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zondag 17 april 2016

Michael - the archangel - in conflict with Satans empire



According to the Bible Michael is the most prominent of all God's angels. Because he is the most eminent, he is called the archangel. In Jude 9 is revealed that he, in that capacity, once had a dispute with Satan about the body of Moses:

However, when the archangel Michael had a dispute with the Devil, debating about the body of Moses, he did not dare to deliver a judgment in abusive terms, but said: May the Lord rebuke you!

In reality, he is nobody else than Elohim's Son Yeshua. However, in his spiritual, heavenly state he is introduced to us as Michael, as is the case in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 >> For the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice, and with God’s trumpet, and the dead in Messiah will rise first.

Although the phrase with an archangel’s voice has the genitive, the article is lacking. For that reason, some believe that the Lord can not be identified with Michael. But then the voice of the Lord would have less authoritative power than the archangel’s voice.


For the identification of Michael, Daniel 12:1 in particular is decisive:

At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands in behalf of the sons of your [Daniel’s] people; and there shall occur a time of distress, such as never was since there came to be a nation even to that same time: and during that time your people shall escape, everyone who shall be found written in the book.

A comparison with Dan 11:20-21 teaches us that this "stand up" has the meaning become king. The scope of the term corresponds to what is stated inDan 2:44 and 7:14 about the coming in his kingdom of the Son of Man.
That this "stand up" is a signal for the start of a time of trouble or distress, can be ascertained from Rev 12:5-12, where Michael – fully in accordance of Psalm 2 and Isaiah 66:7-10 - also is associated with the sudden birth of a male child, a way of describing the establishment and coming into operation of the Messianic kingdom:

And she gave birth to a son, a male child who is to shephard all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught away to God and to his throne… And war occurred in heaven. Michael and his angels waged war with the Dragon. And the Dragon and its angels waged war, and it had not strength, nor was found place anymore for them in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient Serpent, who is called Devil and the Satan, the deceiver of the whole inhabited earth - he was cast into the earth, and his angels were cast with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying now occurred the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, because the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them day and night before our God was cast. Andthey overcame him by reason of the blood of the Lamb and by reason of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their soul unto death. The heavens and those who have their residence there, be glad for this. Woe for the earth and the sea! Because the Devil came down until you, having great fury, knowing that he has short time.

It is very obvious that the king himself is leading the heavenly battle and in that commanding his angels. Here, that role is clearly attributed to Michael.
Compare also Two Thess 1:7-8, where is described the future judgment on people on earth, but in which the heavenly Yeshua (Michael) also directs his angels: At the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels, in a flaming fire, as he brings vengeance upon those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel about our Lord Jesus.

In Matthew 16:27 and 25:31 we read repeatedly that Yeshua will come gloriously into his Father’s kingdom, accompanied with his angelsSo, in that respect Yeshua and Michael are interchangeable.
In the heavenly places, especially in his fight against the demons, the Son of God is referred to as Michael, but in the earthly sphere he is the LordYeshua, Elohim's Son.

This also explains the difference in wording on the one hand of One Thessalonians 4:16 in connection with the heavenly resurrection >> For the Lordhimself will descend from heaven, with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice,
and John 5:28-29 on the other hand, referring to the earthly resurrection >> The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice [of the Son of man; verse 27] and come out…


As we saw in Daniel 12:1, Michael appears there as the great prince who stands in behalf of the sons of your [Daniel’s] people. Other parts of the Tanakh tell us that he, in that capacity and prehuman existence, accompanied the people of Israel on their journey through the wilderness, on the way to The Land of Promise. As the angel of YHWH Elohim he went in front of the people. Consequently, it was a matter of course that this very angel got a dispute with the Devil about burial of Moses' body, as we recalled above: When the archangel Michael had a dispute with the Devil, debating about the body of Moses, he did not dare to deliver a judgment in abusive terms, but said: May the Lord rebuke you!
That part of Scripture takes us all the way back to about 1454 before CE. When Moses died, according to Deut 34:5-7, YHWH Elohim himself took care of his funeral. However, from the text of Jude can be understood that Israel's spirit-prince Michael must have been involved, the angel of Yahweh who, out of the sphere of heaven, led the people on their way to the Promise land:

Yahweh went ahead of them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light that they might go by day and by night. The pillar of cloud would not move away before the people by day, nor the pillar of fire by night (Ex 13:21-22).

Compare also Ex 14:19, 2423:20-2332:34.

Some reject the idea that Yeshua, in his prehuman existence, served as the angel of Yahweh, since he is superior to all other angels. They often refer to Deut 32:43, according to the LXX >>
And let all the angels of God honour him.
However, from this passage cannot be derived that the Son could not possibly belong to YHWH Elohim's angels. He simply is the first among all the other angels who too are sons of Godalso referred to as morning stars (Job 38:6-7). By virtue of his prominence among them, he is the archangel.

Consequently, the angels are in a very different position than Yeshua. He is the chief of the angels, for we read repeatedly that he - Yeshua, the Son – is coming with his angels, as we observed earlier in Matthew 16:2725:31 and Revelation 12:7.
To which of the angels did YHWH ever direct these prophetic words from Psalm 2 >>
You are my son. Today I have become your father. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
Or those from Psalm 110 >>
Sit at my right hand until I have your enemies put a footstool of your feet… You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.

The argument of some, especially within apostated Christendom, that Elohim's Son Yeshua could impossibly belong to the angels, in the light of many Bible passages cannot stand. Especially in the book of Revelation that thought is belied. For instance Rev 20:1-3 >>
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven with the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He seized the dragon, the old Serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not mislead the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After this he must be released for a little while.
Is not it logical and very plausible that the king himself descends down from heaven to finally interfere with the Devil himself, the old Serpent, here presented like a big dragon? The use of that term - the old Serpent – is taking us back to the early prophetic statement in Gan Eden, by YHWH Elohim himself addressed to that prominent rebellious spirit son >>
And I will put enmity between you and the Woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you in the head, and you shall bruise him in the heel (Gen 3:15).

