Manoah meaning

Meaning

Rest, Quiet

Etymology

From the verb נוח (nuah), to rest.

Related names

• Via נוח (nuah): Janoah, Manahath, Noah, Nohah, Zaphenath-paneah

The one and only Manoah in the Bible is Manoah of Zorah in Dan, the father of Samson, the proverbial strong man and twelfth judge of Israel (Judges 13:2). Manoah's son Samson wasn't exactly an example of booming intellect, and the short and deliberately comical chapter we have on Manoah shows that the apple didn't fall far from the paternal tree. In fact, Manoah is such a fop that even the Almighty shows obvious reservations about having to deal with him. And so he goes directly to Manoah's unnamed wife.

Manoah's wife hasn't borne her husband any children but it's not clear whether she suffers from a malady or from a husband who doesn't know how to please a woman (as his name may suggest).

In strictly physical terms (and despite persistent myth), the chance that a woman gets pregnant is the same regardless of whether she is forced or is having a roaring orgasm. It's about 5% across the board. But there's the catch. As many sophisticated cultures have noted, a woman knows best when she's likely to conceive, so if conception is the objective, a woman should initiate and a man should restrain himself until he is called upon. Furthermore, a woman who indicates her desire to copulate and then receives a reaction that takes thirty seconds to unfold isn't going to be happy. And sophisticated cultures know that mere conception isn't much of a target, and one should always strive for a woman who feels secure, attended, provided for and listen to. Such a woman not only bears one's child but also raises it whilst making one's home a place to return to. And so does she. And thus the family grows, and becomes a tribe and then a nation.

Again unlike common myth, no man is ever born with an innate understanding of what the utterly other might be pleased with. Instead, all of them require instruction. The most successful specimen (in an evolutionary sense) simply choose to serve: to willingly ignore whatever urges they themselves may be struck with and instead read their wife's every breath and every stirring until they are learned, and may give deep secure joy. Such men, it is observed, may attain a state of sinless perfection in the eyes of their wives and soon their children.

Buffoons, quite contrarily, pay little attention to a woman's concerns, have only themselves in mind, and operate under the steady assumption that whatever they like, everybody likes, or should, or else the latter are malfunctioning and must be repaired or healed or, if that doesn't remedy their aberrant and abnormal behavior, get chased off or exterminated. Such men may accumulate great power but have small families and short lineages. Fortunately for all of us, the men of old discovered a thing greater than power.

People are prone to confuse freedom with lawlessness, while instead, freedom comes from lawfulness. Freedom of speech, for instance, follows from learning and upholding the laws of language, while lawlessness of speech results in confusion and disagreement. Freedom to travel, likewise, follows from a strict adherence to the laws of traffic, while traffic-lawlessness results in chaos, stagnation, damage and not rarely death. Sexual freedom, entirely likewise, comes from sexual discipline, whereas sexual lawlessness results in shame, physical and mental infections, hate and not rarely death and the destruction of entire families. Like every aspect of life, sex too is an activity that requires learning and maturity.

The Bible devotes considerable time to the challenged connection between a man's demonstration of affection and the woman's actual conceiving. Both Peninnah and Leah conceive of many children but frustratingly not the affections of their husbands (Elkanah and Jacob respectively), while their rivals Hannah and Rachel do receive affections but no children. As we discuss in our article on circumcision, the natural psychology of our species' males included a perspective on the female that could not serve as model for the monotheistic, respectful and freely entered relationship between God (the husband) and creation (the wife). Circumcision may have helped the men to attain discipline in these matters. Circumcision may have helped men to behave not according to their own spontaneous feelings but rather according to carefulness and planning and a strategy based on knowledge learned and thus a deduced program of regulation: i.e. lawfulness rather than unlawfulness, godliness rather than ungodliness. Circumcision may have helped men to begin to regard their women as equal partners rather than subservient properties and to concentrate their many interests upon their own wives alone — out of respect for the well-being of their own wives but also that of the peace of mind of their male neighbors. The covenant of marriage (which has nothing to do with romance and everything with a legally binding contract) may have been the very first step away from the laws of the jungle and onto those of modern humanity.

