The Lord Said... It's a Start

Judges 13:2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 

Israel had once again spiraled downward in her cycle of sin, falling into desperate bondage to the fearsome Philistines. God began to move, raising up one of the best-known of the judges, Samson. We are told much more about his personal and professional life than the other judges and there are many lessons to learn, so go on into the next few chapters and read the accounts. But to begin we notice what the Angel of the Lord says: he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. This is going to be a long process - in fact, it will not be completed until the time of David over a century later. But God was beginning to do something. May we have the patience to see Him through.