Verse 13:[1] And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware.
[From all that I have spoken to thy wife let her abstain, תִּשָּׁמֵר[2]] Let her be kept (Montanus, Septuagint); let her beware (Pagnine); she shall watch herself (Syriac, Junius and Tremellius), namely, the woman (Arabic, Munster, Tigurinus, Junius and Tremellius, Drusius). Take care not to take this of the child, for the verb is feminine in its source (Drusius). Objection: But Manoah had asked concerning the child, not concerning his wife. Response: Either, the Angel responded concerning both, although it be not expressed; or, certainly, from those things that were ordered to the wife it was understood well enough what things were to be kept concerning the child, since they were appointed to the mother in the very same manner as to the child (Bonfrerius). But Jonathan translates it, to keep. תִּשָּׁמֵר is able to be either the second person masculine, thou shalt keep, watch thyself, beware, that is, what things I have commanded to thy wife to be observed, I also prescribe to thee; or the third person feminine, it shall be observed, she shall watch herself: and thus almost all take it (Malvenda).
Let her beware: Whilst the child is in her womb, and after the child is born, let him observe the same orders.
Verse 14:[3] She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, (Judg. 13:4) neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe.
[Whatever springs from the vine; Hebrew, of all that goeth forth מִגֶּ֙פֶן הַיַּ֜יִן] From the vine of wine, or winemaking (Pagnine, Montanus, Septuagint, Jonathan, Junius and Tremellius, etc.). That is, what is produced by the vine, which bears wine (Vatablus). He adds of wine, διακρίσεως ἕνεκα, for the sake of distinction. For there is an empty vine, Hosea 10:1, and another that is called a vine of the field, 2 Kings 4:39,[4] which they think to be a tree from which פַּקֻּעֹת/ gourds come forth, similar to a vine. From a vine of wine come forth grapes, both fresh and shriveled or dried; which dried grapes are also commonly called raisins (Drusius).
[1] Hebrew: וַיֹּ֛אמֶר מַלְאַ֥ךְ יְהוָ֖ה אֶל־מָנ֑וֹחַ מִכֹּ֛ל אֲשֶׁר־אָמַ֥רְתִּי אֶל־הָאִשָּׁ֖ה תִּשָּׁמֵֽר׃
[2] שָׁמַר, to keep, is here in the Niphal (passive) conjugation.
[3] Hebrew: מִכֹּ֣ל אֲשֶׁר־יֵצֵא֩ מִגֶּ֙פֶן הַיַּ֜יִן לֹ֣א תֹאכַ֗ל וְיַ֤יִן וְשֵׁכָר֙ אַל־תֵּ֔שְׁתְּ וְכָל־טֻמְאָ֖ה אַל־תֹּאכַ֑ל כֹּ֥ל אֲשֶׁר־צִוִּיתִ֖יהָ תִּשְׁמֹֽר׃
[4] 2 Kings 4:39: “And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine (גֶּ֣פֶן שָׂדֶ֔ה, a vine of the field), and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not.”
John Brown of Haddington's Systematic Theology: 'The duties of parents to their children are...Careful preservation of them in the womb, Judges 13:14.'
Matthew Henry: 'The angel repeats the directions he had before given (Judges 13:13, 14): Of all that I forbad let her beware; and all that I commanded her let her observe. Note, There is need of a good deal both of caution and observation, for the right ordering both of ourselves and of our children. Beware and observe; take heed not only of drinking wine or strong drink, but of eating any thing that cometh of the vine. Those that would preserve themselves pure must keep at a distance from that which borders upon sin or leads to it. When she was with child of a Nazarite, she must not eat any unclean thing; so those in whom Christ i…