August 7, 2011 ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON WALKING IN GOD S PATH PREPARING FOR LEADERSHIP

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1 August 7, 2011 ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON WALKING IN GOD S PATH PREPARING FOR LEADERSHIP MINISTRY INVOCATION Father, we love You and give thanks to You for all that You have done. Your gift of new life to us has guaranteed destiny to our lives. Let your grace and mercy abound. Amen. WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW AND UNDERSTAND God has never forsaken His People. A person can be an instrument of God and not know it. God s Promise to deliver has never changed. THE APPLIED FULL GOSPEL DISTINCTIVE TEXT: Judges 13:1 8 (NASB95) 1 Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, so that the LORD gave them into the hands of the Philistines forty years. 2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had borne no children. 3 Then the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son. 4 Now therefore, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. 5 For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death. 8 Then Manoah entreated the LORD and said, O Lord, please let the man of God whom You have sent come to us again that he may teach us what to do for the boy who is to be born. 1

2 Judges 13:24 25 (NASB95) 24 Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the child grew up and the LORD blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol. COMMENTARY 13:1a The narrator summarizes the continued spiritual degeneration of Israel with one simple statement: The Israelites continued to practice evi in the eyes of the LORD. As in previous versions of this formula, the definite article on evil points to a specific kind of transgression serving the Baals (and other gods) and abandoning Yahweh (2:10 13). 13:1b Yahweh s response to Israel s rebellion is expressed in the milder version of the divine committal formula: The LORD delivered/gave them into the hands of the Philistines (cf. 2:14). This was the third time the Philistines have been identified as Israel s oppressors. Earlier, the non-israelite Shamgar had relieved the pressure by striking down six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad. Obviously, this had been only a temporary solution, for in 10:7 we learn that while the Ammonites plagued the Transjordanian tribes in the east, the Philistines were applying pressure to the Cisjordanians on the west. These represented Yahweh s agents of punishment for having abandoned him in favor of these peoples gods Although the origins of the Philistines are still shrouded in mystery, most scholars agree that they came from the Aegean. They seem to have arrived in Canaan from two directions, some coming overland through Anatolia, the rest by sea via Crete and Cyprus. Given the timing of the Philistines arrival in Canaan, a clash with the Israelites, who had recently arrived from the east across the Jordan, was almost inevitable. The Samson cycle reflects the tensions that existed between these two groups in the centuries leading up to the establishment of the monarchy in Israel. Indeed, 1 Samuel 8 suggests that their continued pressure was the catalyst that moved the Israelites to demand a king to lead them in battle. The moved failed, however, inasmuch as Saul and his son Jonathan fell in battle at the hands of the Philistines on Mount Gilboa. David served Achish the king of Philistine Gath as a vassal during his flight from Saul, but through a series of victories before his assumption of the kingship, the son of Jesse solved the Philistine menace for good. Conspicuous for its absence in the Samson narrative is any reference to Israel crying to Yahweh for deliverance from the Philistine yoke. In the Gideon and Jephthah accounts, this element had received detailed treatment, but here 2

3 the pattern is broken. This is probably intentional. In this cycle, the Israelites display little discomfort or evidence of even wanting to be delivered. Manoah and his family try simply to avoid the Philistines. Samson fraternizes with them; Judah has lost its crusading spirit and is content to maintain the status quo. It seems that for this reason Yahweh is driven to stir Samson and to provoke discontent between Israel and the oppressor. On the other hand, the notion of crying out is not totally lost, but the motif is completely individualized. Form critical scholars generally classify Judges 13:2 24 as a birth narrative. Ideally, such accounts contain the following elements: a. A pious but barren woman (who longs for a son) is introduced. b. She receives a divine revelation/visitation announcing the conception of a special child and/or the special destiny of the child. c. The birth of the child is announced. d. The child is named. Even if this segment contains several significant elements of birth narratives, this is not its primary function in the context of the Samson cycle as a whole. In addition to failing to note explicitly Israel s response to the Philistine oppression, the omission of a formal announcement that the LORD raised up a deliverer is highly representative of other verses. To be sure, the call does not come directly to the person called. Instead, the announcement of Samson s vocation of divine service comes to his parents. Samson was called to the role of deliverer before he was born. Indeed, he was called prior to his conception which raises interesting questions as we read through the successive episodes. Yahweh obviously knew that Samson had been called; Manoah and his wife know; the narrator knows, and the reader knows but does Samson know? If he does, there is little evidence that he has any respect for his divine vocation. In the context of the last reference, he admits for the first time a consciousness of calling, but the very admission becomes his undoing. By uttering it (before the oppressors) he loses it. From a literary perspective, the account is framed by themes of problem and resolution, promise and fulfillment. With respect to the former, verse 2 introduces a woman who is barren, that is, who had no children, but in verse. 24 she gives birth to a son. With respect to the latter, in verse 3 the messenger announces to the woman that she will bear a son, and in verse 24 his promise is fulfilled. Within this scheme, the plot is complicated by the woman s husband. Ironically, Manoah appears as a restless and insecure individual. The narrator casts him as a comical figure bound by ignorance and obtuseness. In contrast to Manoah s restlessness, ignorance, and dim-wittedness, his wife is calm, collected, 3

