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Wed, May 27, 20.

Moses, Israel and the Angel of Yahweh

The Angel of Yahweh appears again, hunreds of years after the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to Moses in the Burning Bush [Exo 3:2].

Below are some truths we observe in the records of the generation fo the Exodus

A. The Angel Who Appeared to Moses is God.

  1. Elohim i.e., God [Exo 3:4,5,6,11,12,13,14,15; Exo 4:5]
    1. Please note that God spoke from the very same location as the Angel of Yahweh—“…from withing the Bush…” [Exo 3:2 cf., Exo 3:4].
  2. To Moses, this Angel was God
    1. The appearance of the Angel was for Moses the appearance of Yahweh God [Exo 4:1] and so
    2. Moses was afraid to look at the Angel and he did not [Exo 3:5-6]. (The knowledge of dying from seeing God was already present with Jacob [Gen 32:30])
  3. Even Balaam, though he wasn’t an Israelite
    1. Spoke to the Angel as though he were speaking to God [Num 22:31-34] and
    2. The Angel gave Balaam what to say [Num 22:35], just as with Moses and Aaron [Exo 4:12,15]
  4. The Israelites worshiped the Angel of Yahweh in the Pillar of Cloud [Exo 33:9-10]
    1. This shows that they considered him to be God and that this was acceptable to God since it was evidently acceptable to Moses.
    2. The very first commandment is to worship no other god [Exo 20:1]. Therefore, that this was evidently acceptable to Moses and God shows that he was indeed God, and to worship him was not inappropriate.
    3. Please note that angels were not worshiped under the Old Covenant but God alone. This is the only angel that was worshiped.

B. The Angel Who Appeared to Moses is Yahweh

  1. Yahweh [Exo 3:4,7,16,18; Exo 4:1,2,3,4,5,6,8,10,11,14]
    1. Please take note of Exo 4:1. This verse shows that the One Moses had been speaking with was the One who appeared to him which is the Angel of Yahweh [Exo 3:2].
    2. The word “appear” points to the physically perceivable manifestation of the Angel of Yahweh. This is clear from the Hebrew ראה (râ'âh, H7200) [Gen 11:5; 12:12; Jos 2:1]. We can also see this from ὁράω (horaō, G3708) the Greek equivalent from the Septuagint. For example in Mat 17:3; Mar 9:4; Luk 9:30-31 Elijah and Moses appeared to the disciples on the Holy Mountain.
  2. The Angel of Yahweh’s Presence [Isa 63:9]

C. The Angel was In the Pillar of Cloud and Fire

  1. It was this same Angel in the Pillar of Cloud by day and Fire by night [Exo 14:19].
    1. When the people left Egypt, we are told that Yahweh went before them in the Pillar of Cloud and Fire [Exo 13:21,22]. This is the first mention of it and also the first time the Jews came to know the Pillar of Cloud and Fire.
    2. Later on, that the Angel of Yahweh was going before the Israelites is introduced as a fact taken for granted [Exo 14:19]. But how would we have known when the last time we heard of the Angel of Yahweh was at the Burning Bush? We would have known from the fact that Yahweh went before the Israelites in a Pillar of Cloud and Fire.
      1. The Angel of Yahweh going before Israel is shown to share the same position as the Pillar of Cloud and Fire. This demonstrates to us that the Angel was the Yahweh in the Pillar that went before the Israelites.
      2. So, we are expected to have known that the Yahweh who went before the people in the Pillar of Cloud was indeed the Angel of Yahweh.
  2. Yahweh was indeed in the Pillar of Cloud and Fire [Exo 14:24]

D. This Same Angel Led Israel Out of Egypt and Into the Promised Land

  1. He led them out of Egypt [Exo 14:19]
  2. At Mount Sinai, Yahweh promised a specific angel to lead the Israelites into the promised land and to give them rest [Exo 23:20-23].
    1. According to Isaiah [Isa 63:8-9] and God’s identification of the angel He was sending with Moses as “My Presence” [Exo 33:12-13 cf., Exo 33:2-3], this was the same angel through whom Yahweh God had brought Israel out of Egypt.
  3. He led them up to Kadesh [Num 20:16]
  4. He led them to the promised land [Deut 1:33]
    1. The Pillar of Cloud and Fire was before the Israelites until they got to the promised land [Exo 13:22; 40:36-38; Num 9:15-23].
    2. Therefore, since it was the Angel of Yahweh that was in the Pillar, then the Angel was with them all the way to the promised land.
    3. The same “Presence” of Yahweh who was to go with Moses and the Israelites [Exo 33:14,12-13,14-15] was the same one who brought them out and was with them all through [Isa 63:9]
  5. The assignment of this Angel was not just
    1. To guard them until they got to the border of the promised land [Exo 23:20] but
    2. To bring them into it, i.e., to establish them firmly in the land [Exo 23:23]
    3. Now, this second half of his mandate was not going to happen in a year or all at once but was going to take some time [Exo 23:28-30]
  6. This is consistent with Yahweh God, in the person of the Angel of Yahweh, saying that he had come down
    1. To deliver the Israelites out of Egypt [Exo 3:8] and
    2. To bring them into the promised land [Exo 3:8]

