So, what do Isaac, Samson, and Jesus have in common? Angels appear to their parents to foretell their births.
Behold a child is born
Israel is doing bad again and this time, the Philistines have ravaged the land for 40 years. An angel appears to a childless woman and foretells that she will have a child and he will be dedicated as a Nazarite from birth. She tells her husband who prays to God to send the angel again. The angel comes again, appearing to the wife who gets her husband. They offer to sacrifice a goat, but the angel refuses to eat it and instead ask that it be a burnt sacrifice to God. The angel ascends in the flames of the offering and this confirms to them that this was an angel from God. The husband’s initial reaction is fear and that he will die.
In the midst of the story, the angel says that his name is “beyond understanding” (v. 18).
And thus Samson is born.
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