Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 78
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IMMERSE
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KINGDOMS
13:4-21
become pregnant and give birth to a son. So be careful; you must not drink
wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food. You will
become pregnant and give birth to a son, and his hair must never be cut.
For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. He will begin to
rescue Israel from the Philistines.”
The woman ran and told her husband, “A man of God appeared to me!
He looked like one of God’s angels, terrifying to see. I didn’t ask where
he was from, and he didn’t tell me his name. But he told me, ‘You will
become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must not drink wine or
any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food. For your son will
be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the moment of his birth until the
day of his death.’”
Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, saying, “Lord, please let the man of
God come back to us again and give us more instructions about this son
who is to be born.”
God answered Manoah’s prayer, and the angel of God appeared once
again to his wife as she was sitting in the field. But her husband, Manoah,
was not with her. So she quickly ran and told her husband, “The man who
appeared to me the other day is here again!”
Manoah ran back with his wife and asked, “Are you the man who spoke
to my wife the other day?”
“Yes,” he replied, “I am.”
So Manoah asked him, “When your words come true, what kind of rules
should govern the boy’s life and work?”
The angel of the Lord replied, “Be sure your wife follows the instructions I gave her. She must not eat grapes or raisins, drink wine or any other
alcoholic drink, or eat any forbidden food.”
Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please stay here until we
can prepare a young goat for you to eat.”
“I will stay,” the angel of the Lord replied, “but I will not eat anything.
However, you may prepare a burnt offering as a sacrifice to the Lord.”
(Manoah didn’t realize it was the angel of the Lord.)
Then Manoah asked the angel of the Lord, “What is your name? For
when all this comes true, we want to honor you.”
“Why do you ask my name?” the angel of the Lord replied. “It is too
wonderful for you to understand.”
Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered it on a
rock as a sacrifice to the Lord. And as Manoah and his wife watched, the
Lord did an amazing thing. As the flames from the altar shot up toward
the sky, the angel of the Lord ascended in the fire. When Manoah and his
wife saw this, they fell with their faces to the ground.
The angel did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Manoah finally