Judges 13:1

Samson’s birth

1 The Israelites again did things that the LORD saw as evil, and he handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

Judges 13:1 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 13:1

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,
&c.] Committed idolatry, which was the evil they were prone unto, and were frequently guilty of:

and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty
years:
which according to Josephus ^F6 are to be reckoned from the death of the last judge, and the time of Samson's birth; or rather from some time after the death of Jephthah, particularly taking in the two last years of Ibzan, when the Ephraimites having been weakened through the slaughter of them by Jephthah, might encourage the Philistines to break in upon them; from which time to the birth of Samson were twenty years, and twenty more may be allowed before he could begin to deliver Israel out of their hands; so that the oppression lasted forty years. According to others, it began at the same time as the oppression of the Ammonites did, though it lasted longer, ( Judges 10:7 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Ibid. (Antiqu. l. 5.) c. 8. sect. 1.

Judges 13:1 In-Context

1 The Israelites again did things that the LORD saw as evil, and he handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, from the Danite clan, whose name was Manoah. His wife was unable to become pregnant and had not given birth to any children.

3 The LORD's messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, "Even though you've been unable to become pregnant and haven't given birth, you are now pregnant and will give birth to a son!

4 Now be careful not to drink wine or brandy or to eat anything that is ritually unclean,

5 because you are pregnant and will give birth to a son. Don't allow a razor to shave his head, because the boy is going to be a nazirite for God from birth. He'll be the one who begins Israel's rescue from the power of the Philistines."