Source Text: Judges 13:17-18
Target Text(s):
Source: Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (1866)
Reference Type: Echo
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Significance: Exodus 23:20-21 describes the angel God sends before Israel, warning that "My name is in him" (שְׁמִי בְּקִרְבּוֹ, shemi beqirbo), suggesting this angel bears the divine identity. In Judges 13:17-18, Manoah asks the angel of the LORD for his name, and the angel responds: "Why do you ask my name? It is wonderful" (פֶּלִאי, peli)—a term associated with divine attributes (cf. Isa 9:6). Both passages present an angelic figure whose identity is bound up with God's own name and character, yet whose full nature remains mysterious. The refusal to give a name in Judges parallels Exodus's warning that God's name resides within the angel, suggesting both texts describe the same category of divine mediator—an angel so closely identified with God that naming him is tantamount to naming God.