Chrysostom and the Angel of the Lord

And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. Acts 7:30

Do you mark that it is not hindered by lapse of time? For when he was an exile, when a stranger, when he had now passed much time in a foreign land, so as to have two sons, when he no longer expected to return, then does the Angel appear to him.

The Son of God he calls an Angel, as also he calls Him man. (Appears) in the desert, not in a temple. See how many miracles are taking place, and no word of Temple, no word of Sacrifice. And here also not simply in the desert, but in the bush.

When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him. Acts 7:31

Lo! He was deemed worthy of the Voice also. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. (v. 32, 33.)

Lo! how He shows that He is none other than the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob — He, the Angel of the Great Counsel. (Isaiah 9:6. LXX. Wonderful, Counsellor, E.V.)

Here he shows what great loving-kindness God herein exhibits. Then Moses trembled, and dared not behold. Then said the Lord to him, Put off your shoes from your feet; for the place where you stand is holy ground.

Not a word of Temple, and the place is holy through the appearance and operation of Christ. Far more wonderful this than the place which is in the Holy of Holies: for there God is nowhere said to have appeared in this manner, nor Moses to have thus trembled.

And then the greatness of His tender care. I have seen, I have seen the affliction of My people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you into Egypt. Acts 7:34

See, how he shows, that both by kindnesses, and by chastisements, and by miracles, God was drawing them to Him: but they were still the same. That God is everywhere present, they learned. (Homilies on Acts. Homily 16; emphasis mine)