If I tell you My Name, it will knock your socks off

Last week I said I would study up on two areas that brought up some questions in my mind. These are from the story in Judges 13, of the Angel's visits to Manoah and his wife, promising the birth of their son, Samson.

1. The Angel said, “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?” v. 18
2. “and they knew that He was the Angel of the LORD.  Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!” v. 21, 22

In the first reference, why did the Angel avoid answering the question, and what did he mean, "seeing it is wonderful?" Instead of wonderful, the Authorized (King James) Version, says secret. Secret! 

In my last post, I was claiming that God wants us to know His name, and here He is keeping it secret! Either I am very wrong, or there is a reason. In view of all the verses in which God speaks of us honoring his name, I can't believe He wants to keep it secret. Therefore, I must look for the reason the Angel avoided answering the question.

My first step will be to check on the word that was translated wonderful and secret, in Strong's concordance. Instead of lugging that big book off my bookshelf, the easiest way is to go to the Blue Letter Bible, enter Judges 13:18 in the search window, and use the KJV, since that is the version that works with Strong's. Once Judges 13 pops up, I make sure the "Show Strong's" box is checked (to the right, under the blue bar of the chapter number).

Here is verse 18:

And the angel ⁴³⁹⁷ of the LORD ³⁰⁶⁸ said ⁵⁵⁹ unto him, Why askest ⁷⁵⁹² thou thus after my name ⁸⁰³⁴, seeing it [is] secret⁶³⁸³?

I want to know the various meanings for the word that has been translated secret and wonderful, so I click on 6383, where the definitions listed are:

1) wonderful, incomprehensible, extraordinary

Below that, it states, "here used of something which appears supernatural." 

When translated, the King James Version was probably influenced by the historically hidden name -- Jewish scribes by tradition believing the name too holy to write -- and therefore chose the word secret, and so the name has been for many years, though wonderful is a better translation.

My cogitations over the two questions above have helped me see that the answer to the first is revealed in the second. Manoah and his wife were obviously very excited about their heavenly visitor, and the Angel knew if He revealed who He really was, Yeshua, the Son of God, they would be so overwhelmed they very likely forget everything else He had told them about how to raise their child. This is where I get to the title of this post. In effect, the Angel was saying, "Why do you want to know my name? If I tell you, it will knock your socks off!"  You will be amazed, overwhelmed, not believe your ears. Only after He went up in smoke did they recognize they had seen God -- though they thought it was the Father -- and feared death because of their exposure to perfect Divine Power.