Sixthly, the Redeemer is to be a power [kräftig] within us; he bears and sustains our weak nature, beholds the hearts of all men, hears all sighs, prays for all, is and lives in the faithful, and creates in them new obedience, righteousness, and eternal life. All this pertains only to an omnipotent person; Immanuel, i.e. God with us and in us. (Melanchthon on Christian Doctrine, 33)
45. Scaer, Christology, 34–35. Luther also makes the same observation in AE 15:318–21.
46. See thorough discussion of the messianic nature of the protevangelium in Hengstenberg, Christology of the Old Testament, 1:17–30. Also see discussion in Leupold, Genesis, 1:163–70.
47. FC SD 3; CT 935.
48. Durham, Exodus, 303.
49. Ibid., 304–5.
50. See comment in Houtman, Exodus, 78.
51. Dozeman, Exodus, 81. This does not contradict the statement earlier that he took the name because he was “drawn out” (Exod 2:10). The Egyptian name sounds like the Hebrew word to draw out.
52. Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament, 2:32.
53. Ibid., 2:30. Eichrodt gives the examples of Gen 31:1; Isa 10:3, 66:12; Prov 49:17. Also see discussion in Collins, “Kabob,” 2:577–87; G. Davies, “Glory,” 2:401–3; Gaffin, “Glory,” 507–11; E. Harrison, “Glory,” 2:477–83; Huttar, “Glory,” 287–88.
54. See Segal, Two Powers in Heaven.
55. Gieschen, Angelomorphic Christology, 103–7; Gieschen, “Real Presence of the Son,” 105–26.
56. Gieschen, Angelomorphic Christology, 74.
57. See discussion of the relationship of the Name and Glory in McConville, “God’s Name and God’s Glory,” 149–63.
58. The Angel of YHWH is mentioned in Gen 16:7–14, 19, 21:17–19, 22:11–18, 28:11–22, 31:11–13, 32:24–30, 48:16; Exod 3:1–7, 13:21, 14:19, 23:20–23, 33:14; Josh 5:13, 6:2; Judg 6:11–24, 13:3–23; Isa 63:8, 9.
59. Gieschen, Angelomorphic Christology, 53.
60. See discussion in Hengstenberg, Christology of the Old Testament, 1:126–28.
61. Gieschen, Angelomorphic Christology, 76.
62. Luther agrees:
Thus it follows powerfully and irrefutably that the God who led the people of Israel out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, who guided them in the wilderness through the pillars of cloud and fire, who nourished them with heavenly bread, and who performed all the miracles Moses describes in his book, who also brought them into the land of Canaan and then gave them kings and priests and everything, is therefore God and none other than Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of the Virgin Mary, whom we call Christ our God and Lord . . . And, again, it is he who gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, saying, “I am the Lord your God who led you out of Egypt; you shall have no other gods.” Yes, Jesus of Nazareth, who died for us on the cross, is the God who says in the First Commandment, “I, the Lord, am your God.” (AE 15:313–14)
Among modern interpreters, there is of course the aforementioned Charles Gieschen. The following theologians and exegetes (particularly of the Lutheran tradition) have taken this position on the Angel of YHWH: Hengstenberg, Christology of the Old Testament, 1:115–30; Hoenecke, Evangelical Lutheran Dogmatics, 2:170–73; Leupold, Genesis, 1:500–501. Hoenecke mentions the following Lutherans who hold this view: Kahnis, Lutherische Dogmatik, 1:396–97, 399; Keil, Bibelsk Commentar uber Genesis, 126; Philippi, Kirchliche Glaubenslehre, 2:19, 194; Rohnert, Dogmatik der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche, 145. Also, among older non-Lutheran interpreters, Gieshen (“Real Presence of the Son,” 106) mentions the following: Alexander, Isaiah, 2:394; Borland, Christ in the Old Testament; T. Hanson, Jesus Christ in the Old Testament; Rhodes, Christ Before the Manger.
63. Houtman, Exodus, 626.
64. Houtman, Exodus, 624–26; Noth, Exodus, 247–48. It should be noted that older interpreters saw the golden calf as the Egyptian god Apis. See Keil and Delitzsch, Pentateuch, 222. We cannot agree with this option for several reasons. 1. It would be ludicrous for the Israelites to engage in an outright abandonment of YHWH after they had seen his destructive power against the Egyptians. 2. Aaron’s statements on the matter suggest that the Israelites do not view themselves as abandoning YHWH: “behold the god[s] that brought [us] out of Egypt” (Exod 32:4). This would presuppose that they considered the calf a representative of YHWH and not a new god. YHWH had already previously identified himself and they were well aware of him as the one who brought them out of Egypt. One might object that if the Israelites had been in Egypt that they would be unfamiliar with western Semitic forms of religion. This is unfounded in that Egypt for much of the late Bronze Age controlled the Levant and influence between the two regions was significant. See discussion in Donald Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel, 125–241.
65. Houtman, Exodus, 626.
66. Rendtorff, Canonical Hebrew Bible, 61.
67. Cross, Canaanite Myth, 3–60.
68. See similar critique of idolatry in Romans 1 in Paulson, Lutheran Theology, 74–78.
69. See AE 15:333–35. Luther interprets Exodus 33 in an appropriately Trinitarian manner.
70. Noth, Exodus, 267.
71. Dozeman, Exodus, 81–82.
72. Houtman, Exodus, 733.
73. See a similar argument regarding the image of God and the golden calf in Fletcher-Louis, “God’s Image,” 85–88, 92–93.
