Davis, The Name and Way of the Lord.

I now turn to texts about God’s agent. A number of Jewish traditions interpret an Old Testament text about God as referring to the action of God’s agent. For example, in Jubilees 48, Prince Mastema takes the place of the LORD in Exod. 4.24-26 (Jub. 48.2). Exod. 4.24-26 is strange because the LORD in vv. 21-23 gives Moses instructions about the exodus, yet in v. 24 after their meeting, the LORD tries to kill Moses. Jub. 48.2 removes this difficulty by making Mastema the one who tries to kill Moses. A similar phenomenon occurs in the Old Testament between 1 Chron. 21.1 and 2 Sam. 24.1. In 2 Sam. 24.1, the Lord incites David to count the people while 1 Chron. 21.1 relates that Satan incites David to number the people. A related phenomenon may occur in the New Testament where Acts 12.17 assigns Peter’s release to ho Kyrios who led him out of prison when the narrative affirms it was an angel who did this (12.7-11). The hermeneutical axiom allowing for these changes may be the belief that God’s agent may act for God. God inciting David to act is in fact God using Satan to incite David to act. The Lord delivering Peter is in fact the Lord using an angel to deliver him. The important point is that these texts show that application of Old Testament texts about God to second figures does not necessitate the view that the writer included these second figures in their concept of God.

Mark 1

Additionally, playing the role of God on earth, as that role is prophesied by Isaiah and Malachi, does in fact establish Jesus as a unique agent of the dawning eschatological age. The idealized human paradigm allows us to say that God is visiting the people through Jesus, who is the agent identified with God’s actions on the earth. The good news is about Jesus the messiah (1:1), and this is precisely how it is also the good news of God (1:14). Making straight the ways for God’s anointed messiah is how the way is prepared for the kingdom of God to come through God’s chosen human king.