angel of the LORD

The angel of the LORD

Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant, who bore Abraham a son named Ishmael, was the first person in the Bible to have an encounter with the angel of the LORD. Genesis 16:7-14 tells us:

The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” And the angel of the Lord said to her,

“Behold, you are pregnant
    and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
    because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
    his hand against everyone
    and everyone’s hand against him,
and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”

So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi;it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

Hagar referred to the person who was speaking to her as the LORD and said of him, “You are a God of seeing” (Genesis 16:13). The name of the well, which is translated Beer-lahai-roi, Bᵉʾer la-Chay Roiy (be-ayrˊ lakh-ahˊee ro-eeˊ) means “well of a living (One) my seer.” The term seer was originally used in the Old Testament to refer to a prophet (1 Samuel 9:9), “True prophets were mouthpieces of the true God” (H5030). The Hebrew name Roiy is derived from the word roeh (ro-ehˊ) which is used abstractly to refer to “a vision” (H7203). Hagar’s statement, “You are a God of seeing” (Genesis 16:13) was most likely a response to her being told details about her unborn child’s life before he was born.

The angel of the LORD, whom Hagar identified as the LORD himself, the God who knew the intimate details of her and her son’s life, called out to Abraham as he was about to sacrifice his son Isaac (Genesis 22:11), spoke to Jacob in a dream (Genesis 31:11), and appeared to Moses “in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” (Exodus 3:2). When the Israelites were traveling from Egypt to the Promised Land, Moses was told, “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him” (Exodus 23:20-21). “There is the distinct possibility that various Old Testament references to the ‘angel of the LORD’ involved preincarnate appearances of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Things are said of the angel of the LORD that seem to go beyond the category of angels and are applicable to Christ…The designation ‘angel of the LORD’ is used interchangeably with ‘the LORD’ and ‘God’ in the account of Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3:2-6). Exodus 23:21 states that the angel of the LORD has the power to forgive sins, a characteristic belonging to God alone (cf. Mark 2:7; Luke 7:49) and that he has the name of God in him” (note on Exodus 23:20-23). The Hebrew word mal˒ak (mal-awkˊ) means “’messenger; angel’…The word mal˒ak denotes someone sent over a great distance by an individual (Genesis 32:3) or by a community (Numbers 21:21), in order to communicate a message…Most significant are the phrases mal˒ak Yahweh, ‘the angel of the LORD,’ and mal˒ak ʿelohim ‘the angel of God.’ The phrase is always used in the singular. It denotes an angel who had mainly a saving and protective function…He might also bring about destruction…The relation between the Lord and the ‘angel of the LORD’ is often so close that it is difficult to separate the two” (H4397).

Numbers 20:16 indicates that God sent an angel to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt. This statement is in reference to the angel of the LORD appearing to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:2). The angel told Moses that he had come down to deliver the Israelites out of the hand of the Egyptians (Exodus 3:8) and promised that he would bring them “up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:17). As the Israelites prepared to cross the Red Sea, it says in Exodus 14:19-20, “Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel.” Later God told Moses, “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared” (Exodus 23:20) and when the people were commanded to leave Sinai, “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, “To your offspring I will give it.” I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites’” (Exodus 33:1-2). In each of these instances a specific, individual angel was sent to deliver the people of Israel.

The book of Hebrews tells us that angels are “ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). Hebrews 2:1-3 goes on to say:

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

The central point of this passage of scripture is that angels minister to those who will or have been saved by declaring the word of God to them. The Greek word that is translated message, logos (logˊ-os) “denotes ‘the expression of thought.’” Logos was used in John 1:1-18 as a title of the Son of God, “the personal manifestation, not of a part of the divine nature, but of the whole deity” (G3056).

The angel of the LORD’s role in ministering to the people of Israel was connected to both the delivering of messages as well as protecting them from harm. On one occasion, the angel of the LORD intervened in order to stop Balaam, a false prophet, from cursing the Israelites. Numbers 22:20-35 states:

And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.

But God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again. Then the angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.” And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.”

Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face. And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live.” Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back.” And the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.

