Allah Disgraces His “Prophet”

It is apparent from the Quran and ahadith that Allah and Muhammad had an intense love-hate relationship. The Islamic corpus shows that, not only did Muhammad have to live under the constant terror and dread of his god, he even had to undergo some rather humiliating circumstances:

Narrated Aisha:
Magic was worked on Allah’s Apostle so that he used to think that he had sexual relations with his wives while he actually had not (Sufyan said: That is the hardest kind of magic as it has such an effect). Then one day he said, “O ‘Aisha do you know that Allah has instructed me concerning the matter I asked Him about? Two men came to me and one of them sat near my head and the other sat near my feet. The one near my head asked the other, ‘What is wrong with this man?’ The latter replied he is under the effect of magic. The first one asked, ‘Who has worked magic on him?’ The other replied, ‘Labid bin Al-A’sam, a man from Bani Zuraiq who was an ally of the Jews and was a hypocrite.’ The first one asked, ‘What material did he use?’ The other replied, ‘A comb and the hair stuck to it.’ The first one asked, ‘Where (is that)?’ The other replied, ‘In a skin of pollen of a male date palm tree kept under a stone in the well of Dharwan.’” So the Prophet went to that well and took out those things and said, “That was the well which was shown to me (in a dream). Its water looked like the infusion of Henna leaves and its date-palm trees looked like the heads of devils.” The Prophet added, “Then that thing was taken out.” I said (to the Prophet) “Why do you not treat yourself with Nashra?” He said, “Allah has cured me; I dislike to let evil spread among my people.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 71, Number 660 https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=71&translator=1&start=0&number=660)

According to specific sources, the spell lasted a year:

^I In commenting on this Suhayli asserts that the tradition is sound and is accepted by the traditionists. He found in the Jami’ of Mu‘ammar b. Rashad (a work which I cannot find mentioned by Brockelmann) the statement THAT THE SPELL LASTED A YEAR. He adds that the Mu‘tazila and Modernists rejected the tradition on the ground that prophets could not be bewitched otherwise they would commit sin and that would be contrary to the word of God ‘And God will protect thee from men’ (5.71). He finds the tradition unassailable. It is properly attested and intellectually acceptable. The prophets were not preserved from bodily afflictions in which category sorcery falls. (The Life of Muhammad, A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, with introduction and notes by Alfred Guillaume [Oxford University Press, Karachi, Tenth Impression 1995), p. 240; bold and capital emphasis ours)

Moreover, Allah allowed Muhammad to endure a very painful death as a result of food poisoning:

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

A Jewess brought a poisoned (cooked) sheep for the Prophet who ate from it. She was brought to the Prophet and he was asked, “Shall we kill her?” He said, “No.” I continued to see the effect of the poison on the palate of the mouth of Allah’s Apostle. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 47, Number 786 https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=47&translator=1&start=0&number=786)

Narrated Ibn Abbas:

‘Umar bin Al-Khattab used to let Ibn Abbas sit beside him, so ‘AbdurRahman bin ‘Auf said to ‘Umar, “We have sons similar to him.” ‘Umar replied, “(I respect him) because of his status that you know.” ‘Umar then asked Ibn ‘Abbas about the meaning of this Holy Verse:– “When comes the help of Allah and the conquest of Mecca…” (110.1)

Ibn ‘Abbas replied, “That indicated the death of Allah’s Apostle which Allah informed him of.” ‘Umar said, “I do not understand of it except what you understand.” Narrated ‘Aisha: The Prophet in his ailment in which he died, used to say, “O ‘Aisha! I still feel the pain caused by the food I ate at Khaibar, and at this time, I feel as if my aorta is being cut from that poison.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 59, Number 713 https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=59&translator=1&start=0&number=713)

His condition became so severe that some of his own companions thought that Muhammad had become mentally ill, even delirious:

Narrated Said bin Jubair:
that he heard Ibn ‘Abbas saying, “Thursday! And you know not what Thursday is?” After that Ibn ‘Abbas wept till the stones on the ground were soaked with his tears. On that I asked Ibn ‘Abbas, “What is (about) Thursday?” He said, “When the condition (i.e. health) of Allah’s Apostle deteriorated, he said, ‘Bring me a bone of scapula, so that I may write something for you after which you will never go astray.’ The people differed in their opinions although it was improper to differ in front of a prophet. They said, ‘What is wrong with him? Do you think he is delirious? Ask him (to understand).’ The Prophet replied, ‘Leave me as I am in a better state than what you are asking me to do.’ Then the Prophet ordered them to do three things saying, ‘Turn out all the pagans from the Arabian Peninsula, show respect to all foreign delegates by giving them gifts as I used to do.’” The sub-narrator added, “The third order was something beneficial which either Ibn ‘Abbas did not mention or he mentioned but I forgot.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 53, Number 393 https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=53&translator=1&start=0&number=393)

