NOTES for Jdg 13:2-7
Today we read the story of Samson’s birth. More than once in the Bible, God chooses a barren woman to become the mother of someone He has chosen for a special ministry. Later, when speaking to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the archangel Gabriel will cite the example of Saint Elizabeth, who conceived John the Baptist although she was old and barren. For a person at that time, the birth of a child to a barren woman was a miracle scarcely less remarkable than a virgin birth, because barrenness was perceived as a sentence. God intervenes in the situation. He overturns this “sentence.” It is sometimes important for Him to demonstrate plainly that the birth of this particular person was necessary to Him, that this person was chosen in a special way, and that a miracle was therefore connected with his birth. On the other hand, the miracles surrounding the births of His servants prepare people, at least to some extent, for the greatest miracle—the birth of the Son of God.