“From the rising of the sun even to its setting, My Name will be great among the Gentiles,” says Yahweh Sabaoth.
(Malachi 1: 11)
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The Angel of Yahweh and Animosity between Isaac and Ishmael
Genesis 15 is the most important chapter in the Bible. In it, Yahweh ratified the Covenant with Abraham that all of us depend on for our salvation.
Yahweh ratified the Covenant by Himself. When it was time to ratify the Covenant, Yahweh caused a deep sleep to fall on Abraham. He would not allow Abraham to be a party to the Covenant’s ratification, because the penalty for violating of any part of a covenant’s terms is death. Yahweh knew that Abraham could not live up to the Covenant’s terms no matter how hard he tried.
For a complete explanation of the Covenant and its ratification, see His Name is Yahweh: Revised Edition.
The Covenant Passed through Isaac
Yahweh told Abraham that the Covenant would pass to future generations through Isaac, a child he would have by Sarai (Sarah) that had not been born yet. Sarah was a childless, 90-year-old woman at the time. She desperately wanted a child, so she asked Abraham to produce a child for her through Hagar, her Egyptian maid.
Abraham complied with Sarah’s request and had a son by Hagar. His name was Ishmael. When Yahweh told Abraham that Sarah would have a son and that the Covenant would pass to future generations through him, Abraham asked Yahweh to pass it on through Ishmael instead.
Yahweh rejected Abraham’s request. This is the exchange between Yahweh and Abraham:
Then Elohim said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to Elohim, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” But Elohim said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”
When He finished talking with him, Elohim went up from Abraham. (Genesis 17: 15-22)
What about Ishmael?
This is what Yahweh told Hagar about Ishmael:
The angel of Yahweh said to her [Hagar] further, “Behold, you are with child, and you will bear a son; and you shall call his name Ishmael, because Yahweh has given heed to your affliction. He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; and he will live to the east of all his brothers.” (Genesis 16: 11-12)
Today’s Arabs are descendants of Ishmael. They have been at odds with the descendants of Isaac since the day Isaac was born. The animosity between them stems for the fact that Yahweh chose Isaac instead of Ishmael.
Contemporary Arabs know about the animosity between their ancestors because Ishmael is mentioned prominently in the Quran.
The Angel of Yahweh is Yahweh
The angel of Yahweh who appeared to Hagar is Yahweh. She met Him face-to-face.
When Yahweh appeared to Moses in the burning bush, He appeared as the angel of Yahweh, too:
Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb [Mount Sinai], the mountain of Elohim. The angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.”
When Yahweh saw that he turned aside to look, Elohim called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 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.” He said also, “I am the Elohim of your father, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at Elohim. (Exodus 3: 1-6)
The Angel of Yahweh led the Children of Israel in the Wilderness for 40 Years
The angel of Yahweh led the Children of Israel in the wilderness for 40 years. The verses below describe His parting of the Red Sea:
The angel of Elohim, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus, the one did not come near the other all night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Yahweh swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. (Exodus 14: 19-21)
The Angel of Yahweh in the Old Testament is the Messiah in the New Testament
The angel of Yahweh in the Old Testament is the Messiah in the New Testament:
“Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Be on your guard before Him and obey His voice; do not be rebellious toward Him, for He will not forgive your transgression, since My Name is in Him. But if you truly obey His voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.” (Exodus 23: 20-22)
Appearances of the Angel of Yahweh in the Old Testament
- To Hagar: Genesis 16:10 and Genesis 16:13.
- To Abraham: Genesis 18:1, Genesis 22:12, and Genesis 22:15.
- To Jacob: Genesis 31:11, Genesis 32:30, and Genesis 48:16.
- To Moses: Exodus 3: 2 and Exodus 3:6.
- To Joshua: Joshua 5:13-15.
- To Gideon: Judges 6:22.
- To Samson’s Parents: Judges 13:21 and Judges 13: 22.
- To David: 2 Samuel 24:16.
- To the Prophet Zechariah: Zechariah 1:11-13.
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SnyderTalk Comment:
I don’t know how much you know about gun safety, but this isn’t it.
Ishmael’s descendants are wild donkeys just as Yahweh said they would be. The animosity of Ishmael’s descendants toward Abraham’s descendants through Isaac is deeply ingrained in their psyche.
It’s because of this ancient animosity that Israel has to fend off threats from Arabs on every side today. The friction will continue until Yahweh returns.
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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)
