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Contra Constantine

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Nov 5th, 2016
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  1. 1: In defence of the traditional Jewish reading of Genesis 18
  2. In order to fully grasp Genesis 18 it's important to also examine Genesis 19. In Genesis 19 the two remaining visitors who departed from Abraham distinguish
  3. between themselves and G-d as seen below. More than that they speak as if they are merely heralds of G-d supporting the traditional Jewish view that they're angels.
  4.  
  5. "The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs
  6. to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”
  7.  
  8. But that isn't enough. If you're astute you'll notice that they speak of "us" being sent to destroy it when it was G-d himself who destroyed Sodom. But I will tell you
  9. that Lot understood them in saying this that they were communicating on G-d's behalf as angels are known to do. Both in terms of communicating as if they were G-d
  10. himself and being addressed as G-d himself this is something we can notice in Genesis 16 and Exodus 3.
  11.  
  12. In Genesis 16 when an angel appears before Hagar she says the following
  13.  
  14. "She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”"
  15.  
  16. Similarly in Exodus 3 when an angel of G-d appears before Moses we can examine the following passage
  17.  
  18. "Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb,
  19. the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not
  20. burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
  21.  
  22. 4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
  23.  
  24. And Moses said, “Here I am.”
  25.  
  26. 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father,
  27. the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God."
  28.  
  29. We can observe that the angel communicates as if it was G-d himself. Even though at the beginning of the passage it is made clear that what has appeared is an Angel
  30. of G-d.
  31.  
  32. Given the outlined precedent for communication with angels it should be clear that the traditional Jewish view of Genesis 18 holds water.
  33. But to quote the source material "There is also the Angel of the Lord, which Christians take to be the Logos" fundamentally given the premise of the above argument
  34. and what Constantine is saying here any Christians reading might not find this to be a satisfying answer given the very particular understanding Christians have of
  35. much biblical material.
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