The interpretation timeline

Judg 13:25

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

2 Patristic · 1 Jewish · 1 Catholic · 1 Reformed · 1 Lutheran

Judg 13:25 · Douay-Rheims
“And the spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the camp of Dan, between Saraa and Esthaol.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
397
A.D.
Ambrose of Milan Patristic
A.D. 339–397
“And why should i speak of all one by one? Samson, born by the divine promise, had the Spirit accompanying him, for we read: "The Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the camp." And so foreshadowing the future mystery, he demanded a wife of the aliens, which, as it is written, his father and mother knew not of, because it was from the Lord. And rightly was he esteemed stronger than others, because the Spirit of the Lord guided him, under Whose guidance he alone put to flight the people of the aliens, and at another time inaccessible to the bite of the lion, he, unconquerable in his strength, tore him asunder with his hands. Would that he had been as careful to preserve grace, as strong to overcome the beast!”
Source
397
A.D.
Ambrose of Milan Patristic
A.D. 339–397
“Above, you read that "the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to go with him." Farther on it is said, "And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him." Again he says, "If I be shaven, my strength will depart from me." After he was shaven, see what the Scripture says: "The Lord," it says, "departed from him."4You see, then, that he who went with him, himself departed from him. The same is, then, the Lord, who is the Spirit of the Lord, as also the apostle says: "The Lord is the Spirit, now where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."”
Source
708 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500
1105
A.D.
Rashi Jewish
1040–1105
“Pulsating within him. Visiting him intermittently.”
744 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Post-Reformation c. 1650 – 1900
1849
A.D.
1774–1849
“To be. Septuagint, “to walk along.” Jonathan, “to sanctify.” Samson began to manifest an eager desire to deliver his brethren. (Calmet) — Dan, as it was called from those 600 men who encamped here, when they were going to take Lais, chap. xviii. 12. (Haydock) — God inspired him to commence the liberation of his country, when he was about 17 years old, (Usher) or 20 according to Salien. Then he entered upon his judicial authority, and punished the wrongs which the Philistines did him in person, as well as his countrymen. The seven years wandering of Æneas had terminated in his death just before, at the river Numicus. (Halicar. 1; Salien, in the year before Christ 1176.) (Haydock) Bible Text & Cross-references: The people fall again into idolatry, and are afflicted by the Philistines. An angel fortelleth the birth of Samson. 1 And *the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord: and he delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years. 2 Now there was a certain man of Saraa, and of the race of Dan, whose name was Manue, and his wife was barren. 3 *And an angel of the Lord appeared to her, and said: Thou art barren and without children: **but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. 4 *Now therefore beware, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing. 5 Because thou shalt conceive, and bear a son, and no razor shall touch his head: for he shall be a Nazarite of God, from his infancy, and from his mother’s womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. 6 And when she was come to her husband, she said to him: A man of God came to me, having the countenance of an angel, very awful. And when I asked him whence he came, and by what name he was called, he would not tell me: 7 But he answered thus: Behold thou shalt conceive and bear a son: beware thou drink no wine, nor strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite of God from his infancy, from his mother’s womb until the day of his death. 8 Then Manue prayed to the Lord, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord, that the man of God, whom thou didst send, may come again, and teach us what we ought to do concerning the child, that shall be born. 9 And the Lord heard the prayer of Manue, and the angel of the Lord appeared again to his wife, as she was sitting in the field. But Manue her husband was not with her. And when she saw the angel, 10 She made haste, and ran to her husband: and told him, saying: Behold the man hath appeared to me, whom I saw before. 11 He rose up, and followed his wife: and coming to the man, said to him: Art thou he that spoke to the woman? And he answered: I am. 12 And Manue said to him: When thy word shall come to pass, what wilt thou that the child should do? or from what shall he keep himself? 13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manue: From all the things I have spoken of to thy wife, let her refrain herself: 14 And let her eat nothing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: and whatsoever I have commanded her, let her fulfil and observe. 15 And Manue said to the angel of the Lord: I beseech thee to consent to my request, and let us dress a kid for thee. 16 And the angel answered him: If thou press me, I will not eat of thy bread: but if thou wilt offer a holocaust, offer it to the Lord. And Manue knew not it was the angel of the Lord. 17 And he said to him: What is thy name, that, if thy word shall come to pass, we may honour thee? 18 And he answered him: *Why askest thou my name, which is wonderful? 19 Then Manue took a kid of the flocks, and the libations, and put them upon a rock, offering to the Lord, who doth wonderful things: and he and his wife looked on. 20 And when the flame from the altar went up towards heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended also in the flame. And when Manue and his wife saw this, they fell flat on the ground; 21 And the angel of the Lord appeared to them no more. And forthwith Manue understood that it was an angel of the Lord, 22 And he said to his wife: We shall certainly die, because we have seen God. 23 And his wife answered him: If the Lord had a mind to kill us, he would not have received a holocaust and libations at our hands; neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor have told us the things that are to come. 24 *And she bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the camp of Dan, between Saraa and Esthaol.”
Source
1871
A.D.
1871
“the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times--not, probably, as it moved the prophets, who were charged with an inspired message, but kindling in his youthful bosom a spirit of high and devoted patriotism. Eshtaol--the free city. It, as well as Zorah, stood on the border between Judah and Dan. Next: Judges Chapter 14”
Source
1875
A.D.
Keil & Delitzsch Lutheran
1861–1875
“When he had grown up, the Spirit of Jehovah began to thrust him in the camp of Dan. פּעם, to thrust, denoting the operation of the Spirit of God within him, which took possession of him suddenly, and impelled him to put forth supernatural powers. Mahaneh-dan, the camp of Dan, was the name given to the district in which the Danites who emigrated, according to Jdg 18:12, from the inheritance of their tribe, had pitched their encampment behind, i.e., to the west of, Kirjath-jearim, or according to this verse, between Zorea and Eshtaol. The situation cannot be determined precisely, as the situation of Eshtaol itself has not been discovered yet (see at Jos 15:33). It was there that Samson lived with his parents, judging from Jdg 16:31. The meaning of this verse, which forms the introduction to the following account of the acts of Samson, is simply that Samson was there seized by the Spirit of Jehovah, and impelled to commence the conflict with the Philistines.”
Source
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.