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align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../judges/13-2.htm" title="Judges 13:2">◄</a> Judges 13:3 <a href="../judges/13-4.htm" title="Judges 13:4">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse">And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou <i>art</i> barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/barnes/judges/13.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/judges/13.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/judges/13.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/judges/13.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/judges/13.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a 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Rabbi Levi Ben Gershom says that this “messenger of the Lord” was Phinehas; but nothing can be clearer than that, as in <a href="/judges/6-11.htm" title="And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites.">Judges 6:11</a>, <a href="/genesis/18-10.htm" title="And he said, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life; and, see, Sarah your wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.">Genesis 18:10</a>, <a href="/context/luke/1-11.htm" title="And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.">Luke 1:11-28</a>, a supernatural being is meant.<p><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/judges/13.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>13:1-7 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.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/judges/13.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>Zorah - See the marginal reference.<p>His wife was barren - To mark more distinctly the high providential destiny of the child that was eventually born. Compare the similar circumstances of the birth of Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, and John the Baptist. <a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/judges/13.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>3. the angel of the Lord—The messenger of the covenant, the divine personage who made so many remarkable appearances of a similar kind already described.<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/judges/13.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> <span class="bld">The angel of the Lord; </span> the Son of God, oft so called in the Old Testament, as may be gathered from <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/judges/13-18.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD said to him, Why ask you thus after my name, seeing it is secret?">Judges 13:18</a></span>, yet distinguished from the Lord, because he appeared here as it were in the form of a servant, as a messenger sent from God, and was really a distinct person from God the Father. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/judges/13.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman,.... According to Josephus (k), it was in a plain without the city; and that he appeared in the form of a man is certain from <a href="/judges/13-6.htm">Judges 13:6</a> but was not a mere man, a prophet of the Lord, nor a created angel, but the uncreated one, the Angel of the covenant, the Son and Word of God, who often appeared in an human form; since his name is said to be "Wonderful", and he to do wonderful things, and is called "Jehovah", <a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/13-18.htm">Judges 13:18</a>, <p>and said unto her, behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not; barren at that time, and so she had been ever since she was married to that time; and this is observed, that it might appear the more wonderful that she should after this have a child: <p>but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; which to do, must be ascribed to divine power, that one in her circumstances should bear a son; as the prediction of it was owing to divine omniscience, and a proof of it. <p>(k) Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 2.<a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/judges/13.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">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.</span></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/judges/13.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">3</span>. <span class="ital">the angel of the Lord</span>] i.e. Jehovah Himself in manifestation; see on <a href="/judges/2-1.htm" title="And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.">Jdg 2:1</a>. The appearance of the Angel betokens the announcement of a deliverer, as in <a href="/judges/6-12.htm" title="And the angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor.">Jdg 6:12</a>; cf. <a href="/luke/1-11.htm" title="And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.">Luke 1:11</a>; <a href="/luke/1-15.htm" title="For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.">Luke 1:15</a> ff., <a href="/luke/1-31.htm" title="And, behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name JESUS.">Luke 1:31</a> ff., <a href="/matthew/1-20.htm" title="But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, you son of David, fear not to take to you Mary your wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.">Matthew 1:20</a> f.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/judges/13.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 3.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Thou shalt... bear a son</span>. It is obvious to compare the promise to Abraham and Sarah (<a href="/genesis/17-19.htm">Genesis 17:19</a>; <a href="/genesis/18-10.htm">Genesis 18:10, 14</a>), to Hannah (<a href="/1_samuel/1-17.htm">1 Samuel 1:17</a>), to Elizabeth (<a href="/luke/1-13.htm">Luke 1:13</a>), and to the blessed Virgin (<a href="/luke/1-31.htm">Luke 1:31</a>). Judges 13:3<a name="kad" id="kad"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/kad/judges/13.htm">Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament</a></div>Whilst the Israelites were given into the hands of the Philistines on account of their sins, and were also severely oppressed in Gilead on the part of the Ammonites, the angel of the Lord appeared to the wife of Manoah, a Danite from Zorea, i.e., Sur'a, on the western slope of the mountains of Judah (see at <a href="/joshua/15-33.htm">Joshua 15:33</a>). Mishpachath Dani (the family of the Danites) is used interchangeably with shebet Dani (the tribe of the Danites: see <a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-2.htm">Judges 18:2</a>, <a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-11.htm">Judges 18:11</a>, and <a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/18-1.htm">Judges 18:1</a>, <a href="/judges/18-30.htm">Judges 18:30</a>), which may be explained on this ground, that according to <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/26-42.htm">Numbers 26:42-43</a>, all the Danites formed but one family, viz., the family of the Shuhamites. The angel of the Lord announced to this woman, who was barren, "Thou wilt conceive and bear a son. And now beware, drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean: for, behold, thou wilt conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head; for a vowed man of God (Nazir) will the boy be from his mother's womb," i.e., his whole life long, "to the day of his death," as the angel expressly affirmed, according to <a href="/judges/13-7.htm">Judges 13:7</a>. The three prohibitions which the angel of the Lord imposed upon the woman were the three things which distinguished the condition of a Nazarite (see at <a href="http://biblehub.com/numbers/6-1.htm">Numbers 6:1-8</a>, and the explanation given there of the Nazarite vow). The only other thing mentioned in the Mosaic law is the warning against defilement from contact with the dead, which does not seem to have been enforced in the case of Samson. When the angel added still further, "And he (the Nazarite) will begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines," he no doubt intended to show that his power to effect this deliverance would be closely connected with his condition as a Nazarite. The promised son was to be a Nazarite all his life long, because he was to begin to deliver Israel out of the power of his foes. And in order that he might be so, his mother was to share in the renunciations of the Nazarite vow during the time of her pregnancy. Whilst the appearance of the angel of the Lord contained the practical pledge that the Lord still acknowledged His people, though He had given them into the hands of their enemies; the message of the angel contained this lesson and warning for Israel, that it could only obtain deliverance from its foes by seeking after a life of consecration to the Lord, such as the Nazarites pursued, so as to realize the idea of the priestly character to which Israel had been called as the people of Jehovah, by abstinence from the deliciae carnis, and everything that was unclean, as being emanations of sin, and also by a complete self-surrender to the Lord (see Pentateuch, p. 674). <div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/judges/13-3.htm">Judges 13:3 Interlinear</a><br /><a href="/texts/judges/13-3.htm">Judges 13:3 Parallel Texts</a><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/niv/judges/13-3.htm">Judges 13:3 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/judges/13-3.htm">Judges 13:3 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/judges/13-3.htm">Judges 13:3 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/judges/13-3.htm">Judges 13:3 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/judges/13-3.htm">Judges 13:3 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://bibleapps.com/judges/13-3.htm">Judges 13:3 Bible Apps</a><br /><a href="/judges/13-3.htm">Judges 13:3 Parallel</a><br /><a href="http://bibliaparalela.com/judges/13-3.htm">Judges 13:3 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="http://holybible.com.cn/judges/13-3.htm">Judges 13:3 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="http://saintebible.com/judges/13-3.htm">Judges 13:3 French Bible</a><br /><a href="http://bibeltext.com/judges/13-3.htm">Judges 13:3 German Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td align="center"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><br /> </div> <div id="left"><a href="../judges/13-2.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Judges 13:2"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Judges 13:2" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../judges/13-4.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Judges 13:4"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Judges 13:4" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>