f Jer. ]. 5. s Rom. xii. 1.
manoah's vision.
Judg. xiii. 22, 23. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him. If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a hurnt-ofilering and a meat-offering at our hands, neither wotdd he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these.
AFTER a brief mention of several judges who successively bore sway in Israel, we are led to the contemplation of one, whose birth, as well as life, deserves particular consideration. To his parents a revelation was made respecting him; which revela- tion, together with the effects of it on their minds, will form the subject of our present discourse.
Let us notice, I. The revelation made to them —
[The Israelites for their iniquities were brought under the
power ol llie Piiili.stiiies, who oppressed Lliem sorely and for a lonf( period. Jiut God of lii.s own f^ace and mercy raised lip iiiito them a deliverer. Other deliverers had been raised lip at oiicc, and at the precise time that the deliverance was to be eifected : hut, in the present instance, tlie person who was to be God's instrument of good to the nation, was not even conceived in the womb. He was t(j be bom, as Isaac and Juc<)\> had been, of a mother who was barren ; in order tliat he might more eminently appear to be a special gift of God. " There was a man of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah : and his wife was barren, and bare not. And the Angel ol" the liord appeared unto the woman, and told her, that she should c(-inceive and bear a son," who should he devoted as a Nazarite to the Lord, and should in due time become, in part at least, a saviour to his country ^ The law relating to Nazarites required a total abstinence from wine, or
stjong drink, <;r I'rom any thing unclean'' And as his
consecrati(jn to this state was to commence from his first forma- tion in the w<jmh, his mother was immediately to observe all that kind of abstinence wliich was required of the Nazarite himself, and to continue it till the child should be both born and weaned. This occurrence she mentioned to her husband, together with the charge given to herself respecting the absti- nence that was requin.'d'-. Manoah, being strong in faith, entertained no doubt respecting the acc(nnplishment of the Angel's words : hut being desirous that the mercy intended to the nation should not be obstructed by any error or neglect on his part, Ik; h(;sought the liOrd, that the same person should be sent to them again, to teach them mc^re fully whatever was necessary for them to know, (jr do, respecting the child. The visit was rcjxuilcjl, according to his desire; and the testimony was eonjlniicd Ijy a visihh; display of the divine power. Ma- nf)ah, not knowing who this angel was, whether he was only a iriaii, or an angel in Ininian shape, or whether he was not the 7\ng(;l of the C(;venant, even the Son of (iod himself in human shape, iccpjcsted permission to set before him a bamjuet, or an oflering, as might h(; most suited U) his character : but when he had pr(;sented an ollering, lire, j)robably IVoni the rock or irom heaven, consumed th(; sacrifice; ; and the Angel ascended in tlu; flame to heav(;n ; and thereby testified the acceptance both of their persons and their sacrifice.]
Let IIS now notice, II. The cfll'ct ])ro(lu('e(l u|)on tliem —
Great was tlic faitli bolli of Manoah and his wife : hnl slic, Ixin^ tin; more; eminent of the two,