GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
JUDGES 13:3-5
3 The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are unable to conceive and have no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son. 4 Be careful not to drink wine or beer, or to eat anything unclean. 5 For indeed you will indeed conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
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13:5 Lit And a razor is not to go up on his head
In the book of Numbers, God explains to Moses the way someone might take and keep a vow to become a Nazirite. This included these seven points:
1. A Nazirite could be a man or a woman (Numbers 6:2)
2. The Nazirite had to abstain from wine, beer or other alcohol, as well as from grape juice, grapes or raisins (Numbers 6:3-4)
3. The Nazirite had to refrain from cutting his or her hair (Numbers 6:5)
4. The Nazirite had to refrain from contact with a dead body, even that of his or her own family member (Numbers 6:6-7)
5. If a Nazirite became defiled, he had to shave his hair, give a sin offering and a burnt offering, and also a guilt offering. If his term was limited, he had to start counting the days over again from the day on which he made the offerings and was re-consecrated (Numbers 6:9-19)
6. After completing the vow, a (former) Nazirite could drink wine, etc., as anyone else could (Numbers 6:20)
7. Once taken, a Nazirite’s vow had to be completed (Numbers 6:21)
Manoah and his wife had a unique command from God. Their child was to be a Nazirite set apart from birth. This was so rare (Nazirite vows were expected to be temporary) that the angel explains what this means even for the baby’s mother while she was pregnant.
Pregnant! Imagine what that meant to her. She had lived with the words “unable to conceive” and “had no children” since she got married. This was a message as sweet as the gospel itself to her. What you did not have; what you could not have—what was impossible for you to have—you will have, by the grace of God. This is precisely the way the gospel is presented to us all through the Bible.
We are sinful by inheritance (Genesis 5:3), sinful from the moment we are conceived (Psalm 51:5); we are condemned and lost (Romans 5:18). We can’t contribute to our salvation, not at all, not a single good work (Ephesians 2:8-9). But Christ appeared in the world. He was put on display by his miracles and preaching to be the sacrifice for our sins and to give to us what we did not have, what we could not have, and what was impossible for us to have. He took away our sins, and in him there is no sin at all (1 John 3:5). He gave us the righteousness that makes us right in God’s eyes. He gave us pardon, hope, and peace. This is our God who is gracious to us and who blesses us and who makes his face shine on us (Psalm 67:1, cp. Numbers 6:24-26). This is our God who has given us peace.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota