Judges 13:1

The Birth of Samson

1 Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. ¹

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 Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

2 Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.

3 The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are barren and have no children; but you will conceive and give birth to a son.

4 Now please be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and not to eat anything unclean.

5 For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall touch his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

Cross References

• 1. (Numbers 6:1–21)