Sorry, I Didn't Recognize You - Judges 13:1-25

Sermon Series: In Need of a Greater Rescue

 Some of you may be wondering, “What about chapter 12? Why did we skip over chapter 12?” That’s a fair question. We are skipping over chapter 12 because the content of chapter 12 is a continuation of the Jephthah narrative that we studied in chapter 11 and the major point of chapter 12 is continuing to emphasize and build off of the main point that we made in chapter 11. The climax of chapter 11 was when Jephthah made a vow to God to offer as a burnt sacrifice the life of the individual who first came out of his home when he returned victorious from the battle with the Ammonites. We learned from the text that it was Jephthah’s one and only child, his daughter, who was the first to come out upon his return and that she would become the fulfillment of the vow that Jephthah had made with God. As we transitioned from understanding the content of chapter 11 to talk about how to make sense of the narrative and what it was that the author and narrator was trying to communicate to the reader we focused on the idea that as a rescuer and deliverer of God’s people, Jephthah wasn’t willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the Israelites – instead of being willing to offer up his own life he offered up the life of another. We noted that this was a tragic flaw in Jephthah’s character and leadership and noted that when God would later send the Deliverer, that that individual would not be One who offered up the lives of others in order to preserve and advance his own life, his own position, and his own name, but that He would be One who was willing to sacrifice and give His own life to rescue and save those whom He had come to deliver. In chapter 12 the author and narrator reveals to the reader that Jephthah wasn’t only willing to sacrifice the life of his own daughter to preserve and advance his own life,position, and name – in chapter 12 we discover that Jephthah was also willing to sacrifice the lives of his fellow countrymen. Chapter 12 tells us that the Israelite tribe of Ephraim came to Jephthah in great frustration. The conflict between this tribe and Jephthah got so heated that it eventually led to the two Israelite parties (i.e. the tribe of Ephraim and Jephthah / tribe of Gilead) going to battle against one another. The narrative tells us that Jephthah and the Gileadites had a great victory and that they struck down 42,000 of their Israelite brothers and sisters. So the author and narrator of the book of Judges continued in chapter 12 to paint a more detailed picture of Jephthah, a man who was willing to sacrifice the lives of any and everyone (including his own daughter and the lives of his fellow countrymen) in order to maintain and advance his position of power, his rule, and his own name.

Chapter 13 begins the narrative of the last of the individual judges/deliverers that this author and narrator recounted in his book. And while chapter 13 will not delve into the life of this individual yet, it does lay the foundation for several chapters which are dedicated to him. It’s the introduction to a judge/deliverer whose name many of you will recognize, but perhaps you aren’t really familiar with. His name is Samson. And in the chapters this author and narrator dedicated to him we will see bits and pieces of patterns that we have seen this author and narrator establish in his previous narratives, but we will also see some unique distinctions over the next few weeks as well.

13:1 begins the way we expect the narrative of a new deliverer to begin in this book (though in a much more condensed version). In verse 1 we discover that the Israelites again did what was evil in God’s sight and that as a result God gave them over into the hands of their enemies. “And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.” He did not specify what the evil was this time, but given the context and what we know to be true of these generations of Israelites we can have great certainty that the evil they did in the sight of the Lord was to pursue and worship the gods of the surrounding nations while they continued to forsake their one, true God.

Now, before we go any further we need to stop and remind ourselves of the spiritual condition of Israel during this time. The author and narrator worked diligently to demonstrate to the reader that each successive generation of Israelites were growing spiritually farther away from God and looking more and more like the pagan nations surrounding them. So spiritually this is a very dark time for the Israelites. This generation of Israelites was living in a greater spiritual darkness than any other generation before them and were more idolatrous than any other generation before them. So for illustrative purposes we might say that the buffet of gods which they were choosing to worship and serve had grown bigger and bigger, but God had been continually forsaken and left off the buffet. Being surrounded by so many of these other gods then begs the question, “How was one supposed to recognize (much less follow after) the one, true God?” And in our examination of the text this week we are going to see the implications of such great apostasy worked out.

In 13:2 the author and narrator introduced two new characters to the reader. The first was a man from the Israelite tribe of Dan whose name was Manoah, and the second was his wife, who isn’t introduced by name but by her condition – she “was barren and had no children.” In Israelite culture barrenness was seen as a curse (or result) for disobedience to God. So from the beginning we are reminded that Israel had continued to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord and introduced to an Israelite couple which seemed to be suffering from a curse that may have resulted from their disobedience to God. So make sure that you read this story in the right context – this was a spiritually dark time in Israel when the Israelites were forsaking God and when they were experiencing the consequences of their faithlessness.

