Born with Expectations

 

    It seems that firstborns are born with excitement and high expectations for their future.  As more children come the expectations are not as high on the other children due to exhaustion, business, and the learning curve.  It makes it seem that the eldest are held at a higher standard.  In a way they are, but each child is different and each time of birth the parents are different.  Sibling can grow up with the same parents and in the same home and still have very different childhoods.

    When Samson was born the Israelites had been under the control of the Philistines for 40 years.  It had been a long and agonizing period of time and they were looking for hope when an angel came to Manoah's wife to tell her that she was going to have a son.  She was sterile, so it was a miracle that brought her excitement.  She didn't even mind that he was to be a Nazirite from birth.  A baby would change the parents lives, but a Nazirite baby would change everything.

    Samson was born to be set apart to be the Israelite savior.  It was probably a little lonely for him to be so different from the other kids and told of his expectations.  The entire community probably knew and treated him differently.  Samson was a blessing to everyone, but his life was probably a little restrictive since he could not understand for a long time.

   

Judges 13