God, how should we raise our children?

As a father of three children, I found myself meditating on the story of Samson

in Judges chapters 13-16 from the perspective of Samson's father Manoah

(or from the perspective of a parent).

• Manoah's wife was unable to conceive and bear children (Judg. 13:3).
• However, the angel of the Lord appeared to his wife and said,

"...  You are now pregnant and are going to give birth to a son.

You must not drink any wine or other fermented drink or eat anything unclean.

You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor

because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb.

He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines" (vv. 3-5).

• "Then the woman went to her husband Manoah and told him,

'A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome.

I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name.

But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son.

Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean,

because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death" (vv. 6-7).

• Manoah, upon hearing these words from his wife, prayed to God:

"Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us

come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born" (v. 8).

• However, God, who heard Manoah's prayer, did not send the angel of God to Manoah this time. Instead, He appeared to Manoah's wife while she was sitting in the field (v. 9).
• Manoah's wife hurried to tell her husband about this, so Manoah got up and followed his wife.

When he came to the man, he said to him, "Are you the man who talked to my wife?" (v. 11).

• After confirming that the angel of the Lord was indeed the same person

who had spoken to his wife earlier (v. 11), Manoah said, "Now let your words come to pass.

How shall we raise the child and what shall we do for him?" (v. 12).

When I meditated on these words from the perspective of Samson's father Manoah,

I was struck by the repeated request he made twice:

(1) 'Teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born' (v. 8) (Manoah's prayer to God),

and (2) 'How shall we raise the child and what shall we do for him?' (v. 12)

(Manoah's words to the angel of the Lord).

When I think about Manoah's words, I am intrigued by the fact that he prayed to God,

asking Him to teach them how to raise the future-born Samson, and then asked the angel of the Lord.

Particularly from Manoah's perspective, as Samson would be a dedicated Nazirite

according to the words of the angel of the Lord (vv. 5, 7),

it would seem natural for him as a father to pray to God

and inquire of the angel how to raise a Nazirite son.

The reason for this is that Manoah and his wife, as parents,

would have been utterly perplexed as to why their son Samson

would want to marry an uncircumcised Philistine woman,

as indicated by Samson's desire to marry one of the daughters of the Philistines in Timnah (14:1-3).

They would not have understood why their son, who could have married a Jewish woman,

would want to marry a woman from the Philistine nation.

In other words, Samson's parents were unaware that this was from the Lord,

who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines through him (v. 4).

Additionally, the reason for this was that Samson did not tell them what he was doing.

What Samson did not inform his parents about ...

• As Samson and his parents were traveling down to Timnah,

when they reached the vineyards of Timnah,

the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him,

and he tore the young lion apart with his bare hands,

but he did not tell his parents what he had done (vv. 5-6).

• "Some time later," Samson went down to Timnah again,

intending to marry the Philistine woman.

As he approached the vineyards of Timnah,

he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion.

And in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey.

He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along.

When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it.

But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion's carcass (vv. 7-9).

• During the seven days of festivities in Timnah,

Samson posed a riddle to the thirty young Philistine men sent by the Philistines.

However, unable to solve Samson's riddle, on the seventh day,

they threatened Samson's wife to coax him into revealing the answer to them.

Samson's wife wept before him, saying, "You hate me and do not love me.

You have posed a riddle to my people but have not told me the answer."

Samson replied, "Look, I have not even told my father or mother.

Why should I tell you?" (vv. 10-16).

When pondering this passage, I can't help but wonder if Samson's parents,

Manoah and his mother (parents), continually prayed to God

and sought guidance on how to raise Samson, who did not inform (tell) them three times.

What's interesting is that afterwards, due to Samson's father-in-law taking Samson's wife

and giving her to Samson's companion (15:6), "Samson went and caught three hundred foxes,

and took torches, and turned the foxes tail to tail, and put a torch between every two tails.

And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines,

and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives" (vv. 4-5).

Then, Samson struck down many Philistines, went down and stayed in the cave of the rock of Etam

(v. 8), after which the Philistines went up and camped in Judah and spread out near Lehi (v. 9).

At that time, three thousand men of Judah went to the cave in the rock, and said to Samson:

"Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?" (v. 11).

Did Samson really not know that the people of Judah were under the rule of the Philistines?

Samson, who did not inform his parents three times,

certainly knew that the people of Judah were under the rule of the Philistines.

He did what he did to the Philistines while knowing it.

However, just like Samson's parents, the people of Judah

did not know that this was from the Lord (14:4).

In the end, at that time too, "the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson,"

so Samson "found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and struck down a thousand men"

after the ropes on his arms that were like charred flax had been burned off

and his hands set free (15:14-15).

After that, Samson went to Gaza, and saw a prostitute there, and went in to her room (16:1).

No, didn't Samson already see a Philistine woman in Timnah and tell his parents

that he wanted to marry her? (14:1-2)

After that, Samson loved Delilah (v. 4).  

Samson, who was dedicated to God from the womb (13:7),

pursued the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes as he was sent into the world (1 Jn. 2:16).

As parents, Manoah and his wife could only pray to God,

saying, "Teach us what we should do with (our son) ..." (Judges 13:8).

An interesting point is that Delilah asked Samson three times,

"Please tell me what makes your great strength

and how you can be bound to subdue you" (6:6),

"...  Now please tell me with what you may be bound" (v. 10),

"...  Please tell me how you may be bound" (v. 13),

demanding him to speak to her three times.

What interests me about this fact is that while Samson

did not speak three times to his parents before (14:6, 9, 16),

he also did not speak three times to the foreign woman Delilah whom he loved (16:4),

but eventually, he disclosed his heart to her and revealed everything (v. 17).

As a result, Samson was captured by the Philistines, had his eyes gouged out,

was dragged to Gaza, bound with bronze shackles, and became a grinder in prison (v. 21).

Later, Samson, having been called upon by God, performed a feat for the Philistine rulers

who were sacrificing to their god Dagon and rejoicing,

pushing with all his might" against the central pillars of the temple,

causing it to collapse on the Philistine rulers and everyone inside,

killing more people in his death than when he was alive (vv. 25-30).

He was then buried in the tomb of his father Manoah (v. 31).

When I contemplate the story of Samson,

I cannot help but recall the prayer of Samson's father Manoah:

"Lord, please send the man of God again, whom You sent to us,

to teach us what we should do for the child who will be born" (13:8).

And even now, as I think about the three beloved children that God has graciously given me,

I find myself constantly praying to God, just as Manoah did to the angel of the Lord:

"... How should we raise this child, and what should we do for him?" (v. 12).