Exodus 23:20

Gereviseerde Lutherse Vertaling

Zie, Ik zend een Engel voor u uit, die zal u behoeden op dezen weg, en u brengen tot de plaats, welke Ik bereid heb;

Parallel Translations

Gereviseerde Leidse Vertaling
Zie, ik zend mijn engel voor u uit, om u te hoeden op den weg en u te brengen aan de plaats die ik bereid heb.

Staten Vertaling
Ziet, Ik zende een Engel voor uw aangezicht, om u te behoeden op dezen weg, en om u te brengen tot de plaats, die Ik bereid heb.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Angel: Exodus 3:2-6, Exodus 14:19, Exodus 32:34, Exodus 33:2, Exodus 33:14, Genesis 48:16, Numbers 20:16, Joshua 5:13, Joshua 6:2, Psalms 91:11, Isaiah 63:9, Malachi 3:1, 1 Corinthians 10:9, 1 Corinthians 10:10

prepared: Genesis 15:18, Matthew 25:34, John 14:3

Reciprocal: Genesis 24:7 - angel Genesis 24:40 - will Exodus 4:13 - send Exodus 23:23 - mine Angel Joshua 5:14 - but as captain Judges 2:1 - And an angel Zechariah 1:12 - the angel Zechariah 3:1 - the angel Zechariah 3:6 - the Zechariah 12:8 - as the Acts 7:35 - by

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, I send an angel before thee,.... Not a created angel, but the uncreated one, the Angel of God's presence, that was with the Israelites at Sinai, and in the wilderness; who saved, redeemed, bore, and carried them all the days of old, whom they rebelled against and tempted in the wilderness; as appears by all the characters after given of him, which by no means agree with a created angel: Aben Ezra observes, that some say this is the book of the law, because it is said, "my name is in him", or "in the midst of it"; others say, the ark of the covenant; but he says this angel is Michael; and if indeed by Michael is intended the uncreated angel, as he always is in Scripture, he is right: Jarchi remarks, that their Rabbins say, this is Metatron, whose name is as the name of his master; Metatron, by gematry, is Shaddai, which signifies almighty or all-sufficient, and is an epithet of the divine Being; and Metatron seems to be a corruption of the word "mediator": some of the ancient Jewish writers say k, this is the Angel that is the Redeemer of the world, and the keeper of the children of men: and Philo the Jew l applies the word unto the divine Logos, and says,

"he (God) uses the divine Word as the guide of the way; for the oracle is, "behold, I send my Angel", c.''

which agrees with what follows:

to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared to preserve the Israelites in their journey through the wilderness, from all their enemies that should set upon them, and to bring them safe at last to the land of Canaan, which he had appointed for them, and promised to them, and had prepared both in his purpose and gift for them, and would make way for their settlement in it by driving out the nations before them.

k In Zohar in Gen. fol. 124. 4. l "De migratione" Abraham, p. 415.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

An Angel - See Exodus 3:2, Exodus 3:8; Joshua 5:13; Isaiah 63:9.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 23:20. Behold, I send an Angel before thee — Some have thought that this was Moses, others Joshua, because the word מלאך malach signifies an angel or messenger; but as it is said, Exodus 23:21, My name is in him, (בקרבו bekirbo, intimately, essentially in him,) it is more likely that the great Angel of the Covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ, is meant, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. We have had already much reason to believe that this glorious personage often appeared in a human form to the patriarchs, c. and of him Joshua was a very expressive type, the names Joshua and Jesus, in Hebrew and Greek, being of exactly the same signification, because radically the same, from ישע yasha, he saved, delivered, preserved, or kept safe. Nor does it appear that the description given of the Angel in the text can belong to any other person.

Calmet has referred to a very wonderful comment on these words given by Philo Judaeus De Agricultura, which I shall produce here at full length as it stands in Dr. Mangey's edition, vol. 1., p. 308: Ὡς ποιμην και βασιλευς ὁ Θεος αγει κατα δικην και νομον, προστησαμενος τον ορθον αυτου λογον πρωτογονον υἱον, ὁς την επιμελειαν της ἱερας ταυτης αγελης, οἱα τις μεγαλου βασιλεως ὑπαρχος, διαδεξεται. Και γαρ ειρηται που· Ιδου εγω ειμι, αποστελω αγγελον μον εις προσωπον σου, του φυλαξαι σε εν τῃ ὁδῳ. "God, as the Shepherd and King, conducts all things according to law and righteousness, having established over them his right WORD, his ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON, who, as the Viceroy of the Great King, takes care of and ministers to this sacred flock. For it is somewhere said, (Exodus 23:20), Behold, I AM, and I will send my ANGEL before thy face, to keep thee in the way."

This is a testimony liable to no suspicion, coming from a person who cannot be supposed to be even friendly to Christianity, nor at all acquainted with that particular doctrine to which his words seem so pointedly to refer.