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| 1 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. |
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 Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. |
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| 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. |
Appeared – In human form, a power which angel's possess. B127
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| 4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: |
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 child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver 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 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: |
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| 7 But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. |
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| 8 Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, 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 unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her. |
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| 10 And the woman made haste, and ran, and showed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day. |
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| 11 And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am. |
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| 12 And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him? |
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| 13 And the angel of the LORD said unto 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 may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe. |
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| 15 And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. |
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| 16 And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD. |
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| 17 And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour? |
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| 18 And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? |
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| 19 So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wonderously; and Manoah and his wife looked on.
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| 20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, 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 But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD. |
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 unto 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 unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these. |
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| 24 And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. |
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| 25 And the spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah 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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