The ninteenth episode of the fifth season of the Retelling the Bible Podcast is posted today (September 15, 2021). It tells the truly extraordinary story of the conception of the great judge, Samson. You can listen to the story right now and subscribe to the podcast by following one of these links or by searching for the podcast on your favourite platform:
Show Notes about the Story
The story of Manoah, his wife and the angel of God is told in Judges 13. Any direct biblical quotations in the episode are taken from the New Revised Standard Version.
Who is Manoah?
Manoah is not really a very important biblical figure and that is kind of the point of his story. His only claim to fame is that he is the father of the great Samson.
When dealing with the story of Samson, as with all of the stories in the Book of Judges, we have very little confidence in terms of historicity. The stories of the judges appear to be mostly legends and stories passed down among the tribes and various other groups. Some of the stories may be based on real historical figures, of course, but it is reasonable to assume that various legendary features have crept into them in the course of transmission.
I have previously told the stories of other judges like Ehud (the Bible’s greatest southpaw) and Jephthah.
An Important Biblical Trope
As a product of a deeply patriarchal society, the Bible is generally not very interested in the stories of women. Its narratives are largely driven by powerful and influential men. But there is one very important exception to this general rule. There are a great number of stories of women who struggle to bring sons into the world, sons who are destined to save God’s people.
The basic elements of these stories are repeated many times. They start with a woman who is struggling with infertility. There is often a stranger who appears to bring the news that she will finally be able to have a son. The child then grows up to bring salvation to the nation. We find this story repeated in the case of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, in the story of Hannah (Samuel’s mother) and Elizabeth in the Gospel of Luke.
I would also suggest that the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, also fits into this trope in some ways, as I explained in episode 1.4 The stranger.
This trope is problematic in a number of ways. It strongly implies that infertility is a uniquely female problem, when we know today that men are just as likely to suffer from infertility. It also strongly implies that the only way that women can contribute to the nation is by bearing strong male children.
But we can say one thing, in the midst of all this literature totally focused upon men, at least these are stories that focus on women. They are the main characters of the stories. Often their husbands play only a small role in the story at best and they do not drive the plot.
Samson’s mother
The story of the birth of Samson fits with this biblical trope. It starts out completely focused on the woman, who is the one who receives a remarkable visitation from a supernatural figure. Her husband, like in so many of the other similar stories, is poised to play no significant part in the story other than his necessary role in impregnating his wife.
But here is where the story departs from its usual pattern. Manoah, the father, apparently decides that he needs to make this story all about himself. In so doing, he actually doesn’t contribute anything to the resolution of the tale. He receives no new information, nor does he obtain any additional blessing.
As I read this story, I came to the conclusion that, in some sense, the biblical writer was mocking Manoah and his self-importance, and so I decided to make that more explicit in my retelling of the tale.
The Angel of God
The figure who, in this story, is alternatively called the angel of God and the angel of Yahweh is fascinating. In this story, as in a number of other stories about the angel of Yahweh, there is at least a suggestion that he is not just any messenger of God, but actually a manifestation of Godself. I did rather enjoy playing with the ambiguity of this character as I told this story.
Music in this Episode
“AhDah” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Daily Beetle by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3579-daily-beetle
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Retelling the Bible 
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