The first part of this series presented intriguing biblical narratives in which the Angel of the Lord appeared to human beings and spoke with divine authority. Various Jewish writers, such as those mentioned below, regarded this angelic figure as the Presence of God.
Aramaic translations of the Old Testament
Aramaic translations were read in the synagogues alongside the Hebrew Scriptures, and these texts often represented God by His glorious Presence and His Word, particularly in His interaction with human beings.[1] It is significant that one of these highly regarded and widely used interpretations equated God’s Word with the Angel of the Lord. This angelic figure was therefore regarded as the direct revelation of God’s Presence.[2]
Philo
The first-century Jewish writer Philo regarded the Word (Logos) as the manifestation through which God revealed Himself to humankind. He described God’s Word as a divine figure separate from the Father,[3] although he firmly upheld the Judaic monotheistic doctrine that God is One.
Philo equated this divine Word with the Angel of the Lord, who he similarly identified as God. For example, when the Angel of the Lord interrupted the sacrifice of Isaac, Philo explained that this was God speaking to Abraham (Allegorical Interpretations 3.203). And Philo taught that the Angel of the Lord in Jacob’s dream (Gen 31:11–13) was an appearance of God Himself:
“When he says, ‘I am the God who was seen by thee in the Place of God’ [Bethel] we must understand this, that [God] on that occasion took the place of an angel, as far as
appearance went, without changing His own real nature, for the advantage of him who was not, as yet, able to bear the sight of the true God; . . . Those who are unable to bear the sight of God, look upon His image, His Angel Word, as Himself” (On Dreams 1.238–239).
God’s appearance to Abraham at Mamre
Judaism had a complex view of God: according to some scripture, no one could see God and live (Exod 33:20), and yet there were times when people did see God and survive (Exod 24:9; 33:11). In particular, God appeared to Abraham at Mamre, associated with three enigmatic human-angelic beings (Gen 18—19). Some Jewish commentators have suggested that God was a separate presence from these three figures.[4] However, Philo claimed that “the one in the middle is the Father of the universe.”[5] An ancient rabbinic commentary also taught that God was one of the three beings,[6] and this opinion continues to be supported by some Jewish interpreters of the Torah today.[7] This theophany (appearance of God) is important because it is similar to the Angel of the Lord appearing to Manoah and his wife as a man (Judges 13), and it seems probable that Abraham experienced a visitation from the angelic being who was God’s Presence.
Against this background, Jewish scholar Alan Segal concludes that certain traditions within Judaism believed in a principal angelic manifestation that was equivalent to God — a doctrine of “two powers in heaven” that rabbinic councils declared to be heretical after the rise of Christianity.[8] In particular, some Jewish writers considered the Angel of the Lord to be a separate being from God the Father and yet a form of His Presence. This is worth bearing in mind when we consider how this angelic figure is viewed within Christianity (article 3.)
[1]. For example, Genesis recorded God’s appearance to Jacob in a dream: “There above him stood the Lord, and he said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham . . . I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go’” (Gen 28:13–15). In Targum Jonathan’s Aramaic version, God was represented by His glorious Presence and His Word: “The Glory of the Lord stood above [Jacob], and He said to him, I am the Lord the God of Abraham . . . And, behold, My Word is for thy help and will keep thee in every place where thou shalt go.” Similarly, when Jacob made a vow to God, saying, ‘If God will be with me . . . ’ (Gen 28:20), Targum Jonathan had Jacob say, “If the Word of the Lord will be my Helper . . . ” https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Jonathan_on_Genesis [2]. For example, here is Targum Jonathan’s version of Hagar’s encounter with the Angel of the Lord (Gen 16:13–14): “And the Angel of the Lord said to her, ‘Behold, thou art with child.’ . . . And she gave thanks before the Lord whose Word spake to her, and thus said, ‘Thou art He who livest and art eternal; who seest, but art not seen! For, behold, here is revealed the glory of the Shekinah [Presence] of the Lord after a vision.’ Wherefore she called the well, The Well at which the Living and Eternal One was revealed.” [3]. For example, Philo pointed out that God seemed to refer to a separate entity when He said to Noah, “In the image of God has God made mankind” (Gen 9:6). Philo provided this explanation of the verse: “Why is it that [God] speaks as if of some other god, saying that He made man after the image of God, and not that He made him after His own image? Very appropriately and without any falsehood was this oracular sentence uttered by God, for no mortal thing could have been formed on the similitude of the supreme Father of the universe, but only after the pattern of the second deity, who is the Word of the supreme Being; since it is fitting that the rational soul of man should bear it the type of the divine Word” (Questions and Answers on Genesis2.62).http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/ Philo’s work can be read at http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/ [4]. The debate about the identity of the three men at Mamre is well presented in the article “Abraham’s Angels: Jewish and Christian Exegesis of Genesis 18–19.” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312903308_Abraham'S_Angels_Jewish_And_Christian_Exegesis_Of_Genesis_18-19 [5]. Philo, On Abraham 121. [6]. A midrash on the psalms stated that God was one of the angelic figures that appeared to Abraham: “The Holy One blessed be he, appeared to Abraham . . . According to Rabbi Simon, the later words have out of reverence been modified by the Scribes, for in truth it was the Lord’s presence which stood and waited for Abraham” (Midrash Psalm 18.29). https://www.matsati.com [7]. According to a modern Jewish interpreter, “Of the 3 ‘people’ Abraham sees, one is God personified while the other 2 are angels or messengers of God.” https://www.thetorah.com/article/gods-appearance-to-abraham-vision-or-visit [8]. Segal, Two Powers in Heaven: Early Rabbinic Reports about Christianity and Gnosticism, esp. x.