Jdg 13:1-14 How to Give Birth to the New Man (and Keep the Nazarite Vow)

[Study Aired June 28, 2021]

Jdg 13:1  And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. 
Jdg 13:2  And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. 
Jdg 13:3  And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. 
Jdg 13:4  Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: 
Jdg 13:5  For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. 
Jdg 13:6  Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name: 
Jdg 13:7  But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. 
Jdg 13:8  Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. 
Jdg 13:9  And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her. 
Jdg 13:10  And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day. 
Jdg 13:11  And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am. 
Jdg 13:12  And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him? 
Jdg 13:13  And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. 
Jdg 13:14  She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe. 

The last review Judges Chapter 12 concerns an insurrection from within the body of Christ and an overview of our walk with Christ exemplified by the various judges who judged Israel for various periods.

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

Today’s study is about how to keep our Nazarite vow and what we need to do to give birth to a son who symbolizes the new man.

Jdg 13:1  And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. 

The Lord delivering them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years is the same as the period of our walk with Christ when we were under the dominion of our old man or flesh. That time of our lives was when we were not capable of doing what was right in the sight of God since we were under the law of sin and death. However, eventually this law of sin and death leads us to Christ.

Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

To understand the significance of the number forty as it applies to us, let us look at what happened to the Israelites when they were in the wilderness for forty years.  During that period, it became clear that they were not cut out to please God because their hearts were always erring.  In that situation, they were not able to discern God’s ways. That is what happens to us when we come under bondage to the flesh. We will always be erring, and we cannot please God during that period because we do not know His ways. However, forty years on a positive note also signifies the period of God’s provision and protection. The Israelites lacked nothing during the wilderness experience.

It is also the period in our lives during which we begin the dying process to the flesh and get ourselves ready to drive out the giants of our land.

This period is also characterized by our raiment not waxing old, as happened to the Israelites in the wilderness. As we know, raiment stands for our righteousness. So what it means is that we do not change our righteousness to put on the righteousness of Christ. We bask in our own righteousness just like Job as we wear our own clothes and eat our own food and only desire to have the name of Christ as our husband. This is what happens to us when we come under bondage to the flesh for forty years during our walk with Christ.

Psa 95:10  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
Psa 95:11  Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Num 32:13  And the LORD’S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed.

Deu 2:7  For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

Deu 8:4  Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

Isa 4:1  And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

Because of God’s physical provision and protection during this time of our lives, we think we are rich and have need of nothing.

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Jdg 13:2  And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.

The name Manoah means ‘rest’ according to Strong’s dictionary. Since it is only Christ who can give us rest, we can say that Manoah represents Christ our Lord, and His wife signifies the church. In this present dispensation, the church of the first born to which we belong (Jerusalem which is above) is barren. The barrenness of the church is the fact that only very few people are being called and chosen. Compared with the churches of this world, we are “technically” barren.

Individually, we all do not have sons yet like Manoah and his wife.  Sons here represents the new man after the image of Christ, and we all are at various stages of giving birth to this new man. So individually too, we are barren!!

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

Barrenness also has to do with our spiritual poverty. In other words, we were wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked when we were fellowshipping in Babylon.

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

Manoah was from the tribe of Dan. According to the spiritual blessings pronounced by Jacob concerning his sons, this is what he has to say about the tribe of Dan:

Gen 49:16  Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
Gen 49:17  Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

It is Christ who has been given the authority to judge His people. So this is to confirm to us that Manoah is an example of Christ.

Act 10:42  And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.

Psa 98:9  Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

It is Christ who like a serpent has thrown the horse and the rider into the sea when the Israelites were being chased by the Egyptians when they left Egypt. The horse and the rider here represent the worldliness in us. It is only Christ who, like a serpent, can bite a horse’s heel to make both the horse and its rider fall backwards. In other words, it is Christ who destroys the worldliness in our lives.

Exo 15:1  Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

Jdg 13:3  And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. 

Praise be to the Lord who makes the barren (us) to keep house and be a joyful mother of children. What we need to point out here is that it is the Lord who takes the initiative to come to us to help us give birth to the new man. It is not us coming to Christ as we were made to believe when we were in Babylon based on our own supposed ”will”.  It is Christ who does everything.

Psa 113:9  He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.

What our Lord starts, He is able to finish.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: 

So we must have confidence that what He has started in us, He will not leave us alone even though in our present circumstance, things may seem bleak and we wonder how we too can reflect the image of Christ. God is faithful!! Moses faced challenges even though it was God who took the initiative to deliver the children of Israel. So did Paul, Peter and all those who have gone before us. These all serve as cloud of witnesses to assure us that our God is faithful!!

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

My mind just reflected on the song we used to sing in Babylon which is relevant to our circumstance today. Oh, how we need to sing this song with faith that He is able!!

He is Able by Maranatha Singers

He is able more than able
To accomplish what concerns me today
He is able more than able
To handle anything that comes my way
He is able more than able
To do much more than I could ever dream
He is able more than able To make me what He wants me to be

Jdg 13:4  Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: 

Here we are advised that if we are to give birth to the new man, then we must not drink wine nor strong drink and not eat anything unclean. To understand what we are being told, let’s look at Isaiah Chapter 5 where our Lord talks about His vineyard which is Israel.

Isa 5:1  Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
Isa 5:2  And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Isa 5:7  For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

So the vine which produces wine and strong drink is Israel, which is Babylon. As the verses above say, Babylon produces wild grapes which is the same as producing thorns and briars or unclean thing. So being advised by the Lord not to drink wine or strong drink is being warned to avoid taking in false doctrines which will make us unable to bring forth a son – the new man!! Remember that this is a negative application of the produce from the vine.

