“…..As an eagle awakens its nest, hovering over it’s fledglings, it spreads it’s wings when taking them and carrying them on it’s wings…” – Devorim 32:11

״…. כנשר יעיר קנו על גוזליו ירחף יפרש כנפיו יקחהו ישאהו על אברתו…״ – דברים לב, יא

Angels are spiritual beings, invulnerable to physical harm by arrows and stones. How then can an angel placing itself between Bnei Yisrael and the projectiles being pelted at them be compared to an eagle, which exposes itself to actual harm in order to protect its young?

This question is answered in the opening words of Shemos 14:19, quoted by Rashi, which emphasize that the angel protecting Bnei Yisrael from the Egyptian stones and arrows was “the angel of Elokim”. Commenting on that verse in Shemos, Rashi points out: “An angel is generally called: ‘the angel of Hashem (i.e. G-d’s Ineffable Name, spelled Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei,)’ but here [it says], ‘the angel of Elokim (אֱלֹקִים).’ Elokim denotes G-d’s attribute of judgment. This teaches that at that moment, Bnei Yisrael were being judged if to be saved or to perish with the Egyptians.”

We can now understand the risk and sacrifice of the angel of Elokim who “intercepted” the attack from the Egyptians. An angel is not allowed to deviate from its designated Divine mission. Elokim means judgment. The mission of an angel of Elokim is to act on G-d’s fair but strict judgments, unlike an angel of G-d’s attribute of mercy which intercedes on behalf of the condemned. And yet, when the Jewish people were at risk of being judged as undeserving of salvation, immediately, ‘the angel of Elokim moved… and came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel’. Like the eagle that puts its own life at risk in order to protect its young, an angel of Elokim defied its very existence and identity, its mission to enforce justice, as it were, in order to save Bnei Yisrael from harm!

— Sichos Kodesh 5737, Parshas Haazinu, pp. 58-59

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