Judges 13

v1-7: Samson was a type of Christ. He “was born as the result of a promise” prefiguring “the promised seed, long expected by the faith of the Old Testament saints.” He was a Nazarite, and the Nazarites were types of Christ, “since he was perfectly pure from all sin… and was completely devoted to his Father’s honour.” He was also a saviour of Israel too. But unlike Samson who “only began to save Israel” and “David was later raised up to complete the destruction of the Philistines,” our Lord Jesus “is both Samson and David” as the author and finisher of our faith.

v8-14: Manoah prays to God to send the same messenger with further instructions, and God graciously answered his prayer. We can learn from this, that if “we want God’s messengers, the ministers of his Gospel… to instruct us,” we should “entreat the Lord to send them to us to teach us.” Also that “God will not fail to guide, in some way or other, those who sincerely want to know their responsibility and who turn to him to teach them.”

v15-23: What Manoah needed to know, “he was readily told about, but what he asked to satisfy his curiosity was denied.” What our responsibilities and duties are, God has given us in His Word, but “there are secret things which do not belong to us, and which we must content ourselves with being in the dark about while we are here in this world.”

v24-25: “The woman who had been barren for so long gave birth to a son, according to the promise, for no word of God will fall empty to the ground.” We can be certain that “if he has spoken… he will fulfil his promise.”