But God still had a great compassion for the Israelites and a great desire for them to follow after and worship Him. And we find further evidence of that in 13:3 when the reader discovers that God graciously and mercifully entered into the picture and the lives of the Israelites again. “And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, ‘Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.’” Make note of what is transpiring here. God took the initiative to go to and engage an Israelite couple that had forsaken him and that had worshipped and served other gods, and He declared that they were going to play a part in His plan to deliver Israel. Despite their own lack of power and any righteousness or holiness of their own, God introduced them into His plan. The angel of the Lord came to this woman, He demonstrated an awareness of her condition and her inability to do anything about it. And then he uttered a great word, ‘but.’ The angel of the Lord showed up on the scene, stepped into the life of one who was powerless to change her own fate in regards to having children, and then declared God’s ability to change her hopeless reality. “You are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.” This has huge importance for rightly understanding who God is and how He works - righteousness, holiness, and power aren’t pre-requisites to be invited into God’s plan. Listen to the words of the apostle Paul in his NT letter to the Ephesians when he declared our reality and our condition. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:1-3). This is the description of each of us before coming to faith in Jesus. We were dead in our sins and were destined to experience the full measure of God’s wrath poured out on us. We were not holy! We were not righteous! And we had no power of our own or hope on our own to change that! Yet just as the merciful and gracious God stepped into the life of this pagan woman and declared God’s ability to change her reality, Paul told the Ephesians that God did the same thing for them. “BUT God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing: it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:4-9). In just the same way that God stepped into the life of a woman who had rejected Him and altered the reality of her life, God has stepped into our lives (the lives of individuals who have rejected Him) and offered to us a new reality. God says, “Right now the sin in your life has sealed your fate. Your sin has separated you from Me and you are going to experience My wrath toward sin poured out completely on you. You are dead spiritually and there is nothing you can do by your own power to change that. But I am offering you a new reality – forgiveness, cleansing, and new life. You may be hopeless and powerless to change your condition, but I’m not. But in order for you to receive it you’re going to have to trust completely and fully in the sufficiency of Jesus’ death on your behalf as your only hope.” This is how God works. He doesn’t say, “Your life is full of sin. You need to get that mess right and then come follow me.” He doesn’t say, “Your eternal destination is in your own hands. You better make sure you do more good than bad, so that when your life is over you won’t be condemned to hell.” He says, “It’s over! Your sin has declared you ‘guilty.’ Don’t try to save yourself – you can’t! Your only hope is the gracious death of Jesus on your behalf. It’s time to cry out to Me!” This is what the whole book of Judges has been about! A people who have no hope for rescue and deliverance on their own and whose only hope is for God to raise up a rescuer on their behalf. This is the message that God wants you to hear. You need a rescue – not from Ammonites or Philistines - you need a rescue from sin and Satan.  And God has sent the Rescuer and Savior to you.

 The angel of the Lord continued, “Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for behold you shall conceived and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines” (Judges 13:4-5). The angel of the Lord told the woman that God was stepping into her life to change her reality, He was going to give a son to one who was not able to bear children. Then He declared to her what her son would do , he would be dedicated to Him – not for a season, but for life (from the womb) – for the purpose of “beginning” to save Israel. Here we clearly see the foreshadowing that he would not be the ultimate rescuer/deliverer and that someone greater than him would come after him. But he would clearly be dedicated to God so that God could empower him and use him to help save Israel.

Let’s briefly talk about what a Nazirite vow was so that you all will have a little bit of clarity about this as we continue to examine Samson’s narrative over the next few weeks. A ‘Nazirite’ wasn’t a reference to one’s nationality or Israelite tribe. The word ‘Nazirite’ meant “one separated” or “one consecrated” and God declared in Numbers 6:1-8 that both men and women could voluntarily take this vow to show that he or she had separated himself or herself for the Lord. The passage also detailed how the life of one who took this Nazirite vow was to be characterized. The vow was typically taken for a season of time (not for one’s whole life), and during that season the one who had voluntarily taken the vow was to abstain from certain things. The individual was to abstain from alcohol and from anything produced by the grape vine; the individual was not to cut any of his or her hair; and the individual was not to come into contact with any dead bodies. Samson’s identity as a Nazirite would be somewhat different from others who identified themselves as Nazirites. Others who took the vow of the Nazirite did so voluntarily, whereas God had declared that Samson would be a Nazirite. Also, others took the Nazirite vow for a season, whereas God had declared that Samson would be a Nazirite for his entire life – from the womb on.

Part of this woman’s response to God’s plan would have to be her complete, selfless surrender. If her son was going to be a Nazirite from the womb, she would have to abstain from alcohol while pregnant. And if her son was going to be a Nazirite as a boy she would have to ensure that his hair was not cut. These instructions aren’t accidental, but further revelation of how God works. God invites unrighteous and powerless people into his plan, but when we choose to enter in we have to submit to and surrender to His Lordship. He must become more than a Savior – He must also become Lord and Master. The same is true for each of us. God calls us to trust in Jesus as our Rescuer and Savior from sin and its consequences, but God also calls us to submit to and surrender to Jesus as our Savior and Lord. It’s two sides of the same coin – we can’t have one without the other.