With the Seed of the Woman that will bruise the Serpent’s head, Yeshua was prophetically indicated. Logically therefore that we see him here in action against the Devil, that old Serpent, taking away his freedom of movement. Afterwards, at the end of the thousand years, he will totally annihilate him (Rev 20:7-10).


The next textual passage in which Michael appears in sequence of historical time is Daniel 11:1

And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood next to him [Michael] as support and stronghold.

The first year of Darius the Mede (the Darius of Dan 5:31) was 539-538 BC. His first year was associated with the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. And the one who is speaking here is probably Gabriel, another prominent angel. Obviously, during that crucial period of time for the Jews, Gabriel was at Michael’s side to assure the preservation of the Jewish Remnant against the demon-prince of Persia. Thus, he supported Michael in safeguarding Jewish interests; of course, entirely according to Elohim's purpose for his chosen people.

Gabriel's statement in Dan 11:1 refers to an event which had taken place two years earlier in his close cooperation with Michael. For that reason it constituted only a brief interruption in the report that already started in Daniel 10 and is continued to the end of the Book, all relating to Daniel's last vision.
According to Daniel 10:1, Gabriel - in the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, i.e. the year 536 BC - had made contact again with Daniel as he had done before, according to Daniel 8:15-19 and 9:20-23.

Concerning Daniel’s last vision, in the Bible Commentary of Jamieson-Fausset-Brown we read: “The tenth through twelfth chapters more fully describe the vision in the eighth chapter by a second vision on the same subject, just as the vision in the seventh chapter explains more fully that in the second.
The tenth chapter is the prologue; the elevenththe prophecy itself; and the twelfth, the epilogue. The tenth chapter unfolds the spiritual worlds as the background of the historical world, and angels as the ministers of God's government of men.

In the year 536 BC. Gabriel was again sent from heaven to Daniel to convey the prophetic message how it would fare with the world power of that time (Persia) and the subsequent empires (Greece and Rome), right to their very end.
However, the demonic spirit-prince of Persia had made every effort to thwart the mission of Gabriel. In a last desperate attempt the demon offered resistance against a revelation from God in which the downfall was announced of the Empire under his supervision; perhaps in the vain belief that, with his action, the execution of God's plan could be prevented.
Anyway, no less than three weeks, that Persian demon-prince succeeded to stop Gabriel in the execution of his mission. However, when Michael came to his aid he was able to reach Daniel with the important message for God's people (Dan 10:12-14, 20-21).

In Dn 10:2-9 Daniel is telling us how he personally experienced the said three weeks. Apparently, on the basis of reports that had reached him from Jerusalem, he continually mourned and fasted.  The returned exiles had responded to the decree of Cyrus to rebuild their temple which had been destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC (Ezra 1:1-4). 
When they returned to Jerusalem the altar was indeed set up again and the foundation for God's house was laid (Ezra, chapter 3). But the neighbouring Gentiles had come in opposition to the project and devised difficulties for the returning Jews (Ezra 4:1-5). Apparently, Daniel was very concerned about those developments: the heathen peoples weakening the hands of the people of Judah, and so troubling them in their efforts.
But then he had a vision:

In the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel, I lifted up my eyes, and looked, and, behold, a man clothed in linen, whose thighs were girded with pure gold of Uphaz. And his body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as flaming torches, and his arms and his feet like burnished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. I, Daniel, alone saw the vision; for the men who were with me didn’t see the vision; but a great quaking fell on them, and they fled to hide themselves. So I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me; for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his words; and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I fallen into a deep sleep on my face, with my face toward the ground.
(Dan 10:4-9; WEB)

In Revelation 1:12-17a, in corresponding phrase, Elohim's high priest Yeshua, his Son, is described by his apostle John, who was seeing him in visions among the Jewish End time community, typified by the seven golden lampstands.
We must therefore conclude that Daniel at that time had a vision of Yeshua Masjiach in his pre-existence.
But that leads to the following question: How is that man, dressed in linen, identified in the context of the report of Daniel 10 ?
Apparently, in that experience, Daniel had an impression of the mighty archangel Michael, the Prince of his people.
Daniel himself tells us how he fared further: I heard his voice, but as soon as I heard I lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

But then, from verse 10, another character appears: And, behold! there was a hand that touched me, which stirred me up on my knees and on the palms of my hands.

Who was that man? He must certainly have been Gabriel, the only other spirit-prince who is being named in the Bible. During those three weeks, it was after all Gabriel who, by the efforts of the Persian demon-prince, was stopped in his mission to reach Daniel. But when Michael came to his aid he could continue his way with the important message for Elohim’s people (Dan 10:12-14, 20-21).

So, Michael and Gabriel are the two main characters in chapter 10 of the book of Daniel. That is again the case in chapter 12. In verse 1 Gabriel is letting known Daniel that in the last days Michael will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of your [Daniel’s] peopleAnd again, the man dressed in linen [the one of Daniel 10] appears to him, above the waters of the stream:

One said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. I heard, but I didn’t understand: then said I, my lord, what shall be the issue of these things? He said, Go your way, Daniel; for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but those who are wise shall understand.
(Dan 12:6-10; WEB)

That the man dressed in linen indeed should be identified with the pre-human Messiah is apparent again from the book of Revelation. In 10:1, 5-6 we witness a similar scene:


I saw a mighty angel coming down out of the sky, clothed with a cloud. A rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire… The angel who I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to the sky, and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will no longer be delay,


In the foregoing, we found that Michael is identical to the angel of Yahweh. About both we read that they stood aside Elohim's people Israel, especially during the Exodus. In the End tmes, during the 70th Annual Week for Israel, when Michael "stands up" to be the messianic king - in God’s messianic kingdom which then actually is in action - that will be the case again.


