Manoah
“Rest”
Summary
Manoah was a Danite from Zorah and the father of Samson, to whom the Angel of the Lord appeared twice to announce the miraculous birth of his son.
☩The Angelic Announcements
Manoah and his wife had been childless when the Angel of the Lord appeared to her, announcing she would conceive and bear a son who would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. When she reported this to Manoah, he prayed for the angel to return and instruct them on how to raise the child. God answered his prayer, and the angel appeared again, repeating the instructions that the child should be a Nazirite from birth. Manoah, not recognizing the visitor as divine, offered to prepare a meal, but the angel directed him to offer a burnt offering to the Lord instead.
☩Recognition of the Divine Messenger
When Manoah asked the angel's name, he received the mysterious reply that it was 'wonderful' (or 'secret'). As Manoah offered the sacrifice, the angel ascended in the flame of the altar and was seen no more. Manoah then realized they had seen the Angel of the Lord and feared they would die, but his wife demonstrated greater faith, reasoning that God would not have accepted their offering and revealed such things if He intended to kill them. The child Samson was born according to promise and 'the Spirit of the Lord began to move him.'
☩Later Life
Manoah appears once more in Scripture when he and his wife accompanied Samson to Timnah regarding his marriage to a Philistine woman. Though they objected to this union, Scripture notes that 'it was of the Lord.' Manoah apparently died before Samson, since at the hero's death it was his 'brethren and all the house of his father' who came to retrieve his body for burial in the family tomb between Zorah and Eshtaol.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Manoah," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. V (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Manoah," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. III (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Manoah," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).