Judges 13 is the thirteenth chapter of the

Book of Judges The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom i ...

in the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

or the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet

Samuel Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...

,Gilad, Elon
Who Really Wrote the Biblical Books of Kings and the Prophets?
''Haaretz'', June 25, 2015. Summary: The paean to King Josiah and exalted descriptions of the ancient Israelite empires beg the thought that he and his scribes lie behind the Deuteronomistic History. but modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans in the books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king

Josiah Josiah ( or ) or Yoshiyahu; la, Iosias was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE) who, according to the Hebrew Bible, instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Josiah is credited by most biblical s ...

in 7th century BCE. This chapter records the activities of

judges A judge is an official who presides over a court. Judge or Judges may also refer to: Roles *Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc. *Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a membe ...

Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...

. belonging to a section comprising Judges 13 to 16 and Judges 6:1 to 16:31.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. It is divided into 25 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, which includes the

Codex Cairensis The Codex Cairensis (also: ''Codex Prophetarum Cairensis'', ''Cairo Codex of the Prophets'') is a Hebrew manuscript containing the complete text of the Hebrew Bible's Nevi'im (Prophets). It has traditionally been described as "the oldest dated He ...

(895),

Aleppo Codex The Aleppo Codex ( he, כֶּתֶר אֲרָם צוֹבָא, romanized: , lit. 'Crown of Aleppo') is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the city of Tiberias in the tenth century CE (circa 920) under the ...

(10th century), and

Codex Leningradensis The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...

(1008). Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

(originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century) and

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century).

Analysis

A linguistic study by Chisholm reveals that the central part in the Book of Judges (Judges 3:7–16:31) can be divided into two panels based on the six refrains that state that the Israelites did evil in Yahweh’s eyes: Panel One : A 3:7 ::And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the (KJV)Judges 3:7 Hebrew Text Analysis
Biblehub :: B 3:12 :::And the children of Israel did evil ''again'' in the sight of the ::B 4:1 :::And the children of Israel did evil ''again'' in the sight of the Panel Two :A 6:1 ::And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the ::B 10:6 :::And the children of Israel did evil ''again'' in the sight of the ::B 13:1 :::And the children of Israel did evil ''again'' in the sight of the Furthermore from the linguistic evidence, the verbs used to describe the Lord’s response to Israel’s sin have chiastic patterns and can be grouped to fit the division above: Panel One :3:8 , “and he sold them,” from the root , :3:12 , “and he strengthened,” from the root , :4:2 , “and he sold them,” from the root , Panel Two : 6:1 , “and he gave them,” from the root , :10:7 , “and he sold them,” from the root , : 13:1 , “and he gave them,” from the root , Chapters 13–16 contains the "Samson Narrative" or "Samson Cycle", a highly structured poetic composition with an 'almost architectonic tightness' from a literary point-of-view. The entire section consists of 3 ''

canto The canto () is a principal form of division in medieval and modern long poetry. Etymology and equivalent terms The word ''canto'' is derived from the Italian word for "song" or "singing", which comes from the Latin ''cantus'', "song", from the ...

s'' and 10 subcantos and 30 canticles, as follows: * Canto I : the birth story of Samson (Judges 13:2–25) * Canto II : the feats of Samson in Timnah and Judah (Judges 14:1–16:3) * Canto III : Samson's exploits in the Valley of Sorek and the temple of Dagon (Judges 16:4–31). The distribution of the 10 subcantos into 3 cantos is a regular 2 + 4 + 4, with the number of

canticle A canticle (from the Latin ''canticulum'', a diminutive of ''canticum'', "song") is a hymn, psalm or other Christianity, Christian song of praise with lyrics usually taken from biblical or holy texts. Canticles are used in Christian liturgy. Ca ...

s per subcanto as follows: * Canto I: 3 + 3 * Canto II: 3 + 3 + 3 + 5 (3 + 2?) * Canto III: 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 The number of

strophe A strophe () is a poetic term originally referring to the first part of the ode in Ancient Greek tragedy, followed by the antistrophe and epode. The term has been extended to also mean a structural division of a poem containing stanzas of varying ...

s per canticle in each canto is quite uniform with numerical patterns in Canto II showing a 'concentric symmetry': * Canto I: 4 + 4 + 4 , 4 + 4 + 4 * Canto Ila: 4 + 3 + 3 , 4 + 4 + 4 , 3 + 3 + 4 (concentric) * Canto IIb: 4 + 4 + 3 + 4? + 4 (concentric) * Canto III: 4 + 4 , 4 + 4 , 4 + 4 + 4 , 3 + 3 + 4 The structure regularity within the whole section classifies this composition as a 'narrative poetry' or 'poetic narrative'.

Israel oppressed by the Philistines (13:1)

:''And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.'' The oppression of the Israelites by the Philistines was briefly mentioned in Judges 10:7, is stated here again with the standing formula: "And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord" (cf. Judges 10:6; Judges 4:1; Judges 3:12).Keil, Carl Friedrich; Delitzsch, Franz
''Commentary on the Old Testament'' (1857-1878). 2 Samuel 3
Accessed 24 Juni 2018. *"Forty years": as Samson judged Israel for 20 years during the 40-year oppression (Judges 15:20; Judges 16:31), he must have started his judgeship at around the age of 20 right after the incident of his marriage with a Philistine woman (Judges 14). The end of the 40 years of the Philistine oppression was the decisive victory under the command of

(

1 Samuel 7 1 Samuel 7 is the seventh chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, ...

), twenty years after the Philistines had sent back the

Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant,; Ge'ez: also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, is an alleged artifact believed to be the most sacred relic of the Israelites, which is described as a wooden chest, covered in pure gold, with an e ...