The angel of the LORD’s presence was at first concealed from Balaam. It wasn’t until the LORD opened his eyes that Balaam was able to see the angel of the LORD standing in the way. The phrase opened the eyes has to do with spiritual rather than physical eyesight. The Hebrew word that is translated opened, galah (gaw-lawˊ) means “to denude (especially in a disgraceful sense); by implication to exile (captives being usually stripped).” When galah is used figuratively, it means “to reveal” (H1540). Balaam’s reaction to his eyes being opened was “he bowed down and fell on his face” (Numbers 22:31), an act of worship. Balaam showed reverence to the angel of the LORD because he recognized him as God.

The angel of the LORD said that he had come out to oppose Balaam because his way was perverse before him (Numbers 22:32). The Hebrew word that is translated oppose is satan (saw-tawnˊ). “Satan is an adversary or plotter, one who devises means for opposition” (H7854). The name Satan appears 14 times in the book of Job in reference to an angel that sought God’s permission and then, instigated Jobs trials. The adversarial relationship between Satan and the people of Israel and the angel of the LORD’s role as an intermediary on their behalf is revealed in the book of Zechariah through a vision of Joshua the high priest. Zechariah 3:1-10 states:

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brandplucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.

And the angel of the Lord solemnly assured Joshua, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.”

The angel of the LORD had the ability to take away Joshua’s iniquity, which is depicted by him removing Joshua’s filthy garments and giving him a clean set of clothes. It says that the angel of the LORD was standing by, suggesting that he was waiting or perhaps preparing for a predesignated task to take place. The angel of the LORD bore witness to the fact that the LORD of hosts was bringing his servant the Branch whom he said would remove sin in a single day (Zechariah 3:9). “This is one of several references to the Messiah using the imagery of a ‘branch’ (Zechariah 6:12; Isaiah 4:2)” (note on Jeremiah 23:5). Jesus told his disciples that he was “the true vine” and said that his Father was “the vinedresser” (John 15:1). Jesus then stated, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2). The Greek word that is translated branch, klema (klayˊ-mah) “denotes a tender, flexible branch, especially the shoot of a vine, a vine sprout” (G2814). This imagery is similar to what is used in Isaiah 53:2-3 to depict the Messiah. Isaiah stated, “For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

The angel of the LORD’s visit to a man named Gideon shows us that God’s chosen messengers are not typically the kind of people that others respect or admire. Judges 6:11 tells us that Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites when the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor” (Judges 6:12). Gideon’s response indicated that he was skeptical about his visitor’s declaration. Gideon asked the angel of the LORD, “If the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian” (Judges 6:13). Gideon seemed to be unaware of who he was talking to and appeared to disregard the message that he had received from the angel of the LORD. Gideon’s irreverent behavior may have been due to his family’s compromised lifestyle. Judges 6:25 indicates that there was an altar of Baal on his father’s property and an image of Asherah next to it. In spite of this, it says in Judges 6:14, “the LORD turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?’” The Hebrew word that is translated send, shalach (shaw-lakhˊ) means “’to send,’ in the sense of to initiate and to see that such movement occurs” and “the most frequent use of shalach suggests the sending of someone or something as a messenger to a particular place” (H7971). The LORD’s choice of Gideon as a messenger was puzzling even to him. Gideon asked, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house” (Judges 6:15).

Gideon’s response to being sent to save Israel from the hand of Midian was similar to Moses’ response when he was told to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 3:10-11). Both times, the angel of the LORD reminded these men, “But I will be with you” (Exodus 3:12; Judges 6:16). The angel of the LORD’s promise to be with Gideon didn’t mean that he would be visibly present at all times. It says in Judges 6:21, “the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.” The Hebrew word that is translated vanished, halak (haw-lakˊ) means “to walk” (H1980) suggesting physical separation. The only way that the angel of the LORD could be with Gideon without being physically present was for them to have a spiritual connection. After the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight, it says in Judges 6:22-27:

Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”…That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.

Gideon’s conversation with the LORD continued after the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. Although it’s not specifically stated, it can be assumed that Gideon and the LORD spoke to each other audibly and that the transmission of their voices was possible because the angel of the LORD continued to be with Gideon in a spiritual sense. Hebrews 4:2 indicates that the messages Gideon received from the LORD were heard and acted on by him because he believed in Jesus Christ. Therefore, it seems likely that Gideon understood that the angel of the LORD was the preincarnate Jesus Christ and that all the fullness of deity was being manifested to him in bodily form in the same way that it was after Jesus was born (note on Exodus 23:20-23).

