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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 13:15-23

We have here an account, I. Of what further passed between Manoah and the angel at this interview. It was in kindness to him that while the angel was with him it was concealed from him that he was an angel; for, had he known it, it would have been such a terror to him that he durst not have conversed with him as he did (Jdg. 13:16): He knew not that he was an angel. So Christ was in the world, and the world knew him not. Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself. We could not bear the sight of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 13:19

So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering ,.... The kid which he proposed to make an entertainment with, for the man of God, he took him to be, he fetched and brought for a burnt offering, at the hint which the angel had given him, and joined to it a meat offering, as was usual whenever burnt offerings were made; see Numbers 15:3 , and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord ; for though Manoah was not a priest, nor was this a proper place for sacrifice; high places were now forbidden,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 13:20

For it came to pass, when the flame went up towards heaven from off the altar ,.... That is, from the rock, which served instead of an altar, and from whence perhaps the fire sprung which consumed both the burnt offering and the meat offering, the flame of which went up to heaven; this rock or altar having no covering, but was "sub dio", open to the heavens: that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar ; making use of the smoke, as Josephus F18 Ibid. (Antiqu. l. 5.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 13:21

But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife ,.... As the flame and smoke ascended, he disappeared therewith, and was seen no more: then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord ; by the wondrous things he did, causing fire to come down from heaven, or out of the rock, ascending in the midst of the flame, without being hurt by it, and going up to heaven in it. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 13:22

And Manoah said unto his wife ,.... Being risen from the ground, where they fell on their faces: we shall surely die, because we have seen God ; by which it appears that he not only believed him to be an angel, and not a man, but a divine Person; for though angels are sometimes called "Elohim", the word here used, yet good men were not wont to fear death, or conclude they should die on sight of an angel; but their notion was, that an appearance of God to them was death, and were... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 13:19

The angel did wondrously - He acted according to his name; he, being wonderful, performed wonderful things; probably causing fire to arise out of the rock and consume the sacrifice, and then ascending in the flame. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 13:22

We shall surely die , because we have seen God - See the note on Judges 6:22 . read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Judges 13:19-20

Judges 13:19-20. And offered it upon a rock The presence and command of the angel being a sufficient warrant for the offering of sacrifice by a person who was no priest, and in a place otherwise forbidden. Vitringa, however, supposes that “it was the angel who upon this occasion performed the principal functions of the priest; the most essential of which was to put the fire to the burnt-offering.” Manoah, he observes, “dared not to perform the offices of the priesthood in the presence of a... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Judges 13:1-25

A man to fight the Philistines (13:1-25)The Philistines were by far the strongest enemy that Israel had yet met. Their forty years of rule lasted until the time of Samuel, and they continued to give trouble during the reigns of Saul and David (13:1).Samson was the man God chose to begin the job of breaking the Philistines’ rule. Before he was born, his mother was told by a messenger from God that she was to dedicate the child to God as a Nazirite for life. This meant that Samson was not to... read more

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