It appears that the Bible suggests that for a time, the males of our species made a distinction between women to breed with and woman to partner with in an economical sense (also see Rashi on Genesis 4:19, specifically the part on "two wives"). And that distinction may actually have been an extension of the discovery that one's sister was not good to mate with (in a genetic sense), even though such a union would in theory keep properties in the clan. Men were obligated to procure breeders from outside, but felt forced to treat them as slaves in order to retain control over the tribe's estate. That appears to have changed when men began to find ways to transfer the trust and love they had for their sisters upon the foreign mothers of their children. Women, in turn, stopped fearing their men as their controlling owners and began to love them by showing them respect and by voluntarily falling in with their instructions and wishes, even when these were at odds with whatever the woman considered prudent or pleasurable. Women began to show obedience and synchronicity out of love rather than fear. The perilous transition between compulsion from fear and one's willful devotion out of love is discussed in the story of Michal, who felt fearless enough to mock the silly expressions of joy of her husband David (this time whilst transporting the Ark, but by implication also whilst expressing sexual arousal), and remained childless because of that. Men, as every woman today knows, rather have no sex than no respect.

The "invention" of the marriage as a matter of sophisticated legislation rather than one of force and animalistic domination (even though it entered legislation via property rights) is clearly conveyed in the endearing triptych that tells of Abraham and Sarah first at Pharaoh's (and Pharaoh has no idea why everybody gets sick: Genesis 12:17), and then at Abimelech's (and Abimelech's consciousness does not know but via his wiser subconscious he is informed in a dream of the wrongs committed: Genesis 20:3). Finally, when Isaac and Rebekah arrive at Abimelech's, the latter is fully aware of what a marriage is and how to recognize two married people (they "sport" and give each other joy: Genesis 26:8-9), and why a truly mighty king respects the marriage of any two of his subjects, just like he would any legally binding contract between parties in his realm.

Whatever the details are in the case of Manoah isn't clear beyond implication, but he certainly doesn't know how to listen. And so the angel of the Lord announces Mrs. Manoah's imminent and rather miraculous conception to her alone. He also provides her with clear and elaborate instructions on what is to become of her son and how to bring that about. He is to be a Nazirite from birth, meaning that his hair cannot be cut and that he cannot consume any grape products, even when still in her womb. When the angel has finished speaking, Mrs. Manoah hurries to her husband and relates in detail what the "man of God, whose appearance was like that of the angel of God; very awesome" has told her concerning her future son.

Manoah sees his wife and hears her talking but has trouble achieving oversight. He clearly finds talking to his wife a futile investment, and addresses YHWH to request another house call. The Lord hears his prayer but, with a divine flair for ostentatiousness, sends his angel again to Mrs. Manoah. She again rushes to her husband, who gets up and follows his wife to find the Man he asked to see, the one whose appearance was like that of the angel of God; very awesome.

"Are you the one who spoke to my wife?" Manoah asks, to be sure. "I am," sighs the angel and repeats verbatim what he told Mrs. Manoah.

Manoah, however, shows no sign of interest in the message but swiftly inclines his attentions to the messenger with dubious enthusiasm. "What about a bite to eat, huh?" Manoah blurts out, obviously eager to befriend such a fine shiny customer. "What do we call you?"

The angel responds with the archaic equivalent of, "Man, you're too dim to befriend me," demonstrates his powers by doing unspecified wonders and sails off in tracing flames.

Finally Manoah understands that he's been dealing with God, but his insight still doesn't direct him to the angel's message. Instead he fears that the Lord has sent them an angel, twice, to slay them in the end. His much wiser wife, on the other hand, shows him how utterly senseless his reaction is.

Whether Manoah actually begins to listen to her, the story doesn't tell, but ultimately she conceives.

Note that the story does not imply that the angel addressed the woman when she was alone, while her husband was physically elsewhere, but rather that he addressed them both simultaneously and that the woman saw and heard while Manoah did neither. The story of obtuse Manoah and his much wiser wife is clearly played upon in the New Testament's account of the resurrection of Jesus, with the Magdalene playing the role of the seeing woman and Peter and the brethren the role of dumb and inattentive Manoah. Another strong parallel occurs between the two angels plus Jesus (John 20:12-14) and the three visitors of Abraham (Genesis 18:2), with the obvious difference that in the Abraham version of the story, Abraham had joy first (Genesis 17:17) and Sarah's followed (Genesis 18:12, see Hebrews 11:11).

The name Manoah is identical to the noun מנוח (manoah), meaning either place or condition of rest, which comes from the verb נוח (nuah), meaning to rest:

For a meaning of the name Manoah, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Rest, Quiet and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Rest "i.e. recreation". BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't interpret our name but does list it under the verb נוח (nuah), meaning to rest.

It seems obvious from the story that Manoah is physically and mentally like a bag of potatoes, and always in the wrong place at the wrong time. In this context his name means Lazy One or Sloth.