Bobzammel

I find it interesting that in almost every Old Testament appearence of angels, the "angels" are not depicted mainly as servants of God, but are actually apparent manifestations of God himself. For example, the burning bush; it states an "Angel of the Lord" is speaking to Moses, but it's clearly God who's talking and not some angel. Likewise in other encounters with angels, the ancient Israelites state quite plainly that "they have seen God".

I have a little pet theory, that originally the messanger was God himself, showing up to personally appear. However, as Judaism developed and God became more detached, perhaps due to influence from the East. Seeing God would also have God be "an image" so that would be a theistic no-no. So perhaps "Angels of the Lord" is a post-exilic redaction. This is carried even further in the NT, in which Paul states at one point that the givers of the Law were angels and the law was not transmitted directly from God...

Marduk

I think the Hebrew word for angel means messenger or emissary. I don't think it says what type of messenger.

Bobzammel

Still, how could God be a "messanger of God" is he was God?

Geoff Hudson

The Spirit was the visible form of God written out in the OT as well as the NT by the literate elite who wished to control the people by the written word. But how can you prove that "angel of the Lord" is a post exilic editorial without a proven pre-exilic document? The literate elite proabably destroyed earlier documents a precaution.

Geoff



Geoff