The Philistines again oppress Israel, 1. An angel appeareth to Manoah’s wife, promising her a son that should be a Nazarite, and deliver Israel, 2-5. She informs her husband hereof: he prayeth, and obtaineth a return of the angel, 6-14. Manoah is desirous to provide food for the angel, and inquireth after his name, 15-18. He sacrificeth to the Lord, and the angel ascendeth to heaven in the flame of the burnt-offering, 19-21. Hereat Manoah is affrighted, but comforted by his wife; who beareth him a son; his name Samson, in whom is the Spirit of the Lord, 22-25.
Jonathan Edwards' Notes on Scripture: 'Judges 13-15. The History of Samson. Samson was charmed with the daughters of the uncircumcised Philistines, and, as it were, bewitched with them. These daughters represent those lusts, or objects of their lusts, with which men are charmed and infatuated. Samson's uniting himself with these daughters of the Philistines, proved his ruin. He had warning enough to beware of them before he was utterly destroyed by them. First, he was deceived by one of them, and suffered great damage by her falseness, by the woman of Timnath; though he loved her, she proved an enemy to him, and treacherously deprived him of thirty sheets, and thirty changes of garments, and then she was taken fro…
Matthew Henry: 'At this chapter begins the story of Samson, the last of the judges of Israel whose story is recorded in this book, and next before Eli. The passages related concerning him are, from first to last, very surprising and uncommon. The figure he makes in this history is really great, and yet vastly different from that of his predecessors. We never find him at the head either of a court or of an army, never upon the throne of judgment nor in the field of battle, yet, in his own proper person, a great patriot of his country, and a terrible scourge and check to its enemies and oppressors; he was an eminent believer (Hebrews 11:32) and …