4 and knowledgeable concerning the significance of the events transpiring, not to mention their theological implications. By thrusting this woman into the foreground, the narrator has set the stage for the following episodes. If a woman is the key to Samson s birth, women will also be the key to his death. As in many other accounts in the book, this story is dominated by dialogue. The series of speeches is initiated by the messenger of the Lord who addresses Manoah s wife with a long speech announcing her imminent conception and the special role her son will play. While the contacts between the messenger and the woman are crucial to the story, significantly, she never addresses the messenger. Instead, she rushes home and reports to her husband what she has heard. Verses 8 18 are dominated by an almost comical series of interchanges between Manoah and the phantom (in his mind), as the former seeks to learn and thereby gain mastery over the situation and the latter displays reluctance to share any new information with Manoah. Although Manoah tries to control the dialogue, between him and his wife the latter has both the first and last word. Indeed, as several have observed, while the namelessness of Manoah s wife might suggest a marginalized character, Manoah is the one the narrator deliberately minimizes by (1) introducing him with the seemingly superfluous expression, a certain man (13:2); (2) referring to his tribe, Dan, as a clan rather than a tribe (3) leaving his identification by name to the end of the note in 13:2; (4) noting that the divine messenger appears not once but twice to his wife, even after Manoah had summoned him; (5) characterizing Manoah as a skeptical person throughout, unlike his wife, who takes matters at face value; (6) keeping the focus on Manoah s wife and emphasizing particularly how she, the woman, is to act, even though Manoah seeks to control the actions and the conversations; (7) describing how, in the end, Manoah s reaction to the visitation is fear of death, while his wife reassures him with a reasoned explanation of what has transpired (verse. 22); (8) noting that Manoah s wife, not Manoah, names Samson (verse. 24). Meanwhile, as Manoah is being marginalized, the narrator skillfully enhances the image and importance of his wife. As one reads through the story, it is tempting to be taken in by the literary artistry of the narrator, his effective characterization, verbal interchanges, use of repetition, and other literary features for rhetorical effect but to miss the author s point. As already indicated, the purpose of this chapter is to describe how Yahweh provided a deliverer from the Philistine oppression for the Israelites. The narrator s concern is not primarily the human characters (except to show their weaknesses) but on the divine force behind the events. The role of God is highlighted in many ways: 4

