No King in Israel (31)

We have been examining the third and final appearance of the angel of the Lord in the book of Judges. In chapter 2, he rebuked Israel for its disobedience, setting the stage for both the judgments he would inflict on the nation throughout the book and the repeated miraculous deliverances these punishments would necessitate. In chapter 6, he appeared to Gideon, causing him to fear for his life. In this chapter, he appears to the woman who would shortly become Samson’s mother, and to her husband Manoah.

Manoah’s wife described the angel of the Lord as “very awesome”. She and her husband were shortly to discover he was much more than that.

II. Twelve Judges in Chronological Order (continued)

12. Samson (continued)

Judges 13:8-14 — Once More in the Field

“Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.’ And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, ‘Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.’ And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, ‘Are you the man who spoke to this woman?’ And he said, ‘I am.’ And Manoah said, ‘Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?’ And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, ‘Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.’ ”

Why Manoah’s Wife?

Why did the angel of the Lord appear to Manoah’s wife and not to Manoah? The most obvious answer I can think of is that she was the one who would shortly become pregnant with a “Nazirite to God from the womb”, and so she was the one who required the direction about avoiding the fruit of the vine and unclean food. Manoah needed no such instruction. His contribution to the Samson project would be one-and-done, as they say. In any case, the passage does not tell us the angel of the Lord’s reasoning so we cannot know for certain, but being left out troubled Manoah. He wanted to be included. So he prayed for the “man of God” who had spoken to his wife to return, and the Lord graciously accommodated the request despite the fact that it was superfluous to his purposes. I suspect many of my own prayers are equally redundant. Our Father knows what we need before we ask it.

As we will see, the angel of the Lord had no new information to offer. His first visit had already provided everything they needed, including the “manner of life” of the child (he was to be a Nazirite to God, set apart from all that was common) and his mission (he was to begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines). However, despite being unnecessary, this second visit from the angel of the Lord is notable in that it establishes beyond any question that this was no mere heavenly messenger, but the so-called Second Person of the Godhead in human form.

I Am

“Are you the man?” asked Manoah. “I am,” replied the angel of the Lord. We might think it would have been neat (and a little more obvious) if the angel of the Lord had replied with the personal name of God (“I am”, הָיָה), as God did to Moses at the burning bush, and as the Lord Jesus arguably did on several occasions (“Before Abraham was, I am”). However, this is not that. In this case, the “am” in “I am” is implicit.

The word is he used is 'ănî, a very common personal pronoun in Hebrew. It’s the same way God spoke to Abraham when he said, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans.” So then, it is not an explicit claim to deity, but merely an affirmation that he was indeed the individual about whom Manoah was inquiring.

That’s not a problem, as we will see shortly. The angel of the Lord would confirm his deity in other ways.

When Your Words Come True

We may think Manoah a little presumptuous for seeking information he had already received, but he was a man of faith. He did not doubt anything about the message he had heard relayed from his wife. “When your words come true,” he begins, “what is to be the child’s manner of life?” There is no question at this point that he fully expected them to be fulfilled.

Contrast this with a similar New Testament message delivered to Zechariah by the angel Gabriel concerning the unlikely and unexpected conception of John the Baptist. Zechariah’s reply was “How shall I know this?”, for which he was temporarily struck dumb.

Judges 13:15-20 — Wonderful

“Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, ‘Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you.’ And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, ‘If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.’ (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, ‘What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?’ And the angel of the Lord said to him, ‘Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?’ So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.”

A Second Young Goat

Gideon had a similar experience with the angel of the Lord in chapter 6. When the angel of the Lord called him to serve as judge of Israel, Gideon also wanted to prepare a young goat for him. It’s not obvious why both served goats to their guest, but the choice seems intended to convey both hospitality and respect. Like Gideon, Manoah did not have an altar, but he too offered the goat and accompanying offering on a rock. As in this situation, the angel of the Lord did not eat the meal Gideon prepared for him, but treated it as a burnt offering to the Lord, and mysteriously departed as miraculous flame sprang up from it.

The parenthetical statement in verse 16 is yet another affirmation of deity in that it implies the identification of “the angel of the Lord” with “the Lord”. Manoah had yet to grasp this, and when he did, he was stunned.

His Name is Wonderful

The Hebrew word translated “wonderful” is pil'î, meaning “incomprehensible”. It comes from a root word used in the Old Testament on many occasions to describe supernatural events: the conception of Isaac, the plagues of Egypt, and so on. The Psalms contemplate the Lord’s “wonderful works” repeatedly. David used the same word in Psalm 139 about the way that God knows our thoughts before we express them. He wrote, “Such knowledge is too wonderful [pil'î] for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.” Basically, he was saying, “This boggles my mind. I can’t get my head around it.”

Such was the name of the angel of the Lord, so when Manoah asks it, he does not receive a direct answer, but only “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?” Even the highest of angelic messengers is not reluctant to share his name or the names of other angels, as Gabriel quite freely did with Zechariah and as Michael the archangel’s name was shared with Daniel. Isaiah writes that Messiah’s name would be called “Wonderful Counselor”. The word he uses there is also related to pil'î, which is not surprising because the same divine person is in view.

So then, the angel of the Lord exceeds even archangels in rank. His name is greater than theirs. That should be our first clue to his identity in this passage.

Up in the Flame

The angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of Manoah’s makeshift altar. In so doing, he went from a “man of God”, as they perceived him, to much more. Both Manoah and his wife fell on their faces. Angels too may inspire the awe of men, but they do not accept worship that belongs to God alone. John fell down to worship at the feet of an angel who had showed him many marvelous things, but the angel told him, “You must not do that!”, calling himself a “fellow servant”.

There is no suggestion here of anything inappropriate about Manoah and his wife falling down to worship this angel as he ascended.