Teks -- Judges 13:1-3 (NET)

Samson’s Birth

13:1 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years. 13:2 There was a man named Manoah from Zorah, from the Danite tribe. His wife was infertile and childless. 13:3 The Lord’s angelic messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, “You are infertile and childless, but you will conceive and have a son.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Jdg 13:1 - Did evil

That is, fell into idolatry, not after the death of Abdon the last judge, but in the days of the former judges.

Wesley: Jdg 13:1 - Forty years

To be computed, not from Abdon's death, but before that time. And it is probable that great slaughter of the Ephraimites made by Jephthah, greatly encouraged the Philistines to rise against Israel, when one of their chief bulwarks was so much weakened; and therefore began to domineer over them not long after Jephthah's death. These were a very inconsiderable people. They had but five cities of any note. And yet when God used them as the staff in his hand, they were very oppressive and vexatious.

Wesley: Jdg 13:2 - Of the family

That is, of the tribe or people.

Wesley: Jdg 13:2 - Bare not

An emphatical repetition of the same thing in other words, which is an usual elegancy both in scripture and other authors.

Wesley: Jdg 13:3 - The angel

The Son of God, yet distinguished from the Lord, because he appeared here in the form of a servant, as a messenger sent from God. The great Redeemer did in a particular manner concern himself about this typical redeemer.

JFB: Jdg 13:1 - the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years

The Israelites were represented (Jdg 10:6-7) as having fallen universally into a state of gross and confirmed idolatry, and in chastisement of this great apostasy, the Lord raised up enemies that harassed them in various quarters, especially the Ammonites and Philistines. The invasions and defeat of the former were narrated in the two chapters immediately preceding this; and now the sacred historian proceeds to describe the inroads of the latter people. The period of Philistine ascendency comprised forty years, reckoning from the time of Elon till the death of Samson.

JFB: Jdg 13:2 - Zorah

A Danite town (Jos 15:33) lying on the common boundary of Judah and Dan, so that it was near the Philistine border.

JFB: Jdg 13:3 - 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.

Clarke: Jdg 13:1 - Delivered them into the hand of the Philistines

Delivered them into the hand of the Philistines - It does not appear that after Shamgar, to the present time, the Philistines were in a condition to oppress Israel, or God had not permitted them to do it; but now they have a commission, the Israelites having departed from the Lord. Nor is it evident that the Philistines had entirely subjected the Israelites, as there still appears to have been a sort of commerce between the two people. They had often vexed and made inroads upon them, but they had them not in entire subjection; see Jdg 15:11.

Clarke: Jdg 13:2 - A certain man of Zorah

A certain man of Zorah - A town in the tribe of Judah, but afterwards given to Dan.

Clarke: Jdg 13:3 - The angel of the Lord

The angel of the Lord - Generally supposed to have been the same that appeared to Moses, Joshua, Gideon, etc., and no other than the second person of the ever-blessed Trinity.

TSK: Jdg 13:1 - did // in the sight // delivered // into the

did : Heb. added to commit, etc. Jdg 2:11, Jdg 3:7, Jdg 4:1, Jdg 6:1, Jdg 10:6; Rom 2:6

in the sight : Jer 13:23

delivered : ""This seems a partial captivity."

into the : 1Sa 12:9

TSK: Jdg 13:2 - Zorah // barren

Zorah : Jos 15:33, Jos 19:41

barren : Gen 16:1, Gen 25:21; 1Sa 1:2-6; Luk 1:7

TSK: Jdg 13:3 - the angel // but thou

the angel : Jdg 2:1, Jdg 6:11, Jdg 6:12; Gen 16:7-13; Luk 1:11, Luk 1:28-38

but thou : Gen 17:16, Gen 18:10; 1Sa 1:20; 2Ki 4:16; Luk 1:13, Luk 1:31

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Jdg 13:1 - Did evil // Forty years

Did evil i.e. fell into idolatry, &c., not now after the death of Abdon the last judge, but in the days of the former judges.

Forty years to be computed not from Abdon’ s death, but before that time, as is evident both from Jud 13:5 , where it is declared that Israel was under the power of the Philistines; and from Jud 15:20 , where only twenty of these years are said to have been in Samson’ s days. And it is probably conceived, that that great slaughter of the Ephraimites made by Jephthah did greatly encourage the Philistines to rise against Israel, when one of their chief bulwarks was so much weakened; and therefore that the Philistines began to domineer over them not long after Jephthah’ s death.