5 1. The choice of a barren woman as the agent through whom the deliverer will come to the nation, which recalls God s miraculous work in providing Sarah with a son. 2. The initiative that Yahweh takes in providing a deliverer, despite Israel s lack of desire for deliverance (verse 2). 3. Yahweh s prescription of the lifestyle and conduct of Manoah s wife and her son and her explicit recognition of this prescription (verse 7). 4. Although the messenger of Yahweh remains anonymous, the riddle of his identity keeps the reader focused on him throughout the chapter. Manoah s dimwittedness serves as a foil for the messenger who retains control over the pace and direction of the narrative. 5. The narrator s recognition of the close relationship between Yahweh/God and the messenger/ man of God, who speaks for him, particularly in verses Manoah s (and his wife s) growing awareness of the identity of the messenger, moving from man of God to Wonderful, to messenger of God, to God as the source of these events. 7. The fulfillment of the promise in Samson s birth (verse. 24a). 8. Yahweh s blessing of the child as he grows up (verse. 24b). If we interpret this primarily as a birth narrative, as many do, then we fall into the same trap as Samson, thinking that he is both the occasion for and the goal of the story, but this is to take the account out of context. This is a call narrative, unconventional to be sure, but its purpose is to describe how God provides Israel with a deliverer to deal with the Philistines, whom he has himself sent as agents to punish them for their spiritual infidelity. Both the messenger and the narrator, however, recognize that he will provide only a partial solution for the crisis (verse 5). The completion of the agenda will await another day and another man. 13:2 The opening phrase, There was a certain man invites the reader to get ready for an entertaining story. We are not disappointed. The narrator begins by introducing the cast of characters. The way in which the human cast is introduced is odd. The male character is introduced by genus ( a certain man ), geographic origin (from Zorah), tribal affiliation ( from a Danite clan ), and finally by name. The order is intentional, reflecting the fact that within the context of Samson s life, as a whole, his geographic setting and tribal identity were more important than the identity of his parents. Samson s father came from Zorah (modern Sara), a small Israelite town on the north side of the fertile Sorek Valley, a few miles north of Beth Shemesh. According to the Book of Joshua, Zorah fell within the territories of both Judah and Dan. The construction, a certain man from Zorah rather than a certain man of Zorah may suggest that Manoah had moved out of the town and had settled 5

6 in a more felicitous location up the valley toward Eshtaol. The identification of the man as a Danite sets the stage for the coming conflicts between Samson and the Philistines to the west and the Judahites south and east of the Sorek. Finally the certain man is identified by name as Manoah. The name is generally thought to mean resting place, derived from the verb to rest, and related to the name Noah. A derivation from a different root, to give, hence gift or generosity, also is possible. A significant element in Manoah s identity is the fact that he had a barren wife. Ironically, although she turns out to be the most important human character in this chapter, she remains unnamed. Throughout, she is referred to simply as the woman or Manoah s wife. God is at work on Israel s behalf, miraculously raising up a deliverer for His people. The woman s barrenness should not be interpreted in light of modern day views of childbearing and family but against ancient Israelite values. In the ancient world, barrenness was reckoned as punishment for an offense against the gods whose special domain was that of reproduction. In Israel, children were a mark of the blessing of God, and barrenness was the sign of divine reproach, displeasure, his curse. Furthermore, one s survival after one s death depended on progeny. Accordingly, if Jephthah s future is cut off at the back end because he sacrifices his daughter, Manoah s and his wife s futures are cut off at the front end because the woman was barren. This small note indicates that the oppression at the hands of foreign enemies was not the only covenant curse that was being fulfilled in Israel because of their apostasy. The present account offers no description of the woman s reaction to her barrenness nor of her husband s disposition. Whether or not they had come to accept her infertility as a fact of life, their lives were unexpectedly interrupted by the visit of a divine messenger. In keeping with the centrality of the (unnamed!) woman in the account, the envoy from the court of heaven comes to the woman, not Manoah. Unlike Abraham, whose own role and faith are central to the patriarchal narratives, Manoah is introduced for other reasons. 13:3 5a The narrator provides no clues about the context of this first visit by the envoy, preferring to focus on the divine message, which consists of three main elements. First, the messenger announced God s recognition of the woman s barrenness (verse. 3b). The opening ( behold ) is intended to fasten the woman s attention on the whole speech, but especially to the first element. Obviously, the announcement was no great revelation to her. She did not need to be told that she was childless. The point is the woman s barrenness had not gone unnoticed with God. From the human perspective, the angel appears to have come to her at random, reinforcing the fact that the raising up of this deliverer is a gracious work of God from beginning to end. 6