And:

Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas:
When Allah’s Apostle was on his death-bed and in the house there were some people among whom was ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab, the Prophet said, “Come, let me write for you a statement after which you will not go astray.” ‘Umar said, “The Prophet is seriously ill and you have the Qur’an; so the Book of Allah is enough for us.” The people present in the house differed and quarrelled. Some said, “Go near so that the Prophet may write for you a statement after which you will not go astray,” while the others said as Umar said. When they caused a hue and cry before the Prophet, Allah’s Apostle said, “Go away!” Narrated ‘Ubaidullah: Ibn ‘Abbas used to say, “It was very unfortunate that Allah’s Apostle was prevented from writing that statement for them because of their disagreement and noise.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 70, Number 573 https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=70&translator=1&start=0&number=573)

A side note: How interesting to find Umar and a group of unnamed companions of Muhammad stating that Allah’s book, i.e. the Quran, is all that is needed when we have Sunnis telling us all the time that Muslims also need Muhammad’s sunna since the Quran is insufficient.

Finally,

Ahmad b. Hammad al-Dulabi – Sufyan – Sulayman b. Abi Muslim – Sa‘id b. Jubayr – Ibn ‘Abbas: Thursday, what a Thursday! He said: The Messenger of God’s pain because to severe that he said, “Give me [pen and paper] so that I may write a document for you and you will never go astray after me!” His companions wrangled over it, and it did not befit them to carry on a dispute before a prophet. Some people said, “What’s the matter with him! Is he talking nonsense? Ask him a question.” [When] they went back, repeating [those remarks] to him, he replied, “Leave me [alone], the state that I am in is better than that for which you are calling me.” He charged them with three things: … [Sa‘id b. Jubayr states that Ibn ‘Abbas] became silent about the third [command] either intentionally, or that he said that he had forgotten it.

Abu Kurayb and Salih b. Sammal – Waki’ – Malik b. Mighwal – Talhah b. Musarrif – Sa‘id b. Jubayr – Ibn ‘Abbas: Thursday, what a Thursday! [Sa‘id b. Jubayr:] Then I looked at Ibn ‘Abbas’ tears flowing on his cheeks as if they were a chain of pearls, [saying:] The Messenger of God said, “Bring me a tablet (lawh) and an inkpot (dawat), or a plank of the shoulder blade (katif) and an inkpot, so that I can write for you a document, after which you will not go astray.” Some [people] said that the Messenger of God was talking deliriously. (The History of al-Tabari – The Last Years of the Prophet, translated and annotated by Ismail K. Poonawala [State University of New York (SUNY) Press, Albany 1990], Volume IX (9), pp. 174-175; bold and underline emphasis ours)

The translator adds some interesting notes:

1206. Baladhuri: They said: “Do you see him talking nonsense?” and [started] wrangling among themselves. The Messenger of God became grieved and annoyed and asked them to leave.

1207. The Prophet was not happy with ‘Umar because he did not cooperate with him when he asked for pen and paper. See Ibn Sa‘d, Tabaqat, II/2, 36-38; Buhl, Leben, 353: Momen, Shi‘i Islam, 15-16. The Shi‘is claim that the prophet wanted to make a written testament favoring ‘Ali’s succession as head of the nascent Islamic state but that ‘Umar foiled his plan. See Mirza, al-Balagh, I, 254-86. (Ibid., p. 174; bold and underline emphasis ours)

Thus, Allah humiliated his prophet by allowing him to come under the power of magic for a year which caused him to think that he was actually having sex with all of his wives. To see just how disgraceful this is one simply has to ask what was Muhammad actually doing during the entire year that he thought he was sleeping with his wives? Are we to assume that Muhammad was pleasuring himself in some manner which led him to think that he was actually engaging in intercourse?

Allah further disgraced Muhammad by permitting him to die in an excruciating manner, from the effects of poison, which led to a situation where his very own companions thought he was delirious, out of his mind, and speaking nonsense.

Allah did all this to him despite his promises in the Quran that he would protect his righteous servants from the Devil and insuring his messenger that Satan and the disbelievers would not be able to harm him by their schemes, which would obviously include such things as magic and poison (cf. Q. 5:67; 7:11-18; 15:32-44; 16:98-100 & 72:27-28).

How, then, can any Muslims trust such a deity who humiliated and disgraced his very own messenger? If Allah did this to Muhammad, who was supposedly his beloved, then can a Muslim imagine what the Muslim god plans to do to them?

Source: https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2019/11/12/allah-disgraces-his-prophet/

IHS

The Deception of Allah and the Uncertainty of Salvation

The Quran warns people against feeling secure from Allah’s lies, deceit, schemes etc.

Have they become sure about Allah’s scheming/deceit (makra Allahi)? None are sure about Allah’s scheming/deceit (makra Allahi) except the people who are losers. S. 7:99

The verse is formulated in absolute terms, e.g. “none … except …,” which means that it has consequences for the believers as well. Muslims must pretty much live in constant fear from the makr (cheating/scheming/deception) of Allah, since it is only the losers, the disbelievers, who do not fear it. Thus, if a Muslim thinks that s/he is secure from Allah’s cheating/deception then s/he is already among the losers.

To state this differently, unbelievers think they are secure but their sense of security is misguided and are headed for a dreadful judgment. And yet believers cannot feel or be secure since a sign of disbelief is having a sense of security or safety from Allah’s schemes and lies. They must necessarily live in fear of Allah in order to show or know that they are not among the losers, or disbelievers, but are true believers.

This explains why Allah doesn’t guarantee the salvation of his followers, and why the Quran often says that the Islamic deity may choose to do such and such if he so wishes but is not obligated to do so:

Allah forgives not that aught should be with Him associated; less than that He forgives to whomsoever He will. Whoso associates with Allah anything, has indeed forged a mighty sin. S. 4:48

Hence, even though Allah has committed himself to torment and condemn sinners he isn’t obligated to forgive them even if they happen to turn to him in repentance. Only he shall inhabit Allah’s places of worship who believes in Allah and the Last Day, and performs the prayer, and pays the alms, and fears none but Allah alone; it MAY BE that those will be among the guided. S. 9:18 Medinan

O believers, follow not the steps of Satan; for whosoever follows the steps of Satan, assuredly he bids to indecency and dishonour. But for Allah’s bounty to you and His mercy not one of you would have been pure ever; but God purifies whom He will; and Allah is All-hearing, All-knowing. S. 24:21

O ye who believe! Turn unto Allah in sincere repentance! It MAY BE that your Lord will remit from you your evil deeds and bring you into Gardens underneath which rivers flow, on the day when Allah will not abase the Prophet and those who believe with him. Their light will run before them and on their right hands; they will say: Our Lord! Perfect our light for us, and forgive us! Lo! Thou art Able to do all things. S. 66:8 Medinan

In fact, the Quran itself shows that it is not Allah’s will to save everyone since he has chosen to send whomever he wants to hell:

Whomsoever Allah guides, he is the guided one, and whomsoever He sends astray, those! They are the losers. And surely, We have created many of the jinns and mankind for Hell. They have hearts wherewith they understand not, they have eyes wherewith they see not, and they have ears wherewith they hear not (the truth). They are like cattle, nay even more astray; those! They are the heedless ones. S. 7:178-179 Hilali-Khan

If We had so willed, We could have given every soul its guidance; but now My Word is realized – ‘Assuredly I shall fill Gehenna with jinn and men all together.’ So now taste, for that you forgot the encounter of this your day! We indeed have forgotten you. Taste the chastisement of eternity for that you were doing!’ S. 32:13-14

The above verses demonstrate that Allah is under no obligation to forgive or purify anyone and doesn’t commit himself to save any individual since he obviously doesn’t want his followers from ever feeling safe and secure from his lies and deceit.

This then explains why even those nearest to him, such as the angels, can only hope for mercy and fear Allah’s wrath:

Those they call upon are themselves seeking the means to come to their Lord, which of them shall be nearer; they HOPE for His mercy, and fear His chastisement. Surely thy Lord’s chastisement is a thing to beware of. S. 17:57 Meccan

In light of the foregoing does it really come as a surprise that Muhammad was never certain of his destiny and didn’t know whether Allah would save and forgive him? Should it shock us to discover that Abu Bakr, one of Muhammad’s closest friends and the first Muslim leader after Muhammad’s death, was afraid for his own eternal destiny?

“Although he had such a faith, which was too great to suffice all the inhabitants of the earth, he was afraid that his heart might go astray. So, he used to utter, while weeping: ‘Would that I have been a bitten tree!’ Whenever he was reminded of his position in Allah’s sight, he would say: ‘By Allah! I would not rest assured and feel safe from the deception of Allah (la amanu limakr Allah), even if I had one foot in paradise.’” (Khalid Muhammad Khalid, Successors of the Messenger, translated by Muhammad Mahdi al-Sharif [Dar al-Kotob al-Ilmiyah, Beirut Lebanon, 2005], Book One: Abu Bakr Has Come, p. 99; bold and italic emphasis ours)

Allah’s non-commitment to save and his deceptive character also help us to make sense out of the following reports where other companions of Muhammad would weep in fear in the face of their impending deaths:

