Manoah was a man from the tribe of Dan who became the father of the judge Samson. He and his wife received a visit from an angel announcing Samson's birth, and they were instructed that the child should be a Nazirite from the womb. Manoah proved to be a godly man who sought the Lord's guidance.
The angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah's wife and told her that she would give birth to a son who would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines.
3The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "You are barren and have borne no children, but now you will conceive and give birth to a son.
5for you are going to conceive and give birth to a son. No razor is to touch his head, for the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth, and he will begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines."
8Then Manoah pleaded with the LORD: "Please, Lord, let the man of God you sent come to us again and teach us what we are to do for the boy who will be born."
14She is to eat nothing that comes from the grapevine, and she must drink no wine or strong drink and eat nothing unclean. She must observe everything I commanded her."
Manoah offered a burnt offering to the Lord, and the angel ascended into heaven in the flame from the altar. Then Manoah and his wife realized that they had seen the angel of God.
19So Manoah took the young goat and the grain offering and offered them on the rock to the LORD. And the LORD did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on.
20As the flame rose from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw it, they fell facedown to the ground.
Manoah feared they would die because they had seen God, but his wife comforted him by saying that the Lord would not have accepted their offering if He intended to kill them.
23But his wife answered, "If the LORD had wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would he have shown us all this or told us such things now."