Discovery BoxJudges 13:15-19
Context13:15 Manoah said to the Lord’s messenger, “Please stay here awhile, 1 so we can prepare a young goat for you to eat.” 2 13:16 The Lord’s messenger said to Manoah, “If I stay, 3 I will not eat your food. But if you want to make a burnt sacrifice to the Lord, you should offer it.” (He said this because Manoah did not know that he was the Lord’s messenger.) 4 13:17 Manoah said to the Lord’s messenger, “Tell us your name, so we can honor you when your announcement comes true.” 5 13:18 The Lord’s messenger said to him, “You should not ask me my name, because you cannot comprehend it.” 6 13:19 Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord. The Lord’s messenger did an amazing thing as Manoah and his wife watched. 7
Genesis 18:6-8
Context18:6 So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Take 8 three measures 9 of fine flour, knead it, and make bread.” 10 18:7 Then Abraham ran to the herd and chose a fine, tender calf, and gave it to a servant, 11 who quickly prepared it. 12 18:8 Abraham 13 then took some curds and milk, along with the calf that had been prepared, and placed the food 14 before them. They ate while 15 he was standing near them under a tree.
[13:15] 1 tn Heb “Please allow us to detain you.”
[13:15] 2 tn Heb “so we can prepare before you a young goat of the goats.”
[13:16] 3 tn Heb “If you detain me.”
[13:16] 4 tn The words “he said this” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Manoah should have known from these words that the messenger represented the
[13:17] 5 tn Heb “Who your name? For [when] your word comes [to pass], we will honor you.” Manoah apparently gets tongue-tied and uses the wrong pronoun (“who” instead of “what”). He starts to say, “Who are you?” But then he switches to “your name” as if he began the sentence with “what.” See R. G. Boling, Judges (AB), 222.
[13:18] 6 tn Heb “Why do you ask for my name, for it is incomprehensible?” The Hebrew adjective פִּלְאִי (pile’iy, “wonderful, incomprehensible”) refers to what is in a category of its own and is beyond full human understanding. Note the use of this word in Ps 139:6, where God’s knowledge is described as incomprehensible and unattainable.
[13:19] 7 tc Heb “Doing an extraordinary deed while Manoah and his wife were watching.” The subject of the participle is missing. The translation assumes that the phrase “the
[18:6] 8 tn The word “take” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the sentence lacks a verb other than the imperative “hurry.” The elliptical structure of the language reflects Abraham’s haste to get things ready quickly.
[18:6] 9 sn Three measures (Heb “three seahs”) was equivalent to about twenty quarts (twenty-two liters) of flour, which would make a lot of bread. The animal prepared for the meal was far more than the three visitors needed. This was a banquet for royalty. Either it had been a lonely time for Abraham and the presence of visitors made him very happy, or he sensed this was a momentous visit.
[18:6] 10 sn The bread was the simple, round bread made by bedouins that is normally prepared quickly for visitors.
[18:7] 11 tn Heb “the young man.”
[18:7] 12 tn The construction uses the Piel preterite, “he hurried,” followed by the infinitive construct; the two probably form a verbal hendiadys: “he quickly prepared.”
[18:8] 13 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[18:8] 14 tn The words “the food” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the verb has no stated object.
[18:8] 15 tn The disjunctive clause is a temporal circumstantial clause subordinate to the main verb.
