The OT contains a number of extraordinary birth scenes. These scenes, as I define them, consist of five main components, which can be summarised as follows:
a couple find themselves unable to have children;
an angel appears to a member of the couple;
the angel is greeted (usually with joy) and offered a meal of some kind;
the angel announces its news—viz. that the woman will soon conceive—, which is typically met with unbelief;
and, finally, before it departs, the angel provides one or more additional details: a] what the child is to be called, b] what the child’s mission will be, and/or c] what conditions are to be observed in the meantime (often abstinence from drink).
Each of our type-scene instances includes at least four of these five components, as shown below.1
While each scene contains the majority of our type-scene’s main components, however, no one scene contains all of them; rather, each scene omits at least one of our type-scene’s main components and reworks others (as we’ll see), which it does for important reasons. For instance: while Sarah cannot bear children because she is too old, Mary cannot bear children because she is a virgin, which on the one hand connects the birth of Jesus to the other extraordinary births in the OT and yet at the same time sets it apart from them.
In the present note, I will analyse each instance of our type-scene in turn and will seek to explain how their differences foreshadow the distinctives of the ministry of the child whose birth they describe.
1. The Birth of Isaac
Our first scene is the birth of Isaac (cp. Gen. 18–21), which contains the majority of the main components of our type-scene:
Sarah and Abraham are childless;
an angel (or, more precisely, angels) appears to Abraham;
flour-cakes are prepared for the angel (together with a calf); and
shortly afterwards, the birth of a child is announced, which is met with unbelief.
The birth of Isaac is thus a classic example of our extraordinary birth type-scene. It is also a significant example, since Isaac’s seed will become a great nation, which is brought out by its narratival context. In ch. 18, Isaac’s birth is foretold; in ch. 21, Isaac is born; and sandwiched in between these two incidents are: a] the experiences of Lot in Sodom, where men seek to engage in unfruitful sexual activities, and b] the experiences of Abraham in Egypt, where YHWH closes the wombs of the Egyptians. Isaac’s birth is thus framed against a backdrop of death and infertility, which serves to highlight the extraordinary nature of Abraham’s seed.
At the same time, the birth of Isaac involves a number of major twists/variations. First, no mention is made of Isaac’s name or his role in God’s plans. Why? Because God revealed these things to Abraham back in ch. 17: the child was to be called Isaac, and he would be the son in whom God fulfilled his covenant with Abraham (cp. Gen. 17.1–8, 19–21). The angelic announcement in ch. 18 does not, therefore, come out of the blue (as it does in our other scenes), which emphasises the fact it is the fulfilment of a prior promise.
Second, Abraham is visited by a multiplicity of angels (another distinctive of Isaac’s birth scene), which resonates with the multitude of descendants Abraham is promised (Gen. 17.4–6). Meanwhile, the three measures of flour in the scene resonates with the three measures of flour in Jesus’ parable of the kingdom—measures of flour which are gradually yet inexorably leavened (Luke 13.21). The effects of YHWH’s covenant with Abraham and Isaac will ultimately affect every ‘family’ of the earth (Gen. 12.3).
Third, Abraham’s visitor does not require anything of him and/or Sarah; that is to say, neither Abraham nor Sarah are required to abstain from wine or unclean food or any other substances. They are not even required to believe God’s promise. (When they first hear it, they respond with laughter, which is reflected in Isaac’s name: Gen. 17.17, 18.12, 21.6.) The text of chs. 17–18 thus highlights the initiative and sovereignty of God in the fulfilment of his promises. In Genesis 1, God gives man a command—‘Be fruitful (פְּרוּ) and multiply (וּרְבוּ)!’—, which Adam and Eve struggle to accomplish (cp. 3.16). And so, in ch. 17, God recasts the same two verbs in the causative stem, with him as their subject and Abraham as their object (cp. 17.2, 6); that is to say, God says he will multiply Abraham’s seed, and he will make Abraham fruitful (אַרְבֶּה אוֹתְךָ וְהִפְרֵתִי אֹתְךָ). Abraham’s line will thus succeed where Adam’s has failed, since its success will be grounded in the ‘I will’ of God rather than the will/ability of man.
