22 And Manoah H4495 said H559 unto his wife, H802 We shall surely H4191 die, H4191 because we have seen H7200 God. H430
And Jacob H3290 called H7121 the name H8034 of the place H4725 Peniel: H6439 for I have seen H7200 God H430 face H6440 to face, H6440 and my life H5315 is preserved. H5337
To drive out H3423 nations H1471 from before H6440 thee greater H1419 and mightier H6099 than thou art, to bring H935 thee in, to give H5414 thee their land H776 for an inheritance, H5159 as it is this day. H3117
And when Gideon H1439 perceived H7200 that he was an angel H4397 of the LORD, H3068 Gideon H1439 said, H559 Alas, H162 O Lord H136 GOD! H3069 for because H3651 I have seen H7200 an angel H4397 of the LORD H3068 face H6440 to face. H6440
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Judges 13
Commentary on Judges 13 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 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.