Judges 13:9, commentary and pictures

This verse belongs to the preparation for Samson, the son promised to Manoah and his wife to deliver Israel and to do a great work for Israel, whose strength and intelligence and moral purity were carefully prepared. Fearful of making a mistake in the important work entrusted to them, Manoah prayed earnestly for the divine messenger to come again to teach both parents what to do for the child to be born. His prayer was for guidance about raising the child and for wisdom in that parental duty.

God heard and answered that prayer by sending the angel of God again to the wife as she sat alone in the field, while Manoah her husband was not with her, to give further instruction about the child. That second appearance led to Manoah's anxious inquiry about how to order the child and what to do unto him, how to direct him and care for him. The return shows that God uses angels to communicate with human beings as guides and powerful helpers to His chosen messengers.

The angel's return gave the mother directions for her own conduct before the birth to secure the child's physical and moral health and to fit him for his God-given work. She was to avoid wine and strong drink and unclean food and to practice temperance and self-denial, because a mother's habits shape her child's appetites and passions and can affect the child's welfare. Those directions included guidance on the child's care and temperance, with instruction about the child's care beginning before his birth. Sending an angel directly to the mother shows how important God considered this early guidance about the child's care.

Despite that preparation, Samson later yielded to temptation because he did not rely on God and govern his passions, in contrast to Joseph, who resisted a comparable temptation by choosing obedience to God. Yet the verse shows that a sincere parental prayer for wisdom in the duty of raising children reaches God and is answered with further light and wisdom as it is needed. Mothers today should often offer Manoah's prayer about how to order the child and what to do unto him, follow Christ's teachings in their own lives to shape their children's character after the divine pattern, and heed the instruction God has given in His word, and they will be given wisdom to instruct and guide and restrain their children and make straight paths for their feet.