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What you said sounds right. Thanks for that.Thank you. No, I’m not at all suggesting that Moses mistakenly believed he was Yahweh. You put it gently when you said that is unlikely. It would have made him a lunatic.
”In Jewish law, a shaliah … (literally ‘emissary’ or ‘messenger’) is a legal agent. In practice, ‘the shaliah for a person is as the person himself.’ Accordingly, a shaliah performs an act of legal significance for the benefit of the sender, as opposed to him or herself.”
Shaliah - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Anyone could have quoted Yahweh. This incident isn’t that.
Just as the Pharisees demanded that Jesus tell them by what authority he was speaking and acting, the Israelites had questioned by what authority Moses was speaking and acting. In both cases, Jesus and Moses spoke and acted by the authority of Yahweh.
In Deuteronomy 29:6, when Moses says, “in order that you might know that I am Yahweh your God,” he is not claiming to be Yahweh Himself. This is a misunderstanding of the speaker’s role. Moses is acting as God's mouthpiece, delivering God's words directly to the people. This is a common pattern throughout Scripture where a prophet or leader speaks on behalf of God using the first person, not because they are God, but because they are relaying His exact words.
Readers of the true Word of God are not missing anything by rejecting the false idea that Moses is, in any sense, Yahweh. In fact, holding to what Scripture actually says protects against deception. Moses is consistently presented in the Bible as a servant, prophet, and mediator between God and the people of Israel, but never as divine. Deuteronomy 34:10 says, “And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,” affirming his unique role, but clearly identifying him as a man, not God.
skipmoen.com
The truth doesn’t come from man-made traditions or legal interpretations like the so-called "Jewish law of agency"—it comes from Scripture alone. God's Word is the final authority, and we are commanded not to add to it or take away from it (Deuteronomy 4:2, Proverbs 30:6). While the concept of agency may help explain certain cultural practices, it cannot override or redefine the plain teaching of Scripture. When it comes to understanding who God is, what He has done, and how He works, we must look to what He has revealed in His Word, not to man’s systems or philosophical constructs. Jesus affirmed this when He said, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Sola Scriptura—Scripture alone—is the foundation of truth.
I looked at the Hebrew and the King James is a little confusing in its translation. My own rendering of verses 4-6:
John 17:22 must be understood in the context of the entire Gospel of John, which consistently reveals the divine nature of Jesus Christ. Throughout this chapter, Jesus is praying to the Father, but that does not deny His divinity. Instead, it reflects the relationship between the Father and the Son. Earlier in John’s Gospel, it is made clear who Jesus truly is: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Then in verse 14, it says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus plainly says in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.” He also accepts worship (John 9:38), something no mere servant or prophet would do unless He was God.
Once again the so-called “Jewish law of agency” is not found in Scripture, nor is it taught as divine revelation. It is a man-made interpretive framework developed through rabbinic tradition to explain how a representative can act on behalf of another. While it may serve as a cultural or legal concept within Judaism, it is not a biblical doctrine. Nowhere in the Bible does God authorize or teach a formal "law of agency" that redefines identity between persons. God's Word warns us not to rely on traditions or human reasoning that go beyond what is written (Colossians 2:8). The truth is revealed through Scripture alone, not through later interpretations or constructs added to explain it. When people use this concept to blur the clear biblical distinction between God and His servants, or to deny the deity of Christ by saying He’s merely a “representative” and not fully God, they're not honoring Scripture, they're twisting it like you are. God's truth stands on what He has said, not on systems created to explain it away.
