ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף חגי 1:13

Maimonides’ approach to the dream involving the ladder (Moreh Nevuchim 1,15) is that the Torah included the planets in the part of the universe called here “ladder.” The words מוצב ארצה refers to this planetary system being based on earth its lower extremity, whereas the words וראשו מגיע השמימה refer to the upper extremity of that part of the universe. The heaven is also known as ערבות, as we know from Deut. 33,26 רוכב שמים בערבות, “riding through a part of the heavens called ערבות.” It is a collective name for the entire system known as מרכבה, ”G’d’s entourage.” On this ladder anyone who wants to is free to ascend or to descend. The מלאכי אל-הים which the Torah speaks of are the prophets as per Numbers 20,16 וישלח מלאך ה’, the meaning obviously being “a prophet.” The same term is found in Chagai 1,13 where the word מלאך also refers to the prophet, a mortal human being. When the Torah describes such prophets as ascending the ladder it tells us that there is a limit to how high a prophet can ascend. Once he has reached his destination he receives the prophetic instruction G’d wants to grant him. When the prophets are also described as “descending the ladder,” this means that they are returning and preparing to deliver their respective messages.

וישלח מלאך, “He dispatched an angel, etc.” A supernatural being, not an emissary such as Moses (Ibn Ezra). This is based on Isaiah 63,9 ומלאך פניו הושיעם, “and the angel of His Presence delivered them.” It is also possible to see in the word מלאך a reference by Moses to himself (Rashi) as we find in Chagai 1,13: ויאמר חגי מלאך ה', “and Chagai, the Lord’s messenger said to the people.” In the eyes of the people Moses enjoyed the status of an angel in that he was so totally devoid of preoccupation with matters pertaining to the body. We have proof that this is how the people had viewed him as at the time when they thought he would not come back from Mount Sinai they said: “this man Moses who has taken us out of Egypt we do not know what happened to him.” Apparently, until Moses’ failure to return on time the thought that Moses could be an ordinary mortal had not occurred to them (compare Exodus 32,1). [As soon as Moses did return they clearly thought of him as an angel even more, seeing he went without food or drink for 40 days. Ed.].

כמלאכי As my messenger. Comp. חגי מלאך יי Haggai, the messenger of the Lord (Hag. 1:13).^30aThis quotation is to show that the prophet is sometimes called מלאך the angel of the Lord.