Mashkhit

The Destroyer

NOTES:

Heiser, Michael S.. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. Lexham Press. Kindle Edition.

Exodus 12:23 (ESV), “For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer [mashkhit] to enter your houses to strike you.”

The term mashkhit is employed in only three passages to describe divine judgment: here in Exodus 12:23; 2 Samuel 24:16; and 1 Chronicles 21:15. These last two instances describe the same event—the judgment for David’s sin carried out by the Angel of Yahweh. 2 Samuel 24:16–17a reads:

An identification of the destroyer with the Angel of the LORD is also perhaps suggested by Zechariah 12:8–10.