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Pâ•râsh•at Yi•tᵊr•ō, 7th Eve (Ërëv Sha•bât)

Post-Khū•mâsh Israeili History

Shō•pheit #13

Shi•mᵊsh•ōn Bën-Mân•ōakh, ha-Nâ•zir

Ma•lâkh é‑‑ä Foretells Birth Of Shi•mᵊsh•ōn
Judaean Hills Of Central Israel, Nakhal Sō•reiq & Ti•mᵊn•âh, Philistia (The Shᵊpheil•âh); ca. B.C.E. 1204
Nakhal Soreiq near Tzarah
Click to enlargeLooking west toward Tzâ•rᵊâh and the coast from Nakhal Sō•reiq, near the hometown of Shi•mᵊsh•ōn Bën-Mân•ōakh.

Following the death of the 12th Shō•pheit, Bᵊn•ei-Yi•sᵊrâ•eil recidivated yet again, acculturating to the surrounding goy•im, doing wrong in the Eyes of é‑‑ä. So é‑‑ä allowed them to fall under the hand of the Greek colony of Pᵊli•shᵊt•in.


The Pᵊli•shᵊt•in had been ruling over Bᵊn•ei-Yi•sᵊrâ•eil for 40 years when a wonderful event happened to the unnamed barren ish•âh of a man named Mâ•nōakh, from the village of Tzâ•rᵊâh in the Tribal Region of Dân.

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Click to enlargeShi•vᵊt•ei Yi•sᵊr•â•eil
Click to enlargeShᵊpheil•âh – between Yâm ha-Mëlakh and the Mediterranean Sea

One day, his ish•âh, who was barren, encountered a ma•lâkh é‑‑ä, who would change their lives.

“You're going to conceive and give birth to a son,” the ma•lâkh é‑‑ä predicted to her. “It's imperative that you drink no wine nor alcoholic beverage; nor eat any tâ•reiph substance during your pregnancy. From birth, the boy is to be a lifelong nâ•zir to ël•ōh•im. His hair and beard must never be cut nor shaved, and he must never drink wine nor other intoxicating beverage, nor ever eat anything not kâ•sheir. It is he who will kick-start the national military-salvation of Yi•sᵊr•â•eil out from under the hand of the Greek colony of Pᵊli•shᵊt•in.”

The ma•lâkh ha-ël•ōh•im hadn't introduced himself by name. So the ish•âh told her husband, Mâ•nōakh, "An ish ha-ël•ōh•im came to me. His appearance appeared to be a ma•lâkh é‑‑ä; quite impressive. I didn't ask his name or from where he came."

Then Mân•ōakh appealed to é‑‑ä pleading, "A•dōn•âi, please, may the ish ha-ël•ōh•im whom You sent come again and teach us the details of how we should raise our future son."

Ël•ōh•im hearkened to Mân•ōakh, and the ma•lâkh ha-ël•ōh•im came to her again as she sat in the field. But, again, Mân•ōakh, missed him. This time, though, she ran and told her husband, "Look, -ish who came to me the other day has appeared." So Mân•ōakh got up and followed his ish•âh. Approaching -ish, Mân•ōakh asked him, "Are you -ish who spoke with my ish•âh?"

"I am," he replied.

"Ok," Mân•ōakh acknowledged, "when your dᵊvar is realized, what should be the mi•shᵊpât for the young man? What should be his ma•a•sëh?"

"The ish•âh must watchguard everything that I told her," the ma•lâkh é‑‑ä replied. "She may eat no product of the wine-vine; neither wine nor any intoxicating beverage. Nor may she eat any non-kâ•sheir substance. She must watchguard everything that I commanded her."

Then Mân•ōakh pleaded to the ma•lâkh é‑‑ä, "Please, we insist you stay for dinner. We'll put a goat-kid on the spit for you."

But the ma•lâkh é‑‑ä answered, "Even if you detain me to stay, I won't eat your lëkhëm. If you grill-sacrifice a kid, you may only do so for é‑‑ä!"

"What is your name," Mân•ōakh asked the ma•lâkh é‑‑ä, "so that we can give you proper credit when your prediction comes true?"

"Why do you ask my name," replied the ma•lâkh é‑‑ä, "but, since you asked, it's ôÆìÄàé."

Tur Shimshon (Shimon)
Click to enlargeTur Shi•mᵊsh•ōn Bën-Mân•ōakh (ùîùåï v ùîòåï), Nakhalreiq

So, standing on a boulder, Mân•ōakh took the kid with its mi•nᵊkh•âh for é‑‑ä; and the ma•lâkh offered it wonderfully as Mân•ōakh and his ish•âh watched.

