The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord again and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

Satan must have been gladdened by this turn in His-story. As always, he sought to capitalize on the situation and stop the progress of God’s plan of “bruising his head”. He would now use these Philistines who have been against God’s purposes (and still are!) He would use their elders and leaders to deceive God’s chosen people.

Manoah was in the believing line of Abraham. He was a descendant of Dan, one of the twelve sons of Israel. He seems to have had a believing wife (though she might not have had clean food habits) but was barren. God was going to deliver His people from the Philistines through their son.

The Lord appeared to the lady first and told her that she would conceive and bring forth a son who would judge the Israelites and deliver them out of the hands of their enemy. But there was a special request put forth – she had to bring her son up in a very special way (as a Nazarite) – not defiled by unclean food, wine, or strong drink even from the womb and his hair kept away from the razor. The Lord reiterated the message to Manoah when He appeared to him the next time – now in much clearer terms. God foreknew what would happen later in His-story and this was a requirement for a special occasion that He had placed in His-story.

Though Manoah’s wife had a hunch that the One speaking to her was the Angel of the Lord – the Lord Himself in human form – Manoah did not realize that it was He. Manoah thought he was speaking to yet another ordinary man of God. So, Manoah requested Him to remain a little while so that they could cook a kid (lamb) for His dinner. The Lord replied that He would not eat of their food but said that if at all Manoah wished to thank Him, he should offer a burnt offering unto the Lord.

Manoah wished to know the name of the person who was speaking to them so that he could honor Him when what He said would come to pass. The Lord replied, “Why do you want to know it? It is Wonderful”. This is one of the names of the Seed of the woman mentioned in Isaiah’s prophecy about Him. For unto us, a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. – Isaiah 9:6.
The couple brought the burnt offering on a rock-turned-altar to the Lord when a wonderful thing happened true to the mentioned Name of the Lord. As the couple was watching, as the flame went up towards heaven from off the altar, the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. They fell on their faces and worshipped Him now realizing that it was the Lord that appeared to them. Manoah exclaimed, “We have seen God”.
Samson was born to the couple.

To cut a long story short, Satan intended to put an end to God’s purpose many times during the life of Samson through the Philistines, but Samson smote them every time. However, Satan was a wise strategist. He knew the weakness of Samson – Women. He started moving his players in such a way that Samson fell for a Philistine woman named Delilah. The lords of the Philistines concurred with her and promised to pay a huge sum of money in exchange for the secret of Samson’s strength.

Delilah finally managed to get Samson to disclose the secret through her pestering; she took advantage of his blind affection for her. Samson spilled the beans that his head had never been touched by a razor all his life and that if his hair is shaved off his head, he would lose his physical strength.

The Philistine lords took him away after shaving off his hair, pulled out his eyes (blind love led to blindness!), and made him grind the stone.

“Mission accomplished”, Satan should have thought. But the special occasion that God had planned in His-story had arrived.

The Lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon (Dragon!) and to rejoice at Dagon delivering Samson, their enemy, into their hands. They brought him into their midst to make fun of him, mock and humiliate him. They set him between two pillars in the house they had gathered – all the Philistine lords, men and women, and about three thousand people on the terrace (balcony?) watching the fun. Samson prayed one last time to his Lord for strength and, catching hold of the pillars, brought down the house, roof, and all. He died with the Philistines but not before destroying a great number of them through this exploit. The dead that he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. – Jud 16:30.
Samson delivered the Israelites and thereby the believing generation from the hands of another nation again. This time, it was the Philistines.

God’s purpose was on. Satan had to put on a sad face again. The Old Serpent was eating dust – again! Can he zero in on the very family that would bring forth the “Man-child” who was waiting to be born to save mankind?