Guardian angels of a special kind are those who bear the image of the
one they have been tasked with protecting.
Midrash Psalm 55 § 3 (146B): R. Joshua b. Levi (ca. 250) said, “What
does ‘He redeems my soul in peace’ (Ps 55:19) mean? The image (namely from the
world of the angels) goes before a man, and the (heavenly) beings cry out and
say (to the demons who invisibly surround the man), ‘Make way for the image of
God!’ ”—Similarly in Deut. Rab. 4 (201D), where in the Venice ed. of 1545,
the unusual איקונײא = εἰκόνιον is supplied. In Midr. Ps. 17 § 8, the plural is used: Images from the
angels go before a man.…—Bacher believes that איקוניא
has been corrupted from some other word; Krauß is inclined to read קִינוֹנְיָא = κοινωνία (community, society). In any case, the reading of the text is ensured
by the designation of men as the image of God. The following contrast is
probably intended: The image of God calls out, “Make way for the image of God!”
‖ Genesis Rabbah 78 (50A): R. Hama b. Hanina (ca. 260) said, “It was Esau’s
prince of angels (with whom Jacob wrestled); Gen 33:10, ‘Therefore I saw your
face, like the face of the angel (according to the Midrash).’ Your face is like
the face of the angel.”
3. Divergent are those passages where an angel or Elijah or the angel
of the covenant appears in the form of this or that person.
Jerusalem Talmud Berakot 9.13A.37: Bar Qappara (ca. 210) taught (on
Exod 18:4: “God saved me [Moses] from pharaoh’s sword”): “An angel came down
and appeared to them (Moses’ judges) in the form of Moses. They seized the
angel and Moses fled.”—The same is said in Midr. Song 7:5 (127B); Deut. Rab. 2
(199A). ‖ Midrash Ecclesiastes 2:2 (12B): God said to Solomon, “Come down from
my throne!” In that hour an angel came down in the likeness of Solomon and sat
on his throne. ‖ Jerusalem Talmud Kilʾayim 9.32B.35: Elijah came to Rabbi in
the guise of (looking like) R. Hiyya the Elder (ca. 200). ‖ Jerusalem Talmud
Peʾah 3.17D.15: R. Phineas (ca. 360) narrated the following incident. “Two
brothers in Askalon had gentile neighbors. They said, ‘When those Jews went up
to Jerusalem, we will take all they have.’ As they went up, God appointed
angels for them who went in and out of their house with their likeness. When
they had returned, they gave (the gentile) gifts. They said, ‘Where were you
then?’ They answered, ‘In Jerusalem.’ And they said, ‘Who did you leave behind
in your house?’ They said, ‘No one.’ And they said, ‘Blessed be the God of the
Jews, whom they will not forsake and who will not forsake them.’ ”—A
parallel passage can be found in Midr. Song 7:2 (126A). (Hermann L.
Strack and Paul Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the
Talmud and Midrash, ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and
Joseph Longarino; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2022], 2:814-15)