2. The Birth of Samson
Our next extraordinary birth scene is found in Judges 13. All of our main components are again present. We have a barren woman (Manoah’s wife), the appearance of an angel, who is later presented with a flour-cake, the annunciation of a birth, conditions attached to the child’s lifestyle (included among which is abstinence from wine), and a description of the child’s role.
As before, however, Samson’s birth scene includes a number of important twists/variations. First, while we are told a great deal about Sarah’s desperation to have children and about Hannah’s prayers, we are told nothing at all about Manoah and his wife’s. The angel simply appears to Manoah’s wife one day and tells her she will bear a son, all of which is highly significant, since Samson himself is in many respects an unwanted deliverer. Unlike every other episode of deliverance in the book of Judges, the Israelites are not said to cry out to YHWH for relief prior to the rise of Samson (cp. Judg. 3.9, 3.15, 4.3, 6.6, 10.10). They do not even seem to want to be delivered from their enemies, and ultimately they hand Samson, their deliverer, over to them (15.11ff.).
Second, while what Isaac will achieve is stated very clearly (Gen. 17.6, 19–21) (as it is in our other birth scenes), the same can’t be said of Samson. Samson’s mission is described in decidedly cryptic terms. He will begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines, the angel tells Manoah’s wife (13.5). Yet why only begin? What will hinder him? (In the previous episode of the book of Judges, we were told Jephthah would ‘begin’ to take the fight to the Ammonites, which didn’t turn out very well: 10.18.) Manoah therefore seeks to clarify Samson’s mission (13.12), but the angel ignores his question. And the angel’s reference to the day of Samson’s death also seems slightly ominous (13.7). Samson’s mission is thus enshrouded in ambiguity from its very outset, which is significant, since Samson is one of the most ambiguous figures in the Biblical narrative. He likes to make up rhymes and tell riddles, and yet his life does not merely involve riddles; it is itself a riddle. Often, as readers of the text, we are left unsure of Samson’s motives for his actions (cp. 14.4) and of his faithfulness (or otherwise) to his vow (e.g., 14.5, 14.8), which makes it hard to evaluate Samson’s character, especially given Samson’s apparent lack of success in terms of his deliverance of Israel. Noteworthy for a similar reason is Samson’s name. Samson is the only child in our birth scenes not to have been assigned a name in advance of his birth, which is significant, since the name ⟨Samson⟩ (שִׁמְשׁוֹן) is hugely ambiguous. Is it connected to the Hebrew שֶׁמֶשׁ = ‘a ray of sunshine’? Or the Aramaic root שׁמ׳׳שׁ = ‘to be in servitude’? Or, worse still, the Canaanite deity Shemesh (שֶׁמֶשׁ)? It is hard to know. Samson’s name thus heightens the ambiguity in which his life is enshrouded.
Third, while the angelic visitors in our birth scenes are typically recognised as angels of YHWH, Manoah and his wife’s visitor isn’t. The couple seem oblivious to his true identity until he departs from them, at which point Manoah recognises the angel as a manifestation of YHWH and fears for his life. (‘When the angel did not appear any more, Manoah knew it was the angel of YHWH’: 13.21.) Manoah’s lack of awareness of the presence of YHWH is significant since it anticipates a similar lack of awareness in Samson. For the majority of his life, Samson seems unaware of—or at least unmoved by—YHWH’s presence with him. Only when YHWH departs does he become aware of it, at which point he too fears for his life (albeit for different reasons to Manoah).