Just compare Daniel 2:447:13-1412:1 (above: The Lion out of the tribe of Yehudah) and Revelation 12:7-10. In addition, see Daniel 9:24-27.

Since YHWH Elohim and his only-begotten Son, Yeshua, are one in purpose and concern for the "sheep", the Son, in his pre-existence, of course was closely involved in Yahweh's people, the Israelites; as well as with their forefathers: With Abraham and his seed (John 10:27-30).
In the situation of Genesis 16:7 we see him for the first time appearing as Yahweh's angel, making contact with Hagar, who had run away from her mistress Sarai.
Gen 16:7 is also the first place in the Bible where the word angel appears.


Characteristic of the Genesis account is the fact that the pre-human Yeshua, being in such a prominent manner the spokesman for his heavenly Father, YHWH Elohim, acting on behalf of Abraham and his seed, that he, the angel of Yahweh, himself is proposed as Yahweh; approximately in a similar way to John 14:9, where we hear him, being a human on earth, assuring his disciples:
He who has seen me has seen the Father

All this was powerfully expressed when three angels appeared to Abraham and informed him that
a. Sara would still become pregnant at her high age, and would bear a son;
b. Elohim was on the verge of executing a devastating judgment to the whole district of Sodom.
See some passages from Genesis 18 and 19.

18:1-2 >> Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him.
18:13-14 >> Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?’ Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son.”
18:16-17 >> The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way. Yahweh said, “Will I hide from Abraham what I do?
18:22 >> The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Yahweh. 
18:32-33 >> He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. What if ten are found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.” Yahweh went his way, as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
19:12-16 >> The men said to Lot, “Do you have anybody else here? Sons-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, bring them out of the place: for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is grown great before YahwehYahweh has sent us to destroy it.” Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up! Get out of this place, forYahweh will destroy the city.”… The men laid hold on his hand, and on the hand of his wife, and on the hand of his two daughters, Yahweh being merciful to him.
19:24 >> Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and on Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky. 

Thus, "Yahweh" appeared to Abraham, but it is clear that "Yahweh" was the angel of Yahweh.
YHWH Elohim's deep commitment to Abraham and his "seed" appears, as noted earlier, also from the report on the Exodus. As the angel of Yahweh he went along with his chosen people, but to the reader the message is coming across as if Yahweh and his angel are the same ‘persons’.
At the Sinai, YHWH Elohim commanded his people:

Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Pay attention tohim, and listen to his voice. Don’t provoke himfor he will not pardon your disobediencefor my name is in him.
(Ex 23:20-21)

Because of his extensive involvement in the affairs of God's people Israel, it is a matter of course that precisely this angel, the angel of Yahweh, contended with the Devil about Moses, Israel's leader. And as we noticed already, as is revealed in Jude 9, that angel was thearchangel Michael, none other than God's most principal Son.

Considering the theme of this study – Michael, the archangel, in conflict with Satan's Empire - Joshua 5:13-15 is of special interest.
Because in that passage we are informed about a meeting that Joshua had at Jericho with the Prince of Yahweh's army. Preparing for the march against Jericho - a first step towards the conquest of the land of Canaan, the Land of Promise - the following happened to him:

He lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went to him, and said to him, Are you for us, or for our adversaries? He said, No; but I have come now as commander [Hebrew: sarprince]of Yahweh’s army. Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said to him, What says my lord to his servant? The prince of Yahweh’s army said to Joshua, Put off your shoe from off your foot; for the place whereon you stand is holy. Joshua did so.

Based on all the above, some make the mistake equating the Son of God with Yahweh, his God and Father.
However, in reality there is only one Yahweh, the Almighty God.
Long ago, in Psalm 83:18, that truth was thoroughly established:

That they may know that you, whose name is Yahweh,
you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

That statement reminds us of Yeshua's prayer that he - on the evening before his death - addressed to his Father: Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to whatever you gave him, he may give them eternal life. And this is life eternal, that they might know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent forth, Yeshua Messiah.

Only YHWH, the Father, is the Supreme God. His Son, which he sent, is clearly distinct from Him.
When that Son, Yeshua Messiah, requested:

So now you, Father, glorify me alongside yourself with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was

then Yahweh does not direct that request to Yahweh (!)
A completely absurd idea (!)
Yahweh alone, the Most High, is the God of his people Israel: For I am Yahweh your God, the Holy One of Israel your Saviour (Isaiah 43:3).


-.-.-.-

vrijdag 8 april 2016

Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated - Part 1




The theme is taken from the introductory verses of the book of Malachi: 

1 An oracle: the word of YHWH to Israel by Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says YHWH.
Yet you say, “How have you loved us?”
“Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” says YHWH, “Yet I loved Jacob; 
3 but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness.” 
4 Whereas Edom says, “We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places;” thus says YHWH of Armies, “They shall build, but I will throw down; and men will call them ‘The Wicked Land,’ even the people against whom YHWH shows wrath forever.”

On closer study, the book of Malachi turns out to be End-times aimed, focused on the restoration of Elohim's traditionally chosen people Israel.
That in itself is certainly not a strange thing, because the same can be said of the other books of the Minor Prophets, in the Bible Canon starting with the book of Hosea. But it also applies to the so-called Great Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, although the latter by some is considered as belonging to the Hagiographa (Writings).

That Malachi as Elohim's proven spirit-inspired messenger also is looking ahead to End-time events can be derived from several passages, at least announcing twice YHWH Elohim's Great and dreadful day:

3:1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says YHWH of Armies. 
2 “But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap; 
3 and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to YHWH offerings in righteousness. 
4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to YHWH, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. 
5 I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says YHWH of Armies.
4:1 “For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says YHWH of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 
2 But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall. 
3 You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make,” says YHWH of Armies.

