And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the
Danites
Of the tribe of Dan, in which tribe Zorah was, and seems to have lain both on the borders of Judah and Dan, ( Joshua 15:33 ) ( 19:41 ) ; (See Gill on Joshua 15:33), (See Gill on Joshua 19:41), and this man was not a mean man, but of rank and figure, a principal man in the country, according to Josephus {g}; though the Talmudists F8 say he was a plebeian:
whose name was Manoah;
which signifies "rest", and has much the same signification as Noah; and by this name he was well known in those times, and among his people:
and his wife was barren, and bare not;
had no child, as the Targum; and it is observed by many, that several eminent persons were born of women that had been barren, as Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, and John the Baptist; and it is remarkable, that the strongest man that ever was born of such a woman, as the following account relates. The name of this woman, the mother of Samson, is said F9 to be Zalalponith; see ( 1 Chronicles 4:3 ) .