See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. The transition from law to promise is marked by a personal divine announcement: I am sending an angel. The angel who will go ahead of Israel is the same presence that guided them from Egypt — the pillar of cloud and fire — now named as an angel. Exodus 33:2 and Numbers 20:16 both refer to the angel who went before Israel. Acts 7:38 says Moses was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. The sending of the angel is the personal divine guarantee that the command-keeping required in the law is enabled by divine guidance. God does not give commands without also giving the guidance to follow them.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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