Judges 13:5

_FOR, LO, THOU SHALT CONCEIVE, AND BEAR A SON; AND NO RASOR SHALL COME ON HIS HEAD: FOR THE CHILD SHALL BE A NAZARITE UNTO GOD FROM THE WOMB: AND HE SHALL BEGIN TO DELIVER ISRAEL OUT OF THE HAND OF THE PHILISTINES._ Thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. This predicted child being to be a Nazarite, the mother was, for the sake of her promised offspring, required to practice the rigid abstinence of the Nazarite law (see the note at Numbers 6:3). HE SHALL BEGIN TO DELIVER ISRAEL - a prophecy encouraging to a patriotic man; the terms of it, however, indicated that the period of deliverance was still to be distant....

1-7 Israel did evil: then God delivered them again into the hands of the Philistines. When Israel was in this distress, Samson was born. His parents had been long childless. Many eminent persons were born of such mothers. Mercies long waited for, often prove signal mercies; and by them others may be encouraged to continue their hope in God's mercy. The angel notices her affliction. God often sends comfort to his people very seasonably, when they feel their troubles most. This deliverer of Israel must be devoted to God. Manoah's wife was satisfied that the messenger was of God. She gave her husband a particular account, both of the promise and of the precept. Husbands and wives should tell each other their experiences of communion with God, and their improvements in acquaintance with him, that they may help each other in the way that is holy....

Verse Judges 13:5. _HE SHALL BEGIN TO DELIVER ISRAEL_] Samson only _began_ this deliverance, for it was not till the days of David that the Israelites were completely redeemed from the power of the Philistines....

A NAZARITE - See the marginal reference. and note. The common Nazarite vow was for a limited time, like Paul’s Acts 18:18; Acts 21:23. Others, like Samuel 1 Samuel 1:11, were Nazarites for life....

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

FOR, LO, THOU SHALT CONCEIVE AND BEAR A SON,.... Which is not only repeated for the confirmation of it, but that she might take notice that he was to be a Nazarite, and therefore must conform to everything agreeable to the law of the Nazarites, and take care that it was observed in him: AND NO RAZOR SHALL COME ON HIS HEAD; to cut off the hair of it, not from the time of his birth to his death; for he was to be a perpetual Nazarite: other Nazarites during the time of their Nazariteship were not to suffer a razor to come upon them, but afterwards might; but for such an one as Samson, it was not lawful ever to suffer his hair to be cut off; see Numbers 6:5 FOR THE CHILD SHALL BE A NAZARITE UNTO GOD FROM THE WOMB; in which he was a type of Christ, who was sanctified by the Lord, separated from sinners, and called a "Nazarene": was born of a virgin, as Samson wa

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

LO. Figure of speech _Asterismos._ App-6. THE CHILD. Hebrew. _na'ar._ A NAZARITE UNTO GOD. one separate unto Elohim....

_thou shalt conceive_ The present in Genesis 16:11 RV. and Isaiah 7:14 RVm.; the future is more suitable here. _a Nazirite unto God_ lit. _one separated unto God_; this, the full term, came to be abbreviated _nâzîr_, i.e. _separated, devoted_, a _Nazirite_. It is to be noticed that (1) the consecration took effect from birth; it was not voluntary, but due to the call of God, in this respect resembling the case of the prophets, Jeremiah 1:5; Isaiah 44:2; (2) it was life-long and not temporary; (3) the special sign of consecration was the unshorn hair, _no razor shall come upon his head_, cf....