The Malakh of HaShem found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And He said, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai." The Malakh of HaShem said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit to her." The Malakh of HaShem also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude." And the Malakh of HaShem said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ishmael; because HaShem has given heed to your affliction. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen." So she called the name of HaShem who spoke to her, "You are El who sees me"; for she said, "Have I really seen G-d and remained alive after seeing Him?" – Genesis 16:7-13
Then Yakov was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when he saw that he did not prevail against Him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Yakov's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, "Let me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let you go unless You bless me!" So He said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Yakov." And He said, "your name will no longer be called Yakov, but Yisrael; for you struggled with G-d and with men, and have prevailed." Then Yakov asked Him, saying, "Tell me Your name, I pray." And He said, "Why is it that you ask about My name?" And He blessed him there. And Yacov called the name of the place Peniel (Face of G-d): "For I have seen G-d face to face, and my life is preserved." - Genesis 32:24-30
Now Moshe kept the flock of Yitro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of G-d, even to Horeb. And the Malakh of HaShem appeared to him in a Flame of Fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with Fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moshe said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when HaShem saw that he turned aside to see, G-d called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, "Moshe, Moshe". And he said, "Here am I". And He said, "Don't come any closer: take your shoes off of your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. - Exodus 3:1
Shalom Luke,
ReplyDeleteWhat a mysterious Personage? He is the the Prince of the Face (Sar ha-Panim), also known as Metatr-n the Precursor of everything! He is the Image of the Holy One, blessed be He! This is the Image that man was created in when it says " so G-d created man/Adam in His own Image, in the Image of G-d He created him: male and female He created them" - Gen.26,27.
How to bridge the chasm between G-d and the world, how at the first creation of man it was possible for G-d who is the all-holy and all-perfect, to come into contact with imperfect man, is an oft-recurring subject of speculation in the Talmud and Midrashim. G-d was immanent as well as transcendent, and the Malakh was the representation of the Divine, an off-shoot of Deity, holding intimate converse with the affairs of the world. He is in Rav Shaul's words "the fullness of the G-dhead in 'Bodily' form'! The Key word is 'bodily form'! Because the fulness of G-d has no form or substance for He is Infinite.
ReplyDeletePhilo writes concerning this Malakh that He is the Logos/Word and says: "Not alone does he speak of the Logos as the Being who guided the patriarchs, as the Malakh who appeared to Hagar, as the Cloud at the Red Sea, as the Divine form who changed the name of Jacob to Israel, but he also describes Him as "a suppliant to the immortal G-d on behalf of the mortal race which is exposed to affliction and misery; and is also the Ambassador sent by the Ruler of all to the subject race" (Who is Heir to the Divine Things, xlii.). He is "the Attendant on the one Supreme Being" (ibid. xlviii.). He is a paraclete. "For it was indispensable that the man who was consecrated to the Father of the world, should have, as a paraclete, His Son, the Being most perfect in virtue, to procure forgiveness of sins, and a supply of unlimited blessings" (Life of Moses, iii. 14).
I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the Cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moshe in the Cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural food and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Mashiach. ~ 1 Corinthians 10:1-4
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