That YHWH Elohim, at the Times of the End, will focus again exclusively on his chosen people Israel is clear from 3:6 where He is assuring Jacob's sons [which always stand for members of ethnic Israel]:  “For I, YHWH, don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed”.  His love for them has not changed. Therefore, although they are strictly corrected by him, they did not come to their end.
Compare also Jeremiah 30:10-11, 17 >>

Therefore don’t you be afraid, O Jacob my servant, says YHWH; neither be dismayed, Israel: for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with you, says YHWH, to save you: for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished… For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says YHWH; because they have called you an outcast, saying, It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.

As we again give our attention to the introductory verses, we will undoubtedly perceive that the inspired prophet protests against Israel's complaint that YHWH would have ceased to love his people. Looking back on the Jewish history of the past (almost) 2000 years, and also taking into account how the Jews since the Holocaust are looking at YHWH their Elohim - or at least many of them - one can somehow understand that they respond to the question: How did you show your love for us? Actually, their reaction is not much different from that of Job who, in his sufferings, became a prophetic type of Israel. While YHWH spoke affectionately about my ebed Job, that one also, in all his tribulations, began to doubt whether his Elohim had the better with him.
Compare Job 1:832:233:8-1242:1-8.
Isaiah 41:8-10. 

Concerning Israel's doubts about the sincerity of his love for them, YHWH has a striking but typical divine answer, punctuated by hidden prophetic elements: “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother? Yet I loved Jacob; but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness. Whereas Edom says, ‘We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places’ thus says YHWH of Armies, They shall build, but I will throw down; and men will call them ‘The Wicked Land’ even the people against whom YHWH shows wrath forever.”

That his love for his people (Jacob) is sincere, Elohim proves by putting himself in a context of his hatred towards Esau, at the same time connecting a remarkable prophetic statement regarding his offspring, the people of Edom.
But notice in particular the very strong terms in the oracle when YHWH makes known his eternal judgment of Esau (Edom), and that in a prophetic setting which goes far beyond the fate of the literal nation of Edom. All that is the more striking because the Edomites as a people for a long time have disappeared from the earthly scene. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, they ceased to exist as a people.

Concerning Esau (Edom), manifestly we will have to look behind the "Edom" of Malachi 1. Why?  Not just because the Book is End-times oriented, but mainly because of Edom’s residential area is designated by God himself as the region of wickedness, and its inhabitants as the people against whom YHWH has indignation forever. Apparently, hidden things are behind ‘Edom’. 
To what or to whom are we to think?

In our view, there is ample reason to believe that behind the region of wickedness, and behind the people against whom YHWH is forever indignant, unclean spirits are lurking, the fallen sons of God, those who made themselves into demons.
Compare the double judgment that would come upon 'Edom' as it is announced in the book of Obadiah, especially in the verses 18 and 21. 

The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. They will burn among them, and devour them. There will not be any remaining to the house of Esau. Indeed, YHWH has spoken… Saviours will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be YHWH’s.


All the prophets who made prophetic utterances about Edom had an almost identical message: Completely ruin because of his relentless, murderous hatred towards YHWH Elohim's people Israel. Not infrequently, they mentioned the prophetic details in that regard in connection with the announcement of God's Great Day. See:
Isaiah 34. Note the verses 4 and 5 >>
All the army of the sky shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their army shall fade away, as the leaf fades from off the vine, and as a fading leaf from the fig tree. For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky: behold, it shall come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse, to judgment.

Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength? I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Why are you red in your clothing, and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no man with me: yes, I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.
(63:1-4).

Of Edom. Thus says YHWH of Armies: Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished? Flee you, turn back, dwell in the depths, inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him, the time that I shall visit him… I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is destroyed, and his brothers, and his neighbours; and he is no more… For thus says YHWH: Behold, they to whom it didn’t pertain to drink of the cup shall assuredly drink; and are you he who shall altogether go unpunished? you shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink. For I have sworn by myself, says YHWH, that Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse… As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill: though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says YHWH. Edom shall become an astonishment: everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues of it… The earth trembles at the noise of their fall; there is a cry, the noise which is heard in the Red Sea. Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings against Bozrah: and the heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
Chapter 35, very similar to Jeremiah 49.


Elohim's indignation against his disobedient spirit sons was first expressed in the days of Noah. When the Flood overflowed the earth and destroyed all the people outside the ark, the demons were forced to get rid of their materialized male figures. However, from 1 Peter 3:18-20, in the context of a suffering Israel and her Messiah, we learn that their situation was now no longer the same. YHWH Elohim subjected them to restrictions by locking them up in a "prison": 

Since the Messiah also once for all time died for sins, a righteous for the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God; indeed being put to death in the flesh but being made alive in the spirit, in which he also - after he went his way - preached to the spirits in custody, who were once disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited to the end in Noah's day.

According to 2 Peter 2:4, in that situation, those disobedient spirit sons were handed over to chains of thick darkness by imprisonment in Tartarus, a state in which it is impossible for them to materialize again: God did not spare the angels who sinned, but delivered them to chains of darkness - by imprisonment in Tartarus- to be reserved for judgment.Evidently, in the Times of the End, their situation will again be altered, as is suggested in this verse, revealing that God saved them with a specific purpose: to play a role in the way he will judge humanity.
In the Tartarus’ situation those unclean spirits are not merely kept awaiting their final extinction at the last judgment, as many believe. In that case, Elohim after all could have better destroyed them right away when the Flood came, and they had to dematerialize. Even more than the people who perished in the Flood the Nephilim [fallen angels] deserved such a punishment.

