This is an excerpt from Mr. Benner's book, "His Name is One."

The Angel who redeemed me from all evil

Genesis 48:16

The word מלאך (mela'ak) is translated two different ways as can be seen in the following examples.

“And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying.....” Genesis 50:16 (KJV)

Behold, I [Yahweh] send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.” Exodus 23:20 (KJV)

The word מלאך (mela'ak) is formed by adding a מ (m) in front of the child root לאך (la'ak). The child root לאך is derived from the parent root לך (lak).

In the ancient pictographic script (see above image), the first letter (reading from right to left) is a staff, while the second letter is a picture of the palm of the hand. This parent root has an original Hebraic meaning of “staff in the palm” or “to walk,” as a staff was a common tool carried by the traveler. Two other child roots formed from לך, הלך (halak) and ילך (yalak) mean “to walk” as well. The word מלאך (mela'ak) is “one who walks for another,” a “messenger.” This can be one who walks for another man, and translated as “messenger” as seen in the first verse above. This word can also be one who walks for God, and translated as “angel” as seen in the second verse.

When Jacob blessed his son Joseph, he calls God a מלאך (mela'ak - messenger/angel). Jacob uses the common Hebrew poetry of parallelism by repeating his declaration that God is his deliverer and redeemer in three separate ways:

“The God who my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked before,

The God who shepherded me from the beginning to this day,

The Angel who redeemed me from all evil.....” Genesis 48:15, 16

God is able to send himself as his own messenger who can also be seen in the following summary of God's promise to lead the nation of Israel into the Promised Land:

The Angel leads Israel

“And I [Yahweh] will come down to snatch them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and wide land to a land flowing with milk and honey.” Exodus 3:8

God hears the cries of Israel's bondage in Egypt and promises he will bring them out and lead them into the Promised Land. Once Israel is delivered and taken into the wilderness, Israel begins to grumble and complain. When Yahweh meets Moses at the burning bush, he tells Moses of his plan for Israel. Yahweh delivers them out of Egypt and brings them to Mount Sinai. Throughout this journey Israel grumbles and complains and Yahweh becomes angry with them.

“Look, I [Yahweh] will send a messenger (מלאך) before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place which I prepared. Be on guard from his face and hear his voice, do not make him bitter he will not forgive your rebellion for my name is within him.” Exodus 23:20,21

“And I [Yahweh] will send before you a messenger (מלאך); and he will cast out the Canaanites, the Amorites and the Hittites and the Peruzites the Hivites and the Jebusites; to a land flowing with milk and honey for I will not go up with you because the people are stiff necked and I will turn and devour you on the way.” Exodus 33:2,3

After God declares that his “Angel” will lead them into the Promised Land, we read that it is Yahweh who will go before them preparing their way into the land.

“And they will say to the dwellers of this land, as they have heard, that you Yahweh are within this people who saw you Yahweh, eye to eye, and your cloud stood over them and you walked before them in the pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.” Numbers 14:14

“And in this thing you did not believe in Yahweh your God who walked before you on the way to search for you a place to camp, in a fire by night to show you the way you are to walk and in a cloud by day.” Deuteronomy 1:32,33

“And you will know today that Yahweh your God is the one who will cross over before you as a devouring fire, he will destroy them and he will subdue them before you.” Deuteronomy 9:3

It would appear from the above passages that Yahweh promises to take Israel into the Promised Land but because of their stiff necks, Yahweh says that he will not go but will send his “messenger.” Then we read that Yahweh himself goes before them to prepare the way to the Promised Land. Again, we have Yahweh who does not go with them but it is the “messenger” Yahweh who does. Another apparent contradiction concerning Yahweh is found in Exodus chapter thirty-three:

 “And Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.” Exodus 33:11

“And he [Yahweh] said, you cannot see my face because man cannot look on it and live... And when my glory passes by, I will set you in a cleft of the rock, I will cover over you with my palm until I pass by. I will remove my palm and you can see my back, but my face you cannot see.” Exodus 33:20,22,23

It is important to make a distinction between the simple reading and understanding of any text from ones interpretation of the text. It is not uncommon for people when reading the text to make an interpretation of the text based on their preconceived beliefs and biases. When we read the Bible and interpret it according to our beliefs, we will never discover truths within it and therefore we are unable to grow in understanding. Instead, we must learn to read the Bible according to what it says and adjust our beliefs according to what the text says.

The simple reading of the above text states that Moses spoke with Yahweh face to face but Moses was not allowed to see the face of Yahweh. There are many different ways to interpret this apparent contradiction, and it is not my intention to do so here, but only to point out that according to the texts, there is a “messenger” of Yahweh called Yahweh.

We will now look at another series of passages where the “messenger of Yahweh” is not only called Yahweh, but also God.

The Angel of the Lord

“And Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian and he drove the flock to the back of the wilderness and he came to Horeb the mountain of God. And he saw the messenger of Yahweh (יהוה מלאך) in flames of fire from the middle of the bush. And he saw and looked, the bush was consumed in fire and the bush was not devoured.” Exodus 3:1,2

Throughout the scriptures this “messenger of Yahweh” appears to individuals such as we see with Moses' encounter at the burning bush. Is this “messenger” a specific angel or God himself? In this passage, as can be seen in other passages as well, we will see that Yahweh is his own messenger.

“And Yahweh saw that he turned to see and God called to him from the middle of the bush and he said, Moses, Moses. And he said, I am here.... And he said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God Isaac and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.” Exodus 3:4,6

The “messenger of Yahweh” is now identified as God, the God of his fathers. Moses knew that this was God for he was afraid to look at his face, knowing that anyone who looks at the face of God would die (Exodus 33:20).

“And God again said to Moses, Say to the sons of Israel, Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” Exodus 3:15

We have now seen that the “messenger of Yahweh” is God. In the above passage we see that Yahweh is God. From this we can conclude that the “messenger of Yahweh” is actually Yahweh himself.