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I'm open to edification on that.

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Really?

I read that passage myself. There is no indication that the angel of the lord that appeared said anything. Plus it is impossible to determine the author's intentions. The way I read it, it could have been intended as follows:

1. Moses is walking along.
2. For some inexplicable reason, god needs to get Moses' attention with a burning bush that's not really burning and an angel in it or near it. (God does not seem to need burning bushes elsewhere. Angels are enough.)
3. Moses sees the bush and changes course to investigate.
4. GOD HIMSELF speaks to Moses, not through the angel.

This may have been the original intention. I see nothing in the text to indicate one intention over the other.

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Some people might think that it is important to understand the culture of the authors, the idioms, the general ideas of how things are expressed.

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Some people might think that this is an impossible feat. But I am open to any reasonable assurance that someone has accomolished this.

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Some might think that the same author who says an angel is speaking for God at one point might be implying that angels speak for God generally,

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That might have been the authors' (and there seems to have been several of them) intent, but I see no reason to assume this.

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especially when that same author in Ex. 33-34 shows that the merest glimpse of the "back parts" of God is all Moses could bear to see and live.

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Some people might just see the bible as being inconsistent. In some places, god's ass-end is so bright (sun god anyone?) it makes your face glow. In other places, his brightness dosn't seem to be much of an issue.

Exodus 33:11

And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

I have to say that my personal reading of the KJV, supported by the NASB when the KJV was too hard to decipher, resulted in the same feelings that NS here is describing. I see two possibilities:

- The authors all had a single, consistent intent, and that is that any place it says "god said this and this" it was an angel doing the communication.
- The authors had no such intent, were documenting ancient myths as passed down through many generations, and didn't have the literary sophistication (or simply didn't care enough) to make these accounts consitent.

Personally, I think the second possibilty is much more likely.

Some believed that god could talk to people directly, some believed that man COULD see god face to face without burning his eyebrows, some believed that god could not be seen or heard at all. Hell, perhaps some even thought that god only spoke through angels as you are proposing. But, I have seen no reason to believe that anyone who took part in composing the bible believed that god only spoke through angels. If the bible clearly states that some of the authors believed this, I missed that part. That's possible, I suppose.

Man, this is a poorly written section. He said, he said, he said... I'm glad that fiction writers are more cautious to be clear about which fictional charcter is speaking these days.

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Genesis 32:24-32

And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he [the unnamed man] saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

And he [the unnamed man] said, Let me go, for the day breaketh.

And he [Jacob] said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

And he [the unnamed man] said unto him, What is thy name?

And he said, Jacob.

And he [the unnamed man] said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name.

And he [the unnamed man] said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name?

And he [the unnamed man] blessed him [Jacob] there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

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Bolding and character clarifications mine.

It sounds to me, after reading this in context, that the intent of the authors was to convey that Jacob had wrestled with god, who he at first thought was only a human being. I see no reason to conclude that this was an angel. Your attempt to make this man out to be one of the angels mentioned at the top of the chapter seems uncalled for. There is no indication in the text that this man was one of the angels. If he wrestled an angel, why does it not make that clear? If he had wrestled an angel, why would he say that he saw god face to face?