Manoah’s wife

I’ve been doing more teaching about women’s roles in ministry lately, in part because of the popularity of the Da Vinci Code. In it, Dan Brown highlights the ways Christianity has oppressed “the feminine” over the centuries. He gets some things right, but gets much of it wrong. It is, after all, a work of fiction. But the topic of women in ministry has been on my mind. (If you want to read an article I wrote on a Biblical view of women in ministry, click here.)

So a week ago, I was reading through the book of Judges in the Bible. It’s a bipolar book, cycling between upswings of faith and downswings of infidelity. But the people go from bad to worse, with the highs getting lower and the lows even lower still — it’s downright depressing. But in the middle of it all is a highlight I’ve never noticed before: Manoah’s wife.

In Judges 13, she was barren and thus childless — a stigma of the day. But an angel of the Lord appears to her and promises her a son who would deliver Israel from the Phillistines. He also gives her instructions on how to raise the unborn son, and she faithfully reports everything to her husband.

This is where things get interesting: Manoah prays for the angel to return to teach them how to raise the coming boy — even though his wife already gave him the instructions. Just like a man! When the angel returns, he appears not to Manoah, but to his wife again. But she retrieves Manoah, who asks the angel directly about what to do with the unborn boy. The angel reminds Manoah that he already gave the instructions to his wife, yet graciously repeats them again for his benefit. Here’s the kicker: Manoah doesn’t even realize it’s an angel until the end and when he does, he’s afraid that he’ll die for seeing God face to face. In response, Manoah’s wife corrects him, saying that if they were going to die, then God wouldn’t have accepted their offerings nor gave them instructions on how to raise their son. Duh! Who’s teaching who?

In a time when women were often seen as property (cf. the rest of Judges), who’s the hero here? An unnamed woman married to a Danite. Again, the Old Testament uplifts a woman in the most unlikely of places.

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7 Comments

  1. I had some friends who had questions about women in ministry, and I actually gave them your old paper that you linked to here.

    Looking forward to seeing you soon!

    Reply

  2. Hi, honey! I’m writing from my hotel room in Seoul, 6pm Tuesday. I miss you so much! Thanks always for your championing of women in ministry–I didn’t realize the nuances of the story about Manoah’s wife (are they the parents of Samson?). You’re awesome! You da best, Wifey

    Reply

  3. Hi wifey — yeah, they’re Samson’s parents. Cool, eh? And it’s cool that the flags work too! (For everyone else, the flags represent the country where you are commenting from — so Jinhee’s shows a Korean flag because she’s writing from Seoul, not because she’s Korean. =p). Love you baby!

    Reply

  4. someone from ccfc June 23, 2006 at 8:52 am

    thank you so much for this post! so affirming and encouraging. like a light in darkness, an oasis in the desert, etc. etc. and your paper was really faith-renewing. thanks for standing up for, and with women.

    Reply

  5. dude, we never comment on each other’s blogs like that…. wow.

    thanks also for the insight into Manoah…. it’s sad that they don’t name the wife (do they?).

    Reply

  6. I,m trying to find the name of Manoah wife if it’s possible

    Reply

  7. Sorry Harry — I haven’t been able to find it. Let me know if you do. =)

    Reply

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