111. “Rabbi Abba opened etc.” Rabbi Abba opened [his discourse] and said: “And Manoah said to his wife: We shall surely die, because we have seen God” (Judges 13:22). Even though Manoah did not understand his actions, as it is written, “For Manoah did not know that he was an angel of the Lord” (Judges 13:16), nevertheless, he said: Since it is stated: “For man shall not see Me and live” (Exodus 33:20), and we have certainly seen, therefore “we will surely die.” Now, we saw and merited this light that was walking with us, and yet we still exist in the world. For the Holy One, blessed be He, sent it to us, to inform us the secrets of the wisdom that it revealed. Happy is our portion.

Explanation: When the angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah, his comprehension [of the angel] was incomplete, for the angel did not wish to tell him his name, as it is stated: “Why do you ask for my name, seeing it is hidden?” (Judges 13:18). Despite this [incompleteness], he feared the verse: “For man shall not see Me and live.” But we merited the complete comprehension, since we knew his name, which is Rav Hamnuna Saba, and [yet] we are alive and exist in this world. From here you can understand that greeting the level of Rav Hamnuna Saba is an expression of: “Show me, I pray, Your glory” (Exodus 33:19), which Moses asked from the Lord, in response to which the Lord informed him: “You cannot see My face, for man shall not see Me and live.” It follows that their comprehension was greater than that of Moses, and with regard to this the Sages stated: “It is a prophet that did not arise like Moses [see Deuteronomy 34:10], but a Sage did arise [who was equal to him]” (end of Yalkut Reuveini), and similarly [their statement that] “a Sage is preferable to a prophet” (Bava Batra 12a).

They praised themselves in this regard: “We saw and merited this light that was walking with us, and we still exist in the world,” since we merited the light about which it is stated: “For man shall not see Me and live,” and we are alive in this world (see Tikkunei Zohar 69, p. 115b).