Several biblical narratives conflate מַלְאַךְ יְ־הוָה—usually translated as “the angel of YHWH,” but more accurately rendered as “the messenger of YHWH”—with God or YHWH.
1. The Akedah
After Abraham binds Isaac on the altar, the messenger of YHWH calls out to Abraham from heaven to stop him from sacrificing his son:
בראשׁית כב:יא וַיִּקְרָא אֵלָיו מַלְאַךְ יְ־הוָה מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָהָם אַבְרָהָם וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּנִי.
Gen 22:11 Then the messenger of YHWH called to him from heaven: “Abraham! Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.”[1]
When Abraham answers, however, the speaker replies in the first person as the deity:
בראשׁית כב:יב וַיֹּאמֶר אַל תִּשְׁלַח יָדְךָ אֶל הַנַּעַר וְאַל תַּעַשׂ לוֹ מְאוּמָּה כִּי עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי כִּי יְרֵא אֱלֹהִים אַתָּה וְלֹא חָשַׂכְתָּ אֶת בִּנְךָ אֶת יְחִידְךָ מִמֶּנִּי.
Gen 22:12 And he said, “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me.”
Indeed, Abraham’s name for the site indicates that he believes he has been speaking with YHWH:
בראשׁית כב:יד וַיִּקְרָא אַבְרָהָם שֵׁם הַמָּקוֹם הַהוּא יְ־הוָה יִרְאֶה אֲשֶׁר יֵאָמֵר הַיּוֹם בְּהַר יְ־הוָה יֵרָאֶה.
Gen 22:14 And Abraham named that site YHWH-yireh, whence the present saying, “On the mount of YHWH there is vision.”
2. Hagar’s Divine Encounter
Similarly, when Hagar runs away from Sarai, the messenger of YHWH finds her in the wilderness (v. 7) and tells her to return to her mistress:
בראשׁית טז:ט וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ מַלְאַךְ יְ־הוָה שׁוּבִי אֶל גְּבִרְתֵּךְ וְהִתְעַנִּי תַּחַת יָדֶיהָ.
Gen 16:9 And the messenger of YHWH said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit to her harsh treatment.”
Here again the messenger speaks for YHWH in the first person:
בראשׁית טז:י וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ מַלְאַךְ יְ־הוָה הַרְבָּה אַרְבֶּה אֶת זַרְעֵךְ וְלֹא יִסָּפֵר מֵרֹב.
Gen 16:10 And the messenger of YHWH said to her, “I will greatly increase your offspring, and they shall be too many to count.”
Hagar’s response to the incident also indicates that she believes she has been speaking with YHWH:
בראשׁית טז:יג וַתִּקְרָא שֵׁם יְ־הוָה הַדֹּבֵר אֵלֶיהָ אַתָּה אֵל רֳאִי כִּי אָמְרָה הֲגַם הֲלֹם רָאִיתִי אַחֲרֵי רֹאִי.
Gen 16:13 And she called YHWH who spoke to her, “You Are El-roi,” by which she meant, “Have I not gone on seeing after my being seen!”
3. Moses and the Burning Bush
Moses’s encounter at the burning bush begins when the messenger of YHWH appears to him מִתּוֹךְ הַסְּנֶה, “from the midst of the bush”:
שׁמות ג:ב וַיֵּרָא מַלְאַךְ יְ־הוָֹה אֵלָיו בְּלַבַּת אֵשׁ מִתּוֹךְ הַסְּנֶה וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה הַסְּנֶה בֹּעֵר בָּאֵשׁ וְהַסְּנֶה אֵינֶנּוּ אֻכָּל.
Exod 3:2 And the messenger of YHWH appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush. And he saw—and look!—the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
Yet when Moses stops to investigate, the narrator precisely places God in the same location as the messenger:[2]
שׁמות ג:ד ...וַיִּקְרָא אֵלָיו אֱלֹהִים מִתּוֹךְ הַסְּנֶה וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּנִי.
Exod 3:4 …And God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!” And he said, “I’m here.”