7 Second, the messenger announced God s good news she will conceive and bear a child. This glorious promise for the woman subdivides into two main parts, each of which is introduced with news which, within that cultural context, will have been interpreted as doubly good she will give birth to a son. With the privilege and joy of bearing a child for Yahweh will come some special obligations, however, the seriousness of which is signaled by the opening line, Now guard yourself. Hers is not to be a passive role. Thereafter, the instructions divided into two parts, the first concerning her own lifestyle while she carries this child in her womb, the second concerning the lifestyle of the child himself. Because she will bear the one predestined to be the agent of divine grace, God retains the right to control both hers and the child s lives. Reflective of the biblical conviction that a child is a special creation of God from the moment of conception, the same standards that will govern his postnatal life will apply to his prenatal condition as well. Accordingly, she must watch her diet, abstaining from wine alcoholic drinks of any kind, and food that Israelite laws forbade as defiled (ritually unclean) and defiling. The movement from instructions pertaining to the woman herself and the prescriptions for her son is marked by another Behold! and a repetition of the announcement of the good news to the woman, declaring that she is already pregnant and the son is already on the way. She was informed that her son was never to have his hair cut. 13:5b The divine messenger does not leave the woman to puzzle over the instructions or their rationale: from the moment of his conception, the boy was to be recognized and treated as a Nazirite, of God. The noun derives from a root meaning to dedicate, consecrate [oneself in niphal]. According to the Israelite Law of the Nazirite, preserved in Num 6:1 8, a person under the Nazirite committed himself to three abstentions: (1) from wine or any other intoxicating drink; (2) from having his hair cut; (3) from contact with a corpse. According to this description, a person would take the Nazirite vow voluntarily, simply as an act of dedication to God, for a specified and/or limited period of time. The present application of the law is extraordinary in four respects. First, it is divinely imposed rather than voluntary, which highlights Samson s role as a divinely appointed agent. He does not enter his office as ( governor, judge ) and ( savior, deliverer ) voluntarily. Second, this vow takes effect from the moment of Samson s conception. Consequently, it obligates his mother to observe the terms until he is born. Third, this vow is not temporary but remains in effect until his death (verse 7), which highlights the permanence of Samson s calling. Fourth, to the three standard prohibitions this vow adds the proscription of any unclean food for the child s mother during her pregnancy. All Israelites were subject to this law, but given the apostate condition of the nation as a whole, this law appears to have been generally disregarded by the population. The fact that 7

8 the woman needed to be reminded of this law may suggest that this household too had succumbed to the general spiritual malaise. Third, the messenger announced to the woman the divine calling of the son who had been conceived in her womb (verse. 5c). According to the divine plan, Samson is to join the ranks of other saviors/deliverers and (lit.) begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. The announcement is modest and realistic, reflecting what God in his omniscience knows will be the outcome of Samson s life. He will only begin the task. The narrator also is well aware of Samson s limited success, that the Philistines will remain a problem during the tenures of Samuel and Saul, and that the final solution will not be achieved until the reign of David. 13:6 Instead of expressing amazement or humility before the divine messenger, the narrator described her rushing to her husband to share the good news. The woman s report to Manoah divides into two parts. First, in verse 6, she described the heavenly visitor to her husband; in so doing, with three significant expressions, she offers her own perception of his identity and role, a man of God. Although the expression is used occasionally of prophets, the following description she offers suggest she means a divine man. The NIV s He looked like an angel of God is more literally, his appearance was like the appearance of a messenger/angel of God. How she knew what a messenger/ angel of God looked like we may only speculate. Whereas, the narrator identifies him as the messenger/angel of the LORD (verse 3), however, she used the generic designation for God. It seems the loss of the knowledge of the Lord referred to in the prologue to the deliverer stories was a problem in this household, as well. She further described him as very awesome. The expressions used raises many questions in the reader s mind and apparently in hers too. She responded with dutiful restraint and stifled her curiosity. Unlike Gideon, she asked no question about his origin or his identity (name). It will be left to Manoah to probe these issues. 13:7 In verse 7, Manoah s wife recounts the divine visitor s message for him. Although she had many questions about the heavenly visitor s nature and origin, she was crystal clear about his message. Indeed, she claimed to offer a verbatim report, complete with the second person of direct address (to her). A comparison of her report and the original speech of the divine envoy is facilitated by juxtaposing them phrase by phrase as in the following synopsis (using a more literal translation): Verses 3b 5 Verse 7 8

