The promise made to the wife of Manoah was that her son
would "begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” Sadly, Samson's personal flaws would not
allow him to be the savior who delivered the nation from the Philistines. For whatever reason, she seems to have
omitted these words the man of God whose appearance was like an angel (her
description of him) spoke to her. She told
her husband about the Nazirite vow but not what the result of that would
be. Her husband had the right to cancel
any vow she made, that was part of the law, so it was important that he also
meet this man in order to confirm his wife's vow but also that he might
believe. She was, like Sarah, beyond
child-bearing years, so this promise was questionable to her husband. Manoah seeks confirmation that this was the
man who had spoken to "this woman" and the answer was familiar,
"I am." Who is this man?
Like Samson, John the Baptist was also under a Nazirite
vow. In itself, such vows were not
unusual. What was unusual was that these
were typically not taken for a lifetime but only for a specified period. These two men began the work of saving Israel
in their own ways. Samson began the work
of delivering Israel from her enemies, the Philistines, while John began the work
of preparing Israel from her true enemy, sin.
John points away from himself, he is not, like the men in yesterday's
readings, the Ephraimites and the Sadducees, jealous of their own places but
instead recognizes the sovereignty of God and also that Jesus comes from above,
surpasses him and is the true deliverer.
John is clear, I am not the Messiah, never claimed to be. His joy is in the proclamation of Jesus. His disciples surely asked the question of
Jesus that I posed at the end of the first paragraph concerning the man who
spoke with Manoah and his wife.
The apostles stand their ground, the ground of Jesus'
resurrection, the ground of proclamation that He is Messiah. John believed this about Jesus, the apostles
knew it because they had seen the resurrection. The reaction of the group,
largely composed of and led by Sadducees who deny any resurrection, a party
that essentially no longer exists within Judaism, was that they were so enraged
they wanted to kill the apostles. Gamaliel,
a great rabbi, a Pharisee, and therefore one who did believe in resurrection,
gave wise counsel not to make too big a deal about this and make these men
martyrs for the cause. The council
accepted his advice and had the apostles beaten. Their reaction to persecution, rejoicing that
they were counted worthy to suffer. Sounds
nothing like the American church does it?
Who is this man for whom men rejoice to suffer?
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