ORTHODOX STUDY BIBLE, TRINITY & THE TORAH
In this post I will be citing from the Orthodox Study Bible (OSB), published by Thomas Nelson, 2008. The quotations will be in regards to the position that OSB takes in respect to the Trinity being mentioned all throughout the first five books of Moses, which are commonly referred to as the Torah or Pentateuch. All capital emphasis will be mine.
THE TRIUNE CREATOR AND LIFE-GIVER
1:1 God the Father made heaven and earth. “I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth” (Creed).
1:2 The Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit (BasilG; EphS). He proceeds from the Father, and is “the Lord and Giver of Life” (Creed). Since He is Lord, He is coequal with the Father, and is His Coworker in making heaven and earth.
1:3 God the Father spoke to His Word and Only-begotten Son, through whom He made the light (AthanG). Since the Son, too, is Lord, He is coequal with the Father, and is His Coworker in making heaven and earth.
The Holy Fathers teach that the Father made heaven and earth through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Holy Trinity made heaven and earth, and the Church sings, “We glorify the Father, we exalt the Son, and we worship the Holy Spirit—the indivisible Trinity who exists as One—the Light and Lights, the Life and Lives, who grants light and life to the ends of the world” (CanonAnd).
1:4–25 Since the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit made heaven and earth, They also made everything mentioned in these verses.
1:26–30 The Holy Trinity also made man. God the Father is speaking to God the Son (JohnChr), and He uses the personal pronouns Us and Our. These pronouns indicate three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as noted in 1:1–3.
The word image is in the singular, and shows the three distinct Persons of the Holy Trinity are one in nature and undivided. For it does not say, “Our images” (HilryP). Therefore, the Holy Trinity is one undivided nature in three distinct Persons.
Man is not one in nature with the Holy Trinity. But He was made in the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity; and he was made male and female. Therefore, the dignity of each man and each woman is this image and likeness.
2:1–3 God finished the making of heaven and earth for man’s sake. He rested from His creative activity on the seventh day to show His love and providential care for man, and to invite man to enjoy this Sabbath-rest. For as Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27).
Man failed to keep this Sabbath-rest. But Jesus fulfilled it for man by resting in the tomb on Great and Holy Saturday, after He said on the cross, “It is finished” (Jn 19:30). For He destroyed sin and death, and rose again on the first day of the week. Through His saving work on man’s behalf, He is man’s Sabbath-rest, and He now invites all to find rest in Himself (Mt 11:28–30).
2:4 Here the Book of Genesis refers to itself by name.
2:7 God formed Adam’s body out of dust from the ground. The breath of life is the grace of the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life (the Creed). God breathed the breath of life into man’s body, and he became a living soul. Therefore, Adam was a living soul because he possessed a body, a soul, and the grace of the Holy Spirit.
After He rose from the dead, Jesus breathed on His disciples, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20:22). For man failed to keep the grace of the Spirit, but through His Resurrection Jesus supplies His disciples abundantly with the life-giving grace of the Spirit. A disciple’s responsibility is to live by this grace. (Pp. 4-5)
Creation
“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible.” These opening words of the Nicene Creed, the central doctrinal statement of Christianity, affirm that the One True God is the source of everything that exists—both physical and spiritual, both animate and inanimate. The Holy Scriptures begin with a similarly striking assertion: “In the beginning God made heaven and earth.” St. Basil the Great declares:
The ever-existent Almighty God was not forced to create the universe. Rather, in His goodness and lovingkindness, He freely chose to do so. And the fact that the Lord created the universe out of nothing stands in clear contrast to the creation myths of the surrounding cultures in the ancient world.
The central role of Jesus Christ, the Word of the Father, in the creation of all things is plainly stated in the first chapter of the apostle John’s gospel, where it is written, “In the beginning was the Word, . . . All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” And the specific role of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Undivided Trinity, in the creation of the world is seen in Genesis 1:2 (see also Ps 103:30; 32:6).
Regarding questions about the scientific accuracy of the Genesis account of creation, and about various viewpoints concerning evolution, the Orthodox Church has not dogmatized any particular view. What is dogmatically proclaimed is that the One Triune God created everything that exists, and that man was created in a unique way and is alone made in the image and likeness of God (Gn 1:26, 27). The Church Fathers also consistently affirm that each species of the animate creation came into existence instantaneously, at the command of God, with its seed within itself.
The development of life was not by accident. Rather, Supreme Intelligence and Impenetrable Wisdom were at work in the creation and sustenance of all that exists. In discussing various scientific theories of his day, St. Basil the Great declared, “If there is anything in this [or any other] system which seems probable to you, keep your admiration for the source of such perfect order—the wisdom of God.” He also wrote, “We must still remain faithful to the principle of true religion and recognize that all that exists is sustained by the Creator’s power.”
The repeated affirmation “and God saw that it was good” in Genesis 1 underscores the intrinsic, fundamental goodness of matter and the whole created order, even after the Fall. This understanding is the basis for a sacramental world-view—that the created order not only is good, but also can be a means for communion with God, by virtue of being created by the All-Good God. Moreover, the astounding beauty, intricate order, and sublime harmony of all aspects of Creation, as well as the tremendously vast expanse of the universe, are intended to draw mankind to an awareness of and appreciation for the Creator, and to the worship of Him—and Him alone (see Ps 18:1–4; Rom 1:20). (P. 3)
The Holy Trinity
The Holy Trinity is revealed both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the Trinity is revealed in subtle ways; in the New Testament, the Trinity is revealed fully and plainly, beginning at the Baptism of our Lord.