Moses also averts his eyes to avoid looking upon God:
שׁמות ג:ו וַיֹּאמֶר אָנֹכִי אֱלֹהֵי אָבִיךָ אֱלֹהֵי אַבְרָהָם אֱלֹהֵי יִצְחָק וֵאלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב וַיַּסְתֵּר מֹשֶׁה פָּנָיו כִּי יָרֵא מֵהַבִּיט אֶל הָאֱלֹהִים.
Exod 3:6 And he said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses turned his face away, because he was afraid to look upon God.
4. Gideon Becomes Israel’s Savior
Gideon’s appointment as Israel’s savior begins with the messenger of YHWH speaking to him:
שׁפטים ו:יב וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו מַלְאַךְ יְ־הוָה וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו יְ־הוָה עִמְּךָ גִּבּוֹר הֶחָיִל.
Judg 6:12 The messenger of YHWH appeared to him and said to him, “YHWH is with you, valiant warrior!”
Two verses later, however, after Gideon has asked why YHWH has abandoned Israel (v. 13), it is YHWH who turns to him and replies:
שׁפטים ו:יד וַיִּפֶן אֵלָיו יְ־הוָה וַיֹּאמֶר לֵךְ בְּכֹחֲךָ זֶה וְהוֹשַׁעְתָּ אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִכַּף מִדְיָן הֲלֹא שְׁלַחְתִּיךָ.
Judg 6:14 YHWH turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours and deliver Israel from the Midianites. I hereby commission you.”
Gideon accepts his commission and prepares a sacrifice. After the messenger of YHWH sets fire to the offering and then disappears (vv. 19–21), Gideon acknowledges that he has been speaking with the messenger:
שׁפטים ו:כב וַיַּרְא גִּדְעוֹן כִּי מַלְאַךְ יְ־הוָה הוּא וַיֹּאמֶר גִּדְעוֹן אֲהָהּ אֲדֹנָי יְ־הוִה כִּי עַל כֵּן רָאִיתִי מַלְאַךְ יְ־הוָה פָּנִים אֶל פָּנִים.
Judg 6:22 Then Gideon realized that it was the messenger of YHWH; and Gideon said, “Help, Lord YHWH! For I have seen the messenger of YHWH face to face.”
Yet in response to Gideon’s fear of having seen the messenger, it is YHWH who reassures Gideon:
שׁפטים ו:כג וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ יְ־הוָה שָׁלוֹם לְךָ אַל תִּירָא לֹא תָּמוּת.
Judg 6:23 But YHWH said to him, “All is well; have no fear, you shall not die.”
In Sum
The narrators in these accounts (and others, such as Jacob’s dream about his flock in Genesis 31[3] and Samson’s parents in Judges 13)[4] alternate between describing an encounter with the messenger and an encounter with God/YHWH. Within the story, however, when the entity self-identifies, it is always as God/YHWH. Moreover, the protagonists either think they’re communicating directly with God/YHWH, or they realize that they have done so afterwards.[5] How are we to explain the shifting identity of the divine speaker?
The Messenger is a Later Addition
The conflated identities of the messenger and God/YHWH within these narratives are likely the product of ancient scribes in the exilic or post-exilic period, who wrote the Hebrew word מַלְאַךְ (malʾak) in front of the name YHWH or the word ʾelohim wherever the physical presence of the deity had become theologically undesirable, thus creating the construct “the messenger of YHWH/God.”
Without the word malʾak, these stories simply and clearly narrate YHWH interacting directly with humanity. Indeed, the messengers in these narratives are not doing what messengers do elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible or within broader ancient Southwest Asian literature. For instance, these stories do not refer to YHWH sending any messenger, and the messenger does not introduce themselves as a messenger.[6] The tasks being performed by the messenger of YHWH are also tasks not normally performed by messengers. In Akkadian, Hittite, Ugaritic, and Egyptian literature, it is the deities themselves who predict births, who rescue the wronged and the helpless, who test faithfulness, and who punish.[7]
The Addition of Messengers in Other Texts
Looking beyond the Masoretic Text (MT), we find more evidence of ancient editors and translators adding a word for “messenger,” “angel” (or another proxy for divine presence) to texts where YHWH’s presence or behavior was considered theologically problematic.[8]
Who Visits Balaam?
