When he learned them [the promises spoken by the angel], he devoutly begged God in prayer that he might also be granted the favor of a vision, saying, O Lord, let your angel come to me.

I do not think, as a certain author has supposed, that he did this out of jealousy for his wife, who was remarkable for her beauty, but rather because he was moved by a desire for a favor from heaven and wished to share the benefit of the heavenly vision. One depraved by vices of the soul would not have found such favor with the Lord that an angel would return to his house, give the admonition which the fulfilling of the prophecy entailed, be suddenly raised in the form of a glowing flame, and depart. This vision, which so frightened the husband, the wife interpreted more auspiciously, turning it to joy and removing his anxiety. She said that to see God was a proof of favor, not of ill will.

Therefore to God alone appertains worship, and this the very angels know, that though they excel other beings in glory, yet they are all creatures and not to be worshiped, but worship the Lord. Thus Manoah, the father of Samson, wishing to offer sacrifice to the angel, was thereupon hindered by him, saying, Offer not to me, but to God. On the other hand, the Lord is worshiped even by the angels; for it is written: Let all the angels of God worship him.^[1]

And so, too, the word that was spoken to Manoah shows the fact that the Divinity is not comprehensible by the significance of his name, because, when Manoah asks to know his name, that when the promise has come actually to pass, he may by name glorify his benefactor, he says to him, Why do you ask this? It also is wonderful; so that by this we learn that there is one name significant of the divine nature—the wonder, namely, that arises unspeakably in our hearts concerning it.

For if an angel is able to use air, mist, cloud, fire, and any other natural substance or physical species; and a person [is able] to use, face, tongue, hand, pen, letters, or any other means for the purpose of communicating the secret things of his own mind: in a word, if, though he is human, he sends human messengers, and he says to one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to his servant, Do this, and he does it;^[1] with how much greater and more effectual power does God—to whom, as Lord, all things are subject—use both angel and man in order to declare whatever pleases him?

Must you not show respect for Manoah, the Old Testament judge. . . . Manoah was overwhelmed by the sight of God in a vision. Wife, he said, we are lost, we have seen God—meaning by this that even a vision of God is too much for human beings, let alone God’s nature.

And why should I speak of all one by one? Samson, born by the divine promise, had the Spirit accompanying him, for we read, The Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the camp. And so foreshadowing the future mystery, he demanded a wife of the aliens, which, as it is written, his father and mother did not know about, because it was from the Lord. And rightly was he esteemed stronger than others, because the Spirit of the Lord guided him, under whose guidance he alone put to flight the foreign peoples, and at another time inaccessible to the bite of the lion, he, unconquerable in his strength, tore the lion apart with his hands. Would that Samson had been as careful to preserve grace, as he was strong to overcome the beast! ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 2, PROLOGUE 5.^[1]

You see, then, that he who went with him, himself departed from him. The same is, then, the Lord, who is the Spirit of the Lord, as also the apostle says: The Lord is the Spirit, now where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.^[2]

The strength which Samson possessed, dearly beloved, came from the grace of God rather than by nature, for if he had been naturally strong his power would not have been taken away when his hair was cut. Where, then, was that most powerful strength, except in what the Scripture says: The Spirit of the Lord walked with him? Therefore, his strength belonged to the Spirit of the Lord. In Samson was the vessel, but the fullness was in the Spirit. A vessel can be filled and emptied. Moreover, every vessel has its perfection from something else, and so in Paul grace was commended when he was called a vessel of election.^[1]