After dinner, heads bowed toward the ground reciting a simple Bi•rᵊk•at ha-Mâ•zōn, Mân•ōakh and his ish•âh watched through the flames licking skyward from their mi•zᵊbeiakh, as the ma•lâkh é‑‑ä returned back up into the mountains – as he had said he would.

The ma•lâkh é‑‑ä never appeared to Mân•ōakh or his ish•âh again. But from that experience, Mân•ōakh realized that the man was a ma•lâkh é‑‑ä

Optional parental preparation:

  1.   13.01, hand – I.e. rule. We learn from this metaphor that the Ta•na"kh prohibition against anthropomorphism forces the deduction that, similarly, "the éÈã of é‑‑ä" can only be a metaphor; i.e. "the Rule of é‑‑ä", not the literal Arm/​Hand seen in idolatrous Christian paintings, etc., perpetuating their metamorphosis of Roman Hellenist (Ζεύς) idolatry into post-135 C.E. Roman Hellenist Christianity.Return to text

  2. What does "conceive" mean?

  3. 13.02 – öÌÈøÀòÈä (Tzâ•rᵊâh) – name of village in Dân Tribal Region located ≈1½ km (1 mi) NW of Beit-Shëmësh (house of the sun). Linguistically related to öÈøÇòÇú (tzâ•raat; epilepsy – demonstrated by Rabbi Hirsch and others that it was not leprosy). Return to text

  4.   13.03, Ma•lâkh é‑‑ä, (13.3) who was a Ma•lâkh ël•ōh•im (13.6) – is an àÄéùÑ (13.6, 8)!!!Return to text

  5. I.e. dressed in priestly garb, perhaps long hair of a nâ•zir. Notice that Mâ•nōakh has no impression from his ish•âh of any supernatural "angel" or any other anthropomorphism (which Tōr•âh prohibits). He explicitly repeats identically her usage of the phrase "ish ha-ël•ōh•im", an adult male human being. Even though he later questions whether their dinner with the ish (v.22) was a – fatal – occasion of "seeing ël•ōoh•im", his ish•âh assured him that was not the case. Return to text

  6.   13.16, Why, even if -ish/​ish ha-ël•ōh•im/​ma•lâkh ha-ël•ōh•im/​ma•lâkh é‑‑ä were persuaded to stay, did he, apparently unnecessarily and rudely, declare that he would refuse to eat Mân•ōakh's lëkhëm? –

    1. First, the text describes a human man who is a ma•lâkh – an emissary or spokesperson – of é‑‑ä. Dark Ages superstitious and anthropomorphic idolatry and supernaturalism aside, this man was a kō•hein (or the non-kō•hein equivalent – a nâ•zir).

    2. As a nâ•zir, the man was obligated to undertake many of the obligations of a kō•hein.

    3. After 40 years of apostasy under the hand of the Greek colony of Pᵊli•shᵊt•in, attention to Tōr•âh had likely become lax in much of the Israeli population. Hence, there was a need for nᵊzir•im to reeducate Israelis to tᵊshuv•âh Tōr•âh.

    4. One of the obligations of a kō•hein was to accept, and eat only, the Tᵊrūm•ōt of everyone's lëkhëm.

    5. Lëkhëm from which the Tᵊrūm•ōt had not been taken was tâ•reiph.

    6. Similarly, lëkhëm other than the Tᵊrūm•ōt wasn't kâ•sheir for a kō•hein – or a nâ•zir.

    7. Ergo, only the Tᵊrūm•ōt (which wasn't Mân•ōakh's lëkhëm) was kâ•sheir for the ma•lâkh. The ma•lâkh couldn't eat Mân•ōakh's lëkhëm. His working knowledge of this law also suggests this man was a kō•hein – or a nâ•zir.

    8. The text describes ma•lâkh performing the sacrifice, which he ruled could only be offered to é‑‑ä, "wonderfully"! This clearly implies that the ma•lâkh had to be either a kō•hein or a nâ•zir.

    9. Since he was prepping the parents to raise a nâ•zir, it seems likely that the ma•lâkh was raising up another like himself; in which case, the ma•lâkh was, himself, probably a nâ•zir.Return to text

Questions you might anticipate that your child might raise and be prepared to discuss:

  1. What does "barren" mean?

  2. What does "foretell" mean?

  3. What does the verb "monitor" mean? What is a monitor?

  4. What is a "coast"?

  5. What does "predict" mean?

  6. What's an "alcoholic beverage"?

  7. What does "kick-start" mean? (derived from starting a motorcycle)

  8. What's "superstitious"?

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