The Holy Trinity is one God in three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These Persons are distinct, but not separate, and are not three gods. They are One God because They are one in essence or nature. The Father is the unbegotten Fountainhead of Deity. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father (Jn 1:18; 3:16; 16:28). The Holy Spirit is the Helper (Jn 14:16) and Spirit of Truth (Jn 14:17; 16:13), Who proceeds from the Father (Jn 15:26).
The Holy Trinity Created the World
Genesis 1:1—God the Father created the heavens and the earth. The Creed says: “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.”
Genesis 1:2—The Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit. He hovered over creation in creative power and equality with the Father. He co-created with the Father.
Genesis 1:3—As the Word of God, the Son made the light (Jn 1:1–3). With creative power and equality with the Father, He also co-created with the Father and the Spirit.
Genesis 1:26—The pronouns “Us” and “Our” reveal a plurality of divine Persons. These Persons are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit operating in complete unity out of the one divine Nature.
The Holy Trinity Saves the World
Isaiah 63:16—The Father is our Redeemer. He not only created the world but redeems it as well.
Psalm 2:7, 8—The Father’s decree reveals the Son as inheriting the world. This inheritance is the people saved by the Son.
Isaiah 6:1–3—The words “Holy, Holy, Holy” declare the three Persons who save us. The name “Lord” declares the one essence of the Three.
Isaiah 44:3—The Father pours out His Spirit on people like water on dry ground. The Holy Spirit quenches the thirst of the person who thirsts for salvation.
Isaiah 48:16, 17—The Son declares that the Father and the Spirit sent Him to redeem the world. Although the Son alone became a Man, all three Persons save mankind.
The New Testament Affirms the Holy Trinity in the Old Testament
John 1:1–3—The Word is the Son of God, who was present with the Father at the beginning of creation. He was Co-worker with the Father in creating the world.
John 8:58—Jesus identifies Himself as having existed before Abraham. Before His coming in the flesh as Man, Jesus existed as the eternal Son of the Father, for He is begotten from the Father before all time and ages. He appeared to Moses in the burning bush and proclaimed Himself as “I Am” (Ex 3).
Acts 2:17—The Holy Spirit’s descent at Pentecost affirms His presence in the Old Testament (Joel 3:1–5).
Hebrews 1:8–10—This Scripture affirms the Father is speaking to the Son in Psalms 44:7 and 101:26–28, in which the Father acknowledges the Son as God and Creator of the world. For the Son was the Father’s Co-worker in creation.
The Incarnate Son Fully Reveals the Holy Trinity
Luke 1:35—At the Annunciation, the Holy Spirit, the “power” of God the Father (“the Highest”), overshadowed the Virgin Mary; and she gave birth to the Son of God in His flesh.
Matthew 3:16–17—When the Son of God was baptized in the Jordan by John, the Father’s voice was heard from heaven, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove. As the main hymn for the Feast of Theophany says, “When You, O Lord, were baptized in the Jordan, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest.” (P. 4)
[Exodus] 31:3 The divine Spirit is the Holy Spirit (BasilG; GrgTheo; CyrJer).
31:18 The finger of God is the Holy Spirit (Mt 12:28; Lk 11:20). (Pp. 105-106)
THE ANGEL OF THE LORD IS THE PREHUMAN JESUS
16:7 The Lord is the Father, and the Angel is His Son (HilryP). And the prophet Isaiah calls Him “the Angel of Great Counsel” (Is 9:5). “The Son is called Angel because He alone reveals the Father” (AthanG).
16:8 The Lord asked Hagar questions, not because He was ignorant, but for Hagar’s sake and for ours. After He became Man, He also asked questions in the four Gospels, not because He was ignorant, but for the sake of the immediate listeners and of the faithful. For He is God in the flesh, and therefore, never ignorant of anything (JohnDm).
16:9 Since He is God, the Angel commanded Hagar. She obeyed (v. 15). This Angel is the Word of God.
16:10 This statement by the Angel COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MADE BY A CREATED ANGEL, for only God can say, “I will surely multiply your seed exceedingly, that it may not be counted because of its multitude.” NO CREATED ANGEL CAN DO THIS. THE ANGEL IS GOD THE SON.
16:11 The Angel then spoke to Hagar concerning the Father and said, “The Lord has taken notice of your humiliation.”
16:13 Hagar called the Angel who appeared to her both Lord and God. The Church knows Him as the Only-begotten of the Father (Jn 1). As the Father’s Only-begotten, He is “true God of true God” (Creed).
One meaning of the name God is, You are the God who sees me. The Only-begotten sees everything. So do God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
17:1 Thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael (16:16), the Lord appeared to Abram again and identified Himself as God, for He said to him, “I am your God.” This appearance is another of the personal appearances of the Son of God to Abraham.
17:2–4 The covenant is that established “in Christ” (Gal 3:17). God established it before the Mosaic covenant. Therefore, the Law of Moses, which came later, could not cancel it. Abraham’s faith is multiplied exceedingly in the Church. For he is the father of many nations (see also Rom 4:16, 17).
