Divine Father and Son
Person of the God of Israel. For example, the temple in Jerusalem is described as the place in which God will place His Name. Thus what God is trying to communicate to Moses is that Israel must obey this Angel because the Presence of God is within Him. If they follow the Angel’s commands, their enemies will be God’s enemies (v. 23). Incidentally, this language would later form much of the basis of St. John’s Christology. In his Gospel, he repeatedly characterizes God the Father as being “in” Christ (see John 14:11, 20; 17:23). Saint John’s purpose in doing so, similar to that of the Angel of the Lord in Exodus, is to remind us that to hear and obey Christ is to know the Father; to rebel against what Christ says is to be at enmity with Him (see John 8:19; 10:22–39; 14:7). This reference to the Angel of the Lord in Exodus is not an anomaly. Throughout God’s covenant with Israel, He identified Himself as the One who brought them out of the land of Egypt (Ex. 20:2; Lev. 11:45; Deut. 5:6). After Israel’s sojourn ended and the conquest of Canaan was complete, however, in Judges 2:1, the Angel of the Lord said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you to the land that I had promised to your fathers.” The Angel then revealed that because Israel disobeyed Him, He was now departing and would no longer fight for them against their enemies. When the Angel explained this to the Israelites, they wept bitterly in response (v. 4). That the Angel both conveyed this message to the Israelites and traveled from Gilgal to Bokim reveal that He was a Person who had been physically present with and accompanied Israel throughout the preceding forty-plus years. This appearance of the Angel of the Lord demonstrates that even the earliest traditions of the Old Testament reveal a second hypostasis of the God of Israel, who both is Israel’s God and is Himself a Second Person of Yahweh. When this is taken into account, many New Testament passages considered allegory or reinterpretations of the previous revelation can be seen to be quite literal. The New Testament authors identify this Person as the One who became incarnate 17
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