AP

Judges 13:15-16, 19-21  Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.”  The angel of the LORDreplied, “Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food.  But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.” (Manoah did not realise that it was the angel of the LORD.) … Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the LORD.  And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame.  Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground.  When the angel of the LORD did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realised that it was the angel of the LORD.

As in Greek, the Hebrew word for ‘angel’ is the ordinary word for a simple ‘messenger’ (‘mal’ach’: the Prophet ‘Malachi’s name means ‘my messenger’).  It described anyone with a mission to deliver a particular message.

Manoah and his wife were visited by a mal’ach whom they naturally thought to be a fellow human, as that was his outward appearance.  Eastern hospitality required them to provide the visitor with a meal.  It was only when the mal’ach responded as he did that they realised he was actually a ‘mal’ach of Yahweh’.

This, of course, gave his visit and message a very important significance: the male child that was to be born to the to-this-point-infertile wife of Manoah would have an exceptional relevance in the outworking of the LORD’s sovereign purposes, and therefore the instructions given for his care and upbringing were to be strictly obeyed.  I imagine that all of this would have made a strong, ongoing impression on this young God-fearing couple, and would have become increasingly important and significant to them over the following years as they observed Samson’s challenging development, and especially his often questionable attitude and behaviour.  They would have needed their memory of these divinely-inspired, miraculous events to keep them keenly focussed on God’s promises!

God still has his band of mal’achs constantly guiding our lives, protecting and providing for us, but we don’t need for them to be appearing to us in human form because he has recorded his promises and instructions firmly and infallibly in the Scriptures that point us to the One who has fulfilled his eternal purposes, his Plan of Salvation: the Lord Jesus Christ, the One whom the Author of Hebrews assures us is “as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs” (Hebrews 1:4).

– Bruce Christian