in the Spirit in which His Glory is obviously to great for us to bear.

So Manoah’s wife became pregnant and bore a son that was named Samson, and the Spirit of God filled him.