It is certainly not surprising that God is holding the demons at his disposal with a view to still serving his purpose. As the proverb assures us: Everything YHWH has made 
​​for his purpose, yes, even the wicked for the evil day (Prov 16:4). 

In Revelation, chapter 20, we find a corresponding situation: the Devil himself will shut up in the abyss for the duration of the Millennium and there he too "will be kept on hand" to the end of the thousand years to be released for a short time. And then too with the intention to serve Elohim's purpose when He pours out his final judgment upon a rebellious humanity. 

In Two Thessalonians 2:8-12 the apostle has summarized how God will use the demons for the fulfilling of his purposes during the Times of the End:

And then the Lawless One will be revealed, whom the Lord Yeshua will consume by the spirit of his mouth, and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his presence. His presence [of the Lawless One; in reality the power exercised by the materialized demons], is according to [an] operation of Satan in all power and lying signs and portents and in all seduction of the unrighteousness for those that perish, as a retribution because they did not accept the love of the truth for their salvation. And for that reason God sends them a working of error so that they will believe the Lie, that all may be judged, those who did not believe the Truth but delighted in the unrighteousness. 


The final end of those materialized demons is described in Revelation, however there by the use of the emblems of the Beast and the False Prophet:

And I saw the Beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse, and against his army. And the Beast was taken, and with him the False Prophet who performed the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who received the mark of the Beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And rhe rest were slain with the sword of him who sat on the horse, the sword which came forth out of the mouth of him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their fleshy parts.
(Rev 19:19-21).

Why are we not told that the fleshy parts of the Beast and the False Prophet are feeded to the birds? For the simple reason that they, being demons, have no carnal nature; they possess a spiritual nature! Although they receive their punishment together with the people who took their side, they can not be killed ‘in the usual manner’ as is the case with people of flesh and blood.
All those others are put to death in the 'human' way.

So, ‘Edom’, the world of the demons - or according to Malachi the region of wickedness - is reflected in the apocalyptic Beast. However, that conclusion leads us further to the Roman World Power. Why? Because its description in Rev 13:5-7 >>
And it was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and it was given authority to act forty-two months. And it opened its mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tent, those residing in heaven. And it was granted to wage war with the saints and to overcome them. And it was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.

corresponds precisely with the description of the Little Horn which, in the End Times, shall appear on the ‘head’ of the Roman World Power, in Daniel 7 pictured by the Fourth Beast
>> 
I considered the horns [the ten upon the head of the Fourth Beast], and, behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up. And, behold! In this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things… I saw, and the same horn made war with the saints, and it prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. 
Thus he said: “The Fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, and it shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down and crush it. As for the ten horns, out of that kingdom shall arise ten kings; and still another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the former, and he shall humiliate three kings. And he shall even speak words against the Most High, and he shall wear out continually the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time. And the Judgment shall be set, and they shall finally take away his dominion, to annihilate and to destroy [him]to the end. And the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under all the heavens were given to the people of the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions shall serve and obey him.

And it was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and it was given authority to act forty-two months. And it opened its mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tent, those residing in heaven

I considered the horns [upon the head of the Fourth Beast], and, behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up. And, behold! In this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things
 

Therefore, it is certainly not by chance that in Malachi, already ​​in the introduction, is made mention of Elohim's hatred with regard to Edom [Esau], the region of wickedness and the people at whom YHWH is indignant forever.
Nor is it by chance that in the oracle in which YHWH announces the eternal judgment of Esau (Edom) very strong terms are used: Behind ‘Edom’ the world of demons is hidden.

Surprisingly, that conclusion is also confirmed in the Book of Esther, proven by the numerical values (NV) ​​of Haman and his ten sons, namely: 
● Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite.
NV >> 95 + 52 + 450 + 22 = 619.
● The 10 sons, respectively, according to Esther 9:7-10 .
1035 + 170 + 542 + 687 + 46 + 616 + 1021 + 281 + 225 + 424 = 5047.
Total therefore 5-666 [619 + 5047]. 
However, the value 666 is the number of the demonic Beast, Satan's parody in the person of the Antimasjiach, in Esther including the supernatural value 5000.
See the study: Esther, she who hid


But let us return to Malachi. In his Introduction, he stated that "Edom" is saying: We have been shattered, but we will return and build the waste places. Concerning the 'Edom' of the demons, David's antitype, Messiah Yeshua, during his 3½-year ministry on earth he was constantly in conflict with those unclean spirits. With the aid of Elohim's active spirit force he regularly turned out to be their superior. Again and again he drove them from their human victims. He himself said that with his arrival the demon realm was on the verge of collapse: 

Once he was casting out a demon, and it was mute. It happened, when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the multitudes marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.”… Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. A house divided against itself falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?”…
“When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his goods are safe. But when someone stronger attacks him and overcomes him, he takes from him his whole armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. (Luke 11:14-22).

By means of that parable, he showed exactly what was going on in his day: With Yeshua's presence Satan's domain, the demon realm over which he rules, was on the verge of collapse. In principal Yeshua had already achieved complete victory over that diabolical ruler of this world and his demon dominion, although it will completely perish after the establishment of his [the Messiah's] kingdom (John 12:31).

