Judges 13:24

And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) Samson.—Josephus renders the word “strong” (ἰσχυρός), deriving it from a root (shameem), and perhaps not unwilling to suggest an analogy between Samson and the Greek Hercules. St. Jerome, rendering it “strength of the sun,” derives it from shemesh, “sun,” and on, “strength.” It is more probable that it means “sunny.” In Ezra 4:8 we have the name Shimshai, perhaps from the same root. The connection of “the sun” with strength was very natural (Judges 5:31; Psalm 19:5-6). The Rabbis say that he was “named after the name of God, who is called sun and shield of Israel” (Psalm 84:12). The mother gave the name in this instance. (Comp. Genesis 29:32-35; Genesis 35:18; Luke 1:60.) Ewald refers it to an Egyptian root, and makes it mean “servant of God,” in reference to his being a Nazarite.

The child grew, and the Lord blessed him.—God has many different kinds of blessings, and those here alluded to appear to be the gifts of health, strength, courage, &c. These blessings by no means place Samson on a level with Samuel (1Samuel 2:21-26; 1Samuel 3:19) or John the Baptist (Luke 2:80).

Benson Commentary

Jdg 13:24-25. The Lord blessed him — That is, endowed him with all those graces and gifts of mind and body which were necessary for the work he was designed for. The Spirit of the Lord began to move him — To excite him to heroical designs and extraordinary actions, above the power of mere unassisted human abilities; to incline his heart to great attempts for the help and deliverance of God’s people; to give some essay of it to his brethren, and to seek all opportunities for it. At times — Upon certain occasions, which might make known to the people that God intended to begin the work of their deliverance by this extraordinary person. In the camp of Dan — A place so called, either from the expedition of the Danites, (Jdg 18:11-12,) which, though recorded after this history took place before it, or from some other camp which the Danites had formed there to give some check to the incursions of the Philistines.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:24,25 The Spirit of the Lord began to move Samson when a youth. This was evidence that the Lord blessed him. Where God gives his blessing, he gives his Spirit to qualify for the blessing. Those are blessed indeed in whom the Spirit of grace begins to work in the days of their childhood. Samson drank no wine or strong drink, yet excelled in strength and courage, for he had the Spirit of God moving him; therefore be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Samson - The etymology is doubtful. Perhaps it comes from a word signifying "to minister," in allusion to his Nazaritic consecration to the service of God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Jud 13:24, 25. Samson Born.

24. the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson—The birth of this child of promise, and the report of the important national services he was to render, must, from the first, have made him an object of peculiar interest and careful instruction.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

i.e. Endowed him with all those graces and gifts of mind and body which were necessary for the work he was designed for.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the woman bare a son, and called name Samson,.... After these appearances were over, Manoah and his wife returned to their habitation, and she soon became pregnant, and at the usual course of time brought forth a son, and she gave him the name of Samson; for what reason it is not easy to determine. Josephus says (s) the word signifies "strong"; perhaps he was born a strong robust child, which is not unlikely, or the woman might have some prophetic hint of his future strength, and so gave him this name; but the word has not the signification of strength in it; it rather signifies the sun, which is indeed a strong body, and is compared to a strong man running his race, and so a strong man may be compared to that; but rather, with respect to the sun, this name might be given him, because of the splendour of his countenance with which he might be born, or in memory of the shining countenance of the angel which brought the tidings of his birth, or because he was to be the instrument of dispelling the darkness of calamity and distress Israel were now in: but the word more properly signifies a minister or servant, from whence the sun has its name; for Samson was to be, and was, a minister and servant of God, and of his people Israel. There is an agreement between the type and the antitype in this name in either sense. Christ is the mighty God, and mighty Saviour, the sun of righteousness, the light of the world, and the deliverer of his people from darkness of calamity and distress; and who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and perform the great service of redemption and salvation:

and the child grew in bodily strength and stature, and grew up to man's estate, Luke 2:40.

and the Lord blessed him; not only with extraordinary strength of body, but with great endowments of mind, with the Spirit and graces of the Spirit; with grace, and blessings of it, and with his gracious presence; with this compare Psalm 21:3.

(s) Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8.) sect. 4.

Geneva Study Bible

And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. Samson] The form implies that the word is either an adjective or a diminutive, ‘solar’ or ‘little sun,’ from shemesh = ‘sun.’ The Engl. Samson, based on the Gk. Σαμψών, is nearer the original pronunciation than the Shimshôn of the M.T. In Babylonian Shamshânu has recently been found as a proper name (Hilprecht-Clay, Bab. Exp. ix. 27. 70), and in Egyptian Shamshân occurs as the name of a town in S.W. Palestine on the list of places captured by Ramses II (b.c. 1292–1225). It cannot be without significance that less than 2 m. from Ṣar‘a, just across the valley, lies ‘Ain Shems, which preserves the name of the ancient Beth-shemesh (= ‘temple of the sun) or Ir-shemesh (= ‘city of the sun’), 1 Samuel 6:9 ff., Joshua 15:10; Joshua 19:41 etc. No doubt the worship of the sun prevailed at one time in the neighbourhood of Samson’s traditional home; and such indications as these seem to imply that sun-worship was familiar to the Israelites of the district, if not actually practised by them, until the religion of Jehovah gained supremacy.

grew … blessed him] Cf. 1 Samuel 2:26; 1 Samuel 3:19; St Luke 1:80; Luke 2:52.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - Called his name Samson. No doubt the name was significant of what the child should be (see note to ver. 17), but the etymology and meaning of the name are doubtful. Josephus ('Antiq.,' V. 8:4) says the name means "a strong one," but he does not say in what language, and it does not appear to have such a meaning in any Semitic dialect. It is commonly interpreted to mean like the sun, from shemesh, the common word for the sun; and so Jerome in his 'Onomasticon' expounds it as the sun's strength,' possibly with an allusion to Judges 5:31. Others make it equal shim-shorn, from the Pilpel conjugation of shamem, to devastate. Another possible derivation is from the Chaldee shemash, to minister, specially in sacred things, a root from which the Nestorian, Syriac, and Arabic names for a deacon are derived. If this were the derivation, it would be a reference to his dedication to God as a Nazarite from his mother's womb, the only thing his mother knew about him when she gave him the name. Judges 13:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The promise of God was fulfilled. the boy whom the woman bare received the name of Samson. שׁמשׁון (lxx, Σαμψών) does not mean sun-like, hero of the sun, from שׁמשׁ (the sun), but, as Josephus explains it (Ant. v. 8, 4), ἰσχυρός, the strong or daring one, from שׁמשׁום, from the intensive from שׁמשׁם, from שׁמם, in its original sense to be strong or daring, not "to devastate." שׁדד is an analogous word: lit. to be powerful, then to act powerfully, to devastate. The boy grew under the blessing of God (see 1 Samuel 2:21).