Ki Tisa

This weeks Torah portion of Ki Tisa has a lot of important events and when we consider receiving the Ten Commandments, the building of the golden calf, and various other happenings, it is understandable that we may not concentrate on a few verses at the beginning of chapter 33.

The Lord spoke to Moses: "Go, ascend from here, you and the people you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: 'I will give it to your descendants.'

I will send an angel before you,

(and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites)

to a land flowing with milk and honey;

but I will not go up in your midst since you are a stiff necked people, lest I destroy you on the way.”

When we read it through, it doesn’t scan clearly and as with many areas of Torah, we need to take a second look.

I would like to propose we edit the layout and divide it into 2 separate readings.

The Lord spoke to Moses: "Go, ascend from here, you and the people you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: 'I will give it to your descendants.'

a land flowing with milk and honey;

(and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites)

but I will not go up in your midst since you are a stiff necked people, lest I destroy you on the way.”)

When we read the passage like this, it seems to make more sense. And yet, with this edit, there is one small part that I left out -

I will send an angel before you,

The reference to the angel. This fits either at the beginning or at the end and can be interpreted to mean many different things.

I will send an angel before you to the land

I will send an angel to drive out the other nations

I will send an angel because I cannot be amongst you

Any and all of these interpretations are possible. But why does God choose to send an angel before the Children of Israel to the land?

Is it to prove it is good, or safe? Is the angel being sent as a blessing?

What about the angel driving out other nations. Why is God not driving them out directly?

And being amongst us, ok we are stiff-necked. As Jews, we have heard many criticisms. That is one of them. But God is all seeing, all powerful. Is the suggestion that God can’t put up with our behaviour?

Angels, as we normally mean the term, are incorporeal beings. The Hebrew word for angel, however – “malach” – simply means a messenger. God has many messengers carrying out His missions, and these messengers are both physical beings (like humans) and spiritual ones (like angels):

God uses angels as a sort of interface through which He interacts with the world. But remember that an “angel” is anything that carries out a mission for God.

Every angel is "programmed" to perform certain tasks; such as Michael who is dispatched on missions which are expressions of G‑d's kindness; Gavriel, who executes G‑d's severe judgments; and Rafael, whose responsibility it is to heal.

Some angels are created for one specific task, and upon the task's completion cease to exist. There are midrashim that teach us that every time we say Amen to a bracha, an angel is created. On Friday nights we sing Shalom Aleichem welcoming the angels.

I’d actually like to propose one final interpretation on how to read this.

Take it at face value.

I will send an angel before you,

Wherever we go, wherever we are, whatever the circumstance, God is sending an angel before us.

For protection, for guidance, for healing, for our faith.

Ki Tisa see the promise of our land, flowing with milk and honey. We receive the Torah, the greatest of our many blessings.

And tucked away, in between two seemingly unconnected passukim, we receive an angel.

To lead the way.

Shabbat Shalom.