17:5 Abram’s name (meaning “exalted father”) was changed to Abraham (“father of many”). This very name change proves the gospel of salvation is for many nations, the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
17:7 The God of the everlasting covenant is the Holy Trinity, for the Son is God of God, the Only-begotten of the Father. The Holy Spirit is also God of God, for He “proceeds from the Father” (Creed).
17:10–14 The rite of circumcision was not the covenant itself. It was a sign of the covenant (v. 11). It was a temporary sign, because it applied only to Abraham’s genealogy (v. 12), that is, to Abraham’s physical lineage, and also to those born in his house or bought with his money. Thus, the rite did not apply to the “many nations,” or Gentiles, to be made righteous by faith in the gospel (v. 3; see also Rom 4:9–17). Christ Himself fulfilled this rite and brought it to an end when He was circumcised on the eighth day after His birth from the Virgin (Lk 2:21). (Pp. 21-22)
18:1–3 The Holy Spirit says through the prophet Moses that God appeared to Abraham. This is another personal appearance of the Son of God to him. He saw three men standing before him, but he worshiped only one of them as Lord, for He is Lord and God. The other two are called “angels” (19:1). The Son of God is the Lord of all the angels.
18:4–8 The hospitality of Abraham was a virtue that should be shared by his spiritual children.
18:9 The Lord was not ignorant of Sarah’s location. He asked the question for Abraham’s sake and for that of those who read the Scriptures. He also asked questions for the same reason after He became incarnate, for example, concerning the location of Lazarus’s grave (Jn 11:34).
18:14 The Lord speaks of God the Father, who does not will everything He can do, but He can do everything He wills. For nothing is impossible with Him. Likewise, nothing is impossible with His Son, for the Father works all things through the Son. As St. Athanasius the Great said, “He is the Will of the Father.” Therefore, the Son would strengthen Abraham and Sarah, and Sarah would conceive to bear Isaac, the child of promise.
19:1 The Holy Spirit through the prophet Moses calls two of the three men angels. When they arrived in Sodom, they met Lot at the city gate.
19:2 Lot paid the angels due respect by calling them lords, but he did not worship them, for they were created beings.
19:13 The third man was the Lord, the Son of God, and he sent the other two to Sodom to destroy it.
19:18 Lot spoke to all three men, but prayed to the Lord in particular.
19:21 The Lord granted his request (I have acquiesced to you) to escape to a small city, called Zoar. The Son is the Will of the Father; thus He said, “I will not overthrow this city.” The Son is also the Word, Wisdom, and Power of the Father (Jn 1:1–3 and 1Co 1:24).
19:22 The Lord can do anything He wills to do. But He would not will to destroy Sodom before Lot arrived in Zoar.
19:24 The Lord rained brimstone and fire . . . from the Lord out of heaven, that is, the Son rained brimstone and fire from the Father (AthanG, BasilG, AmbM, and HilryP). Both have the name “Lord” because of Their equality and oneness of lordship. For in Their essence, the Two are One and undivided (Creed). The Holy Spirit, who spoke this Scripture through the prophet Moses, is also one in lordship with the Father and the Son, for as the Creed says, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord . . . who proceeds from the Father.”
The destruction of Sodom and the adjoining city of Gomorrah is a warning to the ungodly concerning the Day of Judgment (2Pt 2:6, 9; Jude 7). (Pp. 23-25)
21:1 The Son of God visited Sarah and fulfilled the promise He had given in 18:10 (HilryP). Abraham and Sarah would have a son in their old age.
21:2 Thus, Sarah conceived, based on the word of promise. She did not conceive based on the power of the flesh, for both she and Abraham were past the time of childbearing. Therefore, it is not the children of the flesh—that is, Abraham’s offspring through procreation—who are the children of God. Rather, the children of this promise are counted as Abraham’s seed (Rom 9:8). These children are those who embrace Abraham’s faith through the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 3:16).
21:17 The Angel of God IS THE SON OF GOD. He told Hagar that God, that is, God the Father, had heard Ishmael’s crying. “The Son is called Angel because He alone reveals the Father” (AthanG).
21:18 The Angel told Hagar He Himself (I will make) would make a great nation of Ishmael. Therefore, this Angel is God (see also vv. 19, 20), for God alone could do such a thing. This Angel IS NOT A CREATED ANGEL, BUT THE SON OF GOD HIMSELF. And why would He make a great nation of Ishmael? Because after His Incarnation, Ishmael’s descendants would embrace Abraham’s faith based on the word of promise. (P. 27)
22:1 God the Word tested Abraham (AthanG).
22:2 The Word is the Son of God, and by calling Isaac Abraham’s beloved son, He is teaching Abraham concerning HIS ETERNAL BIRTH FROM GOD THE FATHER (AthanG). For He is “the Only-begotten from the Father” (Creed). He is also teaching Abraham that He Himself would be offered up as a whole burnt offering for the world’s salvation, and be raised from the dead.
22:3 Abraham’s faith was tested, and he obeyed the Son of God. Such faith and obedience made Abraham righteous and a friend of God (Jam 2:22–23).
22:12 Abraham received Isaac back alive. This prefigured the Resurrection of Christ and the future resurrection from the dead, in which Abraham believed (Heb 11:19).
22:14, 15 The Angel of the Lord is the Son of God, and He appeared to Abraham. The Lord is God the Father.
