And Manoah said to the Angel of Jehovah, I pray thee, let us detain thee, and we will make ready a kid of the goats for thee.
Manoah has just heard the promise of a son repeated, and his response is to keep his visitor a little longer over a meal. He still thinks his guest is only a man of God, and the reply he gets changes everything he planned.
Manoah's offer of food comes from real piety, but it misreads who is standing in front of him. The instructions Manoah wanted repeated concerned Nazariteship — the life of someone set apart for God. One writer follows what he does when the messenger returns:
When he comes, notice how anxious Manoah is to hear all about it over again. He learns no more than his wife had already heard — simple instructions about Nazariteship. Then he bustles about to do something religious. There has to be a feast. He is going to bring this messenger, though he calls him a man of God, rather down to his own level. He will share his hospitality with him. He also wants to know his guest's name, so that he may honour him once all these things come true.
The reply in the next verse turns the young goat from a dinner into a sacrifice. The reason lies in who the visitor is:
Manoah was clearly a God-fearing man, and he wanted to prepare a meal for the Angel. But the Angel told him He would not eat his food; yet if he wanted to offer a burnt offering, he must offer it to the Lord (vv. 15-16). The Angel was the Lord Himself, but Manoah did not know this. No one may bring an offering to a mere man or a mere angel.
The refusal is not a rebuff. It moves Manoah out of the role of host into something higher:
So far Manoah recognizes only a human messenger, even while he recognizes the message. The angel simply insists on obedience to the word already given. When Manoah wants to entertain him, the angel will take nothing from him as a man. Instead the angel tells him to offer a burnt offering to Jehovah. Like Gideon, this makes Manoah a priest to the Lord. God rebukes the believer's unbelief by bringing him into closer intimacy. He turns him from man to God, and puts him in a place where he may approach as a priest.
The particular offering matters. Manoah wanted to give his visitor a share of the meal. The burnt offering gives man no share at all:
In this offering of Manoah and his wife we see the burnt offering. It is Christ in all His blessed perfection — wholly burnt, a sweet savour to God (Leviticus 1). The burnt offering was all for God; no man could eat any of it. But along with it God provided a grain offering (vv. 19, 23), and the priest could eat from that.
Manoah lays the young goat not on his own table but on a rock. The change of place carries its own lesson:
Manoah meant this as a simple act of hospitality, no doubt with a religious character. Now it becomes a sacrifice, to be placed on the rock. That rock reminds us of the Rock of ages, the only Rock, the one firm thing in a world as weak and unstable as water. It is on the Rock, Christ Jesus. The feast is not spread on Manoah's table. It is placed on the enduring Rock. That is the only basis of relationship, and the only basis of power for anyone who is to be a Nazarite and a witness for God.
Manoah asked for a name and for more instruction. He got neither until he had made the offering. Another writer sees this order as deliberate:
The starting point of these truths is the sacrifice. Manoah was more intelligent than Gideon (compare Judges 6:19). He took the kid with the grain offering and offered them on a rock to Jehovah. The cross is the foundation of all our knowledge as children of God. Manoah wanted to know many things which Jehovah could not reveal to him before the sacrifice.
- Offer. Manoah's instinct is generous but mistaken. He treats his visitor as a man of God on his own level, and prepares a meal for Him.
- Refusal. The Angel will not eat. An offering belongs to the Lord alone, never to a man or an angel.
- Redirection. Manoah loses the role of host and gains a better one. God turns him from man to God and gives him a priest's place of approach.
- Rock. The meal moves from his table to the rock. Hospitality becomes a burnt offering — wholly God's, with nothing kept back for man.
- Revelation. The answers come only after the sacrifice. The offering is the foundation of all Manoah wanted to know.
And the Angel of Jehovah said to Manoah, Though thou shouldest detain me, I will not eat of thy bread; and if thou wilt offer a burnt-offering, thou shalt offer it up to Jehovah. For Manoah knew not that he was the Angel of Jehovah.
Manoah wants to keep his visitor longer and set food before Him, because he does not know who stands in front of him. The answer redirects everything: no meal, and the offering must go to the LORD.
Manoah's instinct was generous, and it was religious. But he was treating his guest as an equal — a good man to be thanked and fed.
When he comes you notice Manoah is very anxious to know all about it over again. He gets no more than his wife had got before, simple instructions about Nazariteship. Then he bustles about to do something religious. There has to be a feast. He is going to bring this messenger, though he calls him a man of God, onto his own level. He will share his hospitality. He wants to know the name of his guest, so that he may honour him after all this comes true.
The refusal was not rudeness. It guarded a line that must never be crossed.
Manoah was clearly a God-fearing man, and he wanted to prepare a meal for the Angel. But the Angel told him He would not eat his food, yet if he wanted to offer a burnt offering he must offer it to the LORD. The Angel was the Lord Himself, but Manoah did not know this, and an offering must not be made to a mere man nor a mere angel.
The correction did more than stop Manoah. It moved him nearer to God than he had aimed.
Manoah as yet recognises only a human messenger, even while recognising the message. The angel insists only on obedience to the word already given. When Manoah wants to entertain Him, He will not accept anything from him as a man. He tells him instead to offer a burnt offering to Jehovah. Like Gideon, Manoah is made a priest to the Lord in this way. God rebukes the believer's unbelief by bringing him into closer intimacy. He turns him from man to God, and puts him in a place where he may approach God as a priest.
The offering named here explains why the meal was refused.
This offering of Manoah and his wife sets the burnt offering before us. It is Christ in all His blessed perfection, wholly burnt, a sweet savour to God (Leviticus 1). The burnt offering was all for God, and no one could eat any of it. But along with it God provided a grain offering (vv. 19, 23), and the priest might eat of that.
And the place the food ended up was not the one Manoah had in mind.
Manoah meant it as a simple act of hospitality, religious no doubt. Now it becomes a sacrifice to lay on the rock. That rock reminds us of the Rock of ages, the only Rock, the only firm thing in a world as weak and unstable as water... It is on the Rock Christ Jesus. That is the only basis of communion with God. So the feast is not spread on Manoah's table. It is laid on the enduring Rock, the only basis of relationship, and the only basis of power for anyone who is to be a Nazarite and a witness for God.
The verse ends by telling us Manoah was in the dark. Commentators see the Son of God Himself in this visitor. Their proof is what He did with the sacrifice.
Who but the Son of God would have dared to identify Himself with the burnt offering, rising to God in its smoke and fragrance? This name "Secret" (pahlah) (v. 18) identifies Him with the Son, who was to be called "Wonderful" (pahlah) (Isaiah 9:6). As John found, it is a serious error to mistake an angel for the Lord (Revelation 19:10; 22:9). It is far worse to mistake the Son of God for an angel!
- Refused. The visitor would not eat Manoah's bread. An offering may go to no one but the LORD — not to a man, not to an angel.
- Redirected. The visitor turned Manoah's hospitality from man to God, and drew him nearer — into a priest's place before God.
- Replaced. The intended meal became a sacrifice: a burnt offering is wholly for God, with none of it eaten by man.
- Relocated. The food went onto the rock, not onto Manoah's table. Christ is the only firm basis of relationship with God in an unstable world.
- Revealed. Manoah did not know who stood there. The One who rises to God in the flame of the offering bears the name "Wonderful" — never to be mistaken for an angel.