Judges 13:1-23.  When I first read through theses verses this morning I was at a loss.  Only one thing stood out to me and I couldn’t really see how it might be important.  It is though and I’ll come back to it.  Then I read a little in a commentary, a book written to help us understand the details of the passage.  I only got a little way into the introduction for this section and the author mentioned a detail that I had missed.  What I missed was what was missing.  What?  Ask yourself, “What’s missing from this story?”  In verse one the people did evil in the sight of the God, they were sinning (missing God’s mark).  God brought in a foreign power to rule over them.  They were in the hands of the Philistines and were their servants.  The rest of todays reading then tells the story of a childless couple finding out that they will have son.  Verse 5 tells us that he will begin to save the people from the Philistines.  So what’s missing?  Think of the cycle so far in Judges.  Sin, Servitude, _________ ,Salvation, Silence.  If you can’t fill in the blank read the “Intro to Judges” or some of the past posts (Or just keep reading).

Several things have happened recently that seem to fit with how today’s reading might apply to us or at least me.  Recently I heard of a couple that has no children, it was something that they chose to do in their lives.  But now they are getting older and one of them thought, “Who’s going to take care of us when we get older?”  The next thing was a conversation yesterday with one of the young people in the church.  We spent some time together and in our conversation we talked about evangelism, talking to others about Jesus and their need for Him.  Finally last night I was watching an episode of a TV show called “Last Man Standing”.  It’s a comedy show about an outdoorsy guy (His job is managing a hunting and fishing and sporting goods chain of stores). He lives with his three daughters (maybe 13-20), wife, and preschool grandson (no son-in law).  In a previous episode the main character fixed up the daughter with the baby with a young guy from his work.  In the episode I just watched the oldest daughter wakes up fully dressed on top of the blanket and the scene pans out to reveal the guy also fully dressed and asleep next to her.  A muffled scream.  The guy wakes up.  Oops they had fallen asleep talking.  Dad’s in the hall and they boy jumps out the window (second story) and limps across the lawn.  Dad enters.  Goes to close the window and sees the boy.  Busted.  Family meeting.  Rule:  “No shenanigans in my house!”  The daughter then announces that she is moving out.  Meeting adjourned, sort of.  What happens next is the interesting part with respect to todays reading.  The mom supports the daughter.  Tells the dad it’s unreasonable to expect the daughter to “just say no”.

So what does this all have to do with Judges 13:1-23?  What was missing in the cycle above is the cry for help.  The Israelites were living under the control of the Philistines, for 40 years, and seemed OK with it.  They were not asking for a deliverer.  So what was the one thing that stood out to me in the story?  It was the announcement to Manoah’s wife about the baby.  Scholars like to compare this with other similar announcements in the Bible like Sarah (Genesis 18:9-15), Rachel (Genesis 30:1-24), Rebekah (Genesis 25:19-26), Hannah (1 Samuel 1:1-20), and Elizabeth (Luke 1).  What came to my mind in the announcement was Jesus. Of course it was different for Mary she wasn’t barren, she had never even tried, she wasn’t married yet.  But there was an angel and an announcement of pregnancy (Luke 1:26-31), and most importantly Jesus’ purpose.  Mary and Joseph were both told to name the child Jesus (Luke 1:31, Matthew 1:21)  which means “God saves”.  He was to be named that because he would save his people from their sins.  We also learn from Luke 1:32-35 that he was a holy child, would rule over the Israelites forever, and was actually God’s son.

And then there’s the Nazareth connection.  Manoah’s child was to be a “Nazirite”.  When God gave His law to Moses for the Israelites there was a section describing rules for dedicating yourself to God for a special time (Numbers 6:1-21). You would make a promise to God and dedicate yourself, you would be holy (set apart for a special purpose).  Part of the way you would show that you were serious was to not eat grapes or drink wine or grape juice, no vinegar, no raisins, nothing from a grape vine.  You also would not cut your hair.  Finally you could not touch anything dead.  At the end of the promised time you would make a special offering and go back to your normal life.  The word “Nazarite” is comes from a Hebrew word “Nezer” that means to separate.  It was also used to describe untrimmed vine and is related to a Hebrew word for crown.   So the uncut hair is seen as a crown from God during the time of the vow.

Jesus’ parents were from Nazareth, a town in northern Israel.  The town was in a smaller valley hidden from view from the surrounding countryside. In a conversation between Philip and Nathanael (John 1:45-46) Nathanael has doubts about Nazareth being the place the Messiah could come from.  Nazareth is a Greek name and we do not know what the word means or where it comes from.  Some scholars think it is linked to the Hebrew word “Nezer” and others think it is not.  Jerome, an early leader in the church (300’s AD) thought that the word Nazarene meant something like our work “hick”, a person from the country.  Often people who live away from towns are seen as crude and rough, less suited for important positions like ruling a nation. Matthew tells us that the “prophets” said that the Messiah would be a “Nazarene” but there is no specific prophecy like that in the Old Testament so we cannot cross-reference the word.  The fact that Matthew says “prophets” using a plural probably means that he was summarizing an idea from several prophecies and not quoting one specific prophet.  Isaiah tells us that the Messiah would not be “majestic” and that he would be “despised” (Isaiah 53:2-3).  That seems to fit with Jerome’s suggestion about Nazareth.  On the other hand often things that are dedicated for special use (think of the definition of holy) are kept in safe places.  Like fine china hidden away in a cupboard until Thanksgiving.  Nazareth could come from the word “nezer” and Jesus would then be holy and hidden until just the right time (an idea very common in the book of Mark).

So the Israelites weren’t calling out for a savior.  They were living as slaves and didn’t even seem to care.  They had become comfortable with the lifestyle of the Philistines in their midst.  They were not living holy dedicated lives.  They didn’t even see their need for a savior.  It’s kind of like the couple above, they didn’t see their need.  Maybe they even thought that the world was over populated and they were doing a good thing.  Or in my conversation with the young person.  We talked about getting people to see their need for a savior.  How do you tell people about Jesus when they seem happy with the way life is?  But God cared and he sent a savior anyway.  To the Israelites and now to us.  Are we too comfortable to call out to Him too.  Think of that TV show.  How sad that that mom would justify fornication.  In TV land the girl can be all happy as mom and dad watch over the kid while she goes on a date.  It’s not really clear, though, where the child is when she and mom and dad are all at work.  In TV land it works in real life our actions have hard consequences.  Disobeying God has hard consequences.  Are we ignoring God in our real world?  It will catch up with us sooner or later. We need a savior and we need to call out to Him.  God help me not get too comfortable with the world.  Let me not forget your standards.  Let me not forget how dedicated you were in serving us.  You didn’t give up grape juice and hair cuts.  You gave up Heaven.  Then you gave up your blood.  Help me see my need for ou each day.  Help me understand how to show their need to others.  Thank you for being dedicated help me be dedicated too.