22:16 Abraham and Abimelech counseled together and swore by the greater, namely, by the name of God (21:23, 24). The seven ewe lambs confirmed the oath, and Abraham named the place the Well of Oath. So they were reconciled. However, God cannot swear by anyone greater; therefore, He swore by Himself. He confirmed the oath by His Lamb, the Son of God, through whom God’s eternal covenant is established (Heb 6:13–20). The Well of Oath foreshadows the reconciliation of man to God through Jesus Christ.
22:17 Abraham’s seed would be as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore. These are Abraham’s seed based on the word of promise. This seed is Christ and His Church begotten from Him (Gal 3:16). It does not refer to Israel according to the flesh. It refers to both Jews and Gentiles who are the children of the promise. (Pp. 28-29)
24:7 The Lord’s Angel IS THE SON OF GOD. The word angel also means messenger. In this meaning it is also akin to the term word. The Son of God is called both Angel and Word, for “He alone reveals the Father” (AthanG). Both names emphasize that the Son is the Will of God the Father. Thus, God spoke to Abraham through His Will, and told him to leave his father’s house for the land of promise. The words He will send His Angel before you were prophesied by Abraham to his servant. He spoke these words by the Holy Spirit, as the Creed says: “I believe in the Holy Spirit . . . who spoke by the prophets.” (P. 30)
24:62, 63 At the Well of the Vision, the Son of God appeared to Hagar (16:7–14). Isaac was meditating on this vision. (P. 32)
25:11 Isaac dwelt at the Well of the Vision, where the Son of God appeared to Hagar (16:7–14). He knew the Son of God. (P. 33)
26:2 The Word, who is the Son of God, appeared to Isaac and told him not to go down to Egypt, but to live in the land promised to Abraham. For Egypt was a type of the fallen world, whereas the land promised to Abraham was a type of the world to come. It reminded Isaac to keep his focus on Abraham’s faith.
26:3 The Word also told Isaac to sojourn in this land. A sojourner is one who sees the world to come as the land of promise (Creed). The land of Canaan was only a land in which to sojourn. Like his father, Abraham, he saw the world to come as his true inheritance. “By faith he [Abraham] dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb 11:9, 10).
26:4 The phrase your seed includes both Jews and Gentiles (all the nations) who embrace the promise given to Abraham. The phrase “in your seed” is a reference to Christ (Gal 3:16). For both Jews and Gentiles who believe are joined together as one body in Christ, that is, in Christ and His Church.
26:5 All who believe are blessed with Abraham, because he obeyed the voice of God the Son and kept what He commanded him to do. The faithful are those who obey the voice of the Son of God (Jn 10). (P. 34)
26:24 God the Son appeared to Isaac at the Well of Oath and swore to him concerning the promise made to Abraham. This swearing emphasized the unchangeableness of the Lord’s will and purpose (Heb 6:17, 18). The Lord will fulfill His purpose in the world to come and give it to the heirs of promise. Isaac laid hold of this oath and the hope it gave him (Heb 6:19, 20).
26:25 Isaac worshiped the Son of God at the altar he built. At the altar, the Church worships the Son, and together with Him, the Father and the Spirit.
26:34, 35 The wives of Esau represent those who contend with Christ and His Church. (P. 35)
31:3 The Lord is the Word and Son of God. He told Jacob to return to the land of his father, for this land was a type of the world to come. Laban’s country was not Jacob’s permanent residence (Heb 11:14–16, 21). 31:3–16 This passage is read during Tuesday Vespers in the sixth week of Great Lent.
31:11 The Word IS ALSO CALLED THE ANGEL OF GOD, because it is He alone who reveals the Father, and also because when the Son is beheld, so is the Father, for He is the Father’s Radiance; therefore, the Father and the Son are one (AthanG).
31:13 In verse 11, the name “God” refers to the Father. But in this verse, the Angel is called the God who appeared. Thus, the Son is “true God of true God” (Creed).
31:24 The Son of God came to Laban in a dream, and warned him to do Jacob no harm.
31:29 Laban calls the Word the God of Jacob’s father, that is, the God of Isaac. Laban’s problem was his unbelief, for he did not believe in the very One who appeared to him in a dream.
31:42 Jacob believed in the Son of God and thanked Him for rebuking Laban for his injustice. Laban was a liar and a cheat, for he had changed Jacob’s wages ten times (v. 7). In all this, Jacob, so to speak, had stepped aside and allowed the Lord to fight his battles over the twenty-year period (v. 38).
31:45 The stone set up as a pillar was a type of the Incarnate Son, for He is the foundation stone and pillar of the Church (1Co 3:11).
31:46 These stones are types of the living stones in the Church (1Pt 2:4, 5). (Pp. 41-42)
31:48, 49 The pillar and the stones were called This-Heap-Witnesses and The Vision. This vision was the vision of God the Word who appeared to both Laban and Jacob (vv. 11, 24). The pillar and stones foreshadow the Incarnation and the Church.
JACOB’S LADDER
28:10–17 This passage is read on the Feasts of the Theotokos: the Annunciation (March 25); the Dormition (August 15); and the Nativity (September 8).
28:12 The ladder that reached to heaven speaks of the Mother of God and of the Son of God born of her. The icon in the apse of the church is called the Platytera, which means wide, broad, spacious. It reveals Christ in her womb, and she connects heaven and earth through Him for our salvation. 28:17 The house of God speaks of the Church, and the gate of heaven is the Mother of God (Kairon and Akathist Services). Because the Son was conceived in her womb, she opened the gate of heaven to those who embrace the faith of Abraham.
