Mishpatim Torah Portion

Today I want to talk about the Angel (messenger) of the Lord that would go with them and whom would have the name of Yahweh within Him. 

“I am going to send an angel in front of you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Be attentive to him and listen to his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. “But if you listen attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.”

Exodus 23:20-22 (NRSVue)

Who is this angel, and why was He brought in to be with Israel?  Wasn’t the presence of Yahweh already with Israel as the cloud?  Why bring in another? 

Some scholars have suggested that the reference to the Messenger of the Lord here is a reference to Moses himself, but I view this argument as very weak.  As T. Desmond Alexander explains in Apollos Old Testament Commentary, Exodus vol. 2 explains:

“In contrast to the idea that the ‘messenger’ is Moses, others have suggested that here the ‘messenger’ is ‘an expression of God himself’ (Durham 1987: 335; cf. e.g. R. G. North 1967: 113–143; Niehaus [1995: 191–195], who concludes that the ‘language used to portray the guardian angel of Exodus 23 strongly indicates that the angel and Yahweh are one’ [195]). Keil and Delitzsch comment that the mal’āk was not a ‘created spirit … but the manifestation of Jehovah Himself’ (1872: 152). Likewise, V. P. Hamilton remarks:

‘I am inclined to give mal’āk its normal meaning—a supernatural, nonhuman figure who is both distinguished from Yahweh and fused with Yahweh—and to connect this reference to a divine mal’āk with other references to him in Exodus (3:2; 14:19; 32:34; 33:2). (2011: 435; cf. Crüsemann 1996: 180; Ausloos 1998: 85; Stuart, who refers to the angel as ‘the angel who is Yahweh’ [2006: 542])’

Indirect evidence that points towards the angel being a manifestation of YHWH himself comes in the LXX translation, which intentionally makes minor modifications in order to distance the angel from YHWH.”

He further explains:

“The nature of these modifications suggests that the original MT reading was viewed by the LXX translator as associating the angel too closely with YHWH. If this was not the case, the subtle changes made by the translator would not have been necessary.”

We can see then that there is a close connection to Yahweh with this messenger.  We see further that the messenger is most likely connected to the idea of the logos.  As William H. C. Propp explains in the Anchor Yale Bible Commentary, Exodus 19-40: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, vol. 2A:

“Like our passage, Deuteronomy and Deuteronomistic literature prefer the hypostasis of Yahweh’s šēm ‘Name.’ Yahweh is not physically manifest on Earth, nor is his presence represented by a statue. Rather, he is symbolized by the word yahwe(h). Here the Hebrew concept of šēm ‘name’ approaches our notion of “idea” (or Greek logos). Moreover, at least for a poet, the “Name” may have the physical characteristics of a person. Compare the ambiguous anthropomorphism of Isa 30:27, “See, Yahweh’s Name coming from a distance, its/his nose (anger) flaring … its/his lips full of wrath, its/his tongue like a consuming fire” (Luzzatto).”

John connects the idea of the logos, the Word, to Jesus. 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John 1:1 (ESV)

I believe this is the messenger, I believe that Jesus is the Messenger of Yahweh that has the name of Yahweh within Him, that is, He is Yahweh!  All throughout the Gospels Jesus made it clear that He is One (echad) with the Father. 

“But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

John 5:17-18 (ESV)

Even more than this, He did not just claim to be One with the Father, He also claimed to be “I AM”, the name that was applied only to Yahweh. 

“Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”

John 8:58-59 (NRSVue)

Jesus is I AM, Yahweh, and has been given the Name that is above every name!

“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Philippians 2:9-11 (NKJV)

“God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

Ephesians 1:20-23 (NRSVue)

What name is above all others.  Yahweh, there is no other name.  Thus I believe that Jesus is the “messenger” of Yahweh that led the children of Israel and was there to lead them into the promised land. 

What does this mean to us today?  Today we do not live in Israel, we live scattered all over the world.  We are scattered, but we have the promise of hope that we will one day go into the Kingdom.  Thus we should look to Jesus, the messenger of Yahweh, who is here to guide and lead us into this land, His Kingdom.  We wait in hope for that day.  Until then, we look to Christ, we hope in Him, and we wait on Him.