The Book of Judges

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- Chapter 13 -

(Numbers 6:1–21)

And again, the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. And he delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.(a)

Now there was a certain man from Zorah, and of the stock of Dan, whose name was Manoah, having a barren wife.

And an Angel of the Lord appeared to her, and he said: “You are barren and without children. But you shall conceive and bear a son.

Therefore, take care that you do not drink wine or strong drink. Neither shall you eat anything unclean.

For you shall conceive and bear a son, whose head no razor shall touch. For he shall be a Nazirite of God, from his infancy and from his mother’s womb. And he shall begin to free Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

And when she had gone to her husband, she said to him: “A man of God came to me, having the countenance of an Angel, exceedingly terrible. And when I had inquired of him, who he was, and where he was from, and what name he was called, he was not willing to tell me.(b)

But he responded: ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Take care that you do not drink wine or strong drink. And you shall not consume anything unclean. For the boy shall be a Nazirite of God from his infancy, from his mother’s womb, even until the day of his death.’ ”

And so Manoah prayed to the Lord, and he said, “I beg you Lord, that the man of God, whom you sent, may come again, and may teach us what we ought to do about the boy who is to be born.”

And the Lord heeded the prayer of Manoah, and the Angel of the Lord appeared again to his wife, sitting in a field. But her husband Manoah was not with her. And when she had seen the Angel,

she hurried and ran to her husband. And she reported to him, saying, “Behold, the man appeared to me, whom I had seen before.”

And he rose up and followed his wife. And going to the man, he said to him, “Are you the one who spoke to my wife?” And he responded, “I am.”

And Manoah said to him: “When will your word be fulfilled. What do you want the boy to do? Or from what should he keep himself?”

And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah: “Concerning all the things about which I have spoken to your wife, she herself should abstain.(c)

And let her eat nothing from the vine. She may not drink wine or strong drink. She may consume nothing unclean. And let her observe and keep what I have instructed to her.”

And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “I beg you to agree to my petition, and to let us prepare a kid from the goats.”

And the Angel answered him: “Even if you compel me, I will not eat from your bread. But if you are willing to offer a holocaust, offer it to the Lord.” And Manoah did not know that he was an Angel of the Lord.

And he said to him, “What is your name, so that, if your word is fulfilled, we may honor you?”

And he answered him, “Why do you ask my name, which is a wonder?”(d)

And so, Manoah took a kid from the goats, and libations, and he placed them upon a rock, as an offering to the Lord, who accomplishes wonders. Then he and his wife watched.

And when the flame of the altar ascended to heaven, the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. And when Manoah and his wife had seen this, they fell prone on the ground.

And the Angel of the Lord no longer appeared to them. And immediately, Manoah understood him to be an Angel of the Lord.

And he said to his wife, “We shall certainly die, since we have seen God.”(e)

And his wife answered him, “If the Lord wished to kill us, he would not have accepted the holocaust and the libations from our hands. He would not have revealed all these things to us, nor would he have told us the things that are in the future.”

And so she bore a son, and she called his name Samson. And the boy grew up, and the Lord blessed him.

And the Spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Footnotes

(a)13:1 The eschatological meaning of this verse refers to the period of time, described in the Book of Revelation, called the tribulation, when the Christian faithful are delivered into the hands of those who hate us in secular society cf. Matthew 24:9 (Conte)

(b)13:6 The more grammatically correct ‘from where he was’ would be needlessly awkward here. Also, since this is dialogue, it should reflect the way that people express themselves, and not be overly formal.(Conte)

(c)13:13 Let her refrain, etc:By the Latin text it is not clear whether this abstinence was prescribed to the mother, or to the child; but the Hebrew (in which the verbs relating thereto are of the feminine gender) determines it to the mother. But then the child also was to refrain from the like things, because he was to be from his infancy a Nazarite of God, ver. 5, that is, one set aside, in a particular manner, and consecrated to God: now the Nazarites by the law were to abstain from all these things.(Challoner)

(d)13:18 The true names of the Angels are unspeakable in human language. The Angels called Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael also have their own angelic names, given to them before human language ever existed. But these names are too wonderful to express in human language.(Conte)

(e)13:22 Seen God:Not in his own person, but in the person of his messenger. The Israelites, in those days, imagined they should die if they saw an angel, taking occasion perhaps from those words spoken by the Lord to Moses, Ex. 33:20, No man shall see me and live. But the event demonstrated that it was but a groundless imagination.(Challoner)

(Numbers 6:1–21)

The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and childless.

The LORD’s angel appeared to the woman, and said to her, “See now, you are barren and childless; but you shall conceive and bear a son.

Now therefore please beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and don’t eat any unclean thing;

for, behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son. No razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb. He shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”

Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me, and his face was like the face of the angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he was from, neither did he tell me his name;

but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink. Don’t eat any unclean thing, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, “Oh, Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us, and teach us what we should do to the child who shall be born.”

God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but Manoah, her husband, wasn’t with her.

The woman hurried and ran, and told her husband, saying to him, “Behold, the man who came to me that day has appeared to me.”

Manoah arose and followed his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” He said, “I am.”

Manoah said, “Now let your words happen. What shall the child’s way of life and mission be?”

The LORD’s angel said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her beware.

She may not eat of anything that comes of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. Let her observe all that I commanded her.”

Manoah said to the LORD’s angel, “Please stay with us, that we may make a young goat ready for you.”

The LORD’s angel said to Manoah, “Though you detain me, I won’t eat your bread. If you will prepare a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah didn’t know that he was the LORD’s angel.

Manoah said to the LORD’s angel, “What is your name, that when your words happen, we may honor you?”

The LORD’s angel said to him, “Why do you ask about my name, since it is incomprehensible(a)?”

So Manoah took the young goat with the meal offering, and offered it on the rock to the LORD. Then the angel did an amazing thing as Manoah and his wife watched.

For when the flame went up toward the sky from off the altar, the LORD’s angel ascended in the flame of the altar. Manoah and his wife watched; and they fell on their faces to the ground.

But the LORD’s angel didn’t appear to Manoah or to his wife any more. Then Manoah knew that he was the LORD’s angel.

Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.”

But his wife said to him, “If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he wouldn’t have received a burnt offering and a meal offering at our hand, and he wouldn’t have shown us all these things, nor would he have told us such things as these at this time.”

The woman bore a son and named him Samson. The child grew, and the LORD blessed him.

The LORD’s Spirit began to move him in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Footnotes

(a)13:18 or, wonderful