Earlier, Yeshua had already alluded to the complete collapse of the demon realm, namely when his disciples returned joyfully from a mission trip to announce the Messianic Empire: 

The seventy-two now returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name." He said to them: "I beheld [beforehand] Satan like lightning from heaven. Behold, I granted you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will harm you in any way. However, do not rejoice in the fact that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are enrolled in heaven. "
(Luke 10:17-20) 

At the final establishment of Messiah's kingdom, the demons’ empire will perish completely. As proof Yeshua beheld in advance Satan's ejection.
In Revelation 12:5-12 is announced that we may expect that event to happen immediately after the "birth" of the kingdom at the half of the last [70th] Year Week. The first act of power by the kingdom will be the purification of the holy heavens by the removal of the great Prosecutor, Satan the Devil. He will no longer be permitted to accuse the Jewish End-time saints in the sight of YHWH Elohim. Compare Job 1

And war occurred in heaven. Michael and his angels waged war with the Dragon. And the Dragon and its angels waged war, and it had not strength, nor was found place anymore for them in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient Serpent, who is called Devil and the Satan, the deceiver of the whole inhabited earth - he was cast into the earth, and his angels were cast with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying now occurred the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, because the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them day and night before our God was cast. And they overcame him by reason of the blood of the Lamb and by reason of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their soul unto death. The heavens and those who have their residence there, be glad for this. Woe for the earth and the sea! Because the Devil came down until you, having great fury, knowing that he has short time.
(Revelation 12:7-12) 

The Demons Empire does not surrender without fight, as has been shown repeatedly, and will be the case again after Satan and his demon horde have been thrown out of the holy heavens. In the further part of this chapter (12) - but also in the next chapter (13) – that thing is all too clear. It's like hearing "Edom" say, We are shattered but we will return and build the waste places. However in turn, we also hear YHWH, Israel’s Elohim, say, They shall build, but I will throw down
Why can we absolutely be sure of such a state of affairs? For several reasons:

With a view of the way in which the twin then came into the world. In Genesis 25 we read:
The children struggled together within her [Rebekah]. She said, “If it be so, why do I live?” She went to inquire of YHWH. YHWH said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
Two peoples will be separated from your body.
The one people will be stronger than the other people.
The elder will serve the younger”.

When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau. After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau’s heel. He was named Jacob.

Generally the view is hold that the present era comprises the world domination by ‘Esau’; which is the demonic 'Edom’ or Rome. But that era will be succeeded, without any interruption, by the world domination of Jacob-Israel, which is that of the Messiah.
As Jacob's hand held Esau's heel, so that his hand directly followed, without interruption, after Esau's heel, in like manner Jacob’s global era, Yeshua's Messianic Kingdom, will immediately follow after the era of the Edomite, demonic era, in its final phase represented by the Roman world power, the Fourth Beast of Daniel, chapter 7.


As we saw above, all this corresponds with the prophetic facts that are announced in Daniel 7. Yet, during the reign of the Fourth Beast, in his last appearance of the Little Horn, the Ancient of days, YHWH Elohim, hands over the kingdom to his Beloved Son, also named the son of Man (the verses 13 and 14): 

I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of the heavens one like a son of man, and to the Ancient of days he gained access, and they brought him near before him. And to him there were given dominion, and dignity, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should all serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

Then, after the 3½ times, during which the 'Little Horn' will cause the ‘Great Tribulation’ over the Jewish saints, harassing them continually, it is handed over to complete destruction by the Heavenly Court, at the same time giving royal world power to his Saints on earth (the verses 23 to 27).


For the identification of the Beast-like "Edom", chapter 2 of the Book of Daniel is also providing us various leads for further research.
Acknowledging that demonic spirit princes operate behind the scenes of world powers, and - invisible to us - influence politics and religion, brings us, quite obviously, to that Bible-part.
In that chapter, the series of four successive world powers – starting with Neo-Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) – too are depicted prophetically, not by beasts rather  by means of a terrifying, gigantic image composed of noble and less noble metals: gold, silver, bronze, iron.


Miry clay finally is also coming in view because in the End-times - in the final stage of the image - the iron is mixed with that miry clay. The literal translation of Young, reads in 2:43 >>
Because thou hast seen iron mixed with miry clay, they are mixing themselves with the seed of men: and they are not adhering one with another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

This raises the questions:
1.) Who are the "they" who will mingle, or mixingwith the seed of men?
2.) How are we to understand in this context the phrase: the seed of men?

To arrive at a sound solution to these issues, we first need to clarify what the image represents as a whole.
We are of the opinion that the picture represents the period of world domination which was performed – and still is - by the Edomitic demons, from
1. The neo-Babylonian Empire (Nebuchadnezzar), followed by 
2. Medo-Persia
3. Hellas (Greece)
4. Rome

We rely on the following reasoning:
In Daniel 2:38 Nebuchadnezzar himself is identified as the head of gold.
[you are the head of gold.]
However, when he - in chapter 3 - erects a golden image, it is apparently his aim to worship the god to whom he attributes his power and dominion. Consequently, it is his expressive wish that his subjects worship the image [in our vision: to worship the idol].
In 1 Corinthians 10:19-21, Paul revealed what then is really going on:

What am I saying then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, and I don’t desire that you would have communion with demons. You can’t both drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can’t both partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons.

Nebuchadnezzar saw a god behind his image, evidenced by his comment in verse 14, when he Shadrach, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego calls to account: Is it true that you don’t serve my god, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
See also their response in verse 18 >> Be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.

Furthermore, in the same book of Daniel, chapter 5, the great feast is described which was given by King Belshazzar.
Under the influence of alcohol, he proceeds, with his guests, to drink wine out of the golden vessels from YHWH's temple in Jerusalem.
The report tells us (verse 4): They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, copper, iron, wood and stone.

The Babylonian pantheon therefore included gods of gold, silver, copper and iron; the sequence corresponds to the metals of the image in chapter 2.
Apparently, in the first place and concerning those metals, we have to think of the demon world that lies behind the dominions which are represented by the metals of the horrifying image of chapter 2.
The gematria, the teaching of the biblical numerical values, is supplying us with interesting, additional information:

Before Israel could invade the Land of Promise they had to battle with the two giant nations under respectively Sihon king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan (Numbers 21:31-35 and Deutt 3:1-11).
The numerical values of the two kings are:

Sihon (128) + King (90) + Amorites (256) = 474
Og (79) + King (90) + Basan (357) = 526
Total: 1000
                                                                       
The value 1000 corresponds significantly with Daniel 2:38, where we hear Daniel saying to King Nebuchadnezzar:
You [456] + are [12] + head [506] + of [14] + gold [12] = 1000

In Malachi 4:1 that numerical value 1000 can be found in the phrase all [50] + who do [375] + evil [575] = 1000.

