Angelology - Abraham
From the Encyclopedia of Angels:
The text of Genesis often reads "Yahweh said:" Genesis 15:1 reads "it happened . . . that the word of Yahweh was spoken to Abram [his original name] in a vision."
By the time they are old, Abram and his wife Sarai are still childless. At Sarai's suggestion, Abram impregnates their slave, HAGAR. The girl's air of superiority angers Sarai, who expels her from the house. Yahweh then makes a covenant with Abraham, promising him the birth of a son--though he and his wife are both elderly--and also land. He instructs Abram to circumcise himself and all in his household. Abram's name from now on will be Abraham and Sarai's will be Sarah.
Three angels disguised as men come to visit Abraham and he feeds them beneath the oak tree at Mamre. One tells him Sarah will have a son in a year. Sarah is amused by this. Abraham shows the men the way to SODOM AND GOMORRAH, which are destroyed.
ISAAC is born, and God tests Abraham's obedience by ordering him to offer his son as a burnt sacrifice on Mount Moriah. Abraham complies, but he is stopped from slitting his son's throat at the last moment by the Angel of the Lord.
Theologians and philosophers have examined and debated the story of Abraham for centuries. Was his vision at Mamre a theophany (manifestation of God) or an ANGELOPHANY (manifestation of an angel)? Did the angels, whom Abraham initially assumed were mortal, really eat food or only appear to eat food? It was established early in the history of Christianity that his vision was an angelophany, and that the angels, being incorporeal, only gave the appearance of eating.
God or Angel?
Confusions remain over the distinction between God and the Angel of the Lord, however. The first confusion occurs with Hagar. After her expulsion, the angel of Yahweh meets her and speaks to her. The angel foretells Hagar's numerous descendants and tells her to name her son Ishmael. She call the angel "El Roi," the God of Vision. The well where this meeting takes place is renamed Lahai Roi.
One midrash says that Isaac's birth is announced three days after Abraham's circumcision of his entire household, and that God commands Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael to comfort Abraham, who suffers grate pain, as happens on the third day after circumcision. The archangels protest: "Would you send us to an unclean place, full of blood?" God answers: "By your lives, the odor of Abraham's sacrifice pleases me better than myrrh and frankincense! Must I go to Myself?" The angels accompany God disguised as Arab wayfarers. Michael is to announce Isaac's birth; Raphael is to heal Abraham, and Gabriel is to destroy the evil city of Sodom.
The midrash ties in with the story that follows, the most frequently discussed angel episode in the Abraham story, Genesis 18 and 19. The text says, "Yahweh appeared to him at the Oak of Mamre while he was sitting by the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day. He looked up and there he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them, and bowed to the ground." This was not a sign of adoration but a sign of respect.
At first Abraham sees his guests as human beings and welcomes them warmly. Their superhuman character is only gradually revealed. Abraham hurries to get a meal prepared and stands by them while they eat under the tree. They ask where Sarah is and Abraham says she is in the tent. Then one says he will come and visit in a year and Sarah will have a son. Sarah overhears and laughs. The guest asks why Sarah laughed; when is anything too wonderful for Yahweh?
"From there the men set out and arrived within sight of Sodom, with Abraham accompanying them to show them the way. Now Yahweh had wondered, "Shall I conceal from Abraham what I am going to do?" Yahweh is referring to his plans for Abraham's line to live in his righteous way. He says, "How great an outcry there is against Sodom and Gomorrah" and says he will go and investigate. "The men left there and went to Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before Yahweh" (18:22) and convinced Yahweh to spare the city if he finds 10 righteous men there. Genesis 19:1 reads, "when the two angels reached Sodom that evening." Then follows the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the escape of Lot and his daughters, and the changing of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt. Genesis 19:5 reads "when dawn broke the angels urged Lot. . . ."
Concerning the sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22, Abraham's first instruction to take Isaac to the land of Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering comes from God, yet it is the Angel of the Lord who intervenes at the last minute to prevent Abraham's knife from killing Isaac.
The rabbis writing the Sefer Hayashar add this to the story. As Abraham and Isaac are ascending Mount Moriah, the FALLEN ANGEL Samael comes in the shape of a humble greybeard, and says: "Can a command to kill the son of your old age proceed from a God of mercy and justice? You have been deceived!" Abraham sees through the disguise and drives him away; but he reappears in the shape of a handsome youth to Isaac, whispering, "Wretched son of a wretched mother! Was it for this she awaited your birth so long and patiently? Why should your besotted father slaughter you without reason? Fell, while there is yet time!" Isaac repeats these words to Abraham, who curses Samael and sends him away.
Different explanations have been advanced to explain the seeming interchangeability of God and his angels. According to MAIMONIDES, angels are references to prophetic vision or to a dream in which either God or an angel may be perceived or heard. Or, Old Testament angel messengers may have been remnants of stories of visitations and encounters with desert holy men who were using their dramatic and occult arts to intervene in the spiritual development of the Hebrew nomads. This might also explain how Sarah was impregnated.
© Rosemary Ellen Guiley