(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Judges 13:1–7, “And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name: But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.”
The story of disobedience to the Law of the Lord continued throughout this period. At this stage the Philistines, who were Israel’s most vicious enemies, entered into Israel’s history in a big way. They lived on the plains between the central mountains and the sea. There was a significant pass coming up from their area to the highlands and they could come up from their homeland, south of Dan and west of Judah and plunder the Israelis. Part of the problem resulted from the fact that Judah didn't take possession of their entire allocated territory. These people controlled Israel for a significant period of time. Eventually an angel of the Lord came to a woman who had been childless for quite some time. Barrenness is a terrible curse for a family who want to have children and they struggle on a daily basis because they can’t have children. Sometimes they accept the situation and sometimes they don’t. In this case the angel came to a barren woman who was longing for a child and promised that she would have son. However, the son was to be dedicated to the Lord as a lifelong Nazarite. There were a number of significant men in the Bible who were born late to women who had been barren for a long period of time. The most significant of these men was Abraham. In this case the son, to be born, was to deliver Israel from the Philistines. The woman told Manoah, her husband, about the angel and the promise that he had made.
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