Equipped with all the previous information we are ready to answer the two questions that were raised.
The "they" who will mingle with the seed of men are the demons, the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly realms. They are the main characters in the scene of the image.
And the fact that they mingle with the seed of men during the final stage of the image - in the End Times, when also is established the Messianic kingdom (verse 44) - apparently reveals that YHWH Elohim will grant them the opportunity once more to materialize themselves to men!
In that case, actual mixing will be out of the question; that is utterly impossible, just as iron and miry clay are miscible. The superhuman nature of the demons can not be mingled with the human nature.

For those who have difficulty in accepting that in the ‘Final days’ such a spectacular and surprising turn of political events will occur on earth, we may perhaps recall the specific biblical statement in Matthew 24:37>> For just as the days of Noah [were], so the presence of the Son of man will be.
From Genesis 6:1-4 we know that those unfaithful spirit sons of YHWH Elohim materialized themselves in the period that preceded the Flood, with a view entering into marriage commitments with the beautiful daughters of men.
However, with the coming of the Flood they saw themselves forced to get rid of their materialized bodies. But YHWH Elohim granted them no longer the opportunity to return within the circle of the faithful and elect angels.

Although the demons will receive another opportunity to materialize, be clothed with human flesh, giving them the opportunity to serve as the ten kings together with the Beast, the Jewish Anti Messianic Power of the End Times:

The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings, with the Beast, for one hour.These have one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings.
(Rev 17:12-14) 

And exactly that spectacular development in the world events of the 70th Week for Israel, was also foretold by Daniel: The demons [iron] mingled with the seed of men [miry clay] by materialization:

Whereas you beheld iron mixed with miry clay; they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, one mixes to the other, just as iron does not with with miry clay. But in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will not be destroyed forever, nor will it be passed to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and put them to an end, and it itself shall remain forever.

And the materialized demons themselves? How will be their end?
Daniel continues: Because you saw that a stone [the Messianic kingdom] was cut out of the mountain [YHWH Elohim's sovereign power] without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass [the demons’ power], the clay [man’s weakness], the silver, and the gold [the demons’ power]; the great God has made known to the king what shall happen hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation of it sure (Daniel 2:43-45).


If behind 'Edom', in reality the demon world is hidden, it is only logical that, behind the progenitor of that people, Esau, we should look for the chief of the demons, Satan, or Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons, as the Pharisees named him (Matth 12:22-29).
The effect of that conclusion for a proper understanding of Genesis 33:10-11, cannot be called less than surprising. When, after many years of separation, the two brothers met each other again, Jacob urged Esau to accept his peace-gift in particular, with the words:

Please, no, if I have now found favour in your sight, then receive my present at my hand, because I have seen your face, as one sees the face of God, and you were pleased with me. Please take the gift that I brought to you; because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.

From a biblically point of view it is certainly not strange that, behind the historical person Esau, we look for an angel -or rather, for a son of God.
In this particular part of the history of Jacob / Esau  -painted in Genesis 32 and 33 - we then arrive at Elohim's Chief adversary, Satan.

After all, in Elohim's Word we are repeatedly faced with the activities of so-called angel-princes, acting out of the invisible, hidden behind the actions of man. However, the time is rapidly coming that YHWH Elohim will act against them, as can be read in Zephaniah 2:11, according to the LXX-version: The Lord shall appear against them, and shall utterly destroy all the gods of the nations of the earth.
Not the earthly rulers, but celestial beings are the actual rulers of the political, human kingdoms. Compare Daniel 10:13, 20-21.
Psalm 82 too, is a famous example: Elohim presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods.“How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?” (82:1-2).

So, to whom was Jacob referring when he told Esau: I have seen your face, as one sees the face of elohim, and you were pleased with me.(?)
Obviously, he referred to the very special experience he had shortly before that meeting. At night, when he crossed the Jabbok river as the last of his family, a mysterious celestial creature, a "man", went struggling with him:

Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day. When he [the ‘man’]saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his thigh, and the socket of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 


And he [the ‘man’] said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.”
And he [Jacob] said, “I won’t let you go, except if you bless me.”
And he [the ‘man’] said to him, “What is your name?”
And he said, “Jacob.” 
He [the ‘man’] said, “Your name shall not be called ‘Jacob’ anymore but ‘Israel,’ for you have struggled with god and with men, and have prevailed.”
And Jacob inquired and asked him, “Please tell me your name.”
And he said, “Why is it that you inquire after my name?” And he blessed him there.
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for “I have seen god face to face, and my life is preserved.” 
And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he was limping upon his thigh. 
(Genesis 32:24-31).

It is generally assumed that the "man" with whom Jacob struggled was a faithful angel of YHWH Elohim. However, that thought provides some significant problems:

(a) If he would have been a good angel, why then did he shun the daylight?
Because not only did he confront Jacob during the night (verses 22-24), but as soon as the dawn ascends, he wants to depart (verses 25-26)!
According to an old belief ‘unearthly visitants of the night must be gone before daybreak’. This ‘son of a god’ was not an angel of light, but rather of darkness!

(b) In the nightly struggle the victory was not reached by the mysterious 'man', but rather by Jacob! A true angel of YHWH would definitely proved stronger than a puny human.
Compare Two Peter 2:11.

