Fire

This married couple is such a riot! Both Manoah and his wife saw the same flame, but they had very different perceptions of what they saw: “we’re going to die!” Then: “No, if God wanted us dead, we would not still be here... “ I really do laugh every time I read this because of the extreme fear, and then how ridiculous that reaction sounds after hearing the voice of wisdom that comes afterward. It’s beautiful that this exchange is depicted by a married couple because, in God’s sight, those who are married become one flesh. So the two different responses that they have is not representative of men versus women, but of two voices within one flesh. In that sense, Manoah can represent our own natural response which is to initially fear what we do not understand. He had asked to know the name of the Angel of the Lord, who most scholars agree is not an angel but the pre-incarnate Christ. Since He was more than an angel, far greater than what Manoah was familiar with, His Name was too wonderful for them to know or comprehend. So instead of leaving them with no answer, He revealed His actual nature in the fire ascending from their offering. This was still too wonderful for them, but in seeing the glory of His fire, they recognized that He was God.

The reason that Manoah’s wife was not afraid of this huge display of glory was because she is the one who heard the Angel of the Lord’s message to them about a champion son who would be born to deliver Israel from the Philistines. Because the Word was given to her directly, she was able to interpret what she saw based on her faith that God was giving them a hope and a future. I believe she does not have a name because she represents the Beloved, the Bride of Christ. So the two responses we have are the natural man, and the spiritual Bride which, again, do not represent a difference between male and female understanding; but two natures (natural and spiritual) within us. Whereas our natural man may be afraid of what we don’t understand and equate fire with death, the Bride trusting in God’s Word is empowered to see that the flame was ascending from the sacrifice and not leaping out at man.

This is, of course, very relevant for us as we look at the covenants that God made with Abram and with Israel at Mount Sinai, both of which feature His fire. The initial response to reading about this whether in previous generations or in our own personal reading, may have been to fearfully see God’s fire as proof that we would die. In fact, that is exactly what Israel said “do not have God speak to us or we will die” (Exodus 20:19) Moses had to tell them what most messengers from God and even Jesus Himself often said to those closest to Him “Do not be afraid…” (Exodus 20:20). Although “the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire to Israel” (Exodus 24:15-18) we have the Spirit of the Bride in us to recognize that the fire was not consuming man.

We have heard, as Manoah’s wife had, about a promised Son who would be a deliverer from our enemies. She and Manoha received Samson, but we have Jesus who has certainly given us a hope and a future. Since we have received the Word about Christ, we can judge the fire of God differently than we may have before. We can recognize that the fire of God faithfully protected His people in a pillar by night; and we can discern that it did not come to destroy but to reveal His glory in a sacrifice received on our behalf.