{"id":55891,"date":"2019-05-21T16:10:38","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T13:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55891"},"modified":"2022-12-14T07:44:55","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T05:44:55","slug":"the-varieties-of-religious-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-varieties-of-religious-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"The Varieties Of Religious Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[509,375,526],"acf":{"old_id":"55891","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38047,"related_cahpter":"224","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The responses to doubt and revelation by Mr. and Ms. Manoah","content":"

When the angel of the Eternal appears to Manoah\u2019s wife and declares: \u201cYou are barren and have borne no children; but you shall conceive and bear a son\u201d (v. 3) and continues with instructions about his Nazirite status and destiny to free Israel from Philistine rule, she remains surprisingly calm. She expresses no astonishment and asks no questions. Apparently, the messenger\u2019s presence was so commanding that she was sufficiently convinced of the message\u2019s authority as to act without further ado.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her first act is to find her husband and share the good news of their impending parenthood. Her words are telling: \u201cA man of God came to me; he looked like an angel of God, very fearsome\u201d (v. 6). Although persuaded enough by the messenger to not inquire about his identity or origin, Ms. Manoah stops short of stating unequivocally that he was a truly divine messenger. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Manoah\u2019s response to his wife is not mentioned. Likely he is skeptical, but doesn\u2019t want to hurt her feelings by expressing his doubts. Rather, he turns to God and asks for confirmation. God complies. The messenger again appears to Ms. Manoah, but obligingly waits for her to call her husband, to whom he patiently repeats the instructions.<\/span><\/p>\n

After their conversation, the visitor refuses to reveal his name or stay for dinner but prompts them to offer a sacrifice to God. Manoah does so, \u201cand a marvelous thing happened while Manoah and his wife looked on. As the flames leaped up from the altar toward the sky, the angel of the Eternal ascended in the flames of the altar, while Manoah and his wife looked on; and they flung themselves on their faces to the ground\u201d (vv. 19-20). Now fully comprehending that they have been visited by a true angel of God, Manoah is terrified while his wife remains calm and confident in their mission.<\/span><\/p>\n

The chapter is a mini-study in the varied but fleeing (v. 21) nature of religious experience and the variety of human response to it. God and the text are accepting of both Ms. Manoah\u2019s confidence and Manoah\u2019s need for confirmation; of her quiet acceptance of the earthly mission and his ritual offering. Only the effort to pin the experience down \u201cYou must not ask for my name; it is unknowable!\u201d (v.18) is rejected.<\/span><\/p>\n

If only human communities could be as accepting of diversity!<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

image: Eustache Le Sueur,\u00a0The Sacrifice of Manoah<\/em>, c 1645 \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":55892,"id":55892,"title":"jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah","filename":"jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-varieties-of-religious-experience\/jud13-eustache_le_sueur_-_the_sacrifice_of_manoah\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud13-eustache_le_sueur_-_the_sacrifice_of_manoah","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":55891,"date":"2019-05-21 13:10:29","modified":"2019-05-21 13:10:37","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":428,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah-214x300.jpg","medium-width":214,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah.jpg","medium_large-width":428,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah.jpg","large-width":428,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah.jpg","1536x1536-width":428,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah.jpg","2048x2048-width":428,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah.jpg","post_full_size-width":428,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah-300x420.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"The Varieties Of Religious Experience","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"The responses to doubt and revelation by Mr. and Ms. Manoah","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":55892,"id":55892,"title":"jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah","filename":"jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-varieties-of-religious-experience\/jud13-eustache_le_sueur_-_the_sacrifice_of_manoah\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud13-eustache_le_sueur_-_the_sacrifice_of_manoah","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":55891,"date":"2019-05-21 13:10:29","modified":"2019-05-21 13:10:37","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":428,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah-214x300.jpg","medium-width":214,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah.jpg","medium_large-width":428,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah.jpg","large-width":428,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah.jpg","1536x1536-width":428,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah.jpg","2048x2048-width":428,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah.jpg","post_full_size-width":428,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud13-Eustache_Le_Sueur_-_The_Sacrifice_of_Manoah-300x420.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55891"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55891"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110007,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55891\/revisions\/110007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}