Moses Knew Jesus Personally
The Lord has chosen to reveal Himself to us in many ways. Blessed are we to try and exegete meaning from the words inspired by The Holy Spirit, holding to the traditions of the holy men who came before us. Everything I write on this blog is my personal opinion feel free to take it or leave it. (1 Peter 3:15)
The Angel of the LORD “Mal’ak Yahweh” (Lexicon :: Strong’s H4397 – mal’āḵ) means a messenger (of YHWH), i.e., a prophet, priest, teacher, or ambassador, etc.
Angelos (ἄγγελος) in the Greek lexicon means a messenger, envoy, or agent (Strong’s G32).
The Angel (Malak) of the LORD first appeared, then “God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” (Exodus 3:2–4). We can contrast Moses’s perfectly obedient response to God’s call with Adam’s response to the Divine Son of God’s call in the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 3:8–10 Legacy Standard Bible
8 Then they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God in the midst of the trees of the garden.
9 Yahweh God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 And he said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Acts 7:30–35 Legacy Standard Bible
30 “And after forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.
31 When Moses saw it, he was marveling at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord:
32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and would not dare to look.
33 But the Lord said to him, ‘Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.
34 I have surely seen the oppression of My people in Egypt and have heard their groans, and I have come down to deliver them; come now, and I will send you to Egypt.’
35 “This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
As we can see in Acts 7, the very first holy martyr of the Church, St. Stephen, died making the argument that this Angel who appeared to Moses out of the flame of the bush was distinct from the Father, yet sent by the Father to redeem us as ruler, judge, and deliverer, temporarily granting the prophet Moses this authority and using him as an instrument of God to guide the Israelites through the wilderness by His mediating grace. Now just as the Israelites wanted to turn against Moses out of envy and pride (Numbers 16:1–3), the Sanhedrin rejected the incarnate Son of God and Messiah begotten by the Father, who appeared to Moses in the midst of the bush as messenger (Acts 7:52).
Acts 7:38 Legacy Standard Bible
38 This is the one who, in the congregation in the wilderness, was with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai and with our fathers; the one who received living oracles to pass on to you.
Let’s bring it back to the text at hand now that we have established the Angel calling to the prophet Moses out of the bush is distinct from the Father Almighty but also referred to as YHWH God, since the speaker is consistently the Angel throughout the chapter, which the holy martyr St. Stephen attested to in Acts 7.
Exodus 3:5–6 Legacy Standard Bible
5 Then He said, “Do not come near here. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
6 He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
The Lord Jesus also plainly makes the point that it was He who was speaking to Moses out of the bush pre-incarnate. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the body, and Jesus refutes them by bringing up that God who appeared to Moses in the bush was not only God but the God of the patriarchs who were alive in Abraham’s bosom, fully at peace (Wisdom 3:1–5, Isaiah 40:11, Luke 23:43) in the presence of God. After realizing the communion of saints was apparent and that we truly live forever with God, they dared not question Him again (Luke 20:40).
Luke 20:37–38 Legacy Standard Bible
37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
38 Now He is not the God of the dead but of the living; for all live to Him.”
We also see that in Exodus 3:5 God makes Moses cast off his sandals and proclaims the ground holy, something that we see again in the Book of the Prophet Joshua from the Commander of the LORD’s Host.
Joshua 5:13–6:2 Legacy Standard Bible
Commander of Yahweh’s Host
13 Now it happened when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?”
14 He said, “No! Rather I indeed come now as commander of the host of Yahweh.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and bowed down and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his slave?”
15 The commander of the host of Yahweh said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
The Destruction of Jericho
6 Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out, and no one came in.
2 And Yahweh said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors.
Now we see that Joshua the son of Nun fell prostrate to worship this commander of the LORD’s hosts, but interestingly, this commander did not rebuke him like the angel whom St. John the Apostle attempted to worship did, and redirected him toward the sole worship of the one holy Triune God. So why does this commander and messenger accept worship, but created spirit beings refuse it? It is because the commander in Joshua 5, and the Angel in the bush, are both the same LORD and God in essence.
Revelation 19:10 Legacy Standard Bible
10 Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow slave with you and your brothers who have the witness of Jesus. Worship God! For the witness of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
We also see that in Joshua 6:2 the text has not indicated any change in speaker; chapter separations and verse numbers do not exist in the original text. The Commander of the LORD’s Host is the same Yahweh God who spoke to Moses out of the bush, who spoke to Joshua, who took flesh in the Holy Virgin Mary in Nazareth (Luke 1:35). St. Justin Martyr argues in depth in Chapters 59–61 (Dialogue with Trypho) that this Angel who appeared to Moses was God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, yet distinct from God the Father Almighty, namely, His Son, the pre-incarnate Logos.
“Justin: Permit me, further, to show you from the book of Exodus how this same One, who is both Angel, and God, and Lord, and man, and who appeared in human form to Abraham and Isaac, appeared in a flame of fire from the bush, and conversed with Moses.”