It is narrated on the authority of Ibn Shamasa Mahri that he said: We went to Amr b. al-As and he was about to die. He wept for a long time and turned his face towards the wall. His son said: Did the Messenger of Allah not give you tidings of this? Did the Messenger of Allah not give you tidings of this? He (the narrator) said: He turned his face (towards the audience) and said: The best thing which we can count upon is the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah. Verily I have passed through three phases. (The first one) in which I found myself averse to none else more than I was averse to the Messenger of Allah and there was no other desire stronger in me than the one that I should overpower him and kill him. Had I died in this state, I would have been definitely one of the denizens of Fire. When Allah instilled the love of Islam in my heart, I came to the Apostle and said: Stretch out your right hand so that may pledge my allegiance to you. He stretched out his right hand, I withdrew my hand, He (the Holy Prophet) said: What has happened to you, O ‘Amr? I replied: I intend to lay down some condition. He asked: What condition do you intend to put forward? I said: I should be granted pardon. He (the Holy Prophet) observed: Are you not aware of the fact that Islam wipes out all the previous (misdeeds)? Verily migration wipes out all the previous (misdeeds), and verily the pilgrimage wipes out all the (previous) misdeeds. And then no one was as dear to me than the Messenger of Allah and none was more sublime in my eyes than he. Never could I pluck courage to catch a full glimpse of his face due to its splendour. So if I am asked to describe his features, I cannot do that for I have not eyed him fully. Had I died in this state I had every reason TO HOPE that I would have been among the dwellers of Paradise. Then we were responsible for certain things (in the light of which) I am unable to know what is in store for me. When I die, let neither female mourner nor fire accompany me. When you bury me, fill my grave well with earth, then stand around it for the time within which a camel is slaughtered and its meat is distributed so that I may enjoy your intimacy and (in your company) ascertain what answer I can give to the messengers (angels) of Allah. (Sahih Muslim, Book 001, Number https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=001&translator=2&start=0&number=0220)

And:

According to Ibn Humayd – Salamah – Muhammad b. Ishaq – Muhammad b. Ja‘far b. al-Zubayr – ‘Urwah b. al-Zubayr, who said: The Messenger of God sent his expedition to Mu’tah in Jumada I of the year 8. He put Zayd b. Harithah in command of the men and said, “If Zayd b. Harithah is killed, Ja‘far b. Abi Talib shall be in command of the men; if Ja‘far is killed, ‘Abdallah b. Rawahah shall be in command… When ‘Abdallah b. Rawahah said goodbye with the other commanders of the Messenger of God who were doing so, HE WEPT. They said to him, “What is making you weep, Ibn Rawahah?” He said, “By God, I have no love of this world or excessive love for you, but I heard the Messenger of God recite a verse from the Book of God that mentioned the Fire [of Hell] – ‘Not one of you there is, but he shall go down to it; that for thy Lord is a thing decreed, determined’ – AND I DO NOT KNOW HOW I CAN COME OUT AFTER GOING DOWN.” The Muslims said, “May God accompany you, defend you, and bring you back to us in good health.” … (The History of Al-Tabari: The Victory of Islam, translated by Michael Fishbein [State University of New York Press (SUNY), Albany 1997], Volume VIII (8), pp. 152-153; bold and capital emphasis ours)

All of these Muslims shared this in common: None of them knew for certain whether Allah would save them from hell and had to die in a state of dread and fear as a result of their uncertainty. As one Christian writer puts it:

TWO OF THE FIRST MUSLIMS

Finally, to close this Chapter we shall look at the attitude of two of the earliest and greatest Muslims, which shows how they were feeling as death approached. Jens Christensen, after many years of Islamic studies, wrote,[14]

One of the things that often surprised me in my first studies of Islam was the note of despondency and insecurity that is found in the deathbed utterances of so many of Islam’s great men.

Abu Bakr, for example, was a prince among men, of sterling character and a true Muslim. Yet it is said of him that he was so fearful of the future and labored so much under distress that his breath was often as of a roasted liver. According to two traditions he is supposed to have said to Aisha on the day of his death,

“Oh my daughter, this is the day of my release and of obtaining of my desert:—if gladness it will be lasting; if sorrow it will never cease.”[12]

Do you see those two “ifs”? Nothing in Islam can remove them; not even the fact that Abu Bakr was given the title ‘Atiq (Free) because Muhammad is supposed to have told him: “You are free (saved) from the fire.”

