Why does Manue’s wife say the Lord does not intend to kill them?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

She says he would not have accepted their holocaust and libations, shown them these things or told them what was to come if he meant to kill them. Her reply follows Manue’s claim that seeing God means they must die.

Chapter breakdown

Israel again does evil before the Lord, who delivers them to the Philistines for forty years. Manue, a man of Saraa of Dan’s race, has a barren wife. An angel of the Lord appears to her and says that though barren and childless she will conceive a son. She must drink no wine or strong drink and eat no unclean thing. No razor will touch the son’s head: he will be God’s Nazarite from infancy and his mother’s womb, and begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. She reports to her husband a man of God with an angel’s very awful countenance. She asked who he was, where he came from and his name, but he would not tell her. She repeats his promise and dietary instructions, saying the child will be God’s Nazarite from infancy and the womb until death.

Manue prays that the man God sent return to teach them what to do concerning the coming child. The Lord hears, and the angel appears again to his wife as she sits in the field without Manue. She runs to tell him the man has returned. He follows her and asks if this is the man who spoke to her; the reply is yes. He asks what the child should do or avoid when the word comes true. The angel says his wife must refrain from everything already named. Challoner separately says the Latin is unclear whether the abstinence is prescribed to mother or child, but the Hebrew’s feminine verbs determine the mother. The child must also abstain because he is a Nazarite from infancy under verse 5, meaning one especially set aside and consecrated to God, and the law requires Nazarites to abstain from all these things. The angel says she must eat nothing from the vine, drink no wine or strong drink, eat no unclean thing, and fulfill and observe every command given her.

Manue asks the angel to let them prepare a kid for him. He replies that even if pressed he will not eat Manue’s bread, but if Manue offers a holocaust it must be to the Lord. Manue does not yet know this is the Lord’s angel. He asks the man’s name so they may honor him if his word comes true. The angel asks why he seeks the name, which is wonderful. Manue takes a kid of the flocks and libations, puts them on a rock and offers to the Lord who does wonderful things, while he and his wife watch. As the altar’s flame rises toward heaven, the angel ascends in it. Seeing this, they fall flat on the ground.

The angel appears to them no more, and Manue at once understands it was the Lord’s angel. He tells his wife they will certainly die because they have seen God. Challoner separately says they saw God in his messenger, not in his own person. Israelites then imagined seeing an angel meant death, perhaps taking this from the Lord’s words to Moses in Exodus 33:20 that no man would see him and live. The note says the event proves that imagination groundless. Manue’s wife answers that if the Lord meant to kill them he would not have accepted their holocaust and libations, shown them all these things or told them the things to come.

She bears a son and names him Samson. He grows and the Lord blesses him. The Lord’s spirit begins to be with him in Dan’s camp between Saraa and Esthaol.

The story inside

The forty-year delivery to the Philistines frames the promise to Manue’s barren wife. She receives the commands and reports the encounter; Manue’s prayer leads to the angel’s return and the repeated rule. His offered meal receives a refusal and direction to offer to the Lord, followed by the name question, sacrifice and ascent in flame. He then recognizes the angel and says they must die. His wife answers from the accepted offering, what they were shown and what they were told. The birth, naming, growth and blessing of Samson and the spirit’s beginning presence close the chapter. Challoner’s two notes keep the abstinence interpretation and the perhaps explanation of the fear separate.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The promise says Samson will begin deliverance. It gives lifelong Nazarite wording, a no-razor command and specific dietary instructions for his mother. The ending records his birth and the spirit’s beginning presence, without importing his later victories.
2
The repeated rule keeps a language distinction in the note. Challoner says Latin is unclear about mother or child and Hebrew determines the mother, while also explaining why the child must abstain. The uncertainty and explanation remain attributed to him.
3
The wife answers a specific claim with three recorded reasons. Against Manue’s certainty of death, she names the accepted offering, the things shown and the future announced. Challoner separately explains the messenger distinction and qualifies the suggested origin of the fear with perhaps.

Test your recall

How does the ascent in flame lead to Manue’s recognition and death claim, and what three reasons does his wife give in reply?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 26652–26683
Judges Chapter 13 The people fall again into idolatry and are afflicted by the Philistines. An angel foretelleth the birth of Samson. 13:1. 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. 13:2. Now there was a certain man of Saraa, and of the race of Dan, whose name was Manue, and his wife was barren. 13:3. 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. 13:4. Now therefore beware, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing. 13:5. 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. 13:6. 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 who he was, and whence he came, and by what name he was called, he would not tell me: 13:7. 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.
Lines 26685–26716
13:8. 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. 13:9. 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, 13:10. She made haste, and ran to her husband: and told him, saying: Behold the man hath appeared to me, whom I saw before. 13:11. 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. 13:12. 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? 13:13. And the angel of the Lord said to Manue: From all the things I have spoken of to thy wife, let her refrain herself: Let her refrain, etc.... By the Latin text it is not clear whether this abstinence was prescribed to the mother, or to the child; but the Hebrew (in which the verbs relating thereto are of the feminine gender) determineth it to the mother. But then the child also was to refrain from the like things, because he was to be from his infancy a Nazarite of God, ver. 5, that is, one set aside, in a particular manner, and consecrated to God: now the Nazarites by the law were to abstain from all these things. 13:14. 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.
Lines 26718–26737
13:15. 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. 13:16. 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. 13:17. And he said to him: What is thy name, that, if thy word shall come to pass, we may honour thee? 13:18. And he answered him: Why askest thou my name, which is wonderful? 13:19. 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. 13:20. 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;
Lines 26739–26754
13:21. And the angel of the Lord appeared to them no more. And forthwith Manue understood that it was an angel of the Lord, 13:22. And he said to his wife: We shall certainly die, because we have seen God. Seen God.... Not in his own person, but in the person of his messenger. The Israelites, in those days, imagined they should die if they saw an angel, taking occasion perhaps from those words spoken by the Lord to Moses, Ex. 33.20, No man shall see me and live. But the event demonstrated that it was but a groundless imagination. 13:23. 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.
Lines 26756–26762
13:24. And she bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. 13:25. And the Spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the camp of Dan, between Saraa and Esthaol.