διαθηκη: 11/01/2024

Hippolytus of Rome died about A.D. 236. He wrote his Commentary on Daniel somewhere between A.D. 202 and 211. (Schmidt, p1). Here we have what I believe is a clear reference by Hippolytus to Michael the Archangel as the pre-Incarnate Christ.

He stated his goal in writing this commentary at the outset:

Wishing to precisely demonstrate the times of the captivity which befell the sons of Israel and the prophetic dreams of the blessed Daniel, and also the manner of his life from childhood in Babylon, I myself come forward to speak in order to testify to the holy and righteous prophetic man, even to him who became a witness of Christ, who not only then in those times, revealed the visions of king Nebuchadnezzar, but also similarly, having thoroughly taught his youths, led the faithful witnesses onward into the world.
(Book 1.1.1 Concerning Susana and Daniel)

In the fourth book of his Commentary on Daniel Hippolytus discussed the identity of Michael the Archangel.

Hippolytus identifies Michael as the Angel of the LORD, who is also the same as the LORD. In this he is on the same footing as the early Church Fathers almost universally taught that the Angel of the Lord is the Jesus Christ before He was conceived in the Virgin Mary to be born as a human.

Hippolytus walked through a couple basic Scriptural proofs to demonstrate that Michael in Daniel 11 with Christ:

Commentary on Daniel, Book 4:40.3-41.1

40.3. And so he says to him, “Do you know why I came to you? And now I will return to fight with the chief of the Persians, but I will proclaim to you what is written in the Scripture of truth, and there is no one who endures with me concerning these things except Michael your chief [ἢ Μιχαἡλ ὁ ἄρχων ὑμῶν], and I left him there, for from the day you gave your face to be afflicted before your Lord God your petition was heard, and I myself was sent to fight with the chief of the Persians. For some plot happened to prevent me from coming to the people so that therefore in haste your request may be answered, I myself stood against him and I left Michael your chief there
40.4. But who is Michael, but the angel who is granted to the people, as he says to Moses, “I will not go with you on the way because the people are stiff necked, but my angel will go with you”?
40.5. This one stood against Moses in the encampment when he carried the uncircumcised boy to Egypt. For it was not possible for Moses to be the elder and mediator of the law, who also announced the covenant of the fathers, and also to lead the uncircumcised boy, so that he may not be considered by the people as a false prophet and a deceiver.
[emphasis is mine]

In 40.4 Hippolytus refers to Exodus 33:1-3 which refers to the Angel of the Lord. This is the Angel of Yahweh, who is also Yahweh. The term Arch [ὁ ἄρχων] in Archangel means "ruler" in English. Hippolytus understood the word Arch [ὁ ἄρχων] to refer to the fact that this Angel of the Lord is the Ruler of the people of Israel. The text says:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’

²And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

³Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

In case the reader missed the point, Hippolytus refers the reader in his next sentence (40.5) to Exodus 4:24. The reference is clear. Hippolytus said "This one stood against Moses in the encampment when he carried the uncircumcised boy to Egypt." Exodus 4:24 says: