Today we begin Genesis Chapter 19.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here.
For the King James Version, click here.
In Genesis chapter 18, we encountered three mysterious men, one of whom we were clearly told was the almighty Yahweh himself.
However, we still hadn’t nailed down exactly who the other two men were.
Were they regular people or were they angels?
What complicates the issue even further is that the Hebrew word used to refer to the three men in Genesis 18:2 is ENOSH and I reiterate that this word is NEVER used to refer to spiritual beings.
Well, in this chapter, all such confusion is put to rest as we witness these two “men” exercise major butt-kicking supernatural power over a gang of homosexual rapists.
And this time a different Hebrew word is used to refer to these two men.
That word is MALACH.
MALACH means messenger.
However, whether it is just a human messenger or an angel depends on the context.
And it is obvious that the “messengers” we are dealing with in Genesis 19 are angels.
Keep in mind that most angels take on the form of humans and will usually never reveal their true identity.
And they reason they don’t is because most people would freak the hell out if they knew they were interacting with an angel.
Here are some other interesting facts regarding the characteristics of angels.
1) Angels can traverse from the heavenly dimension to the earthly dimension with ease.
2) Within the heavenly hierarchy, angels are at the lower end of the totem pole. At the higher end are spiritual beings called Cherubs or Cherubim in the proper plural form. These are God’s closest servants. In the book of Ezekiel they are described as having multiple faces and several wings.
3) True to their title as “Messenger”, angels have practically zero individual freedom when sent to deliver a “message”. The reason I put message in quotations is because the message an angel delivers could be a message of destruction or they could be sent out to rescue a helpless party. Their scope of duties is far beyond a mere verbal delivering of words to a human. However, they also do that as well. When it comes to achieving their purposes, angels are capable of wielding tremendous destructive power. This should be of tremendous reassurance to us. If God has sent an angel or angels to protect you, without God’s permission nothing is going to hurt you.
4) We can also see from the last chapter that angels can eat food (or according to some rabbis give the appearance of eating food). So who knows you may have sat down and dined with an angel at one time or another.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“but don’t forget to be friendly to outsiders; for in so doing, some people, without knowing it, have entertained angels.“
-Hebrews 13:2
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