E. He is the Glory of Yahweh

  1. Over and over again, we read of the “Glory of Yahweh” being in the Pillar of Cloud and Fire [Exo 16:7,10-11; Lev 9:6,23-24; Num 14:10-11; Num 16:19-20; Num 16:42-44; Num 20:6-7; Exo 24:16-17 cf., Deut 4:24]
    1. Although the glory of Yahweh is also a phenomenon, Ezekiel confirms that this is not a phenomenon but was indeed a person for Ezekiel describes the God of Israel [Eze 10:20] whom he saw as “the Glory of God” [Eze 3:23] and “the Likeness of the Glory of God” [Eze 1:25-28]
    2. As with Ezekiel, the Glory of God within the Cloud glowed through [Eze 1:4], the radiance of the Glory could be perceived through the Cloud. This is why we read that the Glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud [Exo 16:10-11; Num 16:42-44]. Thus, the Israelites could see that someone glorious was in the cloud.
    3. Nevertheless, although they could perceive that someone radiant was in the Pillar, they never really saw him because the cloud hid him from their sight.
    4. Moses was the Only one who was granted the honor of seeing the “Glory of Yahweh”, the God of Israel, who was within the Pillar Cloud [Exo 33:18,19-23; 34:5-8; Num 12:8,5-8].
  2. Now, since the Angel of Yahweh was the one in the Pillar of Cloud and Fire, it means that the Glory of Yahweh in the Pillar of Cloud was actually the Angel of Yahweh.
  3. Therefore, the Glory of Yahweh, the God, the One whose glory Moses saw on the Mount Sinai was indeed the Angel of Yahweh in his glory.

F. The Angel is Unlimited in Power

  1. This is the claim he demonstrates with his Name, Yahweh, i.e., “ehyeh asher ehyeh” which means “I Am the One Who Causes Being” [Exo 3:13-15]
  2. The first thing that should be obvious is that Moses got his power from him [Exo 4:1-9; Jos 1:5]
  3. The second fact, which is more significant, is that he has the power of Creation. There is nothing beyond the Angel’s power.
    1. From 2Ki 2:9; Joh 3:34; 1Co 12:4,7-11; Rev 11:3,4-6… we see that the power of the Holy Spirit is a gift and is in measures and no one, except for God, of course, has it all.
    2. The Israelites tested him to see how much power he had [Psa 78:20-22].
    3. The magicians of Egypt acknowledged that he was God simply by the fact that they could not keep up with his displays of power. In other words, their gods, though powerful, able to turn a wooden rod into a live snake and water to blood, were not able to do the things that he was able to do. [Exo 8:19]
  4. He has power to inflict and to heal all diseases [Exo 4:6-7,11; Exo 23:25-26 cf., Exo 23:20-23]
  5. He parted the red sea
  6. He provided manna in the wilderness for 40 years [Exo 16:12-15,31; Deut 8:2-3; Jos 5:11-12]
  7. He gave speech to Balaam’s donkey [Num 22:28]

G. The Angel and the Spirit

  1. The Angel can give the Holy Spirit—he did it with the Seventy Elders of Israel [Num 11:16-17,25-26]
  2. The Angel himself is filled with the Spirit of Yahweh [Exo 23:20-21]
    1. Isaiah attributes his actions to the Spirit [Isa 63:8-14]

H. The Angel Gave Israel the Law

  1. Since the Angel of the Burning Bush was God that Israel related with, then it was through him that the Law was given to Israel. This is confirmed in Scriptures
    1. The Angel of Yahweh, as the One in the Pillar of Cloud and Fire, gave the Law to Israel through Moses [Psa 99:6]
    2. Stephen confirms that the Angel of the Burning Bush was the same angel who gave the Law to Israel through Moses and his words were “living words” [Act 7:38]

I. Blessing in the Name of the Angel of Yahweh

  1. It is significant and must be noted that just as Jacob, Moses blesses in the Name of the Angel of Yahweh [Deut 33:16]
  2. By this is confirmed to us that the Angel of Yahweh in the Burning Bush was the same Angel of Yahweh that Jacob knew.
    1. He was the Face of Yahweh whom Jacob had wrestled with and who changed his name to Israel, the Shepherd, Israel’s Rock, Shaddai, the One who was Jacob’s Shepherd all his life [Gen 49:24,25 cf., Gen 48:15-16 ].
  3. Blessing by the Angel of Yahweh demonstrates again that he is a specific angel, that the roles given him were to be fulfilled by him alone.