For example, in the MT and the Septuagint, God visits Balaam in the night to give him instructions regarding Balak of Moab’s plan to curse the Israelites:
במדבר כב:כ וַיָּבֹא אֱלֹהִים אֶל בִּלְעָם לַיְלָה וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ אִם לִקְרֹא לְךָ בָּאוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים קוּם לֵךְ אִתָּם וְאַךְ אֶת הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר אֲדַבֵּר אֵלֶיךָ אֹתוֹ תַעֲשֶׂה.
Num 22:20 That night God came to Balaam and said to him, “If these men have come to invite you, you may go with them. But whatever I command you, that you shall do.”
In this verse and in some others (e.g., Num 23:4–5)—but not in all the verses that refer to God visiting Balaam—the Samaritan Pentateuch (and, based on spacing, likely the Dead Sea Scroll 4QNumb) adds the word malʾak, so that it is not God, but God’s messenger, who visits Balaam:
במדבר כב:כ ויבא מלאך אלהים אל בלעם לילה ויאמר לו אם לקרא לך באו האנשים קום לך אתם ואך את הדבר אשר אדבר אליך אתו תעשה.
SP Num 22:20 And the messenger of God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, “If the men come to call you, rise up and go with them; but whatever I command you, that you shall do.”
Who Attacks Moses?
Similarly, in the story of Moses’s divine encounter on the way back to Egypt, the Septuagint adds ἄγγελος κυρίου, “angel of the Lord,” so that it is not YHWH, but an angel, who confronts and seeks to kill Moses:
LXX Exod 4:24 Now it happened on the way at the lodging, an angel of the Lord met him and was seeking to kill him.[9]
Targum Onqelos, an Aramaic translation of the Torah,[10] does likewise:
וַהְוָה בְאוֹרחָא בְבֵית מְבָתָא וְעָרַע בֵיה מַלאְכָא דַיוי וּבעָא לְמִקטְלֵיה׃
Targ Onq Exod 4:24 And it happened on the way, in an inn, the messenger of the Lord met him and sought to kill him.
Who Helps Eve Conceive?
When Eve becomes pregnant with Cain, she declares that she has “gained a child from YHWH”:
בראשׁית ד:א וְהָאָדָם יָדַע אֶת חַוָּה אִשְׁתּוֹ וַתַּהַר וַתֵּלֶד אֶת קַיִן וַתֹּאמֶר קָנִיתִי אִישׁ אֶת יְ־הוָה.
Gen 4:1 Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gained a male child of YHWH.”
A manuscript of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan,[11] however, adds malʾak to indicate that Eve was impregnated by the messenger:
ואדם ידע ית חוה איתתיה דהיא חמידת למלאכ׳ ואעדיאת וילידת ית קין ואמרת קניתי לגבר׳ ית מלאכא דייי .
Targ Ps-J Gen 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife, that she had desired the messenger, and she conceived and bore Cain and said, “I have gained a male child from the messenger of the Lord.”
Who Speaks to Gideon?
In the MT, YHWH speaks directly to Gideon:
שׁפטים ו:טז וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו יְ־הוָה כִּי אֶהְיֶה עִמָּךְ וְהִכִּיתָ אֶת מִדְיָן כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד.
Judg 6:16 YHWH replied, “I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian to a man.”
In the Septuagint, however, it is the angel (ἄγγελος) speaking of YHWH in the third person:
LXX Judg 6:16 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “The Lord will be with you, and you shall strike down Madiam as you would one man.”[12]
Who Speaks to Moses?
The Vulgate, however, in contrast to the MT’s וַיֵּרָא מַלְאַךְ יְ־הוָֹה אֵלָיו, “the messenger of YHWH appeared to him,” does not mention the messenger in the burning bush account:
Vulg Exod 3:2 And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he saw that the bush was on fire, and was not burnt.[13]
How the Torah Itself Explains the Messenger of YHWH
If the messenger is a later addition to these biblical narratives, how did subsequent generations among whom the edited texts circulated make sense of the conflated identities of the messenger and YHWH?[14] The most influential explanation seems to be one offered by the Torah itself. At Sinai, God grants divine authority to a messenger who will travel with the Israelites:
שׁמות כג:כ הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ מַלְאָךְ לְפָנֶיךָ לִשְׁמָרְךָ בַּדָּרֶךְ וְלַהֲבִיאֲךָ אֶל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר הֲכִנֹתִי. כג:כא הִשָּׁמֶר מִפָּנָיו וּשְׁמַע בְּקֹלוֹ אַל תַּמֵּ֣ר בּוֹ כִּי לֹ֤א יִשָּׂא לְפִשְׁעֲכֶם כִּי שְׁמִי בְּקִרְבּוֹ.