Fourth, in contrast to our other birth scenes, the angelic visitor involved in Samson’s birth interacts almost exclusively with the mother-to-be (Manoah’s attempts to involve himself are largely unsuccessful), which anticipates the importance of women in the course of Samson’s life. Indeed, Samson’s story can profitably be analysed and structured in light of his interaction with a series of different women (or groups of women), each of whom are are introduced in turn and referred to by a heptad of occurrences of the word ishah (אִשָּׁה) (‘woman’). The first is his mother, who seeks to exert a positive influence on Samson (14.1–3), yet is unable to do so because Samson spurns her advice. Thereafter, Samson’s life begins to spiral out of control, while our text’s usage of the word ishah (אִשָּׁה) encompasses more and more women within its field of referents. The first fourteen occurrences of ishah refer to Samson’s mother (ch. 13);2 the next seven refer to Samson’s bride-to-be (ch. 14);3 and the final seven refer to a whole array of women (chs. 15–16),4 viz. Samson’s re-assigned bride, a prostitute in Gaza, Delilah, and the women on the roof of Dagon’s temple. Ironically, the woman to whom Samson pays least attention is the woman he was raised up to deliver, namely Israel, the bride of Yahweh.
3. The Birth of Samuel
Our next birth scene is the birth of Samuel (1 Samuel 1–2). All of the usual components are present: a barren woman (Hannah), the annunciation of a birth (Samuel’s), vows/requirements, and a flour cake (presented to the Temple along with Samuel). Also present, however, are a number of important departures from the norm.
First, a second wife (tzarah, alt. ‘rival’) is involved. In our first two birth scenes, both members of the relevant couples are in the same boat: it is not only Sarah who is too old to have children, but Abraham as well; and, since Manoah only has one wife (as far as we know), him and his wife are alike childless. In Samuel’s story, however, Elkanah has a second wife (Peninnah), and, while Hannah has been fruitless, Peninnah has not (1 Sam. 1.2). The relationship/rivalry between Hannah and Peninnah is significant, since it foreshadows the rivalry soon to develop between Samuel and Eli. Just as Peninnah starts to bear children before Hannah does and yet is ultimately left with fewer children (2.5), so Eli acquires a priestly office before Samuel does and yet is ultimately surpassed by Samuel and cut off from the priesthood (2.30ff.). At the same time, just as Elkanah gives Hannah (his favoured wife) ‘a double portion’ of his possessions each year when he goes up to Shiloh, so Hannah gives Samuel a priestly robe each year in reflection of his status as Eli’s successor and superior.
Second, in the absence of any angelic visitations in Samuel’s birth scene, Hannah takes the initiative, which is unusual. It is Hannah who chooses to abstain from food (1.7), Hannah who vows to dedicate her child to YHWH (1.11), and Hannah whose prayers result in the birth of Samuel, to which Eli does little more than add his approval (1.17). Hannah’s agency is thus quite remarkable. It is also significant, since it emphasises the inactivity and inadequacy of Eli’s office. Eli is primarily an observer in Samuel’s story, and he is not a very attentive one. He has been made fat/heavy by his inactivity (hence we typically find him seated: 1.9, 4.13), made blind by his determination to overlook his sons’ sins (3.15), and made deaf by his refusal to hear the word of YHWH (3.1–7). Indeed, ch. 1’s references to Eli and his sons seem to ‘intrude’ into the flow of the text of 1 Samuel, as is illustrated in the table below.
As can be seen, our text’s references to Eli and his sons are at best parenthetical, which emphasises their irrelevance to the text’s events, and at worst highly disruptive, which portrays Eli and his sons as an obstacle to God’s plans. Either way, it is high time for Eli and his sons to be removed and replaced, which is precisely what Samuel is born to do.
