Judges 13: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Israel again does evil, and the LORD hands them over to the Philistines for forty years. The angel of the LORD appears to the barren wife of Manoah, a Danite from Zorah, and tells her she will have a son who is to be a Nazirite from birth and will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines. Manoah asks for the messenger to return, and the angel repeats the instructions, refuses food, will not give his name, and rises up in the flame of their offering. The woman gives birth to Samson, and the Spirit of the LORD begins to stir him.

Claim by Claim

1. 13:1
   • The children of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
   • The LORD gave them into the hand of the Philistines.
   • The Philistines held them for forty years.
2. 13:2
   • There was a certain man from Zorah.
   • He was of the family of the Danites.
   • His name was Manoah.
   • His wife was barren.
   • His wife had not borne a child.
3. 13:3
   • The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman.
   • The angel said to her that she was barren and had not borne a child.
   • The angel said she would conceive and bear a son.
4. 13:4
   • The angel told her to be careful.
   • The angel told her not to drink wine or strong drink.
   • The angel told her not to eat anything unclean.
5. 13:5
   • The angel said she would conceive and bear a son.
   • The angel said no razor was to come on the son's head.
   • The angel said the boy would be a Nazirite to God from the womb.
   • The angel said he would begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
6. 13:6
   • The woman came to her husband.
   • The woman told her husband that a man of God had come to her.
   • The woman said his appearance was like the appearance of an angel of God.
   • The woman said his appearance was very awesome.
   • The woman said she did not ask him where he was from.
   • The woman said he did not tell her his name.
7. 13:7
   • The woman reported that he said she would conceive and bear a son.
   • The woman reported that he told her not to drink wine or strong drink.
   • The woman reported that he told her not to eat anything unclean.
   • The woman reported that he said the boy would be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.
8. 13:8
   • Manoah entreated the LORD.
   • Manoah asked that the man of God whom God had sent come again to them.
   • Manoah asked that the man of God teach them what to do for the boy who would be born.
9. 13:9
   • God listened to the voice of Manoah.
   • The angel of God came again to the woman.
   • The woman was sitting in the field.
   • Manoah her husband was not with her.
10. 13:10
    • The woman hurried and ran and told her husband.
    • The woman said to him that the man who came to her the other day had appeared to her.
11. 13:11
    • Manoah arose and went after his wife.
    • Manoah came to the man.
    • Manoah asked him whether he was the man who had spoken to the woman.
    • The man said that he was.
12. 13:12
    • Manoah said, let your words now come to pass.
    • Manoah asked what the boy's manner of life and work would be.
13. 13:13
    • The angel of the LORD said to Manoah that the woman should observe everything he had said to her.
14. 13:14
    • The angel said she must not eat anything that comes from the vine.
    • The angel said she must not drink wine or strong drink.
    • The angel said she must not eat anything unclean.
    • The angel said she must observe everything he had commanded her.
15. 13:15
    • Manoah asked the angel of the LORD to let them detain him.
    • Manoah said they would prepare a young goat for him.
16. 13:16
    • The angel of the LORD said that even if Manoah detained him, he would not eat his food.
    • The angel said that if Manoah prepared a burnt offering, he must offer it to the LORD.
    • Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.
17. 13:17
    • Manoah asked the angel of the LORD what his name was.
    • Manoah said it was so that they might honor him when his words came to pass.
18. 13:18
    • The angel of the LORD asked Manoah why he asked after his name.
    • The angel said his name is wonderful, beyond understanding.
19. 13:19
    • Manoah took the young goat and the grain offering.
    • Manoah offered it on the rock to the LORD.
    • A wonder was done.
    • Manoah and his wife were watching.
20. 13:20
    • The flame went up from the altar toward heaven.
    • The angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar.
    • Manoah and his wife were watching.
    • Manoah and his wife fell on their faces to the ground.
21. 13:21
    • The angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife.
    • Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD.
22. 13:22
    • Manoah said to his wife that they would surely die.
    • Manoah gave as the reason that they had seen God.
23. 13:23
    • His wife said that if the LORD had wanted to kill them, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from their hands.
    • His wife said he would not have shown them all these things.
    • His wife said he would not at this time have told them such things as these.
24. 13:24
    • The woman bore a son.
    • She called his name Samson.
    • The boy grew.
    • The LORD blessed him.
25. 13:25
    • The Spirit of the LORD began to stir him in the camp of Dan.
    • The camp of Dan is between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

13:1

The book of Judges runs on a repeating pattern, and this line is the formula that starts each round: Israel does evil, a foreign power dominates them, they cry out, and a deliverer is raised up. "Did evil in the sight of the LORD" is a set phrase in Hebrew meaning conduct the LORD judged as evil, not simply behavior he happened to observe. The Philistines were a people settled on the coastal plain south-west of Israel, organized around five cities (Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath), and they were Israel's dominant rival in this period. Unusually, this cycle has no report of Israel crying out for help.

