There was a certain man.... — The narrative of the birth of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:1) is similarly introduced.
Zoran. — The name means “place of hornets.” In Joshua 15:33 it is mentioned with Eshtaol among the towns north-east of the Shephelah, and it belonged to Dan (Joshua 19:41). Robinson identifies it with Surah, fourteen miles from Jerusalem, seven miles south of Yalo, west of Kirjath-jearim. It is mentioned again in 1 Chronicles 11:10; Nehemiah 11:29. Its conical hill and abundant fountain made it a strong and convenient place.
Of the family of the Danites. — There seems to be no clear distinction between “family” (mispachath) and “tribe” (shebet), since they are used interchangeably in Judges 18:1-2; Judges 18:11; Judges 18:30. The same word is used of the house of Levi (Zechariah 12:13). It has, however, this appropriateness, as applied to Dan, that the tribe seems to have consisted of the single family of Shuham (Numbers 26:42).
Manoah. — The name (“rest”) perhaps expressed the yearning of the Israelites in these troubled days.
His wife was barren. — We find the same circumstance mentioned of Sarah (Genesis 16:1), Rebekah (Genesis 25:21), Hannah (1 Samuel 1:2) Elizabeth (Luke 1:7). Many of the phrases here used occur in Luke 1:7; Luke 1:11; Luke 1:15; Luke 1:31; Luke 2:23. The Talmud (Babha Bathra, 91) says that the name of Samson’s mother was Hazelelponi, or Zelelponi (for which they refer to 1 Chronicles 4:3), and that she was of the tribe of Judah. Zelelponi means “the shadow falls on me.”
And bare not. — The pleonastic addition is common in the forms of ancient literature. “Sarai was barren; she had no child” (Genesis 11:30). “I am a widow woman, and my husband is dead.” It often takes the form of both a positive and negative statement, as “Thou shalt live, and not die.” “It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves,” &c.