When the voice stopped speaking, Abraham looked in every direction. No one. No breath of a man anywhere. His spirit was seized with terror. His soul fled from him. He became like a stone and fell face-first upon the earth, unable to stand.
While he lay there, face pressed to the ground, he heard the voice of the Holy One: "Go, Iaoel, and by means of my ineffable Name raise up that man and strengthen him from his trembling."
The angel came. In the likeness of a man, he grasped Abraham by the right hand and set him on his feet.
"Stand up, Abraham, Friend of God who loves you! Do not let the trembling of man seize you. I have been sent to strengthen you and bless you in the name of the Creator of heaven and earth. Be fearless. Hasten to Him."
Then Iaoel revealed who he was, and the description was staggering.
"I am