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... : GENESIS 22: 1 Now it came to pass after these things that God [ha " elohim] tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am. " 2 Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. " (NKJV) Targum Pseudo-Jonathan further identifies the 'elohim who told Abraham to sacrifice his son: GENESIS 22: 1 The Word of the Lord at once tried Abraham, and said to him, Abraham! And he said, Behold me. And He said, Take now thy son, thy only one whom thou love, Izhak, and go into the land of worship, and offer him there, a whole burnt offering, upon one of the mountains that I will tell thee. (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, translated by J. W. Etheridge) Here we see that the 'elohim who told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac was the Word of the LORD.
Later in the story of Abraham and Isaac, we find Isaac asking his father where they were going to acquire a sacrificial animal. Abraham told Isaac that 'elohim would provide the sacrifice. GENESIS 22: 8 And Abraham said, "My son, God ['elohim] will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering. " So the two of them went together. (NKJV) The Jerusalem Targum identifies this 'elohim as the Word of the LORD: GENESIS 22: 8 And Abraham said, The Word of the Lord will prepare for me a lamb; and if not, then thou art the offering, my son! And they went both of them together with a contrite heart. (Jerusalem Targum, translated by J. W.
Etheridge) The understanding that the Word, and not the Father, was the one who actually tested Abraham helps explain a puzzling statement found in Genesis 22: 12: GENESIS 22: 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am. " 12 And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for NOW I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me. " (NKJV) If God is omniscient ("all-knowing"), wouldn't He have known already whether or not Abraham feared him enough to obey the command to sacrifice Isaac? Clearly, the scriptural answer to that question is "yes" (Isa. 46: 10). But if we recognize that the one testing Abraham was not God the Father, but rather the Word of the LORD (also known as the Angel of the LORD), then this episode makes sense. This same Angel is the one who wrestled with the patriarch Jacob: GENESIS 32: 24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks. " But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" 27 So He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob. " 28 And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God ['elohim] and with men, and have prevailed. " 29 Then Jacob asked, saying, "Tell me Your name, I pray. " And He said, "Why is it that you ask about My name?" And He blessed him there. 30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: "For I have seen God ['elohim] face to face, and my life is preserved. " (NKJV) The Targum's give us a better understanding of who this Angel was that Jacob wrestled with, and why he could say that he had seen "God" ('elohim) face to face: GENESIS 32: 24 And Jakob remained alone; and a Man wrestled with him till the morning ascended. 25 And he saw that he prevailed not with him, and he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was dislocated in wrestling with him. 26 And he said, Let me go; for the morning ascended. And he said, I will not let Thee go, unless Thou bless me. 27 And He said to him, What is thy name? And he said, Jakob. 28 And He said, Thy name shall be no longer Jakob, but Israel; for a prince art thou before the Lord, and with men, and thou hast prevailed. 29 And Jakob asked Him, and said, Show me now Thy Name!
And He said, Why dost thou ask My Name? And He blessed him there. 30 And Jakob called the name of the place Peniel: because I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face, and my soul hath been saved! (Targum Onkelos, translated by J. W. Etheridge) GENESIS 32: 24 And Jakob remained alone beyond the Jubeka; and an Angel contended with him in the likeness of a man. And he said, Hast thou not promised to give the tenth of all that is thine? And, behold, thou hast ten sons and one daughter: nevertheless thou hast not tithed them.
Immediately he set apart the four firstborn of the four mothers, and there remained eight. And he began to number from Simon, and Levi came up for the tenth. Michael answered and said, Lord of the world is Thy lot. And on account of these things he (Michael) remained from God at the torrent till the column of the morning was ascending. 25 And he saw that he had not power to hurt him, and he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jakob's thigh was distorted in his contending with him. 26 And he said, Let me go, for the column of the morning ascended; and the hour cometh when the angels on high offer praise to the Lord of the world: and I am one of the angels of praise, but from the day that the world was created my time to praise hath not come until now. 27 And he said, I will not let thee go, until thou bless me. And he said, What is thy name? He answered, Jakob. 28 And he said, Thy name shall be no more called Jakob but Israel, because thou art magnified with the angels of the Lord and with the mighty, and thou hast prevailed with them. 29 And Jakob asked and said, Show me now thy name.
