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.