The connection

After 400 years of waiting for their Messiah to arrive, the Jews may have wondered if God had forgotten about his chosen people. The last prophecy the Jews had received through the prophet Malachi was to look for the coming day of the LORD. In order for the Jews to make the connection when it happened, God told them, “Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:6). A contingent fulfillment of this prophecy took place when the birth of John the Baptist was announced. His father, Zacharias received a visit from the angel Gabriel who said of his son, “he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb…And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children” (Luke 1:15,17).

John the Baptist was not Elijah returning in the flesh, but he functioned like the Old Testament preacher of repentance (note on Luke 1:17). The connection made between these two men was meant to signal to the Jews that their Messiah was coming. In fact, it was only six months later that the birth of Jesus was announced. This time, the angel Gabriel made a connection between Jesus and the covenant God made with King David (2 Samuel 7:13,16). Gabriel said, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 32-33).

The back to back birth announcements of John the Baptist and Jesus were probably received with some measure of skepticism because it had been such a long time since there had been any communication from God to his chosen people. The connection Gabriel made to Old Testament prophecy was necessary to link Jesus with the Jews’ long awaited Messiah. Even though it was clearly evident that the time had finally come for God to fulfill his promise, things didn’t change immediately. John the Baptist and Jesus grew up under what you might say were normal conditions for children of that time period. There is no indication that people took any notice of Jesus during his childhood. It wasn’t until some thirty years later that Jesus’ ministry actually began. What is important to note about what was happening at that time was that the miraculous births of these two critical figures seemingly went unnoticed or were disregarded altogether by the Jews.

A picture of salvation

Zechariah’s eight night visions gave him an intense insight into what lay ahead for God’s people. His first three visions focused on God’s relationship with the remnant of Jews that had returned to the Promised Land. Zechariah’s next four visions focused on God’s relationship with the rest of the world. In particularly, Zechariah was given access to God’s heavenly throne room, in order to show him how the intercessory process of salvation worked. It says in Zechariah 3:1-2:

And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the LORD said unto Satan, the LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: Is not this a brand pluckt out of the fire?

The Hebrew term translated resist in Zechariah 3:1 is satan (saw – tan´). Satan means to attack and figuratively refers to an accusation (7853). One of the ways the word satan is translated is adversary and the person Satan is sometimes referred to as our adversary, also known as the devil. The interesting thing about God’s response is that he merely states, “the LORD rebuke thee” (Zechariah 3:2) and that’s the end of Satan’s argument. To rebuke someone means that you chide or scold him. Basically, what the LORD did was tell Satan to shut up.

The picture of a brand being pluckt out of the fire indicated that Joshua was not selected randomly, but was intentionally chosen as an instrument of God. Joshua’s selection by God meant that Satan no longer had any power over him, he couldn’t damage his reputation or say anything bad about him in the presence of the LORD. It says in Zechariah 3:3-4, “Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will cloth thee with change of raiment.” The association of sin with dirty clothes makes is seem as though the damage done by sin is only superficial, but in reality, Joshua’s garments were ruined, they had become rags that were useless to him. The change of raiment that Jesus gave him was in essence, the shirt off his own back. Joshua was temporarily covered with the LORD’s righteousness because Jesus had not yet died on the cross.

The LORD referred to Joshua as a “stone that I have laid” (Zechariah 3:9), one that he would use to engrave or open up a pathway to salvation for everyone. One way to look at what happened to Joshua was the initial establishment of Jesus’ ministry to save the world. The remnant of Jews that returned to the Promised Land were like seeds that were planted, and expected to take root, and eventually when the Messiah was born, they would bear fruit and be the first to become disciples of Jesus Christ.

Zechariah’s fifth vision contained a personal message for Zerubbabel, the grandson of King Jehoiachin who was taken into captivity in Babylon. Zechariah said, “This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). Essentially, what he was being told was that God’s people would not succeed without spiritual assistance from God. Zerubbabel was asked, “For who hath despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10). This question referred back to the rebuilding of God’s temple. “Some thought the work on the temple was insignificant (Ezra 3:12; Hag 2:3), but God was in the rebuilding program and, by His Spirit (v.6), would enable Zerubbabel to finish it” (note on Zechariah 4:10).

