Judges 13:15

_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._ 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. 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 (Judges 13:16), but a prophet or merely human messenger. It was on this account, and not as rejecting divine honours, that he spoke in this manner to Manoah. The angel's language was exactly similar to that of our Lord, Matthew 12:17....

15-23 What Manoah asked for instruction in his duty, he was readily told; but what he asked to gratify his curiosity, was denied. God has in his word given full directions concerning our duty, but never designed to answer other questionings. There are secret things which belong not to us, of which we must be quite contented to be ignorant, while in this world. The name of our Lord is wonderful and secret; but by his wonderful works he makes himself known as far as is needful for us. Prayer is the ascent of the soul to God. But without Christ in the heart by faith, our services are offensive smoke; in him, acceptable flame. We may apply this to Christ's sacrifice of himself for us; he ascended in the flame of his own offering, for by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, Hebrews 9:12. In Manoah's reflections there is great fear; We shall surely die. In his wife's reflecti...

Verse Judges 13:15. _UNTIL WE SHALL HAVE MADE READY A KID_] Not knowing his quality, Manoah wished to do this as an act of hospitality....

The language of Manoah, like that of Gideon Judges 6:18, seems to indicate some suspicion that his visitor was more than human. The word rendered “made ready,” is also the proper word for “offering a sacrifice,” and is so used by the Angel in the next verse. By which it appears that the Angel understood Manoah to speak of offering a kid as a burnt-offering. Hence, his caution, “thou must offer it unto the Lord.” (Compare Revelation 19:10; Revelation 22:8; Acts 10:25.)...

EXPOSITION JUDGES 13:1 DID EVIL AGAIN. It by no means follows from this phrase that this chapter is in direct chronological sequence to the preceding The scene is shifted to the tribe of Dan, and to the Philistines on the west, and there is nothing to guide us as to the exact time when the things narrated occurred. But the end of the forty years probably coincided with the judgeship of Samuel; for there was no complete deliverance in the time of Samson, only occasional cheeks to the Philistine domination (see Judges 13:5). It was not till the days of Samuel that the Philistines were really smitten (see 1 Samuel 7:3). We may suppose the date of the ensuing narrative to be somew

AND MANOAH SAID UNTO THE ANGEL OF THE LORD,.... Being satisfied with what he had said, and perceiving that he chose to say no more, and was about to depart: I PRAY THEE LET ME DETAIN THEE, UNTIL WE SHALL HAVE MADE READY A KID FOR THEE; to eat a meal with them, in token of gratitude for the trouble he had been at in bringing these messages to them, taking him to be a man, a prophet of the Lord, for whom they were wont to make entertainments; and Abarbinel thinks Manoah proposed this, on purpose to detain him, in hope that while they were eating together he would reveal some secrets unto him....

6. SIXTH DECLENSION: UNDER THE PHILISTINES AND SAMSON CHAPTER 13 _ 1. Israel delivered to the Philistines (Judges 13:1)_ 2. Manoah and his wife (Judges 13:2) 3. Samson born (Judges 13:24) The sixth and last declension of Israel in this book is now before us. This section has deep and interesting lessons. The darkest period is reached. The Philistines lorded over Israel. We miss in connection with this declension the statement which occurs in every preceding departure from Jehovah: “And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD.” Here is no cry recorded nor a return unto the Lord. It seems the greatest indifference controlled the people so that there was no desire to cry to the Lord. And w

THE BIRTH OF SAMSON. Judges 13:1. D's usual introduction. Judges 13:2. Zorah (p. 31) is now Sar-' a, 800 ft. above the valley of Sorek (Wady es-Surâ r), 17 m. W. of Jerusalem. In Joshua 15:33 and 2 Chronicles 11:16 it is no longer Danite, but Judahite, evidently because the Danites of the town had moved to the north (Judges 18). Judges 13:3. On the angel of the Lord see 21*. The words but thou shalt conceive and bear a son belong to Judges 13:5

A KID. a kid of the goats....

_that we may make ready a kid for thee_ The prep, has a pregnant sense: -prepare a meal and set it _before thee_"; cf. Judges 6:19 and Genesis 18:6-8. The words might mean _offer a kid in thy presence_; but under the circumstances this rendering is not probable....