Angel of HaShem
“Now the Angel of HaShem found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur… The Angel of HaShem said to her, ‘Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.’ Then the Angel of HaShem said to her, ‘I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.’… Then she called the Name of HaShem Who spoke to her, You-Are- the-G-d-Who-Sees [El Ra-i]; for she said, ‘Have I also here seen Him who sees me [ra-iti]?’
Genesis 16:7, 9-10, 13
Introduction
- Last week we saw the powerful picture of G-d “standing before” Abraham. As we saw, the Masoretes used a tikkun sofrim to ‘repair’ the text and that ‘repair’ what we read in our Bibles in Gen 18:22. The text says that G-d stood before Abraham – and coupled with the spelling of Ad-nai (with a kametz), indicates that this was G-d in a human form. This is the first evidence of a Phil 2 encounter between G-d and a man.
Angel
- The Hebrew for ‘angel’ is mal’ak. BDB: מַלְאָךְ n.m. messenger — 1. messenger, a. one sent with a message, מלאכי שׁלום, messengers of peace. b. a prophet; the herald of the advent. c. priest. d. a messenger from G-d acting as an interpreter and declaring what is right…
- Not all mal’akim (plural) are ‘angelic beings’.
- Gen 32:1-3: one instance angelic beings – and the other is either angelic beings, or merely human messengers.
- Joshua 6:17: the spies are called mal’ak.
- Ps 91:11: ‘angelic beings’.
- Dan 10:10-21: an ‘angelic being’? Is this the same as the One seen in v. 5-6?
‘Angel’ of HaShem in Genesis
- Our problem comes when we look at the 75 times ‘Angel of HaShem’ or ‘Angel of G-d’ is used in the TaNaKh. The ‘One’ there does not respond to people as the angelic messenger Gabriel for example.
- First usage of mal’ak is Gen 16:7. Ironically, it is also the first usage of ‘Angel’ of HaShem.
- Gen 16:7-15:
- The Mal’ak is speaking in the first person.
- Hagar calls Him ‘HaShem’, and G-d.
- She believes that she has seen G-d.
- Only HaShem could fulfill the things the Mal’ak promised.
- Gen 22:11-18:
- Verse 1 says that G-d spoke to Abraham. Verse 11 says it was the Mal’ak of HaShem.
- The Mal’ak countermands the previous command of G-d (v.11).
- The Mal’ak of HaShem accepts the sacrifice as offered to Him (v.12).
- Gen 31:11-13; 48:15-17:
- Compare v 11 and 13. Jacob equates G-d and the Mal’ak of HaShem.
- The Mal’ak sees what Laban has been doing.
- Jacob, in his blessing for his sons, says it is the Mal’ak that redeemed him.
‘Angel’ of HaShem Elsewhere
- We will look at some significant passages in Exodus later.
- Judges 13:2-23:
- The Mal’ak of HaShem promises a child, to be a Nazerite.
- v. 6. called a ‘Man of G-d’.
- Sacrifices are offered.
- The Mal’ak ascends in the fire (remember this).
- They say that they have seen G-d.
- When asked His Name, the Mal’ak responds that the Name is peli (wonderful, secret, incomprehensible) – only other time in this form (adj): Ps 139:6.
Mal’ak of HaShem: Conclusions
- Just in Genesis, we see the Mal’ak of
HaShem:
- Making Divine promises.
- Appearing as a ‘Man’ – and visible.
- Speaks as if He is G-d.
- Accepts worship.
- Omniscient.
- Is credited with salvation and redemption.
The Dance Parable
- We will return to the ‘Angel of HaShem’ again in Exodus, but how does what we learned relate to our Parable of the ‘Dance’ with Messiah so far?
- Who is standing watch, guarding the redeemed? Who redeems His own? Who speaks words of comfort and prophecy over His beloved?
- Song of Solomon 6:1-3; Eph 5:25-29.
Summary
- The ‘Angel of HaShem’ is clearly visible. He is clearly in human form. He has miraculous powers, and promises things only G-d Himself can promise. If only an ‘emissary’ then why does He accept worship, and why do all the people who see Him come to the conclusion that they have seen G-d?
- Since we are given very clear commands regarding our focus of worship, it is clear that in some way, the ‘Angel’ of HaShem, at least as we have seen so far, can be seen as a visible manifestation of the Almighty Himself.
-
Any visible manifestation of G-d has Messianic implications. G-d is One. Messiah Yeshua is G-d in the flesh.