Judges 13

The Birth of Samson// Numbers 6:1–21

¹Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of Yahweh, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

²Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children. ³The angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are barren and have no children; but you will conceive and give birth to a son. ⁴Now please be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and not to eat anything unclean. ⁵For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall touch his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

• JUDG 13:2[FULFILLS]Dan would provide justice for his people ← GEN 49:16MEDIUM
• JUDG 13:3[MIRACLE]The angel of Yahweh appears to Manoah's wife
• JUDG 13:5[PROPHECY]Angel foretold Samson would be a Nazirite from birth and begin Israel's deliverance from Philistines → JUDG 14:4; JUDG 15:14-15; JUDG 16:30
• JUDG 13:5[NOTE]THE NAZIRITE VOW. The rules are in Numbers 6:1 to 21. Most Nazirite vows were for a short time and chosen by the person. Samson's was for life and chosen by God before he was born. See the Big Question pages Samson.

⁶So the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. His appearance was like the angel of God, exceedingly awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name. ⁷But he said to me, ‘Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now, therefore, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.’”

⁸Then Manoah prayed to Yahweh, “Please, O Lord, let the man of God You sent us come to us again to teach us how to raise the boy who is to be born.”

⁹And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God returned to the woman as she was sitting in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. ¹⁰The woman ran quickly to tell her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has reappeared!”

¹¹So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”

“I am,” he said.

¹²Then Manoah asked, “When your words come to pass, what will be the boy’s rule of life and mission?”

¹³So the angel of Yahweh answered Manoah, “Your wife is to do everything I told her. ¹⁴She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor drink any wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”

¹⁵“Please stay here,” Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”

¹⁶And the angel of Yahweh replied, “Even if I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to Yahweh.” For Manoah did not know that it was the angel of Yahweh.

¹⁷Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes to pass?”

¹⁸“Why do you ask my name,” said the angel of Yahweh, “since it is beyond comprehension?”

• JUDG 13:18[NOTE]Beyond comprehension is the Hebrew word peli, wonderful. It comes from the same root as Wonderful Counselor in Isaiah 9:6, a name for the coming Messiah. The King James says secret.

¹⁹Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to Yahweh. And as Manoah and his wife looked on, Yahweh did a marvelous thing. ²⁰When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of Yahweh ascended in the flame.

When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground. ²¹And when the angel of Yahweh did not appear again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it had been the angel of Yahweh.

• JUDG 13:20[MIRACLE]The angel goes up in the flame from the altar

²²“We are going to die,” he said to his wife, “for we have seen God!”

• JUDG 13:22[NOTE]Manoah said, We have seen God. The man who would not give his name had gone up in the flame of the altar, 13:20.

²³But his wife replied, “If Yahweh had intended to kill us, He would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things or spoken to us this way.”

²⁴So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and Yahweh blessed him. ²⁵And the Spirit of Yahweh began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

• JUDG 13:24[ALLUDED TO]The New Testament refers to this → HEB 11:32