Judges 13:19

_AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD SAID UNTO HIM, WHY ASKEST THOU THUS AFTER MY NAME, SEEING IT IS SECRET?_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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 13:19. THE ANGEL _DID WONDROUSLY_] He acted according to his name; he, being _wonderful_, performed wonderful things; probably causing fire to arise out of the rock and consume the sacrifice, and then ascending in the flame....

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

SO MANOAH TOOK A KID WITH A MEAT OFFERING,.... The kid which he proposed to make an entertainment with, for the man of God, he took him to be, he fetched and brought for a burnt offering, at the hint which the angel had given him, and joined to it a meat offering, as was usual whenever burnt offerings were made; see Numbers 15:3, AND OFFERED IT UPON A ROCK UNTO THE LORD; for though Manoah was not a priest, nor was this a proper place for sacrifice; high places were now forbidden, and only at the tabernacle in Shiloh were offerings to be brought; yet all this was dispensed with, and Manoah was justified in what he did by the warrant of the angel, Judges 13:16. The rock was probably near the place where this meeting of Manoah and his wife with the angel was, and where the discourse between th

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

WONDEROUSLY. a wonderful thing....

_offered it upon the rock_ i.e. the rock which formed _the altar_(Judges 13:20), and lay close at hand. Such an altar, hewn out of the living rock and reached by steps leading to a platform, actually exists near Ṣar-a (Zorah), and may have been in the writer's mind; see the illustration in Driver, _Schweich Lecture_s (1909), 66, based on Schick, _ZDPV_. 10. (1887), 140 f., who first gave details of the discovery. The surface of the altar itself is almost covered with cup-shaped depressions connected in many cases by shallow channels. These hollows look as if they were intended to receive liquid offerings, and certainly there is little room left on the surface for a burnt sacrifice. Hence Kittel, _Studien z. Hebr. Archäol._(1908), 97 108, concludes that the altar was primarily a table for a meal offering, and that its use as a hearth for a burnt offering marks the diff

AND THE ANGEL DID WONDEROUSLY— There is nothing for _angel_ in the original, which might easily be construed thus: "So Manoah took a kid, with a meat-offering, and offered upon a rock unto the Lord; and he did wonderfully, Manoah and his wife looking on: for it came to pass," &c. ver. 20 in which verse we have an account of what this divine messenger did; most probably, bringing fire from the altar, as in the case of Gideon, chap. Joshua 6:21 out of the rock, to consume the burnt-offering, and then ascending in the midst of the flame to heaven. The celebrated Vitringa supposes, that it was the angel, who, upon this occasion, performed the principal functions of the priest; the most essential of which was to put the fire to the burnt-offering. Manoah, according to him, dared not to perform the offices of the priesthood in the presence of a personage whom he took for an extraordina