On the positive note however, the vine represents our Lord Jesus Christ as follows:

Joh 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Joh 15:2  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Joh 15:3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Joh 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

The first time the word “unclean thing” was used in the Bible, it was in relation to the flesh of dead beasts as follows:

Lev 5:2  Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty.

We know that meat represent the deeper truths of the word of God. In this case, the meat is from beasts that have been killed. But the meat from dead beasts which die from natural causes is to be rejected as unclean thing. Unclean thing therefore also can signify false doctrines which comes from spiritually dead children of God. It can also imply unrighteousness as follows:

Lev 20:21  And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.

So if we want to give birth to the new man, then we have to avoid taking in false doctrines and not living unrighteously!!

Jdg 13:5  For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. 

The Nazarene vow first appeared in the scriptures as follows:

Num 6:1  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 
Num 6:2  Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD: 
Num 6:3  He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. 
Num 6:4  All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. 
Num 6:5  All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.

The Nazarite vow is to separate oneself for the Lord. To separate means to set apart. So the Nazarite vow speaks of our election. In the case of the birth of a son to Manoah and his wife, the son shall be a Nazarite from the womb which means our election is before the foundation of the world.

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 

Jer 1:4  Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Jer 1:5  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

According to Numbers Chapter 6, it appears that the Nazarite vow is carried out for a period. When the period is over, the Nazarite is brought to the door of the tabernacle to offer sacrifice to the Lord and to shave the hair of his separation.

Num 6:13  And this is the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled: he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: 
Num 6:14  And he shall offer his offering unto the LORD, one he lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings, 
Num 6:15  And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings. 
Num 6:16  And the priest shall bring them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin offering, and his burnt offering: 
Num 6:17  And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread: the priest shall offer also his meat offering, and his drink offering. 
Num 6:18  And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings. 

What this means is that we can only enter the temple when our hair is shaved.  That is when we can offer a pleasing sacrifice to the Lord. Paul gives us insight as to what it mean to have our hair unshaved as Nazarite in the following words:

1Co 11:4  Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. 
1Co 11:5  But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. 

From these verses, we can say that having our head covered means having hair covering his head. On the other hand, having head uncovered is the same as shaving the hair on the head. So what we are being told here is that every man or individual having his head covered is the same as having our hair unshaved like a Nazarite which dishonors Christ our Lord. So therefore, our Nazarite vow is the period in our lives where we dishonor Christ our husband even though we have been set apart from the womb. That is the period we are under the law of sin and death in Babylon and we think because of our Nazarite vow we are the favored of the Lord. This experience of evil is all part of the process of deliverance from the hands of the beast or the old man within which is signified by the Philistines.

This is confirmed by the fact that if a person fulfills his Nazarite vow, it is then that the person offers sacrifice to the Lord and shaves his hair. Our being able to offer our lives as living sacrifice means that our hair must be shaved and burnt in the fire which is our judgment. That is when we can enter the temple to worship God.

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. 

Jdg 13:6  Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name: 
Jdg 13:7  But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. 

As we stated earlier, the husband Manoah represents Christ and the woman signify the church. Christ is also the word of God.

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

The woman telling the husband about her encounter with the angel of the Lord is the same as testing the spirit to see if it is of God.

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 
1Jn 4:2  Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 

The woman realized that her experience with the man of God was an encounter with the Lord Jesus. As members of the church of the first born (woman), our encounter with what every joint supplies is an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 

Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Act 9:4  And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 
Act 9:5  And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 

The statement “I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name” is the same as saying that my sheep hears my voice and they know me (Lord).

Joh 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 

Jdg 13:8  Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. 

Manoah praying to the Lord to teach them what shall be done unto the child is the same as saying that our Lord Jesus Christ is interceding on our behalf so that we shall know through His words, how to birth the new man in us. Manoah praying that the man of God come again to them means that the word of God entreat us to seek a second witness so that a thing is established.

2Co 13:1  This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. 

Jdg 13:9  And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her. 

Whatever our Lord Jesus asked our Father on our behalf, it is granted as God hearkened to the voice of Manoah.

Joh 11:41  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 
Joh 11:42  And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 

This should give us hope that we are not alone in this fight. Our Lord is always with us interceding on our behalf as our high priest. In this story, the angel of the Lord came again to the woman. That is the second witness we need when we test the spirit if it is of the Lord. The woman sitting in the field is to remind us that although we haven’t responded to God in a positive way and are still worldly, our Lord is still praying for us because of our election. This is also to assure us that our Lord is patient with us and will come again to us as He did to our Father Abraham when he did not respond positively to Christ when He appeared to him in Mesopotamia for the first time.

Act 7:2  And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, 
Act 7:3  And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. 
Act 7:4  Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. 
Act 7:5  And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. 

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 

Jdg 13:10  And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day. 
Jdg 13:11  And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am. 

As we indicated earlier, the woman seeking her husband to meet the angel of the Lord is telling us that we must test the spirit to see if it is of the Lord. Manoah getting a confirmation that the angel of the Lord was the one who spoke to the woman is the same as having two or more witnesses which establish God’s words.

Jdg 13:12  And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him? 
Jdg 13:13  And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. 
Jdg 13:14  She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe. 

Here we are being admonished to do what we have heard from our Lord Jesus through His words.  We must be doers of the word and not hearers only.

Jos 1:8  This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 

Jas 1:22  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 
Jas 1:23  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 
Jas 1:24  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 
Jas 1:25  But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.