4. NT Birth Scenes
We thus come to the birth scenes of John the Baptist and Jesus, which the text of Luke carefully dovetails together, as shown below:
Before we analyse these birth scenes individually, it will be helpful to consider them as a unit. The first thing we should note is how they are full of OT allusions. While our OT birth scenes involve the same main components, they do not involve many specific allusions to one another. By way of contrast, our NT birth scenes are full of allusions to our OT birth scenes. Like Abraham and Sarah, Zechariah and Elizabeth are residents of the Judean hillside.5 They are also ‘advanced in days’, which makes them unable to have children.6 And, like Elkanah and Hannah, they are a priestly couple7 who live under the shadow of ungodly leaders (in the former case, Hophni and Phinehas, and in the latter, Herod) (Luke 1.4). Like Elkanah, Zechariah visits the Temple in accord with a liturgical cycle, where he receives news of an extraordinary birth to come (and his wife conceives after he returns from his duties). Like Manoah’s wife, John is required to abstain from wine. Like Hannah’s, Mary’s song is a celebration of the way God is about to turn things upside down in Israel (‘The Lord has brought down the mighty from their thrones; ...he has filled the hungry with good things, etc.’: Luke 1.52–53, 1 Sam. 2.5–8). Like Elkanah and Hannah, Mary and Joseph go up to the house of God on a yearly basis, where they leave their child once he has reached the right age (albeit by accident).8 And so it continues. These allusions are significant. Our NT birth scenes do not simply represent further examples of our type-scene; they represent its fulness and culmination—the climactic event to which the births of Isaac, Samson, and Samuel all look forward.
The second thing we should note about our NT birth scenes is the identity of the angel involved in them. While the angel in the OT’s birth scenes is a theophany—i.e., a manifestation of YHWH—, the angel in the NT’s scenes is Gabriel. Why? Because YHWH is made manifest not in an angelic visitation, but in the birth of the Lord Jesus, Israel’s Messiah.
With these things in mind, then, let us go on to consider the births of John and Jesus as individual incidents. In the birth of John, we again have the main components of our type-scene: a barren couple (Zechariah and Elizabeth), an angelic visitor (Gabriel), and the annunciation of a birth (John’s). Also present are some additional items of information, viz. what John is to be called, what his role will be, and what is required of Zechariah in the meantime. The twist, however, concerns the precise details of what is ‘required’ from Zechariah. While Manoah’s wife abstains from wine and Hannah fast, Zechariah is to abstain from speech, and not voluntarily; rather, Zechariah will be rendered unable to speak until John is born, which is significant. Israel has been without a prophetic voice in her midst for many long years (viz. the inter-testamental period), yet, in the ministry of John the Baptist, God will once again begin to speak to them. Similarly, Zechariah will be unable to speak until John is born, at which point he will regain his voice and begin to prophesy (1.67ff.). Zechariah is not merely, therefore, a priest who ‘makes signs’ to those around him (1.22); by virtue of his muteness, he becomes a sign. Like Ezekiel, he is rendered mute and forced to communicate by means of a clay tablet, since his audience, like Ezekiel’s is a rebellious house (Luke 1.63, 3.7ff., Ezek. 3.26–4.3).
We thus come to the birth of Jesus. The main components of our birth scene are again present (an angelic visitor, the annunciation of a birth, and the revelation of Jesus’ name and mission). As usual, however, we have some important twists to consider. The first concerns Mary and Joseph. In our OT birth scenes, the couples involved are unable to have children either because the woman is barren or because both members of the couple are too old. Mary, however, is neither barren nor old; she is a virgin, which requires a whole new category of extraordinary birth. For a couple to have a child in their old age is ‘difficult’ (Gen. 18.14), yet for a virgin to have a child is ‘impossible’ (Luke 1.37), which is a significant difference, since Jesus will not merely accomplish what men have found difficult; he will accomplish what men have found impossible: to be precise, he will save Israel from her sins. Isaac made Israel a great nation (through Jacob), but he could not make Israel a faithful nation; Samson began to deliver his people, but he could not fully deliver his people; and Samuel ousted an unfaithful priestly line from Israel, yet he could not replace it with a faithful line (since his sons did not follow in his footsteps). Jesus, however, will usher in an entirely new phase in Israel’s history, and it is one which will ultimately and inexorably bring about the salvation of all Israel as well as the nations (Gal. 3, Rom. 11).