“Have you perceived, sirs, that this very God whom Moses speaks of as an Angel that talked to him in the flame of fire, declares to Moses that He is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob?”
The great St. Irenaeus of Lyons makes a similar argument that the Word (Logos) of God reveals and declares the Father to all creation (Hebrews 1:3, John 1:18) in Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 6, Paragraph 2, and this is an exegetical position on Exodus 3 that we could argue from the writings of many of the early Church fathers, not just these two giants of the faith.
Adversus Haereses III.6.2
“For the Son, who is the Word of God, arranged these things beforehand from the beginning, shaping and forming and doing all things, since He also is the true God; and He it is who spake with Moses, and showed Himself to the patriarchs, and was seen, and conversed with men, while the Father was invisible and had no dealings with them, and could not be seen. But to Moses He said: ‘I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He makes clear that He is the one God and Father of all, and also that He is the One who spoke with the patriarchs.”
Revelation 19:11–16 Legacy Standard Bible
The Rider on a White Horse
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sits on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.
12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, having a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself,
13 and being clothed with a garment dipped in blood, His name is also called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.
15 And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the wrath of the rage of God, the Almighty.
16 And He has on His garment and on His thigh a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
There can only be one Commander of the LORD’s Host because they are Yahweh’s armies, and the only one who can possibly command them is Yahweh Himself. To be the LORD of Hosts you must command the angelic host, the stellar host (Genesis 2:1), the earthly armies (Isaiah 13:4), the cosmic host, and all of creation itself. Since all of creation cries out praising the Lord Jesus, we know that He is this very LORD and commander who commanded Joshua to remove his sandals for the ground was holy, and the very same LORD and living God who called to Moses out of the midst of the bush and commanded Moses to remove his sandals, proclaiming the ground holy ground.
Luke 19:38–40 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Matthew 26:53 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?
Exodus 3:12–16 Legacy Standard Bible
12 And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God at this mountain.”
13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am about to come to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ And they will say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”
14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
15 And God furthermore said to Moses, “Thus you shall 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, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial name from generation to generation.
16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I indeed care about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.”’
Deuteronomy 4:15 Legacy Standard Bible
15 “So keep your souls very carefully, since you did not see any form on the day Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire.”
If the Angel of the LORD was appearing only through created manifestations or “mediums,” Moses would not have said he saw no form (from YHWH) in the midst of the fire. The LORD can truly appear in the Old Testament without His essence taking up space, just like Jesus Christ (YHWH) can truly be present in the Eucharist at thousands of Masses every morning (Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity) without His divine essence needing to be spatially present.
Deuteronomy 5:24–26 Legacy Standard Bible
24 And you said, ‘Behold, Yahweh our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives.
25 So now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of Yahweh our God any longer, then we will die.
26 For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
The Israelites and Moses seem to be fully aware that it was the living God who spoke to them out of the bush, along with many other previous theophanies/Christophanies that I will be writing about in depth on this blog, that attest to the divinity of the second person of the Holy Trinity, the only begotten eternal Son of the Father Almighty, our Lord Jesus Christ pre-incarnate. Don’t believe me, believe our Lord, who claims that the writings of the prophet Moses attest to Him.
John 5:45–47 Legacy Standard Bible
45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope.
46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.
47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
I am not making the argument that Jesus Christ is a celestial spirit creature with wings, as we established at the beginning of this post the definition of “Mal’ak” (Hebrew) along with “Angelos” (Greek) simply means messenger.
Hebrews 1:6 King James Version
6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
Now I am arguing that the faith we practice today has been delivered and revealed through the revelation of the divine Son of God Jesus Christ perpetually throughout time, not only after He took flesh in the all-holy Virgin, but He also appeared to Abraham (John 8:56–58), Isaac (Genesis 22:11–12), Jacob (Genesis 32:24–32), Moses, and many patriarchs. This same Angel of the LORD (distinguished from created angels by context) appearing continuously throughout the 46-book Hebrew Bible is the Logos spoken of in John 1:1:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God.”
Sealing the promises and glory of His divinity, role as divine redeemer of mankind (Colossians 2:15), everlasting dominion and kingship (Daniel 7:13–14), high priest and eternal mediator/intercessor for all (1 Timothy 2:1–5), lovingly desiring the salvation of all men, and perpetually revealing the Father to His beloved creation. Jesus is the Christ who is Lord, true God and YHWH God, although distinct from the Father, and the Father distinct from the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit distinct from the Son, although one God—He Is the same One Living God who told Moses to remove his sandals and proclaimed the ground holy, and He is the same God who proclaims the altar holy at Mass. I implore you to come to the loving embrace of the Holy Trinity, and come to Mass, and cry out to the Father Almighty with the spirit of a child. Have mercy on us.
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