GOD SIGHTINGS – OCTOBER, 2023
There is so much of God in self-revelation with Judges 13, that it simply overwhelms the heart and mind. When the Angel of the Lord reveals Himself to Minoah and his wife, announcing the coming birth of their son named, Samson—wonder breaks forth in the events which follow as God leaves the reader, the onlooker, in awe that Yahweh would disclose so much of Himself to mere men.
Now, it becomes apparent to Minoah and his wife that the Messenger that they were interacting with was God Himself! The fact so resonated in their minds that this lowly couple thought that they would literally die seeing that they had beheld the face of God (Judges 13:22). But among the many disclosures of God and the redemptive implications to the sacrifice upon the rock where the Lord consumed the offering and ascended to Heaven in the flame, there is the issue of His name in verse 18. Minoah asked the Messenger’s name. He wished to honor the one who prophesied of his coming son and the one who would bring it to pass (v. 17). By what follows, Minoah would learn a lesson about God and His Name. Minoah would embrace the Name which belonged only to God. A Name unfathomable, yet to us who believe—redemptive.
“Why do you ask My Name, seeing it is wonderful (v. 18)?” Commentator, Delitzch explains, “. . .signifying neither easy to utter, nor easy to understand.” Yet, the same appellation is said of Isaiah’s Messiah in chapter 9, verse 6. “His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Almighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Is our Judges account not a Christophany? Is this not the One through whom God would redeem humanity? Obviously, the event cannot be fully understood, but it is a sufficient disclosure of God to send us prostrate in worship, just like with Minoah and his wife.
No wonder the seventh commandment passes sentence upon all those who by blasphemy would make His Name “empty,” seeing it is beyond human beings to fully grasp its glory!
