The Post-Exile Messenger of Yahweh (#17 in Yahweh and the Angel of Yahweh)

After Yahweh sent Israel into exile to Assyria and Babylon, He restored them back to their land. Two of their initial leaders were the prophet Zechariah, the high priest Joshua, and the governor Zerubbabel. Zechariah’s prophecies involve the Messenger of Yahweh:

⁸ I looked out in the night and saw a man riding on a chestnut horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the valley. Behind him were chestnut, brown, and white horses. ⁹ I asked, “What are these, my lord?” The messenger who was talking to me replied, “I will show you what they are.” ¹⁰ Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones Yahweh has sent to patrol the earth.”

¹¹ They reported to the Messenger of Yahweh standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and right now the whole earth is calm and quiet.” ¹² Then the Messenger of Yahweh responded, “How long, Yahweh of Armies, will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that you have been angry with these seventy years?” ¹³ Yahweh replied with kind and comforting words to the Messenger who was speaking with me.

¹⁴ So the Messenger who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim: Yahweh of Armies says: I am extremely jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. ¹⁵ I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease, for I was a little angry, but they made the destruction worse. ¹⁶ Therefore, this is what Yahweh says: In mercy, I have returned to Jerusalem; my house will be rebuilt within it—this is the declaration of Yahweh of Armies—and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem. ¹⁷ “Proclaim further: This is what Yahweh of Armies says: My cities will again overflow with prosperity; Yahweh will once more comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”

¹⁸ Then I looked up and saw four horns. ¹⁹ So I asked the Messenger who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he said to me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” ²⁰ Then Yahweh showed me four craftsmen. ²¹ I asked, “What are they coming to do?” He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could raise his head. These craftsmen have come to terrify them, to cut off the horns of the nations that raised a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

Zechariah interacts again with the Messenger of Yahweh in 2:3 then has a vision of him in chapter 3:

Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the Messenger of Yahweh, with Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. ² Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! May Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?” ³ Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. ⁴ So the Messenger of Yahweh spoke to those standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes!” Then he said to him, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with festive robes.” ⁵ Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So a clean turban was placed on his head, and they clothed him in garments while the Messenger of Yahweh was standing nearby. ⁶ Then the Messenger of Yahweh charged Joshua, ⁷ “This is what Yahweh of Armies says: If you walk in my ways and keep my mandates, you will both rule my house and take care of my courts; I will also grant you access among these who are standing here.

Zechariah then has a vision concerning Zerubbabel:

The Messenger who was speaking with me then returned and roused me as one awakened out of sleep. ² He asked me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top. The lampstand also has seven lamps at the top with seven spouts for each of the lamps. ³ There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” ⁴ Then I asked the Messenger who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?” ⁵ “Don’t you know what they are?” replied the Messenger who was speaking with me. I said, “No, my lord.” ⁶ So he answered me, “This is the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies. ⁷ ‘What are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. And he will bring out the capstone accompanied by shouts of: Grace, grace to it!’”

Zechariah has further visions from the Messenger of Yahweh in chapters 5 and 6. We see the Messenger commanding angels and questioning Zechariah, as God would do.

These are the last mention of the Messenger of Yahweh in Scripture. We have learned that the Son of God is the Messenger of Yahweh, the Yahweh who appears to people on earth, is equal to yet distinct from the Yahweh in heaven, who is in submission to the Yahweh in heaven, and may be called Yahweh, and who often takes on physical form, usually that of a human male.

Why don’t we see the Messenger of Yahweh in the New Testament or in our world currently? Because the Son, after this time in Israel, took on human nature (without relinquishing His divine nature, which would be impossible), was born as a man, died on a cross, was resurrected and then ascended to heaven, where he still has a body and yet is the omnipresent God.

And, as when He was the Messenger of Yahweh, He still appears to humans:

⁵⁴ When they heard these things, they were enraged and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (Acts 7:54-56)

Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest ² and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. ³ As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. ⁴ Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” ⁵ “Who are you, Lord?” Saul said. “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied. ⁶ “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:1-6)

⁹ The Lord said to Paul in a night vision, “Don’t be afraid, but keep on speaking and don’t be silent. ¹⁰ For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.” ¹¹ He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them. (Acts 18:9-11)