In the Midst of Angels

Yahweh descends on Sinai surrounded by a fiery cloud, full of thunder and lightning. When we get a closer look at the cloud, as we do in Ezekiel, we realize that it is a cloud of angels. Yahweh moves about surrounded by the fiery horses and chariots of His hosts.

In 2 Kings 6, Elisha is surrounded by an Aramean army, and his servant is frightened. When the Lord opens the servant’s eyes, he sees the mountains full of horses and chariots of fire. It’s the same angelic host that came with the Lord to Sinai, the same host that inhabited the tabernacle. 

Only now the fiery hosts are not surrounding Yahweh, but Yahweh’s prophet. Elisha is at the center of an angelic army. Yahweh makes room for a human being in the midst of the angels.

And then we allegorize, tropologize, and anagogicize.

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