“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.”
The appearance of the angel of the Lord to Manoah's wife announces the forthcoming birth of a son and establishes the divine commission for Samson's life before his conception. The angel's first words—"You are barren and childless, but you are going to have a son"—address the woman directly and promise resolution to her shame and isolation through divine intervention. The formal announcement parallels the structure of annunciations in Jewish biblical narrative and suggests the exceptional significance of the child who will be born. The angel's appearance to the woman rather than to Manoah establishes a pattern where women often receive divine messages about significant births, suggesting the importance of female agency and divine communication in Israel's salvation history.
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