, which they had taken from the Israelites for seven months in their own territory ( 1 Samuel 6:1,

:2). Therefore, the twenty years of Samson as a

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

of Israel took place in this time frame, shortly following the death of

Eli Eli most commonly refers to: * Eli (name), a given name, nickname and surname * Eli (biblical figure) Eli or ELI may also refer to: Film * ''Eli'' (2015 film), a Tamil film * ''Eli'' (2019 film), an American horror film Music * ''Eli'' (Jan ...

(

1 Samuel 4 1 Samuel 4 is the fourth chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, ...

:18), until just before the final victory in

Eben-Ezer Eben-Ezer (, ''’éḇen hā-‘ézer'', "the stone of help") is a location that is mentioned by the Books of Samuel as the scene of battles between the Israelites and Philistines. It is specified as having been less than a day's journey by f ...

( 1 Samuel 7:12– 13)

Birth of Samson (13:2–25)

Eustache Le Sueur - The Sacrifice of Manoah, 1640-1650

The birth narrative of

follows the pattern of heroes' birth in the Israelite tradition, starting with as a barren mother (cf.

Sarah Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...

Rebekah Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...

Rachel Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

, and Hannah) receiving an annunciation (verse 3), a special theophany usually with women as the 'primary recipients' (cf.

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

Luke 1 Luke 1 is the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. With 80 verses, it is one of the longest chapters in the New Testament. This chapter describes the birth of John the Baptist and the events leading up ...

), accompanied by specific instructions for the mother and son (verses 4-6) causing an expression of fear or awe (verse 22; cf.

Genesis 25 Twenty-Five or 25 may refer to: *25 (number), the natural number following 24 and preceding 26 * one of the years 25 BC, AD 25, 1925, 2025 Music *Twenty Five (album), ''Twenty Five'' (album), a 2006 greatest hits album by George Michael **Twenty ...

:22–23;

Hagar Hagar, of uncertain origin; ar, هَاجَر, Hājar; grc, Ἁγάρ, Hagár; la, Agar is a biblical woman. According to the Book of Genesis, she was an Egyptian slave, a handmaiden of Sarah (then known as ''Sarai''), whom Sarah gave to he ...

Genesis 16 The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...

:11–12;

and

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

Genesis 18 Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

). Samson's nazirite identity (verses 4–6; 7; 14) is in accordance to the description in the Priestly text of Numbers 6:1–21, but among the nazirite characteristics, the specific motif of hair is especially central to the Samson Narrative. Samson's mother was unnamed, although she was the one receiving the important message about the birth and especially about the hair (verse 5), and appears to be calmer (and more readily believe the message) than her named husband (

Manoah Manoah ( ''Mānoaḥ'') is a figure from the Book of Judges 13:1-23 and 14:2-4 of the Hebrew Bible. His name means "rest". Family According to the Bible, Manoah was of the tribe of Dan and lived in the city of Zorah. He married one woman, who w ...

) who was fearful and unsure (cf. verses 8, 12, 16, and 21 with 6–7, 10, 23). As a confirmation of her importance in the narrative, she is the one who names the boy, Samson ("man of the sun"; in Hebrew: ''simson'', whereas ''semes'' means "sun"), following the tradition of naming the child in the Hebrew Bible (cf. Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:20;

Eve Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...

Genesis 4 Genesis, stylized as GENESIS, is a series of annual ''Super Smash Bros.'' tournaments occurring in the San Francisco Bay Area of the US state of California. The first Genesis tournament took place in 2009 in Antioch, California, Antioch at the C ...

:1, and the matriarchs,

Leah Leah ''La'ya;'' from (; ) appears in the Hebrew Bible as one of the two wives of the Biblical patriarch Jacob. Leah was Jacob's first wife, and the older sister of his second (and favored) wife Rachel. She is the mother of Jacob's first son ...

and

). The narrative in verses 3–24 has a structure that almost parallels with Judges 16 in terms of text arrangement: : The woman is barren (13:2) ::1) an inclusion ::::1. A. messenger appears (Hebrew: ''wyr'') to the woman (13:3–5) ::::2. B. the woman tells her husband (13:6–8) ::::3. C. he prays that the messenger come again (13:9) ::::4. A'. the messenger comes again to the woman (13:9) ::::5. B'. she tells the man has appeared (Hebrew: ''nr'h'') (13:10) ::2) fourfold asking and answer discourse (13:11–18) ::::1. First question and answer (13:11) ::::2. Second question and answer (13:12–14) ::::3. A request and reply (13:15–16) ::::4. Fourth question and answer (13:17–18) ::3) an inclusion ::::1. Manoah takes (Hebrew: ''wyqh'') a kind and cereal offering (13:19) ::::2. messenger does not appear again (13:20–21) ::::3. Manoah knew he was messenger of

YHWH The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', '' he'', ''waw'', and '' ...

(13:21–22) ::::4. YHWH would not have taken (Hebrew: ''lqh'') the burnt offering (13:23) :The woman bears a son (13:24)

Verse 25

:''And the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.'' *"Mahaneh Dan": literally, "Camp of Dan" (cf. Judges 18:12).Note on Judges 13:25 in NKJV

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

translations: *
Shoftim - Judges - Chapter 13 (Judaica Press)
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