Angel appearances in Judges: regarding the weak strong judge (6:11-24) and the strong weak judge (13:3-23).
There’s that word “Again” again. “Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord” (Jdg 13:1). This time—the final time in the book—it was into the hands of the Philistines that the Lord delivered His people for chastening. The oppression lasted 40 years! Yet in the home of a man from Zorah on the border of Dan there was a more pressing problem: Manoah’s wife was barren. The town sits on a hill overlooking the Sorek Valley, 15 miles (23 km) west of Jerusalem. There we read, “the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, ‘Indeed now…you shall conceive and bear a son’” (v 3). This announcement included very specific instructions: “Please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean.…And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb” (vv 4-5). Nazirite means “separated,” and a Nazirite was to be a walking parable of one wholly committed to obeying the Lord. She quickly went and told her husband, Manoah, who prayed to the Lord, asking that he might also have an audience with the Angel. This was arranged, and the commands repeated. Manoah asked the Angel to stay until he could make an offering. This he did, but when Manoah asked Him His name, He replied, “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?” (v 18), and Isaiah lets us know who that is (Isa 9:6)! Then, true to His Name, “He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on…as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar—the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar!” (Jdg 13:19-20), a prefiguring of the day when our wonderful Lord would be the ultimate sacrifice, ascending to the complete satisfaction of God.