Jacob and the Angel of God (#8 in Yahweh and the Angel of Yahweh)

On my way back from the Toronto revival meetings I attended (in one I was recruited to accompany the woman praying for individuals to stand behind and catch each person if they were “slain” or fell) I had this sense that seemed to come from God that I was supposed to speak to a teacher/pastor back home about accountability. The impression was so strong that my resistance to doing this was overcome. I told the Lord one Sunday that if I saw this man at church (which I rarely did) I would talk to him. I didn’t see him. But after church my wife and I went to eat at a nearby mall and lo and behold, as we were leaving down an otherwise deserted hallway, here comes the guy with his wife. So I told him I had a message that I thought was from God, the one word, “accountability.” He said, rather oddly, “So we’re square then?” “Yes,” I said, and we parted ways.

Jacob had a word from God, in fact, from someone designated as the angel or messenger of God:

¹⁰ “In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. ¹¹ The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. ¹³ I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.’” (Genesis 31:10-13, NIV)

What is remarkable about this is that the “angel of God” says, “I am the God of Bethel” where Jacob saw God in heaven and angels going up and down a staircase to heaven. The messenger, just as we have seen with the Messenger of Yahweh, speaks as God, identifies Himself as God or Yahweh.

Jacob, not long after this, leaves for Canaan, fearful of his father-in-law Laban, and spends the night alone as he prepares to meet his estranged brother, Esau.

²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. ²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” ²⁹ Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. ³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” (Genesis 32:24-30)

Here, the man who wrestles with Jacob is not identified as the angel or messenger of God (Yahweh) but is clearly in human form and acts and speaks as if He is God (Hosea says Jacob “struggled with the angel and overcame him,” Hosea 12:4). Jacob believes he has wrestled with God, and Hosea also testifies, “He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us —Yahweh, the God of hosts, Yahweh is his name (Hosea 12:5). This is likely the same person who spoke to Jacob earlier (Genesis 31) and who elsewhere is identified as the Messenger of Yahweh.

And we may suppose therefore that it is the Messenger of Yahweh who later accompanied the nation Israel as they journeyed to Canaan:

¹⁹ Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, ²⁰ coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. (Exodus 14:19,20)

²⁰ “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. ²¹ Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. ²² If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. (Exodus 23:20-22)

^{[After their sin with the golden calf] 33} Yahweh replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. ³⁴ Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.” (Exodus 32:33,34)

Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ² I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ³ Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.” (Exodus 33:1-3)

This may be what Isaiah is referencing:

 In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. (Isaiah 63:9)

What an extraordinary ministry the Messenger of Yahweh has had.