Judges 13:22

22 Manoach said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

Judges 13:22 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 13:22

And Manoah said unto his wife
Being risen from the ground, where they fell on their faces:

we shall surely die, because we have seen God;
by which it appears that he not only believed him to be an angel, and not a man, but a divine Person; for though angels are sometimes called "Elohim", the word here used, yet good men were not wont to fear death, or conclude they should die on sight of an angel; but their notion was, that an appearance of God to them was death, and were surprised when it did not follow, ( Genesis 32:30 ) ( Judges 6:22 Judges 6:23 ) ( Exodus 33:20 ) .

Judges 13:22 In-Context

20 For it happened, when the flame went up toward the sky from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar: and Manoach and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.

21 But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoach or to his wife. Then Manoach knew that he was the angel of the LORD.

22 Manoach said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

23 But his wife said to him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he wouldn't have received a burnt offering and a meal-offering at our hand, neither would he have shown us all these things, nor would at this time have told such things as these.

24 The woman bore a son, and named him Shimshon: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.