And he said, Why dost thou ask for my name? And he blessed Jakob there. 30 And Jakob called the name of the place Peniel; for he said, I have seen the Angels of the Lord face to face, and my soul is saved. (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, translated by J. W. Etheridge) Targum Onkelos informs us that the 'elohim who wrestled with Jacob was actually the Angel of the LORD. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan goes a step further and identifies this Angel as Michael (cf. Dan. 10: 13, 21; 12: 1; Jude 9; Rev. 12: 7).
We will discuss the identity of Michael further a little later. At the end of his life, during Jacob's adoption of his two grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh as his own offspring, he speaks once more of the 'elohim who had blessed and redeemed him: GENESIS 48: 15 And he blessed Joseph, and said: "God [ha " elohim], before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God [ha " elohim] who has fed me all my life long to this day, 16 the Angel [hamal " ak] who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. " (NKJV) In this passage, Israel parallels the 'elohim of his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac with the Angel that wrestled with him and redeemed him from evil. This Angel is the one who changed his name from Jacob (lit. "supplanter") to Israel (lit. "God prevails"). It was this Angel who was the 'elohim of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Another ancient appearance of the Angel of the LORD took place at Mount Sinai when Moses saw the burning bush: EXODUS 3: 2 And the Angel of the LORD [mal " ak YHVH] appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn. " 4 So when the LORD [YHVH] saw that he turned aside to look, God ['elohim] called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am. " 5 Then He said, "Do not draw near this place.
Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. " 6 Moreover He said, "I am the God ['elohim] of your father -- the God ['elope] of Abraham, the God ['elope] of Isaac, and the God ['elope] of Jacob. " And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God [ha " elohim]. (NKJV) This 'elohim who appeared to Moses is called the Angel of the LORD in verse 2. Both the Old and New Testaments show that the Angel here was YHVH, also known as the Word of YHVH, who acted as the primary spokesman for God the Father. In the book of Acts, Stephen, during his testimony before the Sanhedrin council, confirms that it was this Angel that spoke to Moses, and not God the Father. ACTS 7: 30 [Stephen said] "And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. " (NKJV) ACTS 7: 35 "This Moses whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. (NKJV) A little later in their dialogue, Moses asks the Angel in the burning bush what he should tell the children of Israel when they ask him the name of the God that sent him to them. EXODUS 3: 14 And God ['elohim] said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. " And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you. ' " (NKJV) The Angel's reply has been understood in several different ways, but the Jerusalem Targum confirms that this 'elohim speaking to Moses was in fact the Word of the LORD: EXODUS 3: 14 And the Word of the Lord said to Moses, He who spake to the world, Be, and it was; and who will speak to it, Be, and it will be.
And he said, Thus shalt thou speak to the sons of Israel, EHEYEH hath sent me unto you. (Jerusalem Targum, translated by J. W. Etheridge) Stephen, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, also tells us that the Angel of the LORD was with the Israelites in their wilderness journey from Egypt: ACTS 7: 38 This [Moses] is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living oracles to give to us. (RSV) The apostle Paul makes mention of the spiritual being who brought the Israelites out of Egypt in his first epistle to the Corinthian church. Let's look and see who he identifies as the one who accompanied the Israelites: I CORINTHIANS 10: 1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink.
For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. (NKJV) In this passage, Paul is continuing an exhortation to the Corinthians to hold fast to their faith in Christ. He tells them that their ancestors, the ancient Israelites, were led out of Egypt by the Messiah. Paul says that those people who were under the supernatural cloud and passed through the parted Red Sea were spiritually fed by "that spiritual Rock that followed them. " Paul clearly states that this Rock was none other than Christ himself! According to Paul (I Cor. 10: 4), the Angel of the LORD was the one who later became Yeshua the Messiah. Unfortunately, the term "angel" conveys a specific meaning to most people today. However, the Hebrew word mal " ak, usually translated "angel" in the Old Testament, merely means "messenger, " one sent with a message.
Haggai is called "the LORD'S messenger" (mal " ak) because he brought the words of God to the Jews...
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