Judges 13:7

_THEN THE WOMAN CAME AND TOLD HER HUSBAND, SAYING, A MAN OF GOD CAME UNTO ME, AND HIS COUNTENANCE WAS LIKE THE COUNTENANCE OF AN ANGEL OF GOD, VERY TERRIBLE: BUT I ASKED HIM NOT WHENCE HE WAS, NEITHER TOLD HE ME HIS NAME:_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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....

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

BUT HE SAID UNTO ME, BEHOLD, THOU SHALT CONCEIVE AND BEAR A SON,.... She says nothing of her barrenness, which the angel took notice of to her, that having been to her reproach: AND NOW DRINK NO WINE NOR STRONG DRINK; neither new wine nor old wine; so the Targum as before: NEITHER EAT ANY UNCLEAN THING; which was so in a ceremonial sense; otherwise every creature of God is good, and not to be called common or unclean; it here respects what was forbidden Nazarites to eat; see Judges 13:4 FOR THE CHILD SHALL BE A NAZARITE TO GOD FROM THE WOMB; it is here added, what is not before expressed, UNTO HIS DEATH; for he was to be a perpetual Nazarite; some were only Nazarites for a time, for so many days or months, according to their vow; but this son was to be a Nazarite all his days, by the appointment of God;

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

Samson of Dan Judges 13:1 to Judges 16:31 _The Birth of Samson Judges 13:1-25_ And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. 2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. 4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: 5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the

THE STORY OF SAMSON Except for Judges 15:20 and Judges 16:31, Samson has none of the characteristics of a Judge. His exploits against the Philistines are all solitary, and though they doubtless afforded relief to the Israelites, they left no permanent result. We learn much more of the internal organisation of the Philistines than of any of the other foes of Israel; and it was their continued and formidable opposition which, under the will of Jehovah, really welded Israel into a single nation in the times of Samuel and Saul. Samson could not accomplish this; his hatred of the Philistines is undying; but its causes are private rather than national; and his fate is the direct result of his unwillingness to break off all relations with them. He is a warning rather than an example; but such stories as his co

LIFE WITHOUT LAW JUDGES _PHILIP SMITH_ CHAPTER 13 In total, there were 12 judges in the book called Judges. Samson was the last one. The story about him shows that matters had got much worse. People turned away from God. They suffered pain for what they had done wrong. They did not change their ways. The *Israelites made friends with the *Philistines. They married people from other nations now. The men from Judah’s *tribe chose to remove Samson, because otherwise they would spoil their good relations with the *Philistines. They let *Philistines rule. In the story about Samson, they never called God *Yahweh. They did not consider him as the *covenant God. *Israel’s people went away from God and they stopped fighting against the *Philistines. They could not see the difference between God and the world that was evil. However, God continued with his plans. He even used Samson’s selfish...

THE CHILD SHALL BE A NAZARITE. — Comp. Luke 1:15. Since Samuel was also a Nazarite, we see that the distress of the people had led mothers to meditate on the old law of life-dedication to God. In Samson’s case this vow was imposed on him from his birth, perhaps to teach the Israelites a moral lesson. Other Nazarites were John the Baptist and James, the Lord’s brother. It is not impossible that Joseph was a Nazarite, for in Genesis 49:26 this word is used, though in the English Version it is rendered “separated” from his brethren. The order was highly valued in later days (Lamentations 4:7; Amos 2:11)....