Manoah and His Wife Facts for 3-8 Year Olds

Categories: Samson

• Manoah’s name means “rest.”
• He belongs to the tribe of Dan and lives just north of the Tribe of Judah.
• He is the father of Samson.
• His wife is not named.
• She is childless.
• It never says that she prays, but surely she is praying for a child.
• One day an angel appears to her and tells her that she will give birth to a son.
• She cannot drink any wine.
• She cannot eat anything unclean.
• The son’s hair should never be cut because he “is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God.” He will save Israel from the Philistines.
• Obviously, the woman is very excited.
• She goes to tell her husband.
• She fully trusts that he will understand her communication with the angel.
• She says to him, “A man of God came to me.”
• She repeats word for word what the angel has said.
• Manoah prays that God will send the angel back to teach them “how to bring up the boy….”
• God hears the prayer of Manoah.
• One day, the angel comes again to Manoah’s wife while she is out in the field when her husband is not with her.
• She runs to get her husband saying, “He’s here. The man who appeared to me the other day!”
• Manoah follows her home. He asks the man, “Are you the man that talked to my wife?”
• The angel replies that he is.
• Manoah asks, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy’s life and work?”
• The angel repeats the instructions he has already given to Manoah’s wife.
• In gratitude, Manoah invites him to stay while they prepare a young goat for him.
• The angel suggests they offer that goat to the Lord.
• Manoah asks the angel his name.
• The angel replies that his name is “beyond understanding.”
• Manoah follows the angel’s instruction.
• The angel ascends up into the sky.
• Manoah and his wife fall with their faces to the ground.
• Both are convinced they have seen “God.”
• Manoah’s wife gives birth to a boy and names him Samson.
• Little is known about their family life.
• When Samson is grown and ready to marry, he sees a young Philistine woman. He asks his father and mother to get her for him.
• They reply: “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people?”
• Samson, however, is insistent.
• Nothing they say changes Samson’s mind.
• His parents attend the marriage.
• There is no further information about them in the story.
• But there is a reference to Samson’s “brothers and his father’s whole family.” This suggests that Manoah and his wife have additional children.