13:2

Zorah lay in the low hill country about fifteen miles west of Jerusalem, close to Philistine territory. The tribe of Dan had been allotted land in this area but was under pressure from the Philistines and never fully held it. In this culture childlessness carried heavy social weight: a family without children had no one to inherit its land, care for it in old age, or carry its name. The KJV's "barren, and bare not" doubles the point for emphasis, as the Hebrew does.

13:3

"The angel of the LORD" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning "the messenger of the LORD." In stories like this one the figure is spoken of both as a messenger sent by God and, at points, as God himself, verse 22 has Manoah say they have seen God. The ambiguity is in the Hebrew, not introduced by the translation.

13:4

"Strong drink" translates Hebrew *shekar*, meaning intoxicating drink made from something other than grapes, grain beer, or drink fermented from dates or other fruit. "Unclean" refers to the food restrictions that marked Israel out as a people (set out in Leviticus 11), not to dirt or spoilage.

13:5

A Nazirite (Hebrew *nazir*, "one separated" or "dedicated") took a vow described in Numbers 6: no wine or anything from the grapevine, no cutting of the hair, and no contact with a dead body. Normally it was a voluntary vow taken by an adult for a fixed period; here it is imposed on the child before birth and lasts for life. "He shall begin to deliver Israel" is precise wording, Samson starts the work rather than finishing it; the Philistine domination continues past his death.

13:6

"A man of God" was the ordinary way of referring to a prophet, so the woman describes the visitor as she would a human messenger. "Very terrible" in 1611 English meant awe-inspiring, causing fear and dread, not "very bad." Asking a stranger where he was from and what he was called was normal courtesy; she is reporting that she got neither answer.

13:7

Nazirite promises normally had an end date. Saying "from the womb to the day of his death" means this boy is under them for life, and he never even chose it himself.

13:8

The King James "intreated the LORD" means begged or pleaded with him, not entertained him. Manoah is not doubting his wife; he wants the instructions repeated to him directly, which reflects the assumption that the father was responsible for how a child was raised.

13:12

"How shall we order the child" uses "order" in its older sense of "regulate, manage." Manoah is asking two things: what rules the boy must live by, and what he is to be for, his manner of life and his task.

13:14

The restriction is wider than wine. A Nazirite avoided everything the grapevine produced, including grapes, raisins, grape skins and seeds. Notice that the angel puts the mother under the same restrictions while she is pregnant, so the vow governs the child from before birth.

13:15

"Detain thee" is not force; it is the ordinary language of pressing a guest to stay. Preparing a young goat was an expensive gesture of hospitality (meat was eaten rarely) and the same offer is made to divine visitors elsewhere in these stories. Manoah still thinks he is entertaining a man.

13:16

A burnt offering was consumed entirely by fire on the altar; unlike other sacrifices, none of it was eaten by the worshipers. The messenger's answer therefore redirects a meal for a guest into an offering for God, which is why the two possibilities are set against each other here.

13:17

Knowing someone's name mattered in this culture: it allowed you to speak of them, call on them, and repay them publicly. Manoah wants to be able to honor the messenger by name once the promise proves true.

13:18

KJV "secret" translates Hebrew *pil'i*, which means wonderful, extraordinary, beyond human grasp, not merely being kept hidden. It comes from the same root as the word describing what happens next, when the messenger "did wonderously" (verse 19).

13:19

"Meat offering" is 1611 English, where "meat" meant food of any kind; the offering was grain, flour with oil, not flesh. Note that the sacrifice is made on a bare rock rather than at a sanctuary; the text calls that rock an altar in the next verse.

13:20

An altar was a raised place, often just piled stones, where offerings were burned. Manoah had no temple nearby, so a flat rock served as one. Falling facedown on the ground was how people showed deep respect and fear.

13:22

The fear rests on a widely held conviction in Israel that a human being could not see God directly and survive; the same assumption appears in Exodus 33 and elsewhere. Manoah is not saying they have done wrong, but that they have seen something no one lives through.

13:24

The name Samson (Hebrew *Shimshon*) is built on *shemesh*, "sun." The nearby town of Beth-shemesh, "house of the sun," stood in the same valley.

13:25

"The camp of Dan" is a place name, Mahaneh-dan, in the stretch of country between Zorah and Eshtaol; it reappears in Judges 18. The verb translated "move" or "stir" suggests being driven or disturbed into action, and "at times" signals that this came over him in bursts rather than continuously.