28:18 The stone is Christ, the foundation stone of the Church (Mt 21:42–44; Mk 12:10; Lk 20:17, 18; Acts 4:11; Rom 9:32, 33; 1Co 3:10, 11; 1Pt 2:4–8). The oil signifies Christ, whose human nature was anointed by the Holy Spirit (Mt 1:18; 3:16; Heb 1:9). 28:22 God’s house speaks of the Church. Jacob gave a tithe of all God gave him. A tithe is ten percent given to the Church. (Pp. 37-38)
35:1 God speaks, and it is God of whom He speaks. Two distinct Persons own the same name, God. For the Father who is true God SPEAKS OF HIS SON WHO IS ALSO TRUE GOD, for the Son is begotten from the Father as true God (Creed). Thus, the God who appeared to Jacob at Bethel WAS THE SON, who is true God of true God (HilryP).
35:9 The God who appeared to Jacob again IS TRUE GOD OF TRUE GOD, that is, THE SON OF THE FATHER. In Him the Father is revealed, for He alone reveals the Father (AthanG).
35:11 The God who appeared to Jacob also calls Himself Jacob’s God, for He is true God of true God, THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER. It was He who changed Jacob’s name to Israel.
35:13 The Only-begotten appeared to Jacob temporarily as a man, then ascended from him. After He became incarnate in the Mother of God, He ascended to the Father. (P. 46)
46:1 The Well of Oath foreshadowed the reconciliation of man to God through the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ (see note at 22:16).
46:2 God spoke to Israel IN AND THROUGH HIS WORD AND SON, for He alone reveals the Father (AthanG). Therefore, Israel’s vision WAS A PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF THE SON OF GOD TO HIM. The Son is also called the Angel of God. As He spoke to Abraham and said, “Abraham! Abraham!” (22:11), so now He speaks to Jacob, saying, “Jacob, Jacob!” Therefore, Jacob went to Egypt by divine revelation from the Father through the Son. (P. 58)
48:3 The God who appeared to Jacob at Luz was the Son and Word of God, also called the Angel of God. It was He who blessed Jacob, FOR NO CREATED ANGEL COULD DO THIS (AthanG).
48:4 God the Word speaks of His Incarnation, by which the Church (a gathering of nations) would be established. He would give His Church the world to come (this land as an everlasting possession). Jacob’s seed would be Christ, and with Him, His Church (Gal 3).
48:5 Ephraim and Manasseh were born to Joseph as his natural sons, born from his nature. So too, the Son and Word is the natural Son and Word of the Father, born from His nature (AthanG).
48:15, 16 The Holy Spirit spoke by the prophet Jacob (Creed), who identified the Angel as God. He is the Son and Word of God. For NO CREATED ANGEL could redeem Jacob from all evil (AthanG). Therefore, the Holy Trinity is revealed TO A CERTAIN EXTENT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, and fully in the New. (Pp. 60-61)
[Exodus] 3:2 GOD THE WORD REVEALED HIMSELF TO MOSES in the burning bush to forecast His coming Incarnation (JohnDm, AthanG, JohnChr, GrgTheo, AmbM). He is called the Angel of the Lord because He is the Angel or Messenger of the Father who reveals the Father’s will. For He is the Will of the Father (AthanG). He is the Only-begotten God because He is begotten from the Unbegotten Father before all time and ages (GrgNy). Isaiah the prophet called the Son “the Angel of Great Counsel” (Is 9:5).
The bush was on fire but was not consumed, for the Son of God became Man to save man and not to consume him. He became Man in the womb of the Mother of God, for the bush itself typifies her.
3:3 Moses was shown this great sight of the Lord’s coming Incarnation because he was detached from the fleeting pleasures of this world (JohnDm, AmbM). For he was looking to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come (Creed).
3:4 The Angel is called Lord and God, for He is the Speaker. Since He is begotten from the Father BFPRE ALL TIME AND AGES, He is therefore the Only-Begotten God.
3:5 Moses was to remove his sandals. This indicates that nothing dead is to stand between God and man, for He is the God of the living (AmbM).
3:6 The Angel also called Himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For the Son is true God of true God, and He reveals the Father in Himself. He who sees the Son also sees the Father. He who sees the Only-begotten God also sees the Unbegotten Father.
3:7 The Lord loves His people and knows their pain and suffering, and His Incarnation is the remedy for all their sorrows.
3:14 The name I AM the Existing One is the name for the Essence of God, which is one and undivided (AthanG, JohnDm). This Essence is like a boundless sea, containing all things yet not contained by anything. The Son is eternally begotten from the Essence of the Father. WHEN JESUS SAID HE WAS THE EXISTING ONE, the Jews who were listening took up stones to stone Him, for they knew this passage in Exodus (Jn 8:57–59). He is acknowledged as the Existing One in every Vespers service of the Church. (Pp. 68-69)
14:19, 24 The Angel of God the Father is the Lord, who looked down through the pillar of fire and cloud. HE IS THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN GOD, because He is begotten from the Unbegotten Father before all time and ages (GrgNy). Thus, the Son of God troubled the army of the Egyptians. (P. 82)
19:4 The Son of God brought Israel to Himself from Egyptian bondage. This prefigures His Incarnation, by which He brings the Church to Himself as the Great High Priest (AmbM).
