Matthew Poole's Commentary And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. The Philistines again oppress Israel, Judges 13:1. An angel appeareth to Manoah’s wife, promising her a son that should be a Nazarite, and deliver Israel, Judges 13:2-5. She informs her husband hereof: he prayeth, and obtaineth a return of the angel, Judges 13:6-14. Manoah is desirous to provide food for the angel, and inquireth after his name, Judges 13:15-18. He sacrificeth to the Lord, and the angel ascendeth to heaven in the flame of the burnt-offering, Judges 13:19-21. 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, Judges 13:22-25. 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 Judges 13:5, where it is declared that Israel was under the power of the Philistines; and from Judges 15:20, 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. And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. Zorah; a city, of which see Joshua 15:33 19:41. Of the family, i.e. of the tribe or people, as family sometimes signifies, Joshua 7:17 Jeremiah 8:3 10:25 Amos 3:1 Micah 2:3 Zechariah 14:18. 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. 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. 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. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: Beware, I pray thee; because the child was to be a Nazarite from the womb, Judges 13:5, 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 Numbers 6:2-4, as is implied Judges 13:14. Any unclean thing; any of those meats forbidden Le 11, which were forbidden to all, but especially to the Nazarites. For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no rasor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. 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. Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name: A man of God; a prophet, or sacred person, sent with a message from God. Very terrible, or, venerable, or awful, full of majesty. But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. No text from Poole on this verse. Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. No text from Poole on this verse. And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her. No text from Poole on this verse. And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day. No text from Poole on this verse. And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am. No text from Poole on this verse. And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him? 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? And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. Whilst the child is in her womb, and after the child is born, let him observe the same orders. She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe. No text from Poole on this verse. And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. 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 Genesis 18:5 Judges 6:18. And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD. 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. And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour? Either by making honourable mention of time, or by performing respect and service to thee, by a present, which they usually gave to prophets, 1 Samuel 9:7,8 1 Kings 14:3. And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? 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. So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. 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. For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. 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 Judges 13:22, for the prevention whereof they fell down in way of supplication to God. But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD. No text from Poole on this verse. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. No text from Poole on this verse. But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these. Or, at this time; the particle as noting here, not likeness, but the truth and reality of the thing, as it doth Numbers 11:1 Deu 9:10, 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, 1 Samuel 3:1. And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. i.e. Endowed him with all those graces and gifts of mind and body which were necessary for the work he was designed for. And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol. 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, Judges 18:11,12; 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. |
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