9 Behold, Behold, you You are barren and have not given birth, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son And now have conceived and are about to bear a son. And now guard yourself, and do not drink wine or intoxicating drink; do not drink wine or intoxicating drink and do not eat anything unclean, and do not eat anything unclean, for behold you have conceived and are about to bear a son. And no razor shall pass over his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb. because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb to the day of his death. And he will begin to rescue Israel from the hand of the Philistines. The synopsis yields some interesting observations. First, the woman deleted the heavenly messenger s recognition of her barrenness, his injunction to guard herself, and the prohibition of a razor ever passing over her son s head. Second, the NIV rendering of the announcement of the woman s conception is not only incorrect in treating this as a future event but also obscures the fact that she is hereby clinging to the messenger s second version of the announcement (verse 5a) rather than the first (verse. 3b). This raises the question whether or not she realized that she is already pregnant. Third, to the messenger s declaration that 9

10 the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb (NIV, from birth ), she adds until the day of his death. For the reader this addition, combined with the omission of the razor prohibition, has an ominous ring. In the end it is the violation of the latter that leads directly to Samson s death. Following verse 7 the plot should have moved quickly from the announcement of the woman s conception to an announcement of his birth in verse. 24. The bulk of the chapter (vv. 8 23), however, is taken up by a complication in the plot created by the woman s husband, Manoah. Apparently, resentful that the heavenly messenger had appeared to his wife rather than to him, he goes to great lengths to try to take control of the situation, first by ensuring that he knows as much about the promise of the son as his wife does (vv. 8 14), and then by trying to assert his superiority over the divine envoy. He does so first by serving as his host at a meal and then by demanding his name (vv ). In both respects, he is rebuffed. The first episode ends with him knowing no more than his wife had reported to him and that his wife, not he, is the focus of God s activity. The second ends with his wife lecturing him on the ways of God. In the meantime. Manoah sought to extract information from the heavenly visitor with a series of entreaties, requests, and demands. It is remarkable that the divine envoy responded to him at all, but he teases Manoah with a series of cryptic and guarded responses. Although Manoah is frustrated because he is unable to determine the man s identity, his wife enters the plot at the beginning to announce to her husband the reappearance of the messenger of God and at the end to interpret for him the awesome events that have transpired in the meantime. 13:8 In verse 8, Manoah enters the story for the first time. Upon hearing his wife s report of the heavenly visitation, he goes on the offensive immediately, addressing God directly and pleading with him that he send the divine messenger back, ostensibly to teach him and his wife further on how they are to raise their son, who is to be born. But what more does he need? Is he ignorant of the Israelite law of the Nazirite? The repeated use of the pronoun us suggests that in the author s mind he was jealous because the messenger had approached his wife instead of him. If knowledge is power, then he is determined to recapture the power in this household. 13:24 The first phase of the Samson cycle is brought to a fitting conclusion with a birth announcement. Verse 24 consists of four simple statements: (1) The woman gave birth to a son. (2) The woman named her son Samson. (3) The boy grew. (4) Yahweh blessed him. The first statement acknowledges the fulfillment of the promise announced in verse 3 and claimed by Manoah s wife in verse 7. In ancient Israel, 10

11 children could be named by either parent, though the Old Testament reports mothers naming their children more often than fathers. The narrator s ascription of this naming event to Manoah s wife serves to highlight the woman s role (and the feminine element in the Samson narrative as a whole) and also to marginalize Manoah even more. Although names were chosen for a variety of reasons in biblical times, it is not clear what we are to make of the name Samson. A more common view links the name with the solar cult, which provides the background for the Samson narratives. The reader must recognize that the Samson story represents the last of a series of cycles of apostasy-oppression-appeal-deliverance, in each of which, according to the narrator s own scheme, the depravity of the nation sank to a new low. Not only was this true of the nation in general, but it also applied to the men God raised up to provide deliverance from the enemy. RELATED DISCUSSION TOPICS CLOSING PRAYER We pray in confidence of Your Promise. You have preserved us for Your Purpose and we are glad about it. Teach us to know Your ways and to count the days of our acceptance of Your Grace. In Jesus Name, Amen. 11