Judges 13:3

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) The angel of the Lord.—On this expression see Judges 2:1. Rabbi Levi Ben Gershom says that this “messenger of the Lord” was Phinehas; but nothing can be clearer than that, as in Judges 6:11, Genesis 18:10, Luke 1:11-28, a supernatural being is meant.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:1-7 Israel did evil: then God delivered them again into the hands of the Philistines. When Israel was in this distress, Samson was born. His parents had been long childless. Many eminent persons were born of such mothers. Mercies long waited for, often prove signal mercies; and by them others may be encouraged to continue their hope in God's mercy. The angel notices her affliction. God often sends comfort to his people very seasonably, when they feel their troubles most. This deliverer of Israel must be devoted to God. Manoah's wife was satisfied that the messenger was of God. She gave her husband a particular account, both of the promise and of the precept. Husbands and wives should tell each other their experiences of communion with God, and their improvements in acquaintance with him, that they may help each other in the way that is holy.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Zorah - See the marginal reference.

His wife was barren - To mark more distinctly the high providential destiny of the child that was eventually born. Compare the similar circumstances of the birth of Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, and John the Baptist.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. the angel of the Lord—The messenger of the covenant, the divine personage who made so many remarkable appearances of a similar kind already described.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The angel of the Lord; the Son of God, oft so called in the Old Testament, as may be gathered from Judges 13:18, 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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman,.... According to Josephus (k), it was in a plain without the city; and that he appeared in the form of a man is certain from Judges 13:6 but was not a mere man, a prophet of the Lord, nor a created angel, but the uncreated one, the Angel of the covenant, the Son and Word of God, who often appeared in an human form; since his name is said to be "Wonderful", and he to do wonderful things, and is called "Jehovah", Judges 13:18,

and said unto her, behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not; barren at that time, and so she had been ever since she was married to that time; and this is observed, that it might appear the more wonderful that she should after this have a child:

but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; which to do, must be ascribed to divine power, that one in her circumstances should bear a son; as the prediction of it was owing to divine omniscience, and a proof of it.

(k) Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. the angel of the Lord] i.e. Jehovah Himself in manifestation; see on Jdg 2:1. The appearance of the Angel betokens the announcement of a deliverer, as in Jdg 6:12; cf. Luke 1:11; Luke 1:15 ff., Luke 1:31 ff., Matthew 1:20 f.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Thou shalt... bear a son. It is obvious to compare the promise to Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 17:19; Genesis 18:10, 14), to Hannah (1 Samuel 1:17), to Elizabeth (Luke 1:13), and to the blessed Virgin (Luke 1:31). Judges 13:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Whilst the Israelites were given into the hands of the Philistines on account of their sins, and were also severely oppressed in Gilead on the part of the Ammonites, the angel of the Lord appeared to the wife of Manoah, a Danite from Zorea, i.e., Sur'a, on the western slope of the mountains of Judah (see at Joshua 15:33). Mishpachath Dani (the family of the Danites) is used interchangeably with shebet Dani (the tribe of the Danites: see Judges 18:2, Judges 18:11, and Judges 18:1, Judges 18:30), which may be explained on this ground, that according to Numbers 26:42-43, all the Danites formed but one family, viz., the family of the Shuhamites. The angel of the Lord announced to this woman, who was barren, "Thou wilt conceive and bear a son. And now beware, drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean: for, behold, thou wilt conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head; for a vowed man of God (Nazir) will the boy be from his mother's womb," i.e., his whole life long, "to the day of his death," as the angel expressly affirmed, according to Judges 13:7. The three prohibitions which the angel of the Lord imposed upon the woman were the three things which distinguished the condition of a Nazarite (see at Numbers 6:1-8, and the explanation given there of the Nazarite vow). The only other thing mentioned in the Mosaic law is the warning against defilement from contact with the dead, which does not seem to have been enforced in the case of Samson. When the angel added still further, "And he (the Nazarite) will begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines," he no doubt intended to show that his power to effect this deliverance would be closely connected with his condition as a Nazarite. The promised son was to be a Nazarite all his life long, because he was to begin to deliver Israel out of the power of his foes. And in order that he might be so, his mother was to share in the renunciations of the Nazarite vow during the time of her pregnancy. Whilst the appearance of the angel of the Lord contained the practical pledge that the Lord still acknowledged His people, though He had given them into the hands of their enemies; the message of the angel contained this lesson and warning for Israel, that it could only obtain deliverance from its foes by seeking after a life of consecration to the Lord, such as the Nazarites pursued, so as to realize the idea of the priestly character to which Israel had been called as the people of Jehovah, by abstinence from the deliciae carnis, and everything that was unclean, as being emanations of sin, and also by a complete self-surrender to the Lord (see Pentateuch, p. 674).