(c) Why was Jacob so eager for the blessing by the "man"?
The patriarch had no need at all for a blessing; at least not in the sense of the original Abrahamitic promise. For not only his father Isaac had already given him the patriarchal blessing (Genesis 27:26-29), but also, shortly after he had fled from Esau, at Bethel, YHWH Elohim Himself had confirmed that blessing in unequivocal terms. That was when Jacob, at Luz (Bethel), had the dream of the ladder reaching to heaven (Gen 28:12-15).


He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. Behold, YHWH stood above it, and said, “I am YHWH, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed. Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.”

(d) Finally, when he is in a hurry to leave before it is getting light, the "man" still inflicts a serious blow on Jacob, thus causing him a serious injury. What good reason could a good angel have had for such a terrible action? After all, in the Bible, the male hip is mainly associated with the reproduction. Compare Genesis 46:26 >> All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct descendants, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were sixty-six.

The 'man' was not only a spirit of darkness, but also one of the malicious kind. When he could not achieve real victory on the patriarch, he finally hit him very viciously in his seed, his progeny. At least he tried.
See also Exodus 1:5 and Judges 8:30.

Again we cannot but conclude that this ‘man’ must be the angel-prince behind Esau; his alter ego in the heavenly realms. Yes, in reality Satan himself!
That conclusion is also confirmed by the gematria.
Those who are familiar with this additional approach to Bible study, will have to think immediately of the fact that in this strange story also a change of name occurred: For the first time, Jacob became Israel.

The NV (numerical value) of Jacob is 10 + 70 + 100 + 2 = 182.
However, Israel: 10 +300 + 200 + 1 + 30 = 541

The NV of Jacob / Israel was thus increased by a value of 359 (541 minus 182).
However, with the NV 359 we find ourselves on familiar ground!
Indeed! Satan (300 + 9 + 50).

During his struggle that night Jacob had absorbed the NV of Satan, as it were.
Mind you, nothing less than the value of the spiritual alter ego of his brother Esau, whom he, at that time, was heading with great fear. His servants had reported that Esau with no less than 400 people was approaching him: The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau. Not only that, but he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him.” Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed (Gen 32:6-7).

But now, like Israel, there was no need for that fear anymore !
Why not? First of all, owing to the fact that not the elohim, the angel-prince Satan, had been victorious during the nightly struggle, but the patriarch.
The fact that Jacob that night, as it were, had absorbed the NV 359 of Satan, in a sense made that wicked Adversary powerless with regard to God's chosen nation. Think of Balaam, who, in front of king Balak of Moab, and very likely against his own feelings, was forced to admit:

Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; neither is there any divination with Israel: Now shall it be said of Jacob and of Israel, what God has done!
       (Nu 23:23)

Of course, Jacob had received supernatural help; only so he could firmly grasp Esau's spiritual alter ego that he had to beg: Let me go, for the dawn has ascended.
Literally, according to the Hebrew text: Send me away!
Due to such a request, Satan recognized that Jacob at that time was his superior. And it is a biblical rule that the one who sends is greater than the one sent.

However, what Satan also had to recognize was the fact that Jacob's claims for priority were justified.
As we all know – and already mentioned above – at the birth of the twins, Esau appeared first, and then Jacob, but his hand held Esau's heel; in itself already a wonderful event, but at a very early stage it foreshadowed Jacob’s legitimate claims. Consistent with divine law he would take Esau's place, the more after the former had sold his birthright to his brother, nota bene for a dish of soup!

“Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am famished.”
“First, sell me your birthright.”
“Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?”
“Swear to me first.”
He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob… So Esau despised his birthright.

Afterwards, Esau was unable to take his costly loss. Being clearly rejected in the 'rest blessing’ of his father Isaac, he unleashed a struggle against his brother, even threatening his life.
In that light, we should also see the nightly attack of his Alter ego, Esau’s angel-prince, the 'man' who was wrestling with Jacob. Jacob’s rightful claims were then challenged at a higher level.

However, Jacob is strong, not only because of the fact that at that time a camp of angels accompanied him and his family on their journey, but, and most important, because YHWH Elohim recognized his claims.
In this encounter between the ‘Serpent’ and the ‘Woman’ YHWH ruled in favour of the ‘Woman’ (Genesis 3:1532:1-2)

All what Elohim YHWH allowed Satan to be done to Jacob was to hit him in the hip;
certainly an expensive price paid by the patriarch, because now he halted upon his thigh. However, that event too had a link with the fact that now he was not only Jacob but also Israel.
Here we see the remarkable fact that on the one hand Jacob (Israel) can not ultimately be destroyed by demonic power, but on the other hand that the true Elohim has admitted that Jacob’s seed, his offspring, through the ages had to endure much from the region of wickedness, the domain of the demons.

And nowhere in Bible history that evil effects are more strikingly illustrated than in the history and the sufferings of the man Job, Elohim himself referring to him repeatedly as my ebed [servant] Job. In his dispute with Elohim the Satan received opportunities to bring great misery on Job, but not the power to annihilate him.

From the time of Pharaoh's command that the male babies had to be thrown in the river Nile, to the gas chambers of Auswitz, over a period of some 3,500 years, Jacob's offspring (seed) has been badly affected. Instead of looking the good things for Israel and recognizing her future prospects –to become a blessing for the Gojim - those Gentile powers repeatedly chose for fight against Elohim's people. Of course, not without the incentive by Esau's Alter ego!

See Job 1, 2 and 42.
in particular section Isaiah 43:8-11.
  
During the very short reign of Israel’s Pseudo-messiah, a final belch of ‘Edom’- the world power Rome - the hatred opposition will reach a climax, at last resulting in the attack by the prophetic figure Gog of the ‘land’ of Magog (Ezekiel 38 and 39).
Or defined according to Malachi, coming forth out of the region of wickedness.


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