Following the death of judge Abdon the Israelites abandoned God's way and he punished them with 40 years of Philistine domination as a consequence.
Then a man called Manoah, who had a sterile wife, received a visit from the angel of the Lord telling her she was to have a child who would be a Nazarite (Numbers 6) and when he was born she wasn't allowed to cut his hair. As from that moment the woman could not drink anything fermented or eat anything unclean. When she shared the good news with Manoah, her husband, he prayed that the angel of the Lord would re-appear to them.
Then the angel of the Lord did re-appear and confirmed all he had said the first time, but Manoah didn't realize who he was. Manoah offered him food which he refused, but he suggested he could offer a burnt offering unto the Lord. When Manoah burnt the offering the angel of the Lord went up in the flame making him finally realize who he was. So it was that the couple had a son whom they called Samson and he grew in God's blessing with his spirit stirring in him.
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