Exod 23:20 Look, I am sending a messenger before you, to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. 23:21 Pay attention to him and obey his voice. Do not rebel against him, because he will not forgive your transgressions, because my name is in him.
The messenger’s prerogative to “not forgive your transgressions” is identical to the statement in Joshua that YHWH is אֵל קַנּוֹא הוּא לֹא יִשָּׂא לְפִשְׁעֲכֶם, “a jealous God—he will not forgive your transgressions” (24:19).[15] The passage warns Israel that the messenger will exercise divine prerogatives normally held only by God and therefore is not to be treated lightly. The explanation that שְׁמִי בְּקִרְבּוֹ, “my name is in him,” likely reflects the idea that the divine name functions as a type of transferable vehicle for divine presence and authority.[16]
This interpretation is consistent with the use of the divine name elsewhere in the biblical texts. In some places, the divine name is treated as a type of proxy for the deity, standing in for God themselves. Isaiah, for example, describes YHWH’s name coming to the defense of Israel:
ישׁעיה ל:כז הִנֵּה שֵׁם יְ־הוָה בָּא מִמֶּרְחָק בֹּעֵר אַפּוֹ וְכֹבֶד מַשָּׂאָה שְׂפָתָיו מָלְאוּ זַעַם וּלְשׁוֹנוֹ כְּאֵשׁ אֹכָלֶת.
Isa 30:27 Behold the name of YHWH comes from afar, in blazing wrath, with a heavy burden—his lips full of fury, his tongue like devouring fire.
The Deuteronomistic notion of the temple at Jerusalem as the place where YHWH’s name will be placed or will dwell—thereby manifesting God’s presence and making worship possible—reflects the notion that the name is an extension of YHWH, representing the deity’s presence and power.[17]
Between Divine Images and the Divine Name
A closely related logic applies to divine images in broader ancient Southwest Asia. They were considered manifestations of the presence and agency of the deities they represented, and so could be simultaneously identified as, and also distinguished from, those deities.[18]
Biblical authors, however, rejected the use of physical representations of YHWH. Thus, the name itself is an abstraction, not represented by a physical object, though they allow the possibility of creating and transporting items in which YHWH could appear, such as the Ark and the Tabernacle.[19]
The image of YHWH’s messenger guiding and guarding the Israelites (Exod 23:20–21) is likely renegotiating the understanding of these altered texts to bring them into alignment with the theological sensitivities and presuppositions of this text’s author. It overlays the logic of divine images upon the figure of the messenger, resulting in the concept of “the messenger of YHWH,” an individualized messenger who, having possession of the divine name, could exercise divine prerogatives and even identify as YHWH.
The Divine Name in Post-Biblical Literature
Ancient Jewish interpreters also pick up on the function of the divine name as a transferable vehicle of divine agency and presence. In Apocalypse of Abraham,[20] for instance, God refers to the angel Yahoel as “the namesake of the mediation of my ineffable name” (10:3) and Yahoel explains that God “put together his names in me” (v. 8).[21]
Not YHWH, but Metatron
The Talmud even describes Metatron, an angel that bears YHWH’s name, as the “YHWH” to whom Moses was instructed to ascend:
בבלי סנהדרין לח: מינא לרב אידית כתיב (שמות כד, א) ואל משה אמר עלה אל ה' עלה אלי מיבעי ליה א"ל זהו מטטרון ששמו כשם רבו דכתיב (שמות כג, כא) כי שמי בקרבו
b. Sanh. 38b A certain heretic said to Ravi Idit: “It is written (Exod 24:1): ‘And to Moses he said, Come up to YHWH.’ ‘Come up to me,’ it should have said.” He said to him, “This is Metatron, whose name is as the name of his Master, as it is written (Exod 23:21): ‘because my name is in him.’”
