Judges 13:4

4 So then, be careful and do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything 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 There was a certain man from Zorah, from the tribe of the Danites, and his name [was] Manoah; his wife [was] infertile and did not bear children.
3 And an angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman, and he said to her, "Behold, you [are] infertile and have not borne [children], but you will conceive and bear a son.
4 So then, be careful and do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean,
5 because you [will] conceive and bear a son. No razor {will touch} his head, because the boy will be a {Nazirite of God} {from birth}. And it is he who will begin to deliver Israel from [the] hand of [the] Philistines."
6 And the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A man of God came to me, and his appearance [was] like the appearance of an angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him from where he [came], and he did not tell me his name.
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.