Second, while the missions of Isaac and Samuel are described very positively, the mission of Jesus is described more ominously, in which sense it is reminiscent of Samson’s birth scene. It is associated not only with the ‘rise’ of many in Israel, but also with their ‘fall’ (2.34), and is said to involve opposition and the sword (2.34–35). Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth is portrayed in an equally ominous light. Mary and Joseph receive a frosty reception in their hometown (2.7); Jesus’ birth is accompanied with bloodshed and sacrifice (2.21–24), which would not have been unusual in historical terms though is a notable distinctive of Jesus’ birth scene; and, soon after his birth, Jesus’ disappears for three days at the time of the Passover (2.43ff.), which foreshadows a Passover to come. (‘It is now the third day since these things happened’: 24.41.) The distinctives of Jesus’ birth scene thus anticipate the distinctives of his ministry. He will be rejected by his people and will fall at a time of sacrifice, and yet, like Samson’s, his death will mark the pinnacle and accomplishment of his ministry.
Final Reflections
The Bible’s extraordinary birth scenes are carefully constructed narratives. While they are cut from the same basic template, each scene has its own particular twist, and each twist sheds light on the life of the child about to be born. In Isaac’s birth scene, no conditions are attached to his birth, since Sarah’s fruitfulness is grounded in the ‘I will’ of God’s promise rather than the faithfulness of Sarah. Samson’s birth scene is enshrouded in ambiguity, since Samson himself is enshrouded in ambiguity. In Samuel’s birth scene, Hannah highlights Eli’s inadequacy, just as Samuel will in the days to come. In John’s birth scene, Zechariah regains his voice, since the birth of John marks the re-emergence of a prophetic voice in Israel. And Jesus’ birth scene is the ultimate in the Bible’s extraordinary birth scenes, since Jesus’ ministry is the culmination of his predecessors’, and he will succeed precisely where they have failed. Each birth scene in Scripture thus fits and informs its particular context. And each scene’s particularities come to light only when we consider it in light of all of Scripture, which is ultimately not just a literary context, but a context created for it by the divine author of world history.
In each case, the text goes on to describe how the child ‘grows up’ (cp. גדל in Gen. 21.8, 13.24, 1 Sam. 2.21, 3.19, αὐξάνω in Luke 1.80, 2.40), which, one would think, is a rather trivial detail for an author to bother to include. (Most children grow up sooner or later.) Apparently, then, Scripture wants us to give careful consideration to how the children of extraordinary births develop, and what else takes place as they do so. Just because their births are extraordinary does not mean they are any less ‘organic’ or influenced by their environments than other births.
Cp. 13.2, 3, 6, 9, 10, 11 (x2), 13, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.
Cp. 14.1, 2, 7, 10, 15, 16, 20.
Cp. 15.1 (x2), 6, 16.1, 4, 27 (x2).
Cp. Gen. 18.1, Luke 1.39–40. The ‘oaks of Mamre’ are situated in Hebron (Gen. 13.18).
Cp. Gen. 18.11’s בָּאִים בַּיָּמִים = LXX προβεβηκότες ἡμερῶν with Luke 1.7’s προβεβηκότες ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις.
For Samuel’s ancestry, cp. 1 Chr. 6.33ff.
Cp. 1 Sam. 1.24ff., Luke 2.21–22, 2.41ff. Note also how Mary and Joseph encounter a woman at the Temple named Anna (the Greek equivalent of ‘Hannah’), who fasts and prays (like Hannah) for the redemption of Israel.
The ‘Extraordinary Birth’ Type-Scene
What about Jephtha? Story ends with a childless woman longing for a child also mentioned in Hebrews.
This is great! I love all the connections.
Where would you put Moses’s birth narrative in relation to the ones you examined?