Loading ...I pray that this post speaks to whomever it needs to, in the name of the LORD and SAVIOR Jesus Christ.
My aim with this post is to re-examine the Judaic belief that GOD cannot appear as a man (as if one can put restrictions on what GOD can or cannot do, as if the LORD declared in HIS Holy Word that HE cannot appear as a man — quite the opposite! One thing is for certain, as the LORD tells us, HE cannot lie).
I seek to examine this ‘person,’ the Angel of the LORD as presented to us in the Holy Bible, by using the Tanakh, of course, and only the Tanakh. I do, however, cast the Tanakh translations against a so-called Christian translation (NKJV) to provide a basis for where this post is going. All Bible verses listed are as they appear in the The Jewish Bible, the Tanakh, by the Jewish Publication Society (JPS); the links go to the NKJV translation.
I ask - If this ‘angel of the LORD’ speaks as GOD and people, as shown in the Tanakh, react to him as GOD, then isn’t it quite possible that the LORD was showing that yes, it is indeed possible for HIM to literally physically appear as a man and still remain divine? Since no man can see GOD’s face and live, isn’t it possible that HE makes a way for us to behold HIM visually without being overwhelmed with HIS glory, or having to die (seeing how sinful we are)?
- The Angel of the LORD: the heavenly messenger whose presence is evidence of GOD HIMSELF (Thomas-Nelson concordance)
The LORD recently revealed an area of HIS Holy Scriptures to me, leading me to question, again, the choice of translations and wording in the Jewish Tanakh.
In the so-called Christian translation of the Holy Bible, all throughout the Old Testament we read of the ‘Angel of the LORD’, while in the Tanakh we read of ‘an angel of the LORD.’ This is notable because the so-called Christian translation acknowledges the importance of this Angel of the LORD… HE is no ‘ordinary’ angel, if you will. While in the Tanakh, although HIS importance cannot be veiled due to what HE declares and does, the translators seem to refuse to acknowledge that this is not just ‘an angel’ but a very specific angel.
Just as the ‘Commander of the Army of the LORD’ (NKJV) or the ‘captain of the LORD’s host’ (Tanakh) is very much a specific angel, so is the Angel of the LORD. And we know these two are not like the other angels, like Michael or Gabriel, for example. For these two demand reverence, unlike the other angels — who never speak as GOD or demand reverence, as the Angel of the LORD does.
For example, the ‘captain of the LORD’s host,’ appears to Joshua during the time GOD used him to lead the people in capturing the land HE promised them.
13. Once, when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing before him, drawn sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and asked him, “Are you one of us or of our enemies?” 14. He replied, “No, I am captain of the LORD’s host. Now I have come!” Joshua threw himself face down to the ground and, prostrating himself, said to him, “What does my lord command his servant?” 15. The captain of the LORD’s host answered Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.
Now, which angel appearing to any of the people in the Bible tell those before him to remove their shoes because they are standing on holy ground? — Only one other such incident comes to mind.
1. Now Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2. An angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed. 3. Moses said, “I must turn aside to look at this marvelous sight; why doesn’t the bush burn up?” 4. When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out fo the bush: “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.” 5. And He said, “Do not come closer. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. 6. I am,” He said, “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
So we have an angel of the LORD declaring that Joshua remove his shoes because he’s standing on holy ground. Do we read any other passages in the Holy Scriptures in which an angel tells a human to remove their shoes in his presence? Do humans kneel before angels? Do angels declare their dwelling to be holy ground? No, we do these things before GOD ALMIGHTY, yet the Tanakh would make it seem that Joshua is bowing in the holy presence of an angel… Why would Joshua worship an angel when the LORD explicitly states, “You shall have no other gods besides Me. You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. (Exodus 20:1-6)”
Joshua sees this ‘man’ who says he is the Captain of the LORD’s host face-to-face. Can man see GOD’s face and live? The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY tells Moses after he pleads to behold HIS presence: “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim before you the name LORD, and the grace that I grant and the compassion that I show. But… you cannot see My face, for man may not see Me and live. (Exodus 33:17-23)” If man cannot see GOD’s face and live, yet Joshua sees this man face-to-face while standing on holy ground … what are we to conclude?
