Judges 13:14
She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe. She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe.
In answer to Manoah's prayer for teaching how to raise the promised son, the angel at Zorah repeated to the father the instruction first given to his childless wife, that through her pregnancy she must take nothing from the vine, drink no wine or strong drink, eat nothing unclean, and observe all she had been commanded concerning the son through whom God would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. The restrictions consecrated him as a Nazirite to God from birth under a lifelong prohibition, with the added consecration that no razor should come upon his head, to prepare him for his work as Israel's deliverer. The command was twice repeated in the most explicit and solemn manner because God regards prenatal influences, with the mother's habits before birth and her efforts afterward shaping the child's physical strength, intellectual vigor, moral purity, disposition, character, appetites and passions. Both parents transmit their own mental and physical characteristics, dispositions and appetites to their children, so that parental intemperance weakens physical strength and mental and moral power and passes on craving and disease, while the mother is placed by God himself under solemn obligation to be controlled by principle in temperance, self-denial and self-control rather than gratifying every wish. What was commanded to Manoah's wife is guidance for all mothers before childbirth, and every father and mother should ask what to do unto the child that shall be born.
Context and Command
The angel of Jehovah gave the command at Zorah as the answer to Manoah's prayer for teaching on how to order and raise the promised son, repeating to the father the instruction first given to his childless wife concerning the son through whom God would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. The mother was commanded to beware of all that was said to her, to take nothing that comes of the vine, to drink no wine or strong drink, to eat no unclean thing, and to observe all that was commanded her throughout her pregnancy. These restrictions prepared Samson for his work as Israel's deliverer, as one consecrated as a Nazirite to God from birth under a lifelong prohibition against wine and strong drink. The same abstinence was to be imposed on the child from the first, with the added consecration that no razor should come upon his head and his hair should not be cut.
The command stands in a record showing that God uses angels to communicate with human beings, and its importance is shown by God sending an angel to deliver it directly. It was twice repeated in the most explicit and solemn manner, showing how the Creator regards prenatal influences. God gave Manoah's wife definite instructions about what she could eat and drink, which shows that He cares about matters of eating and drinking. Its instructions are similar to those for John, who was to be raised with strictly temperate habits so that his abstinence would rebuke the excesses of his time.
Parental Influence and Duty
The command regulated the mother's habits to secure the qualifications needed for the child's important work, and the same abstinence was to be imposed on the child from the first. The prescribed restrictions on food and drink provided favorable conditions for physical strength, intellectual vigor, and moral purity. God gave definite instructions to regulate her habits for the physical and moral health of the promised child, whose God-given work would require careful thought and vigorous action, so that disciplined habits would help equip him for it. The restrictions served his physical and moral health and helped secure the qualities his demanding work would require, for restraint of appetite protects strength and judgment while self-indulgence weakens them.
The mother's habits affect her child for good or for evil, so temperance and self-denial are needed for the child's welfare as part of preparing one consecrated from birth for work as deliverer. Her self-control and temperance were made part of that preparation, since both parents pass on physical and mental characteristics, dispositions, and appetites, and children should be taught temperance, self-denial, and self-control from infancy. A mother's habits influence her child's appetites and passions, so mothers before childbirth are to avoid perverted appetites and follow God's directions. Her habits before birth and her efforts afterward greatly shape the child's character, more than external advantages or disadvantages. She was to practice temperance and self-denial because her conduct could affect her child for good or evil.
Both parents transmit their own mental and physical characteristics, dispositions, and appetites to their children, so that parental intemperance weakens children's physical strength and mental and moral power and passes on craving, inflamed blood, irritable nerves, unholy desires, and disease, with each generation falling lower because children have less power to resist. By the command of God himself the mother is placed under the most solemn obligation, not a matter of personal preference, to be herself controlled by principle and to practice temperance and self-denial and exercise self-control if she would seek the welfare of her child. She is to beware by resisting temptation and controlling her appetites and passions by principle. This restraint of appetite, including during pregnancy, corrects the teaching that a mother should gratify every wish and impulse. Drinking to satisfy appetite endangers the child's physical, mental, and moral health and is a sin against God, who as Creator knows what is best for human well-being, so she is under solemn duty to exercise self-control. God regards a mother's conduct before her child's birth as important and places her under a solemn duty of self-control.
Drinking wine or strong drink during pregnancy endangers the child and is a direct sin against God. A mother's habits before birth affect the child's physical, mental, and moral health and disposition. Her self-indulgence, selfishness, impatience, and demandingness can foster strong tendencies to evil in a child, while temperance, self-denial, kindness, gentleness, and unselfishness can help pass on good traits. Her selfishness, irritability, and instability can leave her child with strong tendencies to evil, while steadfastness in doing right, kindness, gentleness, and unselfishness foster those traits in her child. Good birth heritage was not enough, for from infancy the child needed careful training in strict temperance. The instruction to Manoah's wife is guidance for all mothers before childbirth, and every father and mother should ask what to do unto the child that shall be born.