19:17, 20, 21 Moses brought out the people to meet with God, THAT IS, WITH GOD THE SON. He is the Lord who came down on Mt. Sinai, and He is God, for it was He who spoke to Moses on the mountain (HilryP).
20:2 It is not enough to be brought out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage into freedom. Far greater than this, Christ gave Himself for us to free us from our sins and to lead us into the true freedom of the children of God (Rom 8:21; AmbM).
20:3 The Lord our God is the true Son of the true Father; thus we do not worship any false god (GrgNy). However, false gods do not exist in themselves, for this commandment refers to the future, and what is in the future does not yet exist (AthanG). But the Son is true God of true God; therefore, He exists eternally with the Father and the Holy Spirit. We worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, our one God.
20:4, 23 An idol, or image, depicts some god as having a form or shape, but the true God has no form or shape. Why therefore did Israel use images in their worship? Because all these foreshadowed the Incarnation of the Son of God, whom we worship both as God and Man. Also, icons used in Church worship do not depict the divine nature. They draw attention to the Incarnation.
20:21 The Son of God humbled Himself to allow Moses to see and talk with Him (GrgTheo), and He humbled Himself to the extreme by becoming Man to be crucified for us. He, the Father, and the Holy Spirit dwell in the thick darkness, that is, They cannot be comprehended in Their nature or essence. We cannot know God in His essence; we can only know Him through the revelation of the Son. (Pp. 88-89, 91)
23:20 This is the Angel WHO SAID TO Moses, “I AM the Existing One” (3:14). He is the Only-begotten God, because He is begotten from the Unbegotten Father BEFORE ALL TIME AND AGES. He is called Angel to distinguish Him from the Father. The word angel means messenger, and this Angel reveals the will of the Father to man. MOSES BELIEVED IN THE HOLY TRINITY (GrgNy). Thus, “My” refers to the Father, and “Angel” refers to the Son.
23:21 This Angel has the authority to forgive sins, for the Father’s name is in Him. The Father’s name is the Lord; therefore, the Son is also called by this name (AmbM). When He became incarnate, He also forgave sins. But the Jews challenged His authority in vain, because they did not believe He was the Son of God (Mt 9:1–7).
23:22 Israel was to be a royal priesthood and a holy nation based on obedience to the Lord. The Lord speaking to Israel WAS THE WORD, and when He became Incarnate, the nation disobeyed Him. Therefore, He took the kingdom away from Israel and gave it to a nation bearing the fruits of it (Mt 21:43). This nation consists of the obedient in the Church, both Jews and Gentiles (1Pt 2:9, 10).
23:23 Again, My Angel is the Son of the Father. He led Israel into the land of promise (JohnCas). He also became incarnate to lead us into the world to come. Moses believed in the Holy Trinity and in the Incarnation.
23:25 The Word commanded them to serve the Lord their God, who is the Father. The Word incarnate now draws all who obey Him into the service of His Father. (Pp. 95-96)
32:34 My Angel is the Only-begotten God and Son of the Father. He is called “Angel” (or “Messenger”) because He reveals the Father’s will to man (GrgNy). For He is the Will of the Father (AthanG).
33:3, 12–17 My Angel IS THE SON OF THE FATHER, and He sent Him to lead Israel to the promised land (GrgNy). “Angel” means “messenger,” for the Son is the Will and Word of the Father (AthanG). He is the Angel WHO APPEARED TO MOSES in Exodus 3 AND SAID, “I AM the Existing One” (3:2, 14). The Father also sent Him to become incarnate for the salvation of the world (1Jn 4:14).
33:7 Moses pitched the tabernacle outside the camp, far from the camp. Everyone who sought the Lord went outside the camp. When the Lord became incarnate, He suffered on the Cross outside Jerusalem. Those who wish to find Him must leave the earthly Jerusalem to find Him in the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb 13:12–14; AmbM).
33:20 No man can see THE ESSENCE OF THE FATHER (“My face”), either in this world or in the one to come (JohnChr; GrgNy). The Apostle John also said the same thing: “No one has seen God at any time” (Jn 1:18). But the Son is one in essence with the Father, and therefore fully sees and knows the Father’s essence (AthanG; JohnChr).
33:21 A place refers to the Holy Spirit, for He is often called the place of those being sanctified. Moses as well gained some knowledge of God by the Spirit (BasilG).
33:22 The Son of the Father is the rock and the hand. The rock reveals the mystery of the Incarnation (1Co 10:4; AmbM). The hand reveals the oneness in essence of the Son with the Father. For as the hand is one in essence with the body, similarly, the Son is one in essence with the Father (AthanG). Therefore, He reveals the Father and makes Him known to man.
33:23 My back refers to the glory of God, for man can see His glory if his heart is pure. For Moses saw His glory to the extent he was capable, as is the case with any man. This glory is also called His energy. Man can know God in His energy, but not in His essence.
34:5 The Lord who descended in the cloud IS THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN LORD, and He called upon the name of the Lord, who is the Father. Thus, the Son speaks of the Father.
34:6, 7 The Lord proclaimed the Lord, that is, THE SON AND WORD PROCLAIMED THE FATHER and revealed things concerning Him. For example, the Father is true, that is, he is the True God. The Son and Word is “True God of True God” (Creed).
