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.
"Manoah was the first to speak but the last to recover his composure, reflecting the widely-held belief that if a man saw God he would die (Exodus 33:20; Judges 6:22-23)." [Note: Cundall and Morris, p. 160.] 