Judges 13

Judges 13:1

JUDGES CHAPTER 13

The Philistines again oppress Israel, . An angel appeareth to Manoah’ s wife, promising her a son that should be a Nazarite, and deliver Israel, . She informs her husband hereof: he prayeth, and obtaineth a return of the angel, . Manoah is desirous to provide food for the angel, and inquireth after his name, . He sacrificeth to the Lord, and the angel ascendeth to heaven in the flame of the burnt-offering, . Hereat Manoah is affrighted, but comforted by his wife; who beareth him a son; his name Samson, in whom is the Spirit of the Lord, .

Did evil, i.e. fell into idolatry, &c., not now after the death of Abdon the last judge, but in the days of the former judges.

Forty years, to be computed not from Abdon’ s death, but before that time, as is evident both from , where it is declared that Israel was under the power of the Philistines; and from , where only twenty of these years are said to have been in Samson’ s days. And it is probably conceived, that that great slaughter of the Ephraimites made by Jephthah did greatly encourage the Philistines to rise against Israel, when one of their chief bulwarks was so much weakened; and therefore that the Philistines began to domineer over them not long after Jephthah’ s death.

Judges 13:2

Zorah; a city, of which see 19:41.

Of the family, i.e. of the tribe or people, as family sometimes signifies, 10:25 .

Barren, and bare not; an emphatical repetition of the same thing in divers words, which is a usual elegancy, both in Scripture and other authors.

Judges 13:3

The angel of the Lord; the Son of God, oft so called in the Old Testament, as may be gathered from , yet distinguished from the Lord, because he appeared here as it were in the form of a servant, as a messenger sent from God, and was really a distinct person from God the Father.

Judges 13:4

Beware, I pray thee; because the child was to be a Nazarite from the womb, , and from the conception; and because the mother’ s pollution extends to the child, she is enjoined from this time to observe the following rules belonging to the Nazarites.

And drink not wine, nor strong drink; under which by a synecdoche are comprehended the other particulars mentioned , as is implied .

Any unclean thing; any of those meats forbidden Leviticus 11, which were forbidden to all, but especially to the Nazarites.

Judges 13:5

A Nazarite; a person separated from others, and consecrated to God’ s service.

He shall begin to deliver Israel; and the deliverance shall be carried on and perfected by others, as it was in part by Eli, and Samuel, and Saul; but especially by David.

Judges 13:6

A man of God; a prophet, or sacred person, sent with a message from God.

Very terrible, or, venerable, or awful, full of majesty.

Judges 13:12

Let thy words come to pass; or, thy words shall come to pass; I firmly believe that thy promises shall be fulfilled.

How shall we order the child? what rules shall we observe about his education?

Judges 13:13

Whilst the child is in her womb, and after the child is born, let him observe the same orders.

Judges 13:15

Supposing him to be a man and a prophet, to whom he would in this manner express his respect, as was usual to strangers. See .

Judges 13:16

Bread, i.e. meat, as bread is commonly taken in Scripture.

Unto the Lord; not unto a man, as now thou apprehendest me to be; but unto the Lord, as thou wilt by and by perceive me to be.

Judges 13:17

Either by making honourable mention of time, or by performing respect and service to thee, by a present, which they usually gave to prophets, ,8 .

Judges 13:18

Or, hidden from mortal men; or, wonderful, such as thou canst not comprehend; my nature or essence (which is oft signified by name in Scripture) is incomprehensible. This shows that this was the Angel of the covenant, the Son of God.

Judges 13:19

Meat-offerings were generally joined with the chief sacrifices.

Offered it upon a rock; the angel’ s presence and command being a sufficient warrant for the offering of sacrifice by a person who was no priest, and in a place otherwise forbidden.

Judges 13:20

The flame; either arising from the fire which Manoah brought for the offering, or produced by the angel out of the rock in a miraculous manner.

From off the altar, i.e. from that part of the rock which served instead of an altar, upon which the sacrifice was laid.

The angel ascended in the flame, to manifest his nature and essence to be spiritual, because not capable of hurt by the fire; and celestial.

Fell on their faces; partly in reverence to that glorious presence manifested in so wonderful a manner; and partly out of a religions horror and fear of death upon this occasion, as is expressed , for the prevention whereof they fell down in way of supplication to God.

Judges 13:23

Or,

at this time; the particle as noting here, not likeness, but the truth and reality of the thing, as it doth , and elsewhere. This expression seems to have some emphasis in it, to enhance God’ s mercy to them, as being afforded them in a time of such public and grievous calamity; and in a time when the word of the Lord was precious, and there was no open vision, as it was afterwards, .

Judges 13:24

i.e. Endowed him with all those graces and gifts of mind and body which were necessary for the work he was designed for.

Judges 13:25

To move him at times, i.e. to stir him up to heroical designs; to show forth his power in him in the frame of his mind, and in the strength of his body, discovered to his neighbours in extraordinary actions; to incline his heart to great attempts to the help and deliverance of God’ s people; and to give some essays of it to his brethren, and to seek all opportunities for it, as he did in the next chapter.

In the camp of Dan; a place so called, either from the expedition of the Danites, ,12; which though placed after this history, was done before it; or from some other camp which the Danites had formed there at this time, to give some check to the incursions of the Philistines.