34:9, 11 Moses requested that the Lord Himself lead Israel to the promised land, and his prayer was answered. The Lord IS THE ANGEL OF THE FATHER, mentioned in previous chapters. “Angel” means “messenger,” for the Son is the Word of the Father. He interpreted the Father’s will through Moses to Israel.
34:14 THE WORD CALLS HIS FATHER a jealous God. He does not mean the Father has passion in His nature. He uses “jealous” by way of analogy with human nature. For example, as a loving father is intolerant toward bad things happening to his children, so the loving Father is intolerant of the evil things that happen to His children when they go astray to worship other gods. (Pp. 107-109)
JESUS WRESTLES JACOB
32:24 The man who wrestled with Jacob WAS THE SON OF GOD, who appeared to him as a weak man (AthanG and HilryP). When He became incarnate, He assumed the weakness of human flesh for man’s salvation.
32:28 Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, which means “God prevails.” In this meaning, Jacob was a type of the Son of God, who became Man and prevailed as God and Man for man’s salvation.
32:30, 31 The Form of God WAS THE SON AND WORD OF GOD, who revealed Himself to Jacob (AthanG and HilryP). He is the Radiance of the Father who reveals the Father in Himself, for as He said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). The rising and radiating of the sun on Jacob illustrated this relation of the Son to the Father. (P. 45)
MARY: GOD’S HOLY TABERNACLE
40:1–38 Here the Lord directs Moses to set up the tabernacle for liturgical worship on the first day of the first month—one year after Israel came out of Egypt (v. 15). Now the Lord manifested His presence in a cloud by day and in fire by night. The tabernacle was filled with the Lord’s glory (vv. 28–32). Both these items speak of type and prophecy. For the physical manifestations of cloud and fire typify His human nature. The glory typifies His divine nature—both of which are united in His one Person. And the Lord—the source of the glory—is the Father. Thus when He became incarnate, the Cloud and the Fire “tabernacled” or dwelt among us (Jn 1:14). And just as some Israelites in the Old Testament could see the cloud and the fire—but not the glory within it—so too, some saw Jesus in the flesh, but did not see the glory of His divinity. They failed to see Him as the very Lord God who spoke to Moses and directed him in establishing the tabernacle of Testimony.
At His conception, the Son of God (“the Power”) “overshadowed” the Virgin Mary and became a Man in her womb (Lk 1:35). When He overshadowed the tabernacle, this became a type of His overshadowing Mary at His conception. And as He led Israel by the cloud and the fire (vv. 30–32), the Incarnate Lord now leads His Church. For the Church hears His voice and follows Him, as Israel did when they heard His voice speaking in and through Moses.
40:1–5, 9, 10, 16, 34, 35 These verses are read during the Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple.
40:28 The tabernacle was a type of the Mother of God, and the cloud was the presence of the Holy Trinity. When God the Word was conceived in her womb, the Holy Spirit came upon her, and the Power of the Highest overshadowed her (Lk 1:35). The Power was the Son and the Highest was the Father. The Son became incarnate, but all three Persons were actively involved. (Pp. 115-116)
The Tabernacle
On Mt. Sinai Moses received not only the Ten Commandments, but also precise and detailed instructions for building the tabernacle—a moveable tent—where God met the assembly of the people Israel (Ex 25:1–27:21). Consequently, the tabernacle is built according to the divine blueprints (Ex 35:4–40:33). Here God’s Presence, His Glory, will be made manifest through the shining cloud filling the holy place (Ex 40:34–38). The importance of God’s Presence in the tabernacle is apparent in the prayers of the Psalms, which express a longing to be with God, a fervent desire to be in His tabernacle (Pss 26:4–6; 60:4; 64:4; 83:14, 10; see also 22:6; 25:8). Indeed, the Lord promises that at the tabernacle, “I shall be known to you to speak to you. There I shall give directions to the children of Israel, and I shall be sanctified in My glory” (Ex 29:42–43; see also Ezk 37:26–28). While the tabernacle is the specific place where God was encountered in Israel, this did not exhaust His Presence, for as Almighty God, He has always been everywhere present, filling all things.
Israel’s most sacred objects were kept in the ark of the covenant, located in the holy of holies (Heb 9:2–5). Each object it held was prophetic of Christ: the tablets of the Law inscribed by God (Ex 25:15) prefigure Christ the Lawgiver; the manna (Ex 16:31–34) points to Christ as the Bread of Life (Jn 6:3058); and Aaron’s staff that budded (Nm 17:16–26) prefigures the life-giving Cross of Christ. Further, the veil separating the holy place from the holy of holies foreshadows the Incarnation (Heb 10:19, 20).
The tabernacle as a whole prefigures Christ, the eternal Word of God, who “became flesh and tabernacled (the usual English translation is ‘dwelt’) among us” (Jn 1:14; see also Col 2:9). St. Gregory of Nyssa observes, “Moses was earlier instructed by a type in the mystery of the tabernacle, which encompasses the universe. This tabernacle would be Christ, who is the power and the wisdom of God (1Co 1:24).” The tabernacle also prefigures Mary the Theotokos, whose womb will be the tabernacle in which the Lord will dwell as He takes His flesh from her.
