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This article is also available to download as a Microsoft Word document by clicking here. áñ"ã ANGELS AND DIVINE COMMUNICATION (VAYERA)Do angels have an identity? Are they agents of the Almighty? Do human beings really see them? Who may be ‘visited’ by angels? These questions and more have been addressed by Bible commentators and it seems to be by no means easy to arrive at a consensus on the subject. Angels appear in each of these five chapters, from the opening moment, when we find Abraham sitting in the heat of the day, (ch.18) having performed the circumcision on himself, to the episode where the angels rescue Lot from Sodom (ch 19), to the dream of Avimelech (ch 20), to the help given to Hagar (ch 21), to the calls to Avraham at Akedat Yitzchak, the sacrifice of Isaac, (ch 22). In Chapter 18, the Almighty appears to Avraham, Avraham looks up and sees three ‘men, anashim. Rashi explains and the text will show that these ‘men’ are angels, sent by G-d. They eat – or pretend to eat, the meals disappear, the commentaries tell us, and one of them announces the birth of Isaac. V.10:And he said , I will certainly return to you at that time and Sarah your wife shall have a son….v.13: And the Lord said to Abraham: Why did Sarah laugh…Is anything too hard for the Lord? I shall return to you at that time and Sarah shall have a son. In v16, the ‘men’ then turn to go towards Sodom and the Almighty speaks with Abraham. In Chapter 19, there are two figures in Sodom and they are now called malachim, usually translated as angels/ messengers. Rashi explains that they are called ‘men’ when the shechina, the divine presence is with them, but to Lot they are initially angels. V.12, 13: the ‘men’; say: who is still here? WE will destroy…because the cry is great before the Lord and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. – The text clearly states that they are to effect the destruction at the behest of G-d, again indicating a separate identity. In v.17, 18, 19 matters are not so clear. The angels take Lot and his family physically outside and say ‘look not behind you…go to the mountain, lest you be consumed. And Lot said to them, aleihem ,O not so, my Lord.adonay. Behold now; your servant has found grace in your sight and You have shown mercy …in saving my life…I cannot escape to the mountain… Rashi explains that Lot here, while apparently speaking TO THEM, is addressing the Lord, ‘ You have saved my life’ , something that only the Lord can do. In Chapter 20, Avraham is travelling through Gerar and says that Sarah is his sister, who is then taken by the king, Avimelech. In v. 3, Elohim comes to Avimelech ‘in a dream by night’ and warns the king not to touch Abraham’s wife..v.6,7. ‘And Elohim said to him in a dream…I also stopped you from sinning’. Rashi’s comment is that the angel had stopped him. Why would Rashi replace the ‘I’ of the text with an angel, unless he understands ‘elohim’ here to denote an angel. In Chapter 21, Hagar and her son, Ishmael, have been sent away from the house of Avraham. The water they took is finished and Hagar weeps. V.17 reads ‘And elohim heard the voice of the lad and an angel of G-d, malach elohim, called to Hagar out of heaven’….v.19 :‘and elohim opened her eyes and she saw a well of water’. Here, too, we wonder about the role of the malach. Chapter 22 gives the account of the Akeida, the Sacrifice of Isaac.. V.1 reads: ‘HaElokim – clearly referring to the Almighty – nasa et Avraham, tried Abraham.’ V.12,13 tell us than an angel of G-d, malach H’, stays Avraham’s hand, ‘now I know hat you fear the Lord, ki yr’ei Elokim ata. Samson Raphael Hirsch, quoting Tractate Sanhedrin 93A, explains this as ‘Now I, the angel, know that G-d is justified in considering you greater than the angels….The Almighty has prior knowledge of your potential as a G-d –fearing man, but an angel’s knowledge can only based on actual – not potential – knowledge’. An angel judges what occurs, the Almighty judges on what may occur. In any case, in ‘Now I know’, the identity of ‘I’ is not obvious. In all these cases, anashim, malach, malachim, even occasionally elohim, seem to denote beings empowered by the Almighty to announce, act, speak in His name. That is not how Maimonides, Rambam, understands matters. In his Guide for the Perplexed, Morei Nevuchim , Rambam devotes almost twenty chapters to Prophecy and in several of these he discusses Divine communications. He bases his arguments throughout on the verse in Num.12, v.6 ‘If there be a prophet among you, in a vision I will make Myself known to him, in a dream I will speak to him, im yihehyei neviachem H’, be mar’eh eilav etvada, be chalom adabeir bo. The context of the verse is the rebuke to Aaron and Miriam for speaking ill of Moses. The Almighty tells them that only to Moses does He communicate directly. All other communications are in visions and dreams. These, Rambam stresses, are the only ways, that G-d communicates with other people.. Divine communications that concern such matters as the relationship of the people to the Almighty, the consequences of actions etc are made to prophets, to people who are worthy, fit to receive them, says Rambam. Ordinary people may be given information that relates to them. ‘All prophets except Moses receive the prophecy through an angel. Note it’ (Guide, II, ch.34). Rambam will elaborate on that. He states ‘You must know that whenever Scripture relates that the Lord or an angel spoke to a person, this took place in a dream or in a prophetic vision ‘(ibid.ch 41) – which would seem to be saying that no one in a waking state ever really saw an angel. Where an angel or elokim comes to an ordinary person at night, there is no prophecy, just information, e.g.Avimelech, Laban, Bilaam.. Hagar was not a prophetess, nor was the wife of Manoah. ‘The speech they heard was like a bat kol, ( a prophetic echo) so frequently mentioned by our Sages’ (Ch.42). When Rebecca goes to ask of the Lord about the struggling twins inside her, ‘G-d spoke to her through an angel, Eber – for a prophet is sometimes called an angel’ (ibid). Nachmanides, the Ramban, does not accept Rambam’s views at all, as he explains in his Commentary to the text of these Chapters (18 -22) of the Book of Genesis. Yet Ramban’s views are not in all respects different from those of Rambam. Moreover, ‘And in those places, where you find the sight of G-d and the speech of an angel, or the sight of an angel and the speech of G-d, in the words of Zecharia (1,14), “I will yet disclose the words of the living G-d in allusions”’. Visions, opening the eyes, a garment, allusions, all indicate that Ramban, too, makes a distinction between events that take place in everyday reality and Divine communications which, given human nature, cannot be part of everyday reality. According to both, Rambam and Ramban, the terms, malach, occasionally also elohim, denote a special kind of personal Divine communication. The difference between the views of the two Commentators would seem to be mainly one of emphasis: Rambam stresses the exceptional/supernatural experience of the communication. This worries Ramban, who is concerned that one might not accept the Biblical account as having ‘really’ occurred. Actually, Ramban goes along with the idea that human beings cannot simply ‘see’ angels. Ramban’s stress is on the distinct roles accorded to words addressed to an individual directly by the Almighty and words or events transmitted or carried out at His behest, where the Divine agent is not simply a manifestation of the Divine. The Biblical text lends itself to either of these perspectives. |
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