Judges 13:2

2 There was a man named Manoah from the tribe of Dan, who lived in the city of Zorah. He had a wife, but she could not have children.

Judges 13:2 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 13:2

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 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Antique. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 2.
F8 T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 61. 1.
F9 T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 91. 1. Juchasin, fol. 10. 8.

Judges 13:2 In-Context

1 Again the people of Israel did what the Lord said was wrong. So he handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

2 There was a man named Manoah from the tribe of Dan, who lived in the city of Zorah. He had a wife, but she could not have children.

3 The angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah's wife and said, "You have not been able to have children, but you will become pregnant and give birth to a son.

4 Be careful not to drink wine or beer or eat anything that is unclean,

5 because you will become pregnant and have a son. You must never cut his hair, because he will be a Nazirite, given to God from birth. He will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines."