of this, Manoah supplicated Jehovah, asking him to send the messenger again in order to instruct them on raising the child. Jehovah answered the prayer and sent the angel a second time. When Manoah offered to set a meal before the messenger, he was told to render up a burnt offering to Jehovah instead, which he did. It was after this messenger ascended in the flame rising from the altar that Manoah recognized him as being Jehovah’s angel. Because of having had this experience, Manoah feared that he and his wife would die. But she allayed his fear, saying: “If Jehovah had been delighted only to put us to death, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hand, and he would not have shown us all these things, and he would not as now have let us hear anything like this.”—Judg. 13:2-23.

Years later, Manoah and his wife, ‘not knowing that it was from Jehovah,’ objected to Samson’s desire to marry a Philistine woman of Timnah. (Judg. 14:1-4; compare Deuteronomy 7:3, 4.) Subsequently Manoah and his wife accompanied Samson to Timnah, although not going with him as far as the home of the Philistine woman. Therefore they did not witness Samson’s killing a young lion with his bare hands. On another occasion Samson, intending to take the Philistine woman to his home, again went with his parents to Timnah. He turned aside to inspect the corpse of the lion that he had slain earlier and found a swarm of bees and honey inside. Upon rejoining his parents, he offered them some of the honey that he had scraped out of the lion’s corpse and they ate it. Thereafter the family apparently continued on their way, and doubtless both parents were present at the banquet arranged by Samson at Timnah.—Judg. 14:5-10.

Manoah preceded his son in death, for Samson was buried in the burial place of Manoah between Zorah and Eshtaol.—Judg. 16:31.

MAN OF LAWLESSNESS

An expression used by the apostle Paul at 2 Thessalonians 2:3, in warning of the great anti-Christian apostasy that would develop before the “day of Jehovah.” The Greek word for “apostasy” here used, a·po·sta·siʹa, denotes more than a mere falling away, an indifferent sliding back. It means a defection, a revolt, a planned, deliberate rebellion. In ancient papyrus documents a·po·sta·siʹa was used politically of rebels.

A RELIGIOUS REVOLT

This rebellion, however, is not a political one. It is a religious one, a revolt against Jehovah God and Jesus Christ and therefore against the Christian congregation.

Foretold

Other expressions foretelling this apostasy were given by the apostles Paul and Peter both verbally and in writing, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself warned of its coming. In his illustration of the wheat and the weeds (Matt. chap. 13) Jesus said that the Devil would sow “weeds,” imitation Christians, “sons of the wicked one,” among the “wheat,” the “sons of the kingdom.” These would exist until the conclusion of the system of things, when they would be identified and ‘burned up.’

Paul warned the Christian overseers of Ephesus that after his going away “oppressive wolves” would enter in among true Christians and would not treat the flock with tenderness, but would try to draw away “the disciples” after themselves (not just making disciples for themselves, but trying to draw away the disciples, Christ’s disciples). (Acts 20:29, 30) He wrote, at 1 Timothy 4:1-3: “However, the inspired utterance says definitely that in later periods of time some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons, by the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, marked in their conscience as with a branding iron [feelingless, seared, so that they do not feel any twinges of conscience because of hypocritically speaking lies]; forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be partaken of with thanksgiving.”

Paul later wrote to Timothy that “there will be a period of time when they will not put up with the healthful teaching, but, in accord with their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves to have their ears tickled; and they will turn their ears away from the truth.”—2 Tim. 4:3, 4.

The apostle Peter drew a parallel between the apostasy from Christianity and that which occurred in the natural house of Israel. He said: “However, there also came to be false prophets among the people, as there will also be false teachers among you. These very ones will quietly bring in destructive sects and will disown even the owner that bought them, bringing speedy destruction upon themselves. Furthermore, many will follow their acts of loose conduct, and on account of these the way of the truth will be spoken of abusively.” Peter goes on to point out that these would exploit the congregation, but that “the destruction of them is not slumbering.”—2 Pet. 2:1-3.

A composite “man”

This “man” of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 is, therefore, not an individual, but a composite “man,” a collective group, as the foregoing scriptures show, and this “man” was to continue after the apostles’ death and exist down until the time of the Lord’s second presence.

Treason against God

The “lawlessness” that this composite apostate “man” commits is lawlessness against Jehovah God the Universal Sovereign. He is guilty of treason. He is called the “son of destruction,” as was Judas Isariot, the traitor who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ and was instrumental in bringing about his death. He, like Judas, is to be annihilated, sent into extinction forever. This “man” is not “Babylon the Great,” who also fights against God, for she is a woman, a harlot. However, since he carries on a religious rebellion against God, he is evidently a part of mystic Babylon.—John 17:12; Rev. 17:3, 5.

The “man of lawlessness” sets himself in opposition to God and is therefore an opposer or a “satan,” which word means opposer. And, indeed, his “presence is according to the operation of Satan.” (2 Thess. 2:9) The character of this apostasy is a “mystery” or sacred secret, not to God, but to the Devil, who would like to hold it under cover; it is a religious mystery. (2 Thess. 2:7) By his lying teachings contrary to, or superseding, as it were, the law of God, the “man of lawlessness” sets himself up over Jehovah God and other ‘gods,’ mighty ones of the earth, and also against God’s holy ones, true spiritual brothers of Jesus Christ. (Compare 2 Peter 2:10-13.) Since he is a hypocrite, a false teacher claiming to be Christian, he “sits down in the temple of The God,” as if being of the spiritual temple.—2 Thess. 2:4.

A restraint

Paul speaks of “the thing that acts as a restraint.” He had told the Ephesian overseers that “after my going away” wolflike men would enter in. (Acts 20:29) So it appears to be the apostles, working with their associates such as Timothy and Titus and others who cooperated with them, who constituted this restraint. Paul repeatedly wrote admonitions about such apostasy, not only here in Second Thessalonians, but in many exhortations to Timothy. And he counseled Timothy to commit the things he had heard from Paul to faithful men who would be qualified to teach others. He spoke of the congregation of the living God as being “a pillar and support of the truth.” He wanted it built up as strongly as possible before the great apostasy blossomed out.—2 Tim. 2:2; 1 Tim. 3:15.

Much later, the apostle John was told to write, at the command of Christ, to warn against sects, mentioning especially the sect of Nicolaus and speaking of false prophets like Balaam, and of the woman Jezebel who called herself a prophetess.—Rev. 2:6, 14, 15, 20.

At work in apostles’ days

The apostle Paul said that the mystery “is already at work.” (2 Thess. 2:7) There were those trying to teach false doctrine, some of these even disturbing the Thessalonian congregation, prompting, in part, the writing of his second letter to them. There were antichrists when John wrote his letters, and doubtless before that. John spoke of the “last hour” of the apostolic period, and said: “Just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now there have come to be many antichrists . . . They went out from us, but they were not of our sort; for if they had been of our sort, they would have remained with us. But they went out that it might be shown up that not all are of our sort.”—1 John 2:18, 19.

Revealed

Following the apostles’ death the “man of lawlessness” came out into the open with his religious hypocrisy and false teachings. According to Paul’s words, this “man” would gain great power, operating under Satan’s control, performing “every powerful work and lying signs and portents.” Those engaging in the operations of the “man of lawlessness,” those making up this composite “man,” are to perish [literally, be “destroying themselves”] “as a retribution because they did not accept the love of the truth that they might be saved.” The apostle shows that they “get to believing the lie” and they will all “be judged because they did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thess. 2:9-12; see Kingdom Interlinear Translation.) The judgment is therefore a condemnatory one.

Destroyed

This composite, hypocritical “man of lawlessness” is to be done away with by the Lord Jesus “by the spirit of his mouth” and brought to nothing “by the manifestation of his presence.” The annihilation of this wicked opposer of God will be visible, concrete proof that the Lord Jesus Christ is sitting and acting as Judge. He will not judge according to his own standards, hence the destruction “by the spirit of his mouth” evidently means in expression of Jehovah’s judgment against this wicked class of persons.—2 Thess. 2:8; compare Revelation 19:21, as to “the long sword . . . which sword proceeded out of his mouth.”

MANSLAYER

See CITIES OF REFUGE; MURDER.

MANTLE

See DRESS.

MANUSCRIPTS OF THE BIBLE

The Holy Scriptures have a superhuman origin as to content, but a human history as to their writing and preservation. Moses began compiling them under divine inspiration in 1513 B.C.E. and the apostle John wrote the final portion thereof more than 1,600 years later. Since the Bible was not originally one book, its canon grew as time passed and a demand arose for copies of its various books. This was so, for instance, after the Babylonian exile, for not all released Jews returned to Palestine. Instead, many settled elsewhere and synagogues sprang up throughout the vast territory of the resultant Jewish Dispersion. Scribes prepared copies of the Scriptures needed for these synagogues where the Jews gathered to hear the reading of God’s Word. (Acts 15:21) In later times, among Christ’s followers, conscientious copyists labored to reproduce the inspired writings for the benefit of the multiplying Christian congregations so that there might be an interchange and general circulation of these.—Col. 4:16.

Before printing from movable type became common (from the fifteenth century C.E. onward), the original Biblical writings and also copies of them were handwritten. Hence, they are called “manuscripts” (Latin, manu scriptus, written by hand). A Bible manuscript is a handwritten copy of the Scriptures, in whole or in part, as distinguished from one that is printed. Biblical manuscripts were produced principally in the form of rolls and codices.

MATERIALS

There are leather, papyrus and vellum manuscripts of the Scriptures, as well as palimpsests. The noted Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah, for instance, is a leather roll. Papyrus, a type of paper made from the fibers of a water plant, was used for Biblical manuscripts in the original languages and for translations thereof until about the fourth century C.E. At that time its use for Bible manuscripts began to be superseded by the use of vellum, a fine grade of parchment generally made from calf, lamb, or goat skins, a further development of the earlier use of animal skins as writing material. Such manuscripts as the renowned Codex Sinaiticus (Sinaitic Manuscript) and the Codex Vaticanus (Vatican Manuscript No. 1209) of the fourth century C.E. are parchment, or vellum, codices. A palimpsest (Latin, palimpsestus; Gr., pa·limʹpse·stos, meaning “scraped again”) is a manuscript from which earlier writing was removed or scraped off to make room for later writing. A noted Biblical palimpsest is the Codex Ephraemi Syri rescriptus of the fifth century C.E. If the earlier writing (the writing scraped off) is the important one on the palimpsest, scholars can often read this erased writing by employing technical means that include the use of chemical reagents, and photography. Some manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures are lectionaries, selected Biblical readings for use at religious services.

STYLES OF WRITING

Biblical manuscripts written in Greek (whether translations of the Hebrew Scriptures, or copies of the Christian Greek Scriptures, or both) can be divided or classified as to writing style, which is also an aid in dating them. The older style (employed especially down to the ninth century C.E.) is the uncial manuscript, written in large, separated capital letters. In it there is generally no word separation, and punctuation and accent marks are lacking. The Codex Sinaiticus is such an uncial manuscript. Changes in writing style began to develop in the sixth century, eventually leading (in the ninth century C.E.) to the cursive or minuscule manuscript, written in smaller letters, many of which were joined in a running or flowing writing style. The majority of extant manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures have a cursive script. Cursive manuscripts remained in vogue until the inception of printing.

COPYISTS

As far as is known today, no handwritten original or autograph manuscripts of the Bible are in existence. Yet the Bible has been preserved in accurate, reliable form because Biblical copyists in general, accepting the Scriptures as being divinely inspired, sought perfection in their arduous labor of producing manuscript copies of God’s Word. The men who copied the Hebrew Scriptures in the days of Jesus Christ’s ministry on earth and for centuries before that time were called “scribes” (Heb., sohph·rimʹ). Among the early scribes was Ezra, spoken of in the Scriptures as a “skilled copyist.” (Ezra 7:6) Later scribes made some deliberate alterations of the Hebrew text. But