T. P. Hughes quotes Omar as saying, “It had gone hard with my soul, if I had not been a Muslim”[13], but in telling of Omar’s death Christensen writes,[14]

When Omar was lying on his deathbed, he is reported to have said,

“…I am not other than as a drowning man who sees a possibility of escape with life, and hopes for it, but fears he may die and lose it, and so plunges about with hands and feet. More desperate than the drowning man is he who at the sight of heaven and hell is buried in the vision…Had I the whole East and West, gladly would I give up all to be delivered from this awful terror that is hanging over me. And finally touching his face against the ground he cried aloud: `Alas for Omar, and alas for the mother of Omar, if it should not please the Lord to pardon me.”

Do you see Omar’s difficulty? It is the uncertainty expressed in the “if” of the last sentence. That “if” does not express any feeling of uncertainty regarding Omar’s faith, Omar’s belief in one God, Omar’s trust and confidence in the prophet, or Omar’s lack of having lived a moral life. All of these things are in order as far as a human being could do that which is right.

No. The “if” refers to Allah; “if” it should not please the Lord to pardon him.

NO MAN CAN KNOW

When Yazid was burying Omar his father, he is quoted as saying: “I will not magnify him before the Almighty in whose presence he has gone to appear. If He forgives him it will be of His mercy; if He takes vengeance on him, it will be for his transgressions.”

Here again you have the two “ifs“:

If Allah forgives…
If Allah takes vengeance…

This remark of Yazid’s seems to me to epitomize the whole of Islam.[14] No man from Muhammad himself, right down to the least educated non-Arabic speaking Muslim who knows only a few prayers, would ever presume to know, or dare to predict what “if” will mean for him.[15] …

Notes…

12. This and the following quotations about Omar are found in The Torch of Guidance to the Mystery of Redemption translated by Sir W. Muir, printed by the Religious Tract Society, London [Christensen’s footnote]
13. Hughes, op.cit., p.654.
14. Practical Approach, Pakistan, 1960 as correspondence course. Republished 1977, p. 379.
15. Ibid., p. 381   (Dr. William Campbell, the Qur’an and the Bible in light of History and Science, Section Six: Jesus and Muhammad, Two Prophets For A Lost World?, Chapter V. The Power of Intercession; source)

When we better grasp what Q. 7:99 says and the complicit and capricious nature of Allah, this fear is very understandable. These Muslims knew their god enough to know that he is a deceiver who could change his mind and send them to hell if he wanted to without anyone stopping him from doing so.

Source: https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2019/11/12/the-deception-of-allah-and-the-uncertainty-of-salvation/

IHS

How the Prophet Hosea Exposes Muhammad as a False Prophet Pt. 2

I continue from where I left off, providing additional evidence from Hosea that God is a multi-Personal Being and that the Angel of Jehovah is the God of Israel (https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2019/11/09/how-the-prophet-hosea-exposes-muhammad-as-a-false-prophet-pt-1/).

“And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And Jehovah said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah; for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, that I should in any wise pardon them. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by Jehovah their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.” Hosea 1:6-7

Jehovah is speaking, and he plainly says that he will save Judah by Jehovah their God. And just as the bow, sword, battle/warfare, horses and horsemen are all distinct and separate from Jehovah, this means that the Jehovah God whom Jehovah employs to save the Judeans must also be distinct from him.

Note v. 7 again:

“But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by Yahweh THEIR God, and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.” World English Bible (WEB)

“and the house of Judah I pity, and have saved them by Jehovah THEIR God, and do not save them by bow, and by sword, and by battle, by horses, and by horsemen.” Young’s Literal Translation (YLT)

Now Hosea most likely had in mind Judah’s deliverance during the reign of Hezekiah when the Assyrian king Sennacherib threatened to attack Jerusalem and take the Judean king and the inhabitants captive. Old Testament scholars are virtually unanimous concerning this point:

But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah – I will spare them as a kingdom after Israel has been carried away into captivity by the Assyrians.

And will save them by the Lord their God – Remarkably fulfilled in the supernatural defeat of the army of the Assyrians, see 2 Kings 19:35; and so they were saved not by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen. The former expression may mean, not in war by horses, i.e., yoked to war chariots, nor by horsemen – nor by cavalry, however efficient such troops might have then been deemed. (Adam Clark Commentary https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/hosea-1.html)

And will save them by the Lord their God, not by bow … – Shortly after this, God did, in the reign of Hezekiah, save them by Himself from Sennacherib, when the Angel of the Lord smote in one night 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. “Neither in that night, nor when they were freed from the captivity at Babylon, did they bend bow or draw sword against their enemies or their captors. While they slept, the Angel of the Lord smote the camp of the Assyrians. At the prayers of David and the prophets and holy men, yea, and of the angels Zechariah 1:12 too, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, to set them free “to go up to Jerusalem, and build the temple of the Lord God of Israel” Ezra 1:3. But much more, this is the special promise of the Gospel, that God would deliver, not outwardly, but inwardly; not by human wars, but in peace; not by man, but by Himself. “By the Lord their God,” by Himself who is speaking, or, The Father by the Son, (in like way as it is said, “The Lord rained upon Sodom fire from the Lord” Genesis 19:24). (Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Whole Bible https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/hosea-1.html; underline emphasis ours)

And, as the foregoing citations indicate, God delivered the Judeans by the hand of the Angel of Jehovah:

“Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come unto this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come unto this city, saith Jehovah. For I will defend this city to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.” 2 Kings 19:32-37

Now the reason why this is so interesting, in fact remarkable, is that the Angel whom God employed to deliver Judah is expressly identified as the God of Judah!

