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Many of our trinitarian neighbors point to the angel that appeared to Manoah as proof that Jesus is Yahweh. According one trinitarain, in Judges 13:22 Manoah realizes that he had been speaking to Yahweh himself, and thus realized that "God is one yet compound." According to another trinitarian: "In that same chapter, God is mentioned, the Angel of the Lord (who is called God), is mentioned, and the Spirit of God is mentioned." Let us examine these verses carefully.

The argument is that the "Angel of Yahweh" spoken of here is referred to as God, when Manoah said "I have seen God", and is therefore actually Yahweh himself. We have shown elsewhere that the only one identified in the scriptures as the angel of Yahweh is Gabriel. (Luke 1:11-2:12; See our document on "The Angel of Yahweh") An angel of Yahweh is not Yahweh, although he speaks for, is the messenger of, Yahweh. While we are inclined to believe that the angel that appeared to Manoah and his wife is also Gabriel, we can not be definite in stating this. Regardless, we can say that Gabriel is called the "angel of Yahweh", but Gabriel is definitely neither Yahweh nor Jesus. They certainly did not see the very being of God, else this contradict many other scriptures. (Exodus 33:20; John 1:18; 4:24; 6:46; 1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16; Isaiah 40:25,26) They saw him only representatively, through an angel, and in the end Manoah recognizes this man, not as God Almighty, but as the angel of Yahweh. -- Judges 13:21.

Someone argues that in Luke the angel that appeared identified himself, but the angel that appeared to Manoah and his wife would not identify himself, claiming that his name was ineffable, one too wonderful to be spoken. (Judges 13:17,18) Thus it is claimed that the two angels are different, and the one that appeared to Manoah was Yahweh himself that appeared in his alleged "second person" of the trinity. To us this really reads a lot into and between the lines to see trinity in this.

The word translated *wonderful* in many translations at Judges 13:18 is Strong's #6383. It is an adjective. Strong says of this word: "remarkable:--secret, wonderful" BDBG defines it: "wonderful, incomprehensible, extraordinary."* This word, as such, appears in only one other place in the Scriptures, Psalms 139:6, where it is translated "too wonderful" in the King James Version. The idea that this word means that the angel was saying that his name was ineffable has to be read into this.
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*Brown, Driver, Briggs and Gesenius. "Hebrew Lexicon entry for Pil'iy". "The KJV Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon".
http://www.biblestudytools.net/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=6383.

To be wondrous does not mean that the angel was saying that he considered his name so highly esteemed that he did not want to give it, nor was he saying that his name was ineffable. Indeed if this were Yahweh himself, Yahweh is known throughout the OT for revealing his name. Manoah was here ready to give great honor to one he thought to be a man, and that as a man -- honor which should evidently only go to Yahweh; the angel recognized this and thus we see here the loyalty of God's true messenger -- he would not take the glory to himself as a man which belonged to God; he did not want it. He was glad, counted it honor enough, to be privileged to do some work for Yahweh. (See Revelation 22:8,9) On many occasions, Jesus did similar to this. -- Matthew 19:17; John 7:28,29; 8:28.

Some trinitarians point to Isaiah 9:6, and link this to what the angel said in Judges 13:18, claiming that in both places the name "Wonderful" is used, and since Jesus is called "Wonderful" in Wonderful Counselor in Isaiah 9:6, that is proves that this angel is Jesus. It is further argued that in Isaiah 9:6, Jesus is called God, thus this proves that this angel is God Almighty. One claims that the angel in Judges 13:18 is claiming the same proper name ["Wonderful"] as Jesus in Isaiah 9:6, thus the two are one and the same. We cannot say for a certain that the angel of Judges 13:18 was not Jesus, for he certainly could have been Jesus in his prehuman existence. We have no reason to believe so, however.

Actually, while many translations have the word "wonderful" in both places, the words in Hebrew are not exactly the same, although they are both taken from the root verb, Strong's #6381. In Isaiah 9:6, the word translated "Wonderful" is Strong's #6382. This word is usually used, not as a proper name, but as a common masculine noun to describe the works of Yahweh (Exodus 15:11; Psalm 77:11,14; 78:12; 88:10,12; 89:5; 119:129; Isaiah 25:1; 29:14), and it is used of Jerusalem in Lamenations 1:9. The word used by the angel is Judges 13:18 is not a noun at all, but an adjective. At any rate, the usage of similar words in both places does not prove the contention that either the name of Yahweh or of Jesus is ineffable, that is, too great to be uttered. The word translated "wonders" in the World English Bible of Judges 13:19 is Strong's #6381, which is the root verb for the other two words already discussed.