By means of such tactics, ancient readers seem to have adopted and adapted the logic of divine images in a way that preserved and protected the deity’s transcendence while also making space for the immanence that was so critical to worship. An angel is the deity insofar as it manifests and provides direct access to the deity’s presence and power on earth, but the angel is not the deity insofar as it is a separate and distinct entity who safeguards YHWH’s primary locus of self far off in the heavens.
Postscript
The Haggadah: God, Not an Angel, Took Israel out of Egypt
The Passover Haggadah, when it tells the story of the exodus from Egypt, emphasizes that God guided Israel out of Egypt rather than delegating it to an angel:
וַיּוֹצִאֵנוּ ה' מִמִּצְרַיִם. לֹא עַל יְדֵי מַלְאָךְ, וְלֹא עַל יְדֵי שָׂרָף, וְלֹא עַל יְדֵי שָׁלִיחַ
God brought us out of Egypt (Deut 26:8), not by the hands of an angel, and not by the hands of a seraph, and not by the hands of a messenger.
וְעָבַרְתִּי בְאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם בַּלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה – אֲנִי וְלֹא מַלְאָךְ
And I will pass through the land of Egypt—I myself, and not an angel.
This text distinguishes the deity’s own presence and activity from the mediation of that by an angel. It thus does the opposite of what the biblical editors have done in introducing the messenger of God into the narrative. That God would guide Israel out of Egypt rather than delegate it to an angel signals God’s direct care and intimacy during that pivotal event in the history of the people of Israel.
Published
March 29, 2023
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Last Updated
May 15, 2023
- Unless otherwise indicated, biblical translations follow the NJPS, with modifications.
- Apart from the reference to the messenger in verse 2, every detail of the story that follows suggests that Moses is speaking directly with YHWH. Nahum Sarna states: “It is always God Himself who speaks. Most likely the messenger is mentioned only to avoid what would be the gross anthropomorphism of localizing God in a bush.” See Nahum Sarna, Exodus, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1991), 14.
- When Jacob describes his dream to Rachel and Leah, he says that מַלְאַךְ הָאֱלֹהִים “the messenger of God” spoke to him (Gen 31:11). The speaker in the dream, however, self-identifies as God:
- In the account of Samson’s birth, the messenger of YHWH appears to his mother to tell her that she will have a son:
- While the protagonists in these stories often express fear at having seen the messenger of God/YHWH, the biblical text nowhere indicates that seeing the messenger is deadly. It only insists that seeing YHWH—and more specifically, YHWH’s face—is deadly:
- Samuel A. Meier, “Angel of Yahweh,” in The Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, ed. Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der Horst (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 54–59.
- Dorothy Irvin, Mytharion: The Comparison of Tales from the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East (Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker, 1978), 93–104.
- The academic consensus is that the readings in the MT in these passages are earlier. The arguments for the priority of MT differ from passage to passage, but generally rely on the principle of lectio difficilior (the more difficult reading is usually earlier) to suggest that the addition of the angel resolves theologically uncomfortable passages. This prophylactic use of the messenger or of other proxies for YHWH’s presence becomes systematic in some targumim. There is also textual instability in these stories in multiple ancient versions. The verses in which the messenger is mentioned in the accounts of Hagar and Gideon differ between the Masoretic Text, the Septuagint, and the Vulgate. Editor’s note: For a brief introduction to these texts, see Emanuel Tov, “Other Biblical Text Traditions,” TheTorah (2017).
- Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ ἐν τῷ καταλύματι συνήντησεν αὐτῷ ἄγγελος κυρίου καὶ ἐζήτει αὐτὸν ἀποκτεῖναι. (Translation from the New English Translation of the Septuagint [NETS].) The MT reads:
- Editor’s note: On Onqelos and other targumim, see Shlomi Efrati, “Balaam Sets His Face Towards the Calf—A Targum Tradition,” TheTorah (2022).
- Editor’s note: See the discussion (and footnotes) of the Palestinian Targums in Efrati, “Balaam Sets His Face Towards the Calf.”
- καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ ἄγγελος κυρίου Κύριος ἔσται μετὰ σοῦ, καὶ πατάξεις τὴν Μαδιαμ ὡσεὶ ἄνδρα ἕνα. (Translation from NETS.)
