Vayechi - Let Us Find Angels

(15) And [Jacob] blessed Joseph, saying, “The God in whose ways my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day— (16) the angel (המלאך) who has redeemed me from all harm— Bless the lads. In them may my name be recalled, and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they be teeming multitudes upon the earth.”

Ovadia ben Jacob Sforno (Italy, 1475-1550)

המלאך, the letter ה introducing the word המלאך is not a definitive article [meaning "the" as it generally does as a prefix], identifying a specific angel, but instead acts as an appeal. [It is an] instruction to [any] such angel who in the past on different occasions had been Jacob's guardian. Jacob appeals to his own guardian angels to bless the children if their own merit does not suffice for them to have guardian angels assigned to them.

Moses ben Maimon/Maimonides (Spain/Egypt 1138-1204)

(1) As for the existence of angels, there is no necessity to cite any proof from Scripture, where the fact is frequently mentioned.

(2) We have already stated above that the angels are incorporeal. This agrees with the opinion of Aristotle: there is only this difference in the names employed--he uses the term "Intelligences," and we say instead "angels." ... But "angel" means "messenger"; hence every one that is entrusted with a certain mission is an angel.

The elements are also called angels. ... It is also used of ideals, perceived by prophets in prophetic visions, and of man's animal powers, as will be explained in another place.

(3) [As for the texts that say] "God does nothing without consulting the host above..."

These passages do not convey the idea that God spoke, thought, reflected, or that God consulted and employed the opinion of other beings, as ignorant persons have believed. How could the Creator be assisted by those whom God created! They only show that all parts of the Universe, even the limbs of animals in their actual form, are produced through angels: for natural forces and angels are identical. How bad and injurious is the blindness of ignorance!

Our Sages have already stated--for those who have understanding--that all forces that reside in a body are angels, much more the forces that are active in the Universe. The theory that each force acts only in one particular way, is expressed in Beresheet Rabba (chap. 1.) as follows: "One angel does not perform two things, and two angels do not perform one thing"; this is exactly the property of all forces.

"R. Jochanan said that Judah was about to pass by [without noticing Tamar], but God caused the angel of lust, i.e., the libidinous disposition, to present himself to him." Man's disposition is here called an angel.

(4) We have already stated that the forms in which angels appear form part of the prophetic vision. Some prophets see angels in the form of man, others perceive an angel as a fearful and terrible being, others see them as fire,

Another passage in Beresheet Rabba (ibid.) runs thus: "Before the angels have accomplished their task they are called men, when they have accomplished it they are angels."