Judges 13:4

4 And now be very cautious, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat no unclean thing;

Judges 13:4 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 13:4

Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor
strong drink
Any liquor inebriating and intoxicating, neither new wine nor old wine, as the Targum, and so Jarchi; the reason of this appears in the next verse, because the child she should conceive and bear was to be a Nazarite, and to be one from his mother's womb; and from all such liquors, Nazarites, according to the law, were to abstain, ( Numbers 6:3 )

and eat not any unclean thing;
meaning not so much such sort of food as was forbidden by the law to be eaten, which every Israelite was to abstain from, but such as were particularly forbidden to Nazarites, as moist and dried grapes, or anything made of the vine tree, from the kernel to the husk, ( Numbers 6:3 Numbers 6:4 ) . The reason of this is, because the child in the womb is nourished with the same the mother is; and as this child was to be a Nazarite from the womb, and even in it, his mother was to abstain both from eatables and drinkables forbidden a Nazarite by the law.

Judges 13:4 In-Context

2 And there was a man of Saraa, of the family of the kindred of Dan, and his name was Manoe, and his wife was barren, and bore not.

3 And an angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold, thou art barren and hast not born; yet thou shalt conceive a son.

4 And now be very cautious, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat no unclean thing;

5 for behold, thou art with child, and shalt bring forth a son; and there shall come no razor upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Phylistines.

6 And the woman went in, and spoke to her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his appearance of an angel of God, very dreadful; and I did not ask him whence he was, and he did not tell me his name.