- Apparuitque ei Dominus in flamma ignis de medio rubi et videbat quod rubus arderet et non conbureretur. (Vulgate text and Douay-Rheims English translation available at vulgate.org.) In addition, Josephus lacks the messenger in his accounts of both the Akedah (Jewish Antiquities 1.222–236), and the burning bush (2.264–276).
- Contemporary scholars have offered a variety of theories for how readers understood the messenger, including that the messenger functions as a hypostasis or avatar of YHWH. According to this reading, the authors—seeking to avoid anthropomorphizing the deity as corporeal, located in time and space and physically interacting directly with humanity—describe instead a direct encounter with a divine mediator of God’s presence and activity. See Stephen L. White, “Angel of the Lord: Messenger or Euphemism?” Tyndale Bulletin 50.2 (1999): 299–305; James L. Kugel, The God of Old: Inside the Lost World of the Bible (New York: Free Press, 2003), 18–20; R. M. M. Tuschling, Angels and Orthodoxy: A Study in their Development in Syria and Palestine from the Qumran Texts to Ephrem the Syrian (STAC 40; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007), 99–101; Erik Eynikel, “The Angel in Samson’s Birth Narrative: Judg 13,” in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook 2007. Angels: The Concept of Celestial Beings—Origins, Development and Reception, ed. Freidrich V. Reiterer, Tobias Nicklas, and Karin Schöpflin (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007), 109–123; Benjamin D. Sommer, The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 40–44. Others have argued that the texts are intentionally ambiguous in order to obscure the nature of God’s presence (Carol A. Newsom, “Angels,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman, 6 vols. [New York: Doubleday, 1992], 1:250), or that the divine representative was understood to be authorized to speak in the first person on behalf of the patron they represented. For the latter theory, see René Lopez, “Identifying the ‘Angel of the Lord’ in the Book of Judges: A Model for Reconsidering the Reference in Other Old Testament Loci,” Bulletin for Biblical Research 20.1 (2010): 1–18; and Andrew S. Malone, “Distinguishing the Angel of the Lord,” Bulletin for Biblical Research 21.3 (2011): 297–314.
- It is not clear which text is earlier, but it seems more likely the account of the messenger in Exodus 23 is borrowing rather than creating a divine prerogative for the messenger to exercise. For more on the dating of Exodus 23:20–21, see Hans Ausloos, “The ‘Angel of YHWH’ in Exod. xxiii 20–33 and Judg. ii 1–5. A Clue to the ‘Deuteronom(ist)ic’ Puzzle?” Vetus Testamentum 58.1 (2008): 1–12.
- I develop a theoretical framework for this notion of transferable vehicles of divine presence and agency in Daniel O. McClellan, YHWH’s Divine Images: A Cognitive Approach (Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2022).
- In his influential doctoral dissertation on Deuteronomic name theology, S. Dean McBride describes the notion that one’s name is “a physical extension of the name bearer, an attribute which when uttered evokes the bearer’s life, essence, and power.” See Samuel Dean McBride, “The Deuteronomic Name Theology” (PhD diss., Harvard University, 1969), 67. In addition, Karen Radner has argued: “Der ‘geschriebene Name’ ist in seiner Bedeutung und Anwendung dem repräsentativen Bild eng verwandt und wird häufig im Verbund mit diesem verwendet, um die Präsenz des Individuums zu sichern” (“the ‘written name’ is closely related in its meaning and usage to the representative image, and is often used in conjunction with it to ensure the presence of the individual”). See Karen Radner, Die Macht des Names: Altorientalische Strategien zur Selbsterhaltung (Weisbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005), 22 (my translation). Jarl Fossum states that in Deuteronomic theology, “YHWH certainly inhabits the earthly temple, but not in person; he is present through the agency of his Name.” See Jarl E. Fossum, The Name of God and the Angel of the Lord: Samaritan and Jewish Concepts of Intermediation and the Origin of Gnosticism (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1985), 87. Editor’s note: Arguing that Deuteronomy’s description of placing YHWH’s name in the Temple is not an evolution of the concept of divine presence, but rather is an ancient Near Eastern idiom used by conquering kings to establish their right to rule, see Sandra L. Richter, “Does YHWH’s Name Dwell in the Temple?” TheTorah (2021).
