Judges 13:7

7 And he said to me, 'Look, you [will] conceive and bear a son, so then, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, for the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.'"

Judges 13:7 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 13:7

But he said unto me, behold, thou shalt conceive and bear a
son
She says nothing of her barrenness, which the angel took notice of to her, that having been to her reproach:

and now drink no wine nor strong drink;
neither new wine nor old wine; so the Targum as before:

neither eat any unclean thing;
which was so in a ceremonial sense; otherwise every creature of God is good, and not to be called common or unclean; it here respects what was forbidden Nazarites to eat; see ( Judges 13:4 )

for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb;
it is here added, what is not before expressed,

unto his death;
for he was to be a perpetual Nazarite; some were only Nazarites for a time, for so many days or months, according to their vow; but this son was to be a Nazarite all his days, by the appointment of God; nor is it any objection to what is here said, that his hair was cut off before his death, which caused his Nazariteship to cease; since these words are not a prophecy, but a precept; and besides, that affair happened but a little before his death, he died quickly afterwards.

Judges 13:7 In-Context

5 because you [will] conceive and bear a son. No razor {will touch} his head, because the boy will be a {Nazirite of God} {from birth}. And it is he who will begin to deliver Israel from [the] hand of [the] Philistines."

6 And the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A man of God came to me, and his appearance [was] like the appearance of an angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him from where he [came], and he did not tell me his name.

7 And he said to me, 'Look, you [will] conceive and bear a son, so then, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, for the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.'"

8 Then Manoah prayed to Yahweh and said, "Excuse me, my Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent again come to us and teach us what we should do concerning the boy who will be born."

9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and an angel of God came again to the woman; she [was] sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "the womb"