2S14-22: The Most Misunderstood Word In The Hebrew Bible

“Then your servant said, ‘Please let my lord the king say something that will give me relief; for my lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good from bad — and may Adonai, your God be with you.’”-2 Samuel 14:17

The clever woman of Tekoa told her story to David and succeeded in getting the desired ruling from him.

But now she starts to backtrack.

Why?

Because she feared David would come to his senses and realize a trap had been set for him.

So what does she do?

She does what we all do when facing a powerful person who, at the drop of a hat, could order our lives to be ended

She starts buttering him up.

She calls David an angel sent from God and one who is wise in discerning bad from good.

Now, to call David an angel here is misreading the context.

The Hebrew word for angel is MALACH.

But as I’ve said many times before, this term has multiple meanings.

When referring to a spiritual entity, yes, the word can mean angel.

But when referring to a human, the word simply means a “messenger.”

Like the air courier dude who comes to your home to deliver a package or something.

Ya feel me?

Since David is a human being, the woman is saying he is an earthly messenger sent by God, and not that he is some divine spiritual creature who proceeded from the heavens.

This leads to the takeaway for today.

Who else is also sometimes referred to as a MALACH (מַלְאָךְ), in certain passages and interpretations?

Especially when looking at Tanakh appearances and how they are interpreted in light of the New Testament?

Of course, I’m referring to Yeshua.

But here’s the thing.

HOW Yeshua is a messenger differs radically depending on which branch of (or cult) of Christianity you’re referring to.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses consider Yeshua to be an angel, as in a heavenly creature with wings and everything.

They consider him to be the Archangel Michael, the highest of all angels.

They’ll base their beliefs on verses like this one:

“For the Lord himself will descend
from heaven with a commanding call,
with the voice of an archangel…”
-1 Thessalonians 4:16

They argue that if Jesus has the voice of an archangel, He is the archangel.

Or they’ll refer to the Book of Revelation and how Michael leads the angels in war against the dragon (Satan), which they interpret as Jesus’ heavenly role.

But then we have a problem when we look at this verse from Hebrews:

“But we see Jesus,
who was made a little
lower than the angels…”
-Hebrews 2:9

This clearly shows Yeshua is not inherently an angel or some divine hybrid.

The wacky trinitarians, on the other hand, say the mysterious appearances of the “Angel of the LORD” (MALACH YHWH) in the “Old” Testament refer to what they call a “pre-incarnate Christ.”

For example, in these verses…

The Angel of the LORD stops Abraham and says, “you have not withheld your son from me,” speaking as God. — Genesis 22:11–18

The Angel of the LORD appears to Moses in the burning bush but then says, “I am the God of your father.” — Exodus 3:2–6

Manoah and his wife meet the Angel of the LORD, who is later said to be God Himself. — Judges 13

They’ll say these are appearances of Jesus here on this planet before he became a baby again in Mary’s womb.

They call them Christophanies.

I don’t think I need to go deeply into how nonsensical that doctrine is.

So in terms of what kind of MALACH or messenger Yeshua was…

What do the Scriptures really, and I mean REALLY, say?

Simple.

Yeshua is the Messenger of the Covenant.

This “messenger of the covenant” is God’s appointed agent.

He’s sent by God, NOT God Himself.

Like Moses delivered the first covenant, Yeshua delivers the new covenant.

Yeshua often refers to Himself as sent.

“I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will,
but the will of him that sent me.”
-John 6:38

“My teaching is not mine,
but his who sent me.”
-John 7:16

So a messenger is NOT equal to the one who sends him.

Yeshua is the Son of God, sent by the Father, just as the prophets were.

You also gotta consider that being the messiah automatically disqualifies Yeshua from being God the Father Himself.

Why?

How do you anoint an immutable divine person who is himself the source of anointing?

You can’t.

The role of the one who anoints is only given to God by the pouring out of his spirit.

This is symbolically imitated by prophets who anoint kings with oil.

If you don’t have two Messiahs, and only one, and that one is immutable and coequal and coeternal…

It’s weird to think that person can be anointed.

It’s like saying, you’re going to give divine strength to Hercules.

It’s an illogical misunderstanding of who Hercules is.

So yeah, trinitarianism forces weird theological gymnastics.

It’s nonsensical.

Trinitarians try to say Yeshua is fully God and fully man.

But when it comes to passages like Acts 10:38, they suddenly treat Yeshua as only a man.

And yet in other passages, they flip back to fully divine depending on what fits the argument.

That ain’t biblical clarity homies.

It’s doctrinal patchwork.

Ya feel me?

I mean, are you really FEEEEELLLING me here?

Yeshua never claims to be Yahweh (the Father), but always points back to Him.

So Yeshua is not YAHWEH, but Yahweh’s Son.

“You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.”
-Psalm 2:7

“For us there is one God, the Father…
and one Lord, Messiah Yeshua…”
-1 Corinthians 8:6

Keep in mind, these verses do not say…

“You are Me;
today I have begotten myself.” 

Or

“For us there is one God, the Father…
and that is the Lord, Messiah Yeshua…” 

To sum everything up.

Yeshua is called a MALACH (messenger) because He was sent by God to speak for God and reveal God.

He is not an angel by nature, nor is He Yahweh.

He is the Son of God, the Messiah, and the Messenger of the Covenant (Malachi 3:1).

He is distinct from God but carries out God’s divine will with full authority.

After doing this little word study, I’ve gotta say that the word MALACH has got to be one of the most misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misused terms in all of Scripture.

You always need to look at the word in context to understand what it means.

And that’s all I’ve got to say today.

I think I’ll call that a wrap.