Judges 13:4

4 But take much care: Drink no wine or beer; eat nothing ritually unclean.

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 At that time there was a man named Manoah from Zorah from the tribe of Dan. His wife was barren and childless.

3 The angel of God appeared to her and told her, "I know that you are barren and childless, but you're going to become pregnant and bear a son.

4 But take much care: Drink no wine or beer; eat nothing ritually unclean.

5 You are, in fact, pregnant right now, carrying a son. No razor will touch his head - the boy will be God's Nazirite from the moment of his birth. He will launch the deliverance from Philistine oppression."

6 The woman went to her husband and said, "A man of God came to me. He looked like the angel of God - terror laced with glory! I didn't ask him where he was from and he didn't tell me his name,