We believe that the proper view is that the angel of Yahweh in Judges 13:18 was telling Manoah that his name was beyond the realm of being given the honor which Manoah wanted to give it. This fits the context, for Manoah, believing that the angel was a man, wanted to give him a greater honor than that which he was due. And for this reason, the angel refused to give his name. Thus we believe the thought given in the KJV to correct, that is, his name was kept "secret" from Manoah.

It is claimed that this angel finally accepted the offering of Manoah, once Manoah realized that he was God Almighty. What does the record actually say? "So Manoah took the kid with the meal-offering, and offered it on the rock to Yahweh: and [the angel] did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on." (Judges 13:19) The record states that Manoah offered the kid to Yahweh. "So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the LORD, and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on." (New American Standard Version) The word translated "wonders" here is Strong's #6381.

"For it happened, when the flame went up toward the sky from off the altar, that the angel of Yahweh ascended in the flame of the altar: and Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground. But the angel of Yahweh did no more appear to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yahweh." (Judges 13:20,21) It was not until after the offering is consumed by Yahweh, and that the angel ascended in the flames of Yahweh, that Manoah knew that the man was actually the angel of Yahweh.

Many trinitarians point to the fact that Manoah and wife fell on their faces to the ground. It is claimed that Manoah and his wife worshipped the angel, and that this proves that this angel was Jesus as part of their alleged trinity. Actually, the scripture does not say that they were giving worship to the angel, only that they fell on their faces to the ground. Since the scripture does not say the meaning behind this action, we can say that it could have been a reaction to the intense light that was before them as the angel ascended to the sky in the flames, or it could have been an act of worship to Yahweh. At any rate, bowing before a representative of God, or a personage of honor, does not constitute worship that only belongs to Yahweh. -- Ruth 2:8-10; 1 Samuel 24:8; 25:23,41; 2 Samuel 14:33; 18:28; etc. ----- See also our document: Worship and the Trinity

"Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God [elohim]." (Judges 13:22) Our trinitarian neighbors tell us that this is proof positive that the angel himself was actually God Almighty, since Manoah was afraid that he would die because he had seen God. In using the word Elohim here, was Manoah actually saying that he thought he had seen God Almighty, or was he saying that he thought he had seen a mighty spirit being, one of the angels*, and thus feared for his life? Did he falsely go from one extreme to another, from believing that the person was a man to thinking that the person was God Almighty? We cannot be for sure, but since the record states that after the angel ascended in the flames, that "then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yahweh." This tends to discount the idea that Manoah thought he actually saw Yahweh. It is also possible that in seeing the angel of Yahweh, Manoah meant that he had seen Yahweh representatively, even as the angel of Yahweh is often referred to as Yahweh. We do know if that Manoah and his wife had actually seen the face of God, they surely would have died. -- Exodus 33:20; John 1:18; 6:46; 1 John 4:12,20.
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*From the scriptures we learn that certain men and angels are also called ELOHIM: Exodus 4:16; 7:1; Psalm 8:5 {compare Hebrews 2:7}; 86:6-8; 95:3; 50:1; Psalm 82:6,7 (See John 10:34,35; 1 John 3:2) Additionally, the wicked (familiar) spirit that impersonated Samuel is called elohim. (2 Samuel 28:8,13) Remembering that the basic meaning of the Hebrew words el (God) and elohim (Gods, or God superlative) is strength, might, power, we can see how it is possible that in saying elohim Manoah meant that he feared for his life because the angel of Yahweh was such mighty spirit being, as compared to him who was but a human.

Addendum

The question is asked: If Manoah was mistaken when said he had seen God, wouldn't his statement, in effect, be a lie, and therefore that Manoah would be a liar? We answer: Any error in statement in the broad sense of the word is a lie, in that it is not the truth. In this sense, all men are liars. (Romans 3:4) This does not mean that such are willful liars, however. Nevertheless, since an angel of Yahweh is in effect a representative of Yahweh, to Manoah it would appear to be Yahweh himself, which could have led to his fear. We should also note that both Manoah and his wife also called this angel a "man", not knowing that he was angel. (Judges 13:6,8,10,11) Additionally, when Manoah asked the angel if he was the 'man' that had spoken to his wife, the angel answered: "I am," the angel acknowledged this usage toward him. (Judges 13:11) Likewise, in verse 11, the writer of the book of Judges himself refers to the angel as "the man." The angel was not actually a 'man', that is, a human, but he appeared as a human, and therefore could be spoken of a "man". The angel did appear in a body as a man. Likewise the angels that appeared to Abraham are referred to as "men". (Genesis 18:16,22) We do not consider this to be actual ying, it is just stating matters as they were in their appearance.