Once again, here is the verse from Hosea:

“Yet for the house of Judah I will feel pity; I will save them by the LORD, THEIR God; but I will not save them by bow or sword, by warfare, by horses or horsemen.” New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)

This isn’t the only text where the Angel is expressly said to be the God of the covenant community:

“Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, unto Horeb. And THE ANGEL OF JEHOVAH appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God… And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am that I am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, hath appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.” Exodus 3:1-6, 13-17

The New Testament further confirms that the God who appeared to and accompanied Moses was none other than the Angel of Jehovah:

“And when forty years were fulfilled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. And when Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold, there came a voice of the Lord, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. And Moses trembled, and durst not behold. And the Lord said unto him, Loose the shoes from thy feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I am come down to deliver them: and now come, I will send thee into Egypt. This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? him hath God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush… This is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel that spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received living oracles to give unto us:” Acts 7:30-35, 38

What we thus have in Hosea 1:6-7 is Jehovah God clearly speaking of another divine Person that he dispatched to save the people of Judah. In the words of the late Dr. Robert A. Morey:

If I as the first person promise to do something for you as the second person through a third person, am I not implying that I am not the same as the third person? If grammar means anything, the answer is, “Yes”.

When Yahweh as the first person promised to deliver Israel as the second person by a third person called Yahweh, what other conclusion can we logically come to than that there are two persons each called Yahweh?

The “classic” commentary on the Minor Prophets was written by E.B. Pusey. He noted that the “Yahweh their God” through whom the deliverance came was none other than the Angel of Yahweh when he “smote in one night 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians.”[19] How was the deliverance accomplished?

The Father by the Son (in like way as it said, Yahweh rained upon Sodom fire from Yahweh.) They were saved in Christ, Yahweh and God of all, not by carnal weapons of warfare, but by the might of Him Who saved them, and shook thrones and dominions, and Who by His Cross triumphed over the hosts of the adversaries, and overcame the powers of evil.[20]

The “Yahweh their God” was clearly a different person from the “Yahweh” who was speaking. Yet, they each were YaHWeH. While this is what Trinitarians expect to find in the Bible, Unitarians are continually frustrated by such passages.

That the authors of Scripture believed that God was multi-personal can also be found in passages concerning the angel of Yahweh and the theophanies. This material is so vast that we must devote separate chapters to each subject. (Morey, Trinity: Evidence and Issues, Chapter Seven: A Multi-Personal God https://answering-islam.org/Trinity/morey7.html; bold emphasis ours)

Hosea wasn’t the only inspired prophet to speak of two divine Persons as Jehovah God:

“Ho Zion, escape, thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: [a]After glory hath he sent me unto the nations which plundered you; for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall be a spoil to those that served them; and ye shall know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah. And many nations shall join themselves to Jehovah in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And Jehovah shall inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Be silent, all flesh, before Jehovah; for he is waked up out of his holy habitation.” Zechariah 2:7-13

In this passage, Jehovah says that he is coming to dwell in the midst of the people of Judah, specifically in Jerusalem, and that once he does so then his people will know that Jehovah has sent him to live among them!

Zechariah elsewhere confirms that Jehovah will descend upon the mount of olives, which will be split in half by the impact of his glorious feet, in order to begin ruling in Jerusalem as the King of all the earth:

“Behold, a day of Jehovah cometh, when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall Jehovah go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And HIS FEET shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azel; yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and Jehovah my God shall come, and all the holy ones with thee… And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall Jehovah be one, and his name one… And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso of all the families of the earth goeth not up unto Jerusalem to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, upon them there shall be no rain.” Zechariah 14:1-5, 9, 16-17

Remarkably, the NT writings teach that it is Jesus who will descend upon the mount of olives when he returns with all his holy ones in order to judge the living and the dead and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords!

