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Ibn Ezra on Exodus 3:4/אבן עזרא על שמות ג׳:ד׳

אוירא ד'. גם אלה דברי משה בסוף, ונקרא המלאך בשם הנכבד כדרך כי שמי בקרבו (למטה כג כא) ושם אפרשנו, וכך המלאך שנראה לגדעון, ושם כתוב "ויאמר לו ד"' (שופ' ו יב) או השם ראה כי סר לראות וצוה את המלאך לקרוא אליו על כן מלת אלהים וזה השם איננו שם העצם רק שם תאר כאשר אפרש, והוא כולל כל קדוש שאינו גוף, ולא כח בגוף, ככתוב "להן אלהין די מְדָרהון עם בשרא לָא איתוהי" (דניאל ב יא) שהוא הגוף, והנה אלהים במקום הזה הוא המלאך הנזכר:

1AND WHEN THE LORD SAW. These words were also written later by Moses.⁴¹ The angel was called by God’s revered name in the sense of, for My name is in him (Ex. 23:21).⁴² (YHVH) saw. According to I.E. it was not actually the Lord but the angel of the Lord mentioned in verse 2. The angel is referred to by the Tetragrammaton because the Lord’s name is in him. See I.E. on Ex. 23:21. I will explain this when I comment on the latter verse. We find the same with the angel that appeared to Gideon. There it is written, And the Lord said unto him (Jud. 6:23).⁴³ (the Lord). Or its meaning is that the Lord saw that Moses turned aside to see the great sight and He commanded an angel to call Moses.⁴⁴ (YHVH) saw that he turned aside to see, God (elohim) called unto him. According to I.E.’s first interpretation the reference in this verse is to an angel. He now offers a different interpretation. He now suggests that Lord refers to the Deity and elohim (God) to an angel. Hence the use of the term elohim (God) in our verse.⁴⁵, i.e., an angel to call unto Moses. Hence Scripture reads, God (elohim) called unto him. The name Elohim is not a proper name but is, as I will explain, an adjective.⁴⁶ It pertains to all holy beings that are incorporeal and are not forces in a body, as it is written, except the angels,⁴⁷, which is equivalent to the Hebrew elohim. I.E. renders this as angels. whose dwelling is not with flesh (Dan. 2:11), that is, with a body.⁴⁸ refers to a human body. He explains the verse to mean: except the angels, who do not dwell in any body. Thus elohim refers to the above-noted angel.⁴⁹. Verse 4 states, God (elohim) called unto him. I.E. explains that elohim refers to the angel of the Lord, as an angel is termed elohin (Krinsky).