Those of Judaism claim that GOD cannot appear in a manner similar to our physical appearance, that is, HE has no legs, feet, back, face, etc. despite how some passages in the Bible describe HIM. They say all of these descriptions are figurative. I say many of them are literal… for in WHOSE image was man made? And what image could it be if not physical? Are we divine beings? — Certainly not! Are we holy beings? — Certainly not!
Consider Exodus 24:9-12
The Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel ascended (to the mountain); and they saw the God of Israel: under His feet there was the likeness of a pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity. Yet He did not raise His hand against the leaders of the Israelites; they beheld God, and they ate and drank.
Now, what are we suppose to say about the Israelites who saw GOD’s feet… which were apparently standing on something? Figurative feet? Moses and Aaron saw figurative feet? …Does the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY figuratively sit on HIS figurative throne?
GOD says no man can see HIM and live… yet Moses, Aaron and the chosen elders of Israel saw HIM and HE did not raise HIS hand against them. GOD does not lie, so HE must have shown HIMSELF to them in a physical manner they could understand.
In Judges 13 “an angel of the LORD,” as so translated in the Tanakh, appears to Samson’s parents. This angel announces to the barren woman that she would conceive and bear a son who will be a nazirite to GOD. The angel declares so and so to the woman and leaves. She runs and tells her husband, who prays to GOD to have the man reappear to instruct them on how to raise this child. GOD grants his request, and “the angel of God” appears to the woman again, and she runs off and gets her husband. The two return and the angel tells them again in what manner Samson is to be groomed and raised before the LORD.
Now, some curious things happen before the angel finally departs:
1. Manoah (Samson’s father) asks the angel to tarry and eat with them; the angel says “I shall not eat your food; and if you present a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD (v. 15-18).” (for Manoah did not know that he was an angel of the LORD)
2. Manoah asks the angel his name; the angel says to him, ” you must not ask for my name; it is unknowable!”
3. Manoah offers his sacrifice to the LORD. “As the flames leaped up from the altar toward the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flames of the altar (v. 20).”
4. Manoah and his wife realize they have been visited by an “angel of the LORD” and Manaoh says, according to the Tanakh, “We shall surely die, for we have seen a divine being.” His wife says: “Had the LORD meant to take our lives, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and meal offering from us, nor let us see all these things… (v. 21-23)”
Reading this passage reminds me of a couple other passages, in which, of course this angel of the LORD appears. For example, how many people in the Holy Scriptures ask angels their names? Instead, we are informed of their names without asking, as in Daniel chapters 9-11, for example. But with this angel we must not know his name nor even ask it.
In Genesis 32:23-33, we read of Jacob wrestling “with a man until the break of dawn,” as described in the Tanakh. Jacob prevails over this angel (in a human form) and says he won’t release him unless he blesses him (since when do angels bless people?). The angel blesses him, giving him the new name Israel, “for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed (v.29).” In the notes, interestingly enough, the translators of the Tanakh mentions that “beings divine and human” can also mean “God and men.”
Jacob then asks the angel his name, to which the angel replies, “You must not ask my name!” When the angel leaves him, Jacob names the place Peniel, which the Tanakh notes literally means “face of God” … yet they put in the verse “Peniel, meaning, “I have seen a divine being face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”
How come Abraham wasn’t concerned about dying when he saw, sat with and ate with the angels (and the LORD) who visited him (Genesis 18)? How come King David wasn’t afraid of dying when he saw the angel whom the LORD had sent forth to strike Jerusalem (2 Samuel 14:17)? What’s so special about the angel in these passages mentioned above that makes men think they will die because they have seen him, or that they must remove their shoes because they walk in his presence? Yet Abraham and King David reacted quite differently (as did Lot) to the angels they saw…
Isn’t it possible that GOD ALMIGHTY can ‘clothe’ HIMSEFL in such a way that we humans can behold HIM in a safe and comfortable manner? Why would these men say they have seen the face of GOD if they believed they were speaking with and grappling with an ordinary “angel of the LORD?”
And what angel speaks in the first person declaring things of GOD? Doesn’t the messenger usually say “says the LORD?” Take Hagar, for example.
7. An agel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur, 8. and said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” 9. And the angel of the LORD said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit to her harsh treatment.” 10. And the angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly increase your offspring, and they shall be too many to count.”