Poole: Jdg 13:2 - Zorah // Of the family // Barren, and bare not

Zorah a city, of which see Jos 15:33 19:41 .

Of the family i.e. of the tribe or people, as family sometimes signifies, Jos 7:17 Jer 8:3 10:25 Amo 3:1 Mic 2:3 Zec 14:18 .

Barren, and bare not an emphatical repetition of the same thing in divers words, which is a usual elegancy, both in Scripture and other authors.

Poole: Jdg 13:3 - The angel of the Lord

The angel of the Lord the Son of God, oft so called in the Old Testament, as may be gathered from Jud 13:18 , 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.

Haydock: Jdg 13:1 - Dress

Dress. Hebrew and Septuagint, "let us make." Vulgate faciamus, is used either for a common feast or for a sacrifice, Exodus xxix. 36. Virgil, (eclog. iii.) Cras faciam vitula. Manue did not yet know who the angel was. He only designed to give him something to eat. A kid was then esteemed the most delicious food, and physicians esteem it very wholesome. The taste of people has since altered. (Bochart, Anim. p. i. b. ii. 52.) (Calmet)

Haydock: Jdg 13:1 - Years

Years. It is not clear whence this sixth and longest servitude is to be dated. If it terminated at the death of Samson, when the Philistines lost their chief nobility, &c., we must allow that the Israelites began to be obliged to pay tribute in the 6th year of Abesan. (In the year before Christ 1193, Salien) Chap. xii. 8. (Haydock) ---

Marsham dates from the third month after the death of Jair, to the third year of Samuel, during which period Heli governed in one part, and Jephte, Abesan, Ahialon, and Abdon in other provinces of Palestine. It is not very material which of these systems be adopted, as they do not contradict the text. All Israel was not reduced under the power of the Philistines; but the neighbouring tribes were infested with their incursions, and were obliged to pay tribute. Juda complains at their invading his territory, and they allege that it was because Samson had been the aggressor, which shews that the Israelites retained some little liberty, chap. xv. 9. (Calmet) ---

The servitude had scarcely commenced, when God provided Samson a deliverer for his people. (Salien, in the year of the world 2860.) (Haydock)

Haydock: Jdg 13:2 - Saraa // Manue

Saraa, in the confines of Juda and of Dan, ten miles north of Eleutheropolis. (Eusebius) ---

Manue seems to have resided in the country, near this town, ver. 25. (Menochius)

Haydock: Jdg 13:3 - Angel

Angel, in human form. Some Protestants pretend that he was "the Son of God," and yet (ver. 16) they say, "he sought not his own honour, but God's, whose messenger he was," (Bible, 1603) in which they plainly contradict themselves, or else teach Arianism, as if the Son were not true God, and equal to his Father. (Worthington) ---

The title of God, (Jehova) which is given to this angel, (ver. 15, 21) is no proof that he was the Supreme Being, chap. vi. 11.

Gill: Jdg 13:1 - And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord // and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Committed idolatry, which was the evil they were prone unto, and were frequently guilty of:

and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years: which according to Josephus ^f are to be reckoned from the death of the last judge, and the time of Samson's birth; or rather from some time after the death of Jephthah, particularly taking in the two last years of Ibzan, when the Ephraimites having been weakened through the slaughter of them by Jephthah, might encourage the Philistines to break in upon them; from which time to the birth of Samson were twenty years, and twenty more may be allowed before he could begin to deliver Israel out of their hands; so that the oppression lasted forty years. According to others, it began at the same time as the oppression of the Ammonites did, though it lasted longer, Jdg 10:7.

Gill: Jdg 13:2 - 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

And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites,.... Of the tribe of Dan, in which tribe Zorah was, and seems to have lain both on the borders of Judah and Dan, Jos 15:33; See Gill on Jos 15:33; see Gill on Jos 19:41, and this man was not a mean man, but of rank and figure, a principal man in the country, according to Josephus ^g; though the Talmudists ^h say he was a plebeian:

whose name was Manoah; which signifies "rest", and has much the same signification as Noah; and by this name he was well known in those times, and among his people:

and his wife was barren, and bare not; had no child, as the Targum; and it is observed by many, that several eminent persons were born of women that had been barren, as Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, and John the Baptist; and it is remarkable, that the strongest man that ever was born of such a woman, as the following account relates. The name of this woman, the mother of Samson, is said ⁱ to be Zalalponith; see 1Ch 4:3.

Gill: Jdg 13:3 - 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

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 Jdg 13:6 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", Jdg 13:18,

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:

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.