Exodus 23:20

Hebrew Bible

18 “You must not offer the blood of my sacrifice with bread containing yeast; the fat of my festal sacrifice must not remain until morning. 19 The first of the firstfruits of your soil you must bring to the house of the Lord your God. “You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. 20I am going to send a messenger before you to protect you as you journey and to bring you into the place that I have prepared. 21 Take heed because of him, and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my Name is in him. 22 But if you diligently obey him and do all that I command, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will be an adversary to your adversaries.

Psalm 91:11

Hebrew Bible

9 For you have taken refuge in the Lord, my shelter, the Most High. 10 No harm will overtake you; no illness will come near your home. 11 For he will order his angels to protect you in all you do. 12 They will lift you up in their hands, so you will not slip and fall on a stone. 13 You will subdue a lion and a snake; you will trample underfoot a young lion and a serpent.

 Notes and References

"... Messenger gods are attested throughout Iron Age Syro-Palestine. Several biblical texts, the dating of which is still in dispute (although an early postexilic option is more probable), mention divine beings with similar menial tasks outside of the divine council itself. One apparent undertaking is to protect the travelers who place their trust in YHWH (Genesis 24:7, 40; Exodus 14:19; 23:20-23; 32:34; 33:2; Psalm 91:11-12). They protect YHWH’s elect (Genesis 19:1-22) and destroy YHWH’s enemies at his command (Genesis 32:25-29; Psalm 78:49). In the rare instances in which they do not make meteoric appearances, they are even indistinguishable from humans in form (Genesis 18:1-19:22; 32:25-31). They nevertheless bear the name and authority of YHWH and YHWH, as already noted, may be present in them (Exodus 23:20-22). The most remarkable step in the angelification of the gods is the Septuagint’s use of ἄγγελος instead of θεός for beings who have no discernable communicative functions ..."

Bunta, Silviu Nicolae The Lord God of Gods: Divinity and Deification in Early Judaism (p. 113) Gorgias Press, 2021

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