“And the angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly increase your offspring..” … Does that sound familiar? It should — that’s exactly what the LORD our GOD promised father Abraham. How can an angel speak in the first person so as if he is not just speaking for GOD, but is speaking as GOD?
Immediately after the angel leaves, Hagar praises the LORD, saying “You Are El-roi,” by which she meant, says the Tanakh, “Have I not gone on seeing after He saw me!” There’s this interesting phrase that appears quite often in the footnotes of the Tanakh — “meaning of Hebrew uncertain.” This notates Hagar’s exclamation above. Is the meaning really so uncertain? Who is worried about dying because GOD has spoken with and seen them? …Isn’t it usually the other way around — men think they will die for having seen GOD (or in this case, for seeing GOD’s presence in the angel of the LORD)? Why would Hagar say, “Have I not gone on seeing after He saw me!” … I find it quite likely Hagar was astonished that she was still alive after seeing and speaking with GOD… who appeared to her as this “angel of the LORD.” This angel of the LORD spoke as GOD and not for GOD. He did not say ‘the LORD says.’ He said, “I will greatly increase your offspring.”
I would like to know where in the Holy Scriptures where it says GOD cannot appear as a man.
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[NOTE FROM LAVRAI: I am not completely familiar with the terminology in this excerpt, but it appears to show what the passages of the Tanakh examined above shows -- that GOD ALMIGHTY can indeed appear as a man, as it seems HE did many times in the Bible to Abraham, Jacob, Hagar, etc. I only allow the excerpt below for those of the Judaic faith who may find the terminologies more familiar].
I thought the following may interest you.
I have supplied just a couple of excerpts for you
It is written by J J Prasch from Moriel Ministries…
[...]
Metatrone:The Angel of the Lord.
There are many angels of the Lord, but there is only one called “the Angel of the Lord,” HaMelach Adonai, with a definite article. The Rabbis identify this man as the Angel although he appears as a man. Repeatedly, angels have been known to take human form, such as at the tomb of Jesus where angels appeared as men. And in fact, fallen angels known as the Nephilim actually procreated with human beings as is recorded at the beginning of the book of Genesis and also sited in Jude, as well as in the Apocryphal book of Enoch.
The Angel of the Lord is an enfleshment of someone whom Jacob says has the face of God. In no way does that diminish the uniqueness of the Incarnation of Jesus in the womb of the virgin handmaiden that fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah 7:14. God took on humanity and became a man such as we are, without sin, but in the likeness of sinful flesh. There was something very special and unique about the Incarnation of the subsequent nativity of Jesus. However, the Incarnation was not the first time God became a man, even though it was the first time He came via an embryonic conception. There have been other enfleshments of God in the Old Testament.
[...]Jacob wrestled with the Metatrone, God in a human form.
Joshua fell down before Him upon entering the Promised Land - the Metatrone.
The Metatrone is the middle pillar of the Godhead.
The Metatrone is Jehovah.
The Metatrone is in the Shekinah; the Shekinah is in the Metatrone. Jehovah God, Metatrone, Shekinah, three in one, one in three.
The Metatrone is the Redeemer;
the Metatrone is the only way to God.
The Metatrone is the only one in whose name he will answer our prayers.
The Metatrone is the only one to whom God has committed the future of Israel into his hands.
The Metatrone is the only agent of God’s salvation.
The Metatrone is the only one who has the right to give the way to the tree of life.
The Metatrone is the only one in whom if you take refuge you will be saved.
Who is the Metatrone? Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah. The New Testament? Yes! Is that what I think? It is what I know. If you don’t want to believe me, believe your own rabbis.
My dear Jewish friends, if you are reading this, the Metatrone is the Messiah; the Metatrone is God who became a man. The Metatrone is the only one who can give you salvation. The Metatrone is the only one who can bring you to the Jerusalem above that your rabbis teach you about. The Metatrone is the only one, the only way, the only future you have. Embrace the Son, blessed are all those who take refuge in the Metatrone. Yeshua HaMaschiach, Jesus, the Jewish Messiah.
Found here at…
http://www.moriel.org/articles/sermons/metatrone_angel_of_the_lord.htm