Exodus 23:20
Exodus 23:2020Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
JWs read "I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you on the way and to bring you into the place that I have prepared" as the straightforward account of an angelic messenger — one of Jehovah's created spirit agents accompanying Israel. The Watchtower identifies this angel variously with Michael (who delivered Israel, on the JW reading of Jude 5) or simply as a powerful angelic guide.
Read verse 20 with verse 21, and the identification tightens. This angel is not a generic messenger — his status is extraordinary. Verse 21 says he cannot forgive transgression, "for my name is in him." The divine name indwelling a messenger is not a feature of ordinary angels. Pair with Jude 5 in the earliest and best Greek manuscripts (P72, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus all preferred by NA28): "Jesus, although he saved a people out of the land of Egypt." And with — even in the NWT — "that rock meant the Christ." And with : "the angel of his presence saved them." The figure who leads Israel in the wilderness bears Jehovah's name (), is identified as Christ (Jude 5; ), and acts with the full authority of Jehovah who said "Jehovah alone kept leading him" (). The Old Testament prepares ground the New Testament walks on: the figure the New Testament calls Jesus is identified with the God of Israel who delivered the nation.