After the encounter took place the reader discovers that the woman had not recognized or understood who this messenger was. Verse 6 says, “Then the woman came and told her husband, ‘A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name . . .’” In other words, “A man spoke to me today. He was pretty amazing to behold, but I have no idea who he was. All I know is what he said to me.” The woman’s declaration to her husband here speaks volumes about her spiritual condition. Up to this point in the OT the angel of the Lord had only appeared a handful of times, but each time he had appeared the individuals he appeared to seemed to have recognized Him as God. In Genesis 16 the angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar and she seemed to recognize Him as God. In Genesis 22 the angel of the Lord speaks to Abraham and Abraham seemed to recognize Him as God. In Genesis 32, while the text does not identify the individual as the angel of the Lord, it appears to be the angel of the Lord who showed up to wrestle with Jacob. In that narrative Jacob recognized the one that he wrestled with as God. In Exodus 3 the angel of the Lord appeared and spoke to Moses, who recognized the angel of the Lord as God. One could even argue that in Numbers 22 both Balaam and his donkey recognize the angel of the Lord as God. The angel of the Lord doesn’t make an appearance in the book of Joshua. However, He does reappear in the book of Judges. He reappeared in chapter 2 when he rebuked the Israelites for their faithlessness to their covenant with God (but his first appearance in the book of Judges failed to move the people to repentance). He appeared again in chapter 6 to Gideon who did not recognize Him, and again here in Judges 13 to Samson’s mother, who also did not recognize Him. This is not a good thing – the fact that the Israelites are unable to recognize and identify the angel of the Lord is further evidence that they have completely forsaken their God.

In 13:8 Manoah asked God to send “the man of God” again – and God graciously consented and sent Him again. The angel of the Lord again appeared to Manoah’s wife while she was alone in the field. But this time rather than having a conversation and then reporting the conversation to her husband, Manoah’s wife quickly hurried to get her husband and bring him back to the “man.” Then Manoah began a process of trying to identify this “man.” “And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, ‘Are you the man who spoke to this woman?’ And he said, ‘I am.’” (13:11). He was indeed the one who had earlier spoken to Manoah’s wife. But just as Manoah’s wife did not recognize Him, neither did Manoah. Throughout the process there were hints that Manoah considered this “man” to be his equal – requesting that he remain and have a meal with him. But the “man” denied the request (as the narrator has already made clear to the reader that he is not equal to Manoah, but much greater than him) and instead directed Manoah to prepare a burnt offering for the Lord. Manoah finally consented and when he placed the offering upon the rock the text says, “And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground” (13:20). Having observed this the author and narrator also tells us, “Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord” (13:21).

How does the narrative end? Having recognized that they have seen the angel of the Lord Manoah believes that both he and his wife will die because they have seen God. But Manoah’s wife argues that they won’t in fact die, arguing that if He had intended to kill them He wouldn’t have accepted their burnt offering or declared that she would have a son who would begin to save Israel. If God killed them then He would not be able to carry out His plan through them as He had declared. Then the first part of verse 24 says, “And the woman bore a son . . .” At this point we are hopeful! God has mercifully and compassionately come to rescue His people, even though they have forsaken Him and shown no sign of repentance. The ones who had failed to recognize God’s presence in the angel of the Lord had finally recognized Him as God. And God had faithfully kept His promise by causing the woman to bear a son. Things are looking up, until we get to the next part of verse 24, “and called his name Samson.” The name Samson means “little sun.” And while there is not absolute certainty concerning the explanation of Samson’s name, many scholars believe that the name is a tribute to Shemesh, a popular god of the sun who was worshipped by many of the nations in the surrounding areas, and who may have been worshipped by many of the Israelites. The couple who had been visited by the angel of the Lord, who had been incorporated into His plan for deliverance from the Philistines, who had been enabled to have a son when they previously could not, and who had finally recognized that the one who had visited them was God had given birth to the promised son and named him after another god. This is indeed a dark season in the lives of the Israelites. These are a people who desperately need to be delivered and rescued from their idolatry. But there is still great reason to wonder if they will ever get serious about repenting of their idolatry and returning to worship and serve God alone.

We need to recognize that we live in a time that has a lot of similarities to the time described in this chapter. We are immersed in a culture where there are all kinds of little gods that are worshipped and served. And the reality is, many who profess to be Christians dabble in idolatry, worshipping and making much of other things in place of God. This is an incredibly slippery slope for us. It begs the questions, “How long before our buffet of gods gets so big that we fail to recognize the one true God?” Can we recognize the voice of God when He speaks to us? Can we recognize it when God impresses a calling upon our heart? And when God invites us to be a part of his plan are we willing to selflessly surrender to His plan and calling so that He can accomplish His plan through us? These are all important questions that we need to spend time wrestling with. And one thing we need to always be praying is that God would help us to set Him apart in our hearts as our greatest love and our greatest treasure. We need to be asking God to help us not be satisfied by any other thing – that the longing of our hearts would be so great for Him that nothing else would do. While buffets are fun places to eat because of the variety they offer, spiritual buffets cause disaster in our lives. Worship isn’t more exciting when we have a variety of gods to worship. Our idols can’t satisfy and fulfill our souls - we were meant to worship God and God alone. Only a consistent and steady worship of Him will fill and satisfy us.