Chapter Thirteen

1. The oppression by the Philistines. 2–23. The appearances of the Angel of the Lord to Manoah and his wife. 24–25. The birth of Samson.

Judges 13:1. The children of Israel continued to do evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. At the same time that the Ammonites oppressed the Israelites in the western part of Palestine, the Philistines were also oppressing them (cf. Judg 10:7), and their oppression lasted forty years.

Judges 13:2. At that time there was a man from Zorah, of the tribe of Dan, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had not borne children. Judges 13:3. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to his wife and said to her: Behold, you are barren and have not borne children; but you shall conceive and bear a son; Judges 13:4. therefore be careful, do not drink wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean; Judges 13:5. for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, because the child shall be a Nazirite of God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. Judges 13:6. His wife came and told her husband, saying: A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the Angel of God, very awesome; I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name; Judges 13:7. and he said to me: “Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son; therefore do not drink wine or strong drink and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death. Judges 13:8. Manoah prayed to the Lord and said: O my Lord! please let the man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do with the child who will be born. Judges 13:9. And God heard the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came again to his wife when she was sitting in the field, and her husband Manoah was not with her. Judges 13:10. His wife quickly ran and told her husband and said to him: Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me. Judges 13:11. Manoah arose and went with his wife, and came to the man and said to him: Are you the man who spoke with my wife? The Angel said: I am. Judges 13:12. And Manoah said: Now when your words come to pass, what shall be the manner of the child’s life, and what shall be his practice? Judges 13:13. The Angel of the Lord said to Manoah: Of all that I said to his wife, let him beware; Judges 13:14. he shall not eat anything that comes from the vine; neither shall he drink wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean; everything I have commanded let him observe. Judges 13:15. And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord: Please allow us to detain you, until we have prepared a young goat for you. Judges 13:16. The Angel of the Lord said to Manoah: Though you detain me, I will not eat of your food; but if you wish to prepare a burnt offering for the Lord, then offer it. (Manoah did not know that he was the Angel of the Lord.) Judges 13:17. And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord: What is your name, so that when your words come true we may honor you? Judges 13:18. The Angel of the Lord said to him: Why do you ask my name? It is mysterious. Judges 13:19. And Manoah took the young goat and the grain offering and offered them upon the rock to the Lord. And He performed a wonderful deed while Manoah and his wife looked on. Judges 13:20. When the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. Judges 13:21. And the Angel of the Lord appeared no longer to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the Angel of the Lord. Judges 13:22. And Manoah said to his wife: We shall surely die, for we have seen God. Judges 13:23. His wife said to him: If the Lord had intended to kill us, He would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from our hands, and would not have shown us all these things, nor would He now have told us such things. At that time in the tribe of Dan, which bordered on Philistine territory, in the city of Zorah (cf. Josh 15:33, now Sara), there lived Manoah whose wife was barren. The Angel of the Lord who appeared to them announced to them the birth of a son who would be a Nazirite from the womb (cf. Num 6:2-7). Because of the appearance of the Angel of the Lord, an altar was built by Manoah, the remains of which were discovered near Artufa (on the 52nd kilometer of the Jaffa-Jerusalem railway) by the architect Schick in 1883 (A. A. Olesnitsky, Megalithic Monuments in Palestine, p. 312–314).

Judges 13:24. And his wife bore a son and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. Judges 13:25. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol. The son born to Manoah and his wife, Samson, who was inspired by the Spirit of God, first began to display his extraordinary strength and courage in the military camp of the Danites, between Zorah (Sara) and Eshtaol (now Ashu) (cf. Josh 15:33).