The First Reading of December 19 is Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a. This is about the birth of Samson. The Gospel Reading is Luke 1:5-25, and it is about the birth of John the Baptist. These readings describe that God had predetermined both Samson and John to be Nazirites. It means that they were totally consecrated to God. In the cases of Samson and John the Baptist, their Nazirite status was not voluntary but set by God before their births.
These readings also reveal that both Samson and John were “miracle children” because both of their mothers had been barren. But God made the wife of Manoah and the wife of Zechariah conceive their sons for specific mission for Him. Therefore, Samson and John were not simply “miracle children” to delight their parents. Rather, these men were born to be with distinction as Nazirite for their specific missions to fulfill God’s salvific will for us.
In Samson’s case, it was to let him serve as a judge of Israel to prevent the Philistines from overpowering Israel. For this, Samson was blessed with astonishing strengths to defeat Philistines (Judges 15:1-20).
This makes Samson a precursor to David, who defeated the Philistines and redeemed the Ark of the Covenant from their possession (2 Samuel 5:17-6:23). Because Christ hailed from the Davidic lineage (Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; Zechariah 3:8; Matthew 1:1-16), Samson’s victory over the Philistines points to the victorious Christ the King, who is the branch of David (Jeremiah 23:5), the stump of David’s father, Jesse (Isaiah 11:1).
As the First Reading of December 17 (Genesis 49:2, 8-10) and the Gospel Reading (Matthew 1:1-17) remind us, Christ draws the lineage of Judah, out of the twelve sons of Jacob. And David is also on this lineage. Because of his lineage of Judah (Matthew 1:3-16), whom Jacob blessed as lion’s cub (Genesis 49:9), Christ is the lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5). However, Judah was far from being perfect as he had his share of sins (i.e. Genesis 37:23-28; 38:1-30). Nevertheless, God let this sinful son of Jacob to be an ancestor of the incarnated Christ.
Likewise, Samson did not please God for marrying to a Philistine woman (Judges 14:1-20). And he was fool to fall in love with Deliah, resulting in losing his God-blessed strengths (Judges 16:1-22). However, God made this sinful man to serve Him, as to make way for David to defeat the Philistines.
Again, we reflect on John the Baptist in the First Reading (Luke 1:5-25), not only that he was the forerunner of Christ to come but also that he was also a Nazirite as Samson was. By reading the announcements of these Nazirites’ births, we can see how the Holy Spirit worked to prepare these men to serve God.
An unnamed angel of the Lord said to the wife of Manoah:
You will conceive and bear a son. So drink no wine or beer, and eat nothing unclean. For the boy shall be a Nazirite for God from the womb, until the day of his death (Judges 13:7).
And the Holy Spirit stirred Samson as he was born (Judges 13:24-25).
Archangel Gabriel said to Zechariah, a priest of the division of Abijah, a son of Aaron:
Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of [the] Lord. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord (Luke 1:13-17).
The Nazirites are considered to be holy to the Lord. They distinguished themselves to be so by consecrating themselves totally. However, in Samson’s case and John the Baptist’s case, they were already consecrated to the Lord while they were still in their mothers’ wombs. As Nazirites, their lives were regulated according to Numbers 6:1-21.
Though both Samson and John the Baptist were Nazirites, the former took pride in God’s blessing and fell because of this (Judges 13:1-16:31), while the latter was humble and kept his Nazirite integrity until his death (John 1:27; Matthew 11:11; Luke 7:33).
Looking at the way of the Christ to come, we also see a fallen Nazirite, like Samson, who paved the way for David’s victory over the Philistine, and an exemplary Nazirite, John the Baptist, who heralded Christ, urging people to prepare the way of Christ’s coming by repenting (e.g. Matthew 3:1-12), in the spirit of Elijah (Luke 1:17), who confronted the sin of Ahab, a corrupt king of Israel, to bring God back (1 Kings 18:1-46).
These two Nazirites, Samson, and John the Baptist, contributed in their unique ways, to the way of the Christ’s coming.
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