6 Then the woman came in, and said to her husband, A man came to me, and his form was like the form of a god, causing great fear; I put no question to him about where he came from, and he did not give me his name;
Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, What is your name, so that when your words come true we may give you honour? But the angel of the Lord said to him, Why are you questioning me about my name, seeing that it is a wonder?
But the servant said to him, See now, in this town there is a man of God, who is highly honoured, and everything he says comes true: let us go there now; it may be that he will give us directions about our journey.
Now this is the blessing which Moses, the man of God, gave to the children of Israel before his death.
And lifting up my eyes I saw the form of a man clothed in a linen robe, and round him there was a band of gold, of the best gold:
But you, O man of God, keep yourself from these things, and go after righteousness, religion, faith, love, a quiet mind, gentle behaviour.
And all those who were in the Sanhedrin, looking at him, saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
And the angel, answering, said, I am Gabriel, whose place is before God; I have been sent to say these words to you and to give you this good news.
His form was shining like the light, and his clothing was white as snow: And for fear of him the watchmen were shaking, and became as dead men.
And Jacob, awaking from his sleep, said, Truly, the Lord is in this place and I was not conscious of it. And fear came on him, and he said, This is a holy place; this is nothing less than the house of God and the doorway of heaven.
So he came and took his place near where I was; and when he came, I was full of fear and went down on my face: but he said to me, Let it be clear to you, O son of man; for the vision has to do with the time of the end.
And she said to her husband, Now I see that this is a holy man of God, who comes by day after day.
Then the woman said to Elijah, Now I am certain that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true.
And Manoah said to his wife, Death will certainly be our fate, for it is a god whom we have seen.
Then Manoah made prayer to the Lord, and said, O Lord, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and make clear to us what we are to do for the child who is to come.
And he said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses kept his face covered for fear of looking on God.
And the angel of the Lord was seen by him in a flame of fire coming out of a thorn-tree: and he saw that the tree was on fire, but it was not burned up.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Judges 13
Commentary on Judges 13 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 13
At this chapter begins the story of Samson, the last of the judges of Israel whose story is recorded in this book, and next before Eli. The passages related concerning him are, from first to last, very surprising and uncommon. The figure he makes in this history is really great, and yet vastly different from that of his predecessors. We never find him at the head either of a court or of an army, never upon the throne of judgment nor in the field of battle, yet, in his own proper person, a great patriot of his country, and a terrible scourge and check to its enemies and oppressors; he was an eminent believer (Heb. 11:32) and a glorious type of him who with his own arm wrought salvation. The history of the rest of the judges commences from their advancement to that station, but Samson's begins with his birth, nay, with his conception, no less than an angel from heaven ushers him into the world, as a pattern of what should be afterwards done to John Baptist and to Christ. This is related in this chapter.
Jdg 13:1-7
The first verse gives us a short account, such as we have too often met with already, of the great distress that Israel was in, which gave occasion for the raising up of a deliverer. They did evil, as they had done, in the sight of the Lord, and then God delivered them, as he had done, into the hands of their enemies. If there had been no sin, there would have needed no Saviour; but sin was suffered to abound, that grace might much more abound. The enemies God now sold them to were the Philistines, their next neighbours, that lay among them, the first and chief of the nations which were devoted to destruction, but which God left to prove them (ch. 3:1, 3), the five lords of the Philistines, an inconsiderable people in comparison with Israel (they had but five cities of any note), and yet, when God made use of them as the staff in his hand, they were very oppressive and vexatious. And this trouble lasted longer than any yet: it continued forty years, though probably not always alike violent. When Israel was in this distress Samson was born; and here we have his birth foretold by an angel. Observe,
Jdg 13:8-14
We have here an account of a second visit which the angel of God made to Manoah and his wife.
Jdg 13:15-23
We have here an account,