“And when he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they were looking stedfastly into heaven as he went, behold two men stood by them in white apparel; who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is nigh unto Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey off.” Acts 1:9-12

“to the end he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.” 1 Thessalonians 3:13

“But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

“which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God; to the end that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: if so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you, and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day.” 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10

“And I saw the heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and he that sat thereon called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. And his eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head are many diadems; and he hath a name written which no one knoweth but he himself. And he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure. And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty. And he hath on his garment and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.” Revelation 19:11-16

This means that, as far as the inspired NT writings are concerned, Jesus Christ is the Jehovah God whom Zechariah stated would descend upon the mount of olives in order to begin ruling the nations from Jerusalem!

This now brings me to my final point.

God as a Spiritual Father to his people

Hosea affirms that Jehovah’s covenant people are the spiritual sons and daughters of God:

“Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that, in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.” Hosea 1:10

“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. The more the prophets called them, the more they went from them: they sacrificed unto the Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. Yet I taught Ephraim to walk; [a]I took them on my arms; but they knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love; and I was to them as they that lift up the yoke on their jaws; and I laid food before them.” Hosea 11:1-4

The New Testament agrees in that it expressly teaches that all who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ become children of the living God:

“But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12-13

“But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you. So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh: for if ye live after the flesh, ye must die; but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him.” Romans 8:9-17

“For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus. And if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.” Galatians 3:26-29

“but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” Galatians 4:4-7

“Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is.” 1 John 3:1-2

Muhammad, on the other hand, contradicted the true prophets and apostles of God by denying that his deity is a father to anyone, even in a purely spiritual sense:

The Jews and Christians say: We are sons of Allah and His loved ones. Say: Why then doth He chastise you for your sins? Nay, ye are but mortals of His creating. He forgiveth whom He will, and chastiseth whom He will. Allah’s is the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and unto Him is the journeying. S. 5:18 Pickthall

And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths. They imitate the saying of those who disbelieved of old. Allah (Himself) fighteth against them. How perverse are they! S. 9:30 Pickthall

Instead, he taught that the highest relationship a person can have with his god is that of a slave to master relationship:

Assuredly ye utter a disastrous thing Whereby almost the heavens are torn, and the earth is split asunder and the mountains fall in ruins, That ye ascribe unto the Beneficent a son, When it is not meet for (the Majesty of) the Beneficent that He should choose a son. There is none in the heavens and the earth but cometh unto the Beneficent as a slave. S. 19:88-93 Pickthall – Cf. Q. 6:101; 21:26; 39:4; 72:3

The Lord Jesus taught that if all one happens to be is a slave/servant then s/he has no permanent place in God’s house. This is why the risen Lord came to make slaves into sons and daughters of his God and Father:

“Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin. And the bondservant abideth not in the house for ever: the son abideth for ever. If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:34-36

With the foregoing in perspective, do these Muhammadans really want us to believe that prophets such as Hosea announced the coming of Muhammad, a false prophet who contradicted the theology of these truly inspired spokespersons of God?

The fact is that the unanimous witness of the God-breathed Scriptures is that Muhammad was an antichrist, one who is now under the glorious feet of the Lord Jesus:

“Then cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be abolished is death. For, He put all things in subjection under his feet. But when he saith, All things are put in subjection, it is evident that he is excepted who did subject all things unto him. And when all things have been subjected unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be all in all.” 1 Corinthians 15:24-28

“Who is the liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, even he that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that confesseth the Son hath the Father also.” 1 John 2:22-23

The sooner the Muslims come to terms with this fact the better off they will be since they will save both themselves and their prophet from being exposed and humiliated for perverting the sacred Scriptures to their destruction:

“Every word of God is tried: He is a shield unto them that take refuge in him. Add thou not unto his words, Lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” Proverbs 30:5-6

“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” 2 Peter 3:15-16

Unless noted otherwise, biblical references taken from the American Standard Version (ASV).

Source: https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2019/11/09/how-the-prophet-hosea-exposes-muhammad-as-a-false-prophet-pt-2/

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How the Prophet Hosea Exposes Muhammad as a False Prophet Pt. 1

In this series I am going to refute the desperate Muhammadan attempt of using the book of Hosea to prove that Muhammad was a true prophet of God (https://bloggingtheology.com/2019/09/07/is-prophet-muhammad-pbuh-mentioned-by-the-name-in-the-bible/). I am going to show how the theology of this inspired Scripture actually exposes Muhammad as a false prophet and antichrist, therefore refuting any attempt of finding prophecies of him by this true prophet of God.

Multi-Personal God

What makes this prophetic book rather interesting is that it explicitly identifies the Angel/Messenger of God/Jehovah (Malak El/Elohim/YHWH) as the very Jehovah God who appeared to Jacob and who also wrestled with him:

“Jehovah hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him. In the womb he took his brother by the heel; and in his manhood he had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him at Beth-el, and there he spake with us, even Jehovah, the God of hosts; Jehovah is his memorial name.” Hosea 12:2-5

The inspired author is recalling the following evens in the life of Jacob:

“And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but [a]Israel: for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, said he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Genesis 32:24-30

Jacob clearly refers to the Man with whom he wrestled as the God whom he saw face to face.

