What Is Your Name? Text: Judges 13:15-20
Introduction: When God Shows Up
The book of Judges is a grim and bloody record. It is a downward spiral, a repeating cycle of apostasy, oppression, crying out, and deliverance, with each cycle sinking lower than the last. Israel keeps doing what is right in their own eyes, and the results are predictably catastrophic. But right in the middle of this dark and chaotic period, we find these remarkable encounters where God breaks in. He does not abandon His people to the mess they have made. He shows up.
And when God shows up, it is always disruptive. It is never casual. It is never on our terms. Manoah and his wife are about to learn this lesson in a most dramatic fashion. They have already received a staggering promise, a son who will begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. But they are still operating on a human level. They think they are dealing with a prophet, a man of God, and they want to show him some good, old-fashioned hospitality. But they are not dealing with a mere man. They are standing on the edge of a theophany, an appearance of God Himself, and their categories are about to be gloriously shattered.
This passage is not just a quaint historical anecdote about Samson's parents. It is a profound lesson on the nature of true worship, the identity of God, and the proper human response to His manifest presence. Manoah wants to host a dinner party; God is looking for a sacrifice. Manoah wants to know the messenger's name so he can send a thank-you card later; the messenger's name is the key to the identity of God Himself. This encounter forces them, and us, to move from earthly hospitality to holy terror, from casual curiosity to prostrate worship. And in this, we see a picture of how every sinner must encounter the living God.
The Text
Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, "Please let us delay you so that we may prepare a young goat for you."
And the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, "Though you delay me, I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to Yahweh." For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of Yahweh.
Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, "What is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?"
But the angel of Yahweh 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 Yahweh, and He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on.
Indeed, it happened when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife saw this, so they fell on their faces to the ground.
(Judges 13:15-20 LSB)
From Hospitality to Worship (v. 15-16)
We begin with Manoah's well-intentioned, but fundamentally mistaken, offer.
"Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, 'Please let us delay you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.' And the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, 'Though you delay me, I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to Yahweh.' For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of Yahweh." (Judges 13:15-16)
Manoah's instinct is hospitality. He thinks a prophet has come to visit, and the proper response is to feed him. This is not a bad instinct; the Bible commends hospitality. But he has misread the situation entirely. He is trying to fit a divine encounter into a human-sized box. He wants to offer a meal, but the angel is not here for a meal. The text explicitly tells us the reason for his confusion: "For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of Yahweh." He was blind to the identity of his guest.
The angel's response is a gentle but firm course correction. He redirects Manoah's gesture. "I will not eat your food." This is not about being rude. This is about establishing the proper relationship. You do not offer a sandwich to God. You offer a sacrifice. The angel shifts the entire transaction from the horizontal plane of human fellowship to the vertical plane of divine worship. "If you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to Yahweh."
Notice the crucial distinction. The angel refuses to be the recipient of the honor. All worship, all sacrifice, must be directed to Yahweh, and to Yahweh alone. This is a central theme of Scripture. Created beings, whether they are holy angels or apostles, always refuse worship (Revelation 22:8-9; Acts 10:25-26). But this angel is a special case. He is "the angel of Yahweh," a unique figure in the Old Testament who speaks and acts as God. This is what theologians call a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son of God. He is both messenger and the one whose message it is. He distinguishes Himself from Yahweh, directing the sacrifice to Him, and yet, as we will see, He is identified with Yahweh. This is the mystery of the Trinity, glimpsed here in the shadows of the Old Covenant.
The Unaskable Name (v. 17-18)
Manoah, still not quite grasping the gravity of the situation, asks a reasonable, human question.
"Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, 'What is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?' But the angel of Yahweh said to him, 'Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?'" (Judges 13:17-18)
Manoah wants a name for the credit line. When this baby is born, he wants to know who to thank. Again, this is a human way of thinking. We want to be able to name, to categorize, to control. To know someone's name in the ancient world was to have a handle on them. But you cannot get a handle on God.
The angel's reply is staggering. He doesn't give a name; he gives a quality. "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?" The Hebrew word here is pele. It doesn't just mean "nice" or "pleasant." It means wonderful in the sense of incomprehensible, beyond understanding, miraculous. This is not a dodge. It is a revelation. He is saying, "My name is beyond your categories. My nature is miraculous."
This should immediately ring a bell for us. Hundreds of years later, the prophet Isaiah would use this very word to describe the promised Messiah. "For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). The first name on that list is Pele. The angel here is claiming a Messianic title. He is identifying Himself as the wonderful one, the one who is God. Manoah asked for a name, and he got a direct claim to deity. He is being told that the one who brought this message of a coming son is Himself the Wonderful Son who was to come.
Worship Consumed by Fire (v. 19-20)
Manoah finally gets the message. He moves from offering a meal to offering a sacrifice. And God responds in a way that leaves no room for doubt.
"So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to Yahweh, and He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on. Indeed, it happened when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife saw this, so they fell on their faces to the ground." (Judges 13:19-20)
Manoah obeys. He takes the goat and offers it on a makeshift altar, a rock, to Yahweh. And then we are told that "He", Yahweh, "did a wondrous thing." The word for "wondrous thing" is a verb form of the same root as the angel's name, pele. The Wonderful one does a wonderful thing. The name and the action are one and the same.
What was this wondrous thing? As the flame from the sacrifice ascended, the angel of Yahweh ascended in the flame. This is the divine acceptance of the sacrifice. The angel does not simply vanish. He becomes one with the offering as it goes up to God. This is a living picture of Christ, our great High Priest, who is both the one offering the sacrifice and the sacrifice itself. He offers Himself up to the Father, a fragrant aroma, and ascends to the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 9:14).
The response of Manoah and his wife is the only appropriate response to such an event. They fell on their faces to the ground. The casual conversation is over. The dawning realization has become a blinding certainty. They have seen God. Their immediate reaction, which we see in the next verses, is terror: "We shall surely die, for we have seen God!" This is the proper fear of the Lord, the beginning of wisdom. It is the creaturely recognition of the infinite gulf between sinful man and a holy God. They have moved from hospitality to holiness, from curiosity to prostration.
Conclusion: Seeing God and Living
This encounter is a microcosm of the gospel. We, like Manoah, often try to approach God on our own terms. We want to offer Him our hospitality, our good works, our respectable religion. We want to treat Him as an honored guest, a helpful prophet, someone we can thank when things go our way. We want to know His name so we can file Him away in the proper mental box.
But God will not be managed. He refuses our paltry meals and demands a sacrifice. He reveals that His name is Wonderful, beyond our comprehension. And He shows us that the only way to approach Him is through an offering that He Himself provides and accepts in fire.
For us, that rock is Calvary. The sacrifice is the Lamb of God. And the wondrous thing is the resurrection and ascension. The Lord Jesus Christ offered Himself up in the fire of God's judgment against our sin. And in His ascension, He carried His own sacrifice into the heavenly places, securing our acceptance before the Father.
The proper response, then, is the same as Manoah's. It is to fall on our faces. It is to abandon all pretense of dealing with God as an equal. It is to see Him in His holiness and ourselves in our sinfulness. But unlike Manoah, we do not have to conclude, "We shall surely die." Because of the Wonderful One who ascended in the flame, we can hear the words of His wife, who had better theology at that moment: "If Yahweh had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering... from our hands." God's acceptance of the sacrifice of His Son is our guarantee of life. Because He has accepted Christ, He accepts us. Therefore, we fall on our faces not just in terror, but in grateful, prostrate, adoring worship.