Manoah
A man of Zorah, of the tribe of Dan, and the father of Samson. His wife was barren when the angel of the Lord appeared to her with the promise of a son who was to be a Nazirite from the womb; Manoah prayed that the man of God would come again and teach them what to do with the boy. He offered a young goat on a rock, and the angel ascended in the flame — after which Manoah was convinced they would die because they had seen God, and his wife pointed out the obvious flaw in that reasoning.
What we know — and how we know it
Where in scripture
JudgesThere was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and childless.
Judges 13:2
Then Manoah entreated Yahweh, and said, “Oh, Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us, and teach us what we should do to the child who shall be born.”
Judges 13:8 — Prays about the child
Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial site of Manoah his father. He judged Israel twenty years.
Judges 16:31
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
Family
In their own words — 6 recorded sayings
“Then Manoah made prayer to the Lord, and said, O Lord, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and make clear to us what we are to do for the child who is to come.” — Judges 13:8
“And Manoah got up and went after his wife, and came up to the man and said to him, Are you the man who was talking to this woman? And he said, I am. And Manoah said, Now when your words come true, what is to be the rule for the child and what will be his work?” — Judges 13:11-12
“And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, Now let us keep you while we make ready a young goat for you.” — Judges 13:15
“Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, What is your name, so that when your words come true we may give you honour?” — Judges 13:17
“And Manoah said to his wife, Death will certainly be our fate, for it is a god whom we have seen.” — Judges 13:22
“Then his father and mother said to him, Is there no woman among the daughters of your relations or among all my people, that you have to go for your wife to the Philistines, who are without circumcision? But Samson said to his father, Get her for me, for she is pleasing to me.” — Judges 14:3
Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).
In art
