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| 1 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of Jehovah; and Jehovah gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. |
LORD delivered them – For lack of faith. With proper faith one might have chased a thousand and two chased ten thousand. R4088:5
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| 2 And there was a certain man of Zoreah, of the family of the Danites, and his name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and did not bear. |
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| 3 And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold now, thou art barren and bearest not; but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. |
Appeared – In human form, a power which angel's possess. B127
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| 4 And now beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. |
Drink not wine – Twice before Samson's birth an angel of the Lord impressed upon his mother the importance of abstemiousness. R5612:3
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| 5 For lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head; for the boy shall be a Nazarite of God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. |
Nazarite – It was included in the vow of a Nazarite that he would avoid spiritous liquor in every form, that his hair would not be cut and that he would avoid contamination with dead bodies--signifying full, complete consecration. R5612:3, R4088:1
There is no intimation that Samson ever violated this vow. R4088:1
Not a resident of Nazareth. Jesus was from Nazareth, but not under a Nazarite vow. R5612:3
Deliver Israel – According to divine promise, Samson was to be one of the Judges of Israel, one of the deliverers of Israel. R5612:6
Philistines – They were supposedly pirates, preying upon Israel. R5612:6
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| 6 And the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of an angel of God, very terrible; but I did not ask him whence he was, neither did he tell me his name.
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| 7 And he said to me, Behold, thou shalt conceive and bear a son; and now drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not anything unclean; for the boy shall be a Nazarite of God from the womb to the day of his death. |
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| 8 Then Manoah prayed to Jehovah, and said, Ah Lord! let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, I pray thee, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. |
Let the man – The angel who had appeared in human form. E94
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| 9 And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the Angel of God came again to the woman whilst she sat in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. |
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| 10 Then the woman hasted and ran, and informed her husband, and said to him, Behold, the man has appeared to me, that came to me that day. |
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| 11 And Manoah rose up and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Art thou the man that didst speak to the woman? And he said, I am. |
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| 12 And Manoah said, When thy words then come to pass, what shall be the child's manner and his doing? |
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| 13 And the Angel of Jehovah said to Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware: |
Angel of the LORD – Perhaps this was the last direct communication between the Lord and any of his people Israel. R5615:5
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| 14 she shall not eat of anything that cometh of the vine, neither shall she drink wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean: all that I commanded her shall she observe. |
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| 15 And Manoah said to the Angel of Jehovah, I pray thee, let us detain thee, and we will make ready a kid of the goats for thee. |
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| 16 And the Angel of Jehovah said to Manoah, Though thou shouldest detain me, I will not eat of thy bread; and if thou wilt offer a burnt-offering, thou shalt offer it up to Jehovah. For Manoah knew not that he was the Angel of Jehovah. |
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| 17 And Manoah said to the Angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that when thy word cometh to pass we may do thee honour? |
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| 18 And the Angel of Jehovah said to him, How is it that thou askest after my name, seeing it is wonderful? |
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| 19 Then Manoah took the kid and the oblation, and offered it up to Jehovah upon the rock. And he did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on. |
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| 20 And it came to pass, as the flame went up from off the altar towards the heavens, that the Angel of Jehovah ascended in the flame of the altar; and Manoah and his wife looked on, and fell on their faces to the ground. |
Ascended in the flame – Similar in manner to our Lord's ascension. R2818:6
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| 21 And the Angel of Jehovah appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that it was the Angel of Jehovah. |
Then Manoah knew – Previously thought to be a man, showing that angels can assume human bodies and appear as men. A183; R265:2, R18:3, R261:6, R578:6
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| 22 And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. |
God – Hebrew, Elohim, a mighty one, referring to the angel. R1410:3
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| 23 But his wife said to him, If Jehovah were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and an oblation at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would he at this time have told us such things as these. |
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| 24 And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and Jehovah blessed him. |
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| 25 And the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him at Mahaneh-Dan, between Zoreah and Eshtaol. |
Spirit of the LORD – Such a mechanical operation of the holy Spirit is wholly different from that which applies to the Christian, begotten of the Spirit. R5613:3
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