On the cross, Jesus offers the ultimate sacrifice of His body, which the New Testament calls “the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands” (Heb 9:11). St. John Chrysostom comments that by this greater tabernacle St. Paul “means the flesh [of Christ]. And well did he say, ‘greater and more perfect,’ since God the Word and all the power of the Spirit dwell therein.”
In time, the moveable tabernacle of the wilderness is superseded by the permanent temple in Jerusalem. The temple, in turn, is superseded by Christ (Jn 2:18–21) and the Church, which is His Body (Eph 1:22, 23). Moreover, in Baptism every Christian becomes a tabernacle, a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. As St. Paul exclaims, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” (1Co 6:19). St. Isaac of Nineveh declares, “Lord, I give praise to Your holy nature, for You have made my nature a sanctuary for Your hiddenness, a tabernacle for Your Mysteries, a place where You can dwell, and a holy temple for Your divinity.”
In his vision of the kingdom of heaven, St. John writes, “But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Rev 21:22). All earthly types vanish as the redeemed behold God and the Lamb in unmediated glory (2Pt 1:4). The ultimate promise of the tabernacle, the temple and the Church is for God Himself to dwell in each believer forever (Jn 14:16, 17, 23; 17:20–23; see also Rev 3:20). (P. 110)
HONORABLE MENTIONS
I also include the notes to Daniel 3:91-92 where the Son of God appeared in the fire to rescue Daniel’s three friends. and their section on Christ’s appearances throughout the OT.
3:91, 92 St. Hippolytus writes that the king’s recognition of the fourth man in the furnace was a sign that the Gentiles would recognize the Incarnate Word when He came. “The three youths he thus called by name. But he found no name by which to call the fourth. For He was not yet that Jesus born of the Virgin.” St. Jerome comments that the presence of the Son of God in the furnace is a type of Christ’s descent into Hades, where the souls of the dead were imprisoned, that He might deliver the righteous faithful by breaking the chains of death. (P. 1247)
Theophanies of Christ
The word “theophany” derives from the Greek words theos (“God”), and phainesthai (“to show forth, appear”). Hence, a theophany is an appearance or manifestation of God. While types of Christ in the Old Testament prefigure His coming in the flesh, theophanies are recognized by the Church as being actual appearances of the pre-incarnate Son and Word of God. How this happens remains a mystery. But because the Son of God took on human nature in the fullness of time, each theophany directly prefigures Christ’s Incarnation. St. John of Damascus wrote, “No one saw the divine nature, but rather the image and figure of what was yet to come. For the invisible Son and Word of God was to become truly Man.”
Three Theophanies of Christ
An often cited theophany of Christ occurs in the visit of the “three men” to Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18:1–16: “Then God appeared to him at the oak of Mamre” (v. 1). Though three men are there, Abraham addresses them in the singular, “Lord.” He responds in the singular (vv. 9–15). As St. Ephraim the Syrian says, “Therefore the Lord . . . now appeared to Abraham clearly in one of the three.” The three are generally considered to be Christ the Lord, along with two attending angels.
At Genesis 32:25–31, Christ is the “man” who wrestles with Jacob, after which Jacob says, “I saw God face to face” (v. 30). St. Cyril of Jerusalem asks the Jews concerning these theophanies to Abraham and Jacob, “What strange thing do we announce in saying that God was made Man, when you yourselves say that Abraham received the Lord as a guest? What strange thing do we announce, when Jacob says, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved’? The Lord, who ate with Abraham, also ate with us.”
In the Book of Daniel, a heathen king bears witness to another theophany of Christ. When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon peers into the fiery furnace, upon seeing a “fourth man” he exclaims, “The vision of the fourth is like the Son of God” (Dan 3:92).
Other Appearances of God
At times Christ appears as “the Angel of the Lord” or “the Angel of God.” At Exodus 3:1–4:17, “the Angel of the Lord” appears to Moses in the burning bush and identifies Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Ex 3:6, 15, 16; 4:5). He also says that His name is “I AM HE WHO IS” (Ex 3:14), which in Greek is represented by the three letters placed around Christ’s head in the holy icons. St. Ambrose of Milan observes, “Christ therefore is, and always is; for He who is, always is. And Christ always is, of whom Moses says, ‘He that is has sent me.’”
The Incarnation
When God the Son became incarnate, this can be called an everlasting theophany. For having assumed human nature, Christ not only manifests God to the world during His earthly life (Jn 1:14; see also 14:9; Col 2:9; 1Jn 1:1–3), but He ascends into heaven in the same glorified flesh in which He will return at His Second Coming (see Acts 1:9–11).
At the baptism of Christ (Mt 3:13–17), a further theophany occurs, as all three Persons of the Holy Trinity are made known: the Father in the voice from heaven, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, and the Incarnate Son. Hence, the feast day commemorating this event is known as Holy Theophany. On this day the Church sings, “When Thou, O Lord, wast baptized in the Jordan, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest.”
Additionally, at Christ’s Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor (Mt 17:1–9), the Father again is heard, the Holy Spirit is present in the brightness of the cloud, and the Son shines with the gleaming radiance of His Divinity. (P. 1242)
FURTHER READING
ORTHODOX STUDY BIBLE & PSALM 110
63 Church Father Quotes on the Angel of the Lord
AUGUSTINE ON JESUS BEING THE ANGEL OF YHVH
The Council of Antioch on Christ’s Divinity