Judges 13

Jud 13:1.

ISRAEL

SERVES THE

PHILISTINES

FORTY

YEARS.

1. the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty

years--The Israelites were represented

(Jud 10:6, 7)

as having fallen universally into a state of gross and confirmed

idolatry, and in chastisement of this great apostasy, the Lord raised

up enemies that harassed them in various quarters, especially the

Ammonites and Philistines. The invasions and defeat of the former were

narrated in the two chapters immediately preceding this; and now the

sacred historian proceeds to describe the inroads of the latter people.

The period of Philistine ascendency comprised forty years, reckoning

from the time of Elon till the death of Samson.

Jud 13:2-10.

AN

ANGEL

APPEARS TO

MANOAH'S

WIFE.

2. Zorah--a Danite town

(Jos 15:33)

lying on the common boundary of Judah and Dan, so that it was near the

Philistine border.

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.

5. thou shalt conceive, and bear a son--This predicted child was to be

a Nazarite. The mother was, therefore, for the sake of her promised

offspring, required to practice the rigid abstinence of the Nazarite

law (see on

Nu 6:2).

he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines--a

prophecy encouraging to a patriotic man; the terms of it, however,

indicated that the period of deliverance was still to be distant.

6-8. then Manoah entreated the Lord--On being informed by his wife of

the welcome intimation, the husband made it the subject of earnest

prayer to God. This is a remarkable instance, indicative of the

connection which God has established between prayer and the fulfilment

of His promises.

Jud 13:11-14.

THE

ANGEL

APPEARS TO

MANOAH.

11. Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman?--Manoah's intense

desire for the repetition of the angel's visit was prompted not by

doubts or anxieties of any kind, but was the fruit of lively faith, and

of his great anxiety to follow out the instructions given. Blessed was

he who had not seen, yet had believed.

Jud 13:15-23.

MANOAH'S

SACRIFICE.

15. Manoah said unto the angel . . ., I pray thee, let us detain thee,

until we shall have made ready a kid--The stranger declined the

intended hospitality and intimated that if the meat were to be an

offering, it must be presented to the Lord

[Jud 13:6].

Manoah needed this instruction, for his purpose was to offer the

prepared viands to him, not as the Lord, but as what he imagined him to

be, not even an angel

(Jud 13:16),

but a prophet or merely human messenger. It was on this account, and

not as rejecting divine honors, that he spoke in this manner to Manoah.

The angel's language was exactly similar to that of our Lord

(Mt 19:17).

17-20. Manoah said unto the angel . . ., What is thy name?--Manoah's

request elicited the most unequivocal proofs of the divinity of his

supernatural visitor--in his name "secret" (in the Margin, "wonderful"), and in the miraculous flame that betokened the acceptance

of the sacrifice.

Jud 13:24, 25.

SAMSON

BORN.

24. the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson--The birth of this

child of promise, and the report of the important national services he

was to render, must, from the first, have made him an object of

peculiar interest and careful instruction.

25. the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times--not, probably,

as it moved the prophets, who were charged with an inspired message,

but kindling in his youthful bosom a spirit of high and devoted

patriotism.

Eshtaol--the free city. It, as well as Zorah, stood on the border

between Judah and Dan.