Zechariah’s sixth and seventh vision began to tie in the larger objective within God’s plan of salvation to the rebuilding of the temple. At the end of Jesus’ parable of the husbandmen (Matthew 21:33-40), he said to the religious leaders that were listening, “Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Matthew 21:42-44). Jesus’ comment was most likely a reference to his ability to take away Joshua’s sin(Zechariah 3:9) and yet his gift of salvation, full pardon, was being rejected by the men that had benefitted from the rebuilding of God’s temple. The Jews thought they were the only ones God intended to save, but Zechariah’s visions made it clear that God was concerned with the salvation of the entire world.

Zechariah was told concerning a flying roll or giant banner that stretched across the sky, “This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth” (Zechariah 5:3). Although God’s commandments were given to the Israelites, there was no exclusion of the rest of the world with respect to their validity or enforcement. By making the Jews aware of the laws that governed his universe, God was allowing his people to avoid punishment by obeying them, rather than violating his commandments through ignorance. According to Zechariah’s vision, “every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it” (Zechariah 5:3).

Zechariah’s seventh vision showed that not only must flagrant, persistent sinners be removed from the land, but the whole sinful system must be removed and would be centralized or contained temporarily within the boundaries of a place known as Babylonia, a land of idolatry (note on Zechariah 5:5-11). Revelation 17-18 depicts the final judgment of Babylonia or Babylon. It says in Revelation 18:2-3,21:

Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies…Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more.

Spiritual insight

The prophet Zachariah could be the most fortunate of all the Old Testament prophets because he was given an extremely close and in-depth look at God’s plan of salvation. There are numerous prophecies contained within Zachariah’s book that show without a doubt that Jesus was the Messiah. Although Zachariah was a contemporary of Haggai and was called to preach at almost the exact same time, the messages of these two men were very different. Haggai spoke in a very practical way about the need for God’s temple to be rebuilt, while Zachariah focused on the bigger picture and shared the spiritual insight he gained from eight visions he was given of God’s transformation of his earthly kingdom. The first thing Zachariah pointed out was that God was not finished with the Jews. They would be restored to his favor and would eventually triumph over their enemies.

Zachariah’s first interactive experience in the spiritual realm involved an interpreting angel that enabled him to understand the activities he was witnessing. The initial scene appeared to be a spiritual outpost where God’s messengers gathered to report their findings on earth. The messengers reported to a man identified as “the angel of the LORD” (Zachariah 1:11). “Traditional Christian interpretation has held that this ‘angel’ was a preincarnate manifestation of Christ as God’s Messenger-Servant” (note on Genesis 16:7). Zachariah 1:11 states, “And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold, all the earth sitteth still and is at rest.” Looking at Zachariah’s eight night visions as a progressive unfolding of future events, it is likely that the messengers’ report of stillness and rest referred to the period of time when the Medo-Persian Empire existed. For the most part, God’s people were allowed to do what they wanted to during the reigns of kings Cyrus, Darius, Ahasuerus, and Artaxerxes (538 – 432 B.C.).

Zachariah’s second vision showed that the temporary rest God’s people enjoyed would come to an end when God began to restructure the kingdoms that existed on earth. Daniel’s prophecy revealed that the Medo-Persian Empire that had conquered the Babylonians would be replaced by the Greek Empire, and then, the Roman Empire would be established (Daniel 7:4-7). Each of these kingdoms would become more terrifying than the first, until finally, God would cut-off the Gentile kingdoms (Zachariah 1:21). Zachariah’s third vision revealed that God’s people would flood the borders of Jerusalem at the time of Christ’s birth (Zachariah 2:4-5). Apparently, God would supernaturally enable people to return to the Promised Land that had not previously done so (Zachariah 2:9). According to Zachariah’s prophecy, God’s eternal kingdom would begin to be established on earth during the ministry of Jesus; the evidence being a voluntary joining of all the nations into a single spiritual kingdom. It says in Zachariah 2:11, “And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee.”