This next one is rather remarkable:

“And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed; and, behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and, behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Beth-el: but the name of the city was Luz at the first. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and Jehovah will be my God, then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” Genesis 28:10-22

Pay careful attention to the fact it was Jehovah God who personally appeared to Jacob, and that it was to Jehovah that Jacob made a vow and dedicated the pillar, calling it Beth-el, meaning “the house of God.”

The reason this is remarkable is that elsewhere Jacob recounts a dream in which the Angel of God appeared to him, claiming to be the very God of Beth-el whom Jacob made a vow to:

“And it came to pass at the time that the flock conceive, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the he-goats which leaped upon the flock were ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled. And the angel of God said unto me in the dream, Jacob: and I said, Here am I. And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see: all the he-goats which leap upon the flock are ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. I am the God of Beth-el, where thou anointedst a pillar, where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy nativity.” Genesis 31:10-13

This explains why Hosea could identify the Angel as the very God Jehovah whom Jacob wrestled with and whose favor he sought. I.e., the Angel is none other than Jehovah God Almighty appearing to his people in their time of need and distress.

At the same time, however, the Angel is distinguished from another who is called Jehovah God, thereby unveiling the fact of the one true God of Israel existing as a multi-Personal Being.

This is brought out more clearly in the following passage:

“And God (Elohim) said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God (El), who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother… And he built there an altar, and called the place [b]El-beth-el; because there God was revealed (niglu ha Elohim) unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. ” Genesis 35:1, 7

[b] Genesis 35:7 That is, The God of Beth-el.

Several points need to be mentioned. First, note the distinction between the words employed for God in Hebrew, namely, Elohim and El. The passage has Elohim commanding Jacob to build an altar to the El who had appeared to him, thereby clearly distinguishing between the two.

In other words, the Elohim who is speaking to Jacob is different from the El who had appeared to Jacob at Beth-el, a fact which is further confirmed by the Hebrew word for “was revealed”, e.g., niglu. Niglu is third person common plural (https://biblehub.com/interlinear/genesis/35-7.htm) of galah (https://biblehub.com/hebrew/1540.htm). As such, the text literally reads, “when THEY, namely Elohim (plural noun), were revealed unto him.”

The inspired text is, thus, confirming that the God who appeared to Jacob is not a singular Person, but a multi-Personal Being, consisting of both Jehovah and his Angel. After all, as the foregoing passages affirm, the El who appeared to Jacob at Beth-el, the Jehovah to whom he vowed and anointed a pillar which he consecrated as his house, was the Angel of God himself. There’s simply no way around this inspired truth.

In light of the foregoing, this is how we would render Genesis 35:1, 7 in order to best capture its inspired meaning:

“And the Godhead said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to the house of God, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto the Angel, who was the God that appeared to you… And he built there an altar, and called the place the God of the house of God; because there the Godhead, namely Jehovah and his Angel, revealed themselves to him.” Genesis 35:1, 7

Hence, both Genesis and Hosea affirm that God is a multi-Personal Being and that the Angel of Jehovah is no creature, but is rather Jehovah God Almighty who would often appear visibly to the people of God.

This explains why this particular Angel is worshiped as Jehovah God, embodies the very name or essence of God, and performs unique divine functions, such as forgiving sins:

“Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee by the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Take ye heed before him, and hearken unto his voice; provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgression: for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed hearken unto his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: and I will cut them off.” Exodus 23:20-23

“Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take the filthy garments from off him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with rich apparel.” Zechariah 3:3-4

“Then Jehovah opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of Jehovah standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and he bowed his head, and fell on his face. And the angel of Jehovah said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I am come forth for an adversary, because thy way is perverse before me:” Numbers 22:31-32

“And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that, when thy words come to pass, we may do thee honor? And the angel of Jehovah said unto him, Wherefore askest thou after my name, seeing it is wonderful? So Manoah took the kid with the meal-offering, and offered it upon the rock unto Jehovah: and the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of Jehovah ascended in the flame of the altar: and Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground. But the angel of Jehovah did no more appear to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Jehovah. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If Jehovah were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meal-offering at our hand, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would at this time have told such things as these.” Judges 13:17-23

I’ll have more to say about this Angel in relation to the book of Hosea in the next installment (https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2019/11/09/how-the-prophet-hosea-exposes-muhammad-as-a-false-prophet-pt-2/).

Source: https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2019/11/09/how-the-prophet-hosea-exposes-muhammad-as-a-false-prophet-pt-1/

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