Once again, the people of Israel turned their backs on the Lord.
And once again, He allowed their enemies to rise — this time, the Philistines ruled over them for forty long years.
In the small town of Zorah, among the tribe of Dan, there lived a man named Manoah. His wife was barren; her womb had known only silence. But heaven had not forgotten her.
One day, as sunlight fell upon the fields, the angel of the Lord appeared to her. His presence glowed with holy fire — awe and peace woven into light.
He said,
"You are barren and have no child. But you will conceive and bear a son.
Drink no wine or strong drink, eat nothing unclean. For the boy will be a Nazirite, set apart to God from the moment of his birth. No razor shall touch his head, for he will begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines."
The woman's heart trembled with wonder. She ran to her husband and told him,
"A man of God came to me! His face was like an angel's — radiant and terrible in beauty. I didn't ask where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. But he said I would bear a son, and that I must touch nothing unclean or drink wine, for the child will belong to God all his life."
Manoah, in awe and hope, prayed,
"O Lord, let the man of God return to teach us how to raise the boy who is to come."
And God listened.
Once again, the angel appeared — this time to the woman while she worked alone in the field. She ran to fetch her husband.
"He's here! The man who appeared to me before!"
Manoah followed her quickly and said to the radiant figure,
"Are you the one who spoke to my wife?"
"I am," the angel replied.
"When your words come true," Manoah asked humbly, "how are we to raise the boy? What rules must guide him?"
The angel said,
"Your wife must do all that I have told her: she must not eat anything from the vine, nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. She must keep every command I gave her."
Manoah, moved with reverence, said, "Stay with us while we prepare a young goat for you."
The angel answered gently,
"Even if you detain me, I will not eat your food. But if you wish to offer a sacrifice, offer it to the Lord."
Manoah did not yet know that he was speaking with the angel of the Lord.
He asked, "What is your name, that we may honor you when your word is fulfilled?"
The angel replied,
"Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding."
So Manoah took a young goat with a grain offering and laid it upon a rock before the Lord.
Then something wondrous happened —
as the flame rose from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the fire.
Manoah and his wife fell facedown on the ground, trembling with awe.
When the angel appeared no more, Manoah whispered,
"We are doomed to die… for we have seen God."
But his wife answered calmly, her faith like steady light:
"If the Lord had meant to kill us, He would not have accepted our offering, nor shown us these wonders, nor told us this promise."
And so, in time, the woman bore a son.
She named him Samson — "sun child."
He grew, and the Lord blessed him.
And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir within him, moving in the camp of Dan — between Zorah and Eshtaol — like a wind rising before a storm.