- Relevant material remains from Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Anatolia, including ritual texts and instructions related to the vivification of divine images, point to their function as authorized bearers of some vehicle of the deity’s agency and presence, including—but certainly not limited to—the deity’s name. Michael B. Dick, ed., Born in Heaven Made on Earth: The Making of the Cult Image in the Ancient Near East (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2001); Catherine L. McDowell, The Image of God in the Garden of Eden: The Creation of Humankind in Genesis 2:5–3:24 in Light of mīs pî pīt pî and wpt-r Rituals of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015).
- McClellan, YHWH’s Divine Images, 133–155. In some biblical narratives, the Ark is carried into battle so that YHWH will be with the Israelites (e.g., Num 14:41–45, 1 Sam 4:4–9). In others, it resides within Tabernacle, and YHWH speaks to Moses from above its cover (Exod 25:22; Num 7:89). The Tabernacle is also portable and serves as a dwelling place for YHWH wherever the Israelites set it up (Exod 25:8, 29:44–45; 40:34–38). Editor’s note: See also Tzemah Yoreh, “The Two Arks: Military and Ritual,” The Torah (2020).
- Apocalypse of Abraham (early 1st millennium C.E.) offers an expanded retelling of the biblical story of Abraham’s covenant with God in Genesis 15. The text was likely composed in Hebrew or Aramaic, but extant manuscripts represent Slavic translations of a Greek version of the text. See Alexander Kulik, “Apocalypse of Abraham,” in Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture, ed. Louis H. Feldman, James L. Kugel, and Lawrence H. Schiffman (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2013), 1453–1481.
- The translations are from Andrei Orlov, Yahoel and Metatron: Aural Apocalypticism and the Origins of Early Jewish Mysticism (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017), 73. The Parables of Enoch may also take up the same idea in attributing worship of the Son of Man to some kind of connection with “the Name of the Lord of Spirits” (1 Enoch 48.5). Scholars debate how best to translate the concepts associated with the naming (or calling) of the Son of Man in these passages.
בראשׁית לא:יג אָנֹכִי הָאֵל בֵּית אֵל אֲשֶׁר מָשַׁחְתָּ שָּׁם מַצֵּבָה אֲשֶׁר נָדַרְתָּ לִּי שָׁם נֶדֶר עַתָּה קוּם צֵא מִן הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת וְשׁוּב אֶל אֶרֶץ מוֹלַדְתֶּךָ.
Gen 31:13 “I am the God of Beth-el, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now, arise and leave this land and return to your native land.”
שׁפטים יג:ג וַיֵּרָא מַלְאַךְ יְ־הוָה אֶל הָאִשָּׁה וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלֶיהָ הִנֵּה נָא אַתְּ עֲקָרָה וְלֹא יָלַדְתְּ וְהָרִית וְיָלַדְתְּ בֵּן.
Judg 13:3 The messenger of YHWH appeared to the woman and said to her, “You are barren and have borne no children; but you shall conceive and bear a son.
Her husband, Manoah, later prays to YHWH that he would send the אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים, “man of God,” to them again to provide further instructions (v. 8). When the man returns, the narrator comments that Manoah did not know that it was the messenger of YHWH (v. 16), but after the man has departed, Manoah tells his wife, מוֹת נָמוּת כִּי אֱלֹהִים רָאִינוּ, “we will surely die, for we have seen God” (v. 22).
שׁמות לג:כ וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא תוּכַל לִרְאֹת אֶת פָּנָי כִּי לֹא יִרְאַנִי הָאָדָם וָחָי.
Exod 33:20 But,” He said, “you cannot see My face, for man may not see Me and live.”
Indeed, these fearful reactions make little sense: how could a mediator protect humans from encounters with YHWH if the intermediation itself is deadly?
שׁמות ד:כד וַיְהִי בַדֶּרֶךְ בַּמָּלוֹן וַיִּפְגְּשֵׁהוּ יְ־הוָה וַיְבַקֵּשׁ הֲמִיתוֹ.
Exod 4:24 At a night encampment on the way, YHWH encountered him and sought to kill him.