J. The Angel God Promised to Go Before Them

  1. At Mount Sinai, Yahweh promised a specific angel to lead the Israelites into the promised land and to give them rest [Exo 23:20-23].
  2. After the sin of the golden calf, however, God threatened not to go with the Israelites again but said he would still send an angel with them [Exo 32:34; 33:1-3]
  3. The people, however, mourned before God, seeking his forgiveness that he may go with them [Exo 33:4-6]
  4. Moses as well interceded that God would tell him what Angel he was sending with him and the Israelites, desiring one who could teach Moses the ways of Yahweh [Exo 33:12-13]
  5. To his request, God answered that His Presence would go with Moses and the people [Exo 33:14].
  6. Now, Isaiah later on describes the Presence as an angel, the Angel of His Presence [Isa 63:8-9] and, significantly, tells us that this was the same angel through whom Yahweh had delivered the Israelites from Egypt.

K. The Tasks of the Angel of Yahweh

  1. He was to guard them along the way till they got to the promised land [Exo 23:20] (He defended Israel from Balaam’s schemes [Num 22:21-35])
  2. He was to distinguish the people of Israel from all other nations [Exo 33:16]
  3. He was to teach Israel God’s word [Exo 23:21; 33:12-13]
  4. He is to give Israel rest from all who oppose them [Exo 23:22-23]
  5. He is to drive out all their enemies before them [Exo 23:22-23,28-30]
  6. He was to bring them to the Mountain of God where His Dwelling was [Exo 15:17]
  7. He is to bless Joseph [Deut 33:16]

L. The Angel was Lord to Israel

  1. The Angel God sent with Israel was to be obeyed by the Israelites [Exo 23:20-23]. In other words, he was to be their Lord.
  2. Yahweh said that he had made Moses like God to Aaron and Pharaoh and Aaron was Moses’ prophet [Exo 4:16,14-16; 7:1].
    1. Aaron spoke for Moses to Pharaoh and Israel and performed the miracles on behalf of Moses [Exo 7:19-20; 8:5-6,16-17; 16:9]
    2. Yahweh took from the Spirit on Moses and gave to the Seventy Elders [Num 11:16-17,25-26]. Although the Spirit was the Holy Spirit [Num 11:29], and so Yahweh could directly give it to Seventy, nevertheless, Yahweh took it from what was on Moses—they were under Moses.

M. The Captain of the Hosts of Yahweh

  1. The One who appeared to Joshua near Jericho was like the Angel of Yahweh
    1. Called Yahweh [Jos 6:3],
    2. Worshiped by Joshua [Jos 5:14],
    3. Referred to himself as the Captain of Yahweh’s Hosts [Jos 5:14],
    4. And, like the Angel of Yahweh at the Burning Bush, commanded Joshua to remove his sandals [Jos 5:15]
    5. Had a sword in his hand [Jos 5:14 cf., Num 22:23]
  2. Israel is the Host of Yahweh [Exo 6:26; 7:4; 12:17,41]
  3. Evidently, he is the same person as the Angel of Yahweh who appeared to Moses at the Burning Bush.

Who else could the Captain of Israel be but the Angel who was sent to lead them, the One who was given the task of giving them rest?

Deductions

For Moses

  1. The Angel of Yahweh is Yahweh,
  2. The Angel of Yahweh is God,
  3. To see this Angel is to see God—the Angel of Yahweh is the Face/Presence of God,
  4. The Angel of Yahweh is Israel’s Captain/Shepherd,
  5. The Angel of Yahweh is the One through whom God revealed himself to Abraham and Isaac and even to Noah and others before them.
  6. The Angel of Yahweh was the One in the Pillar of Cloud and Fire,
  7. The Angel of Yahweh has and can give the Spirit,
  8. The Angel of Yahweh is a specific angel

The Angel of Yahweh whom Jacob knew and cherished was the same Angel whom God sent to bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land.

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