‘ And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.” '
Manoah was terrified when he realised what they had seen. It was a common perception among the Israelites that to see God face to face was to die. No man could see God and live (Genesis 32:30; Exodus 33:20; Isaiah 6:5; John 1:18). And they were right in fact, for as God told Moses in Exodus 33 none could see the fullness of what He was and live. The awesomeness of His fully revealed presence would be more than the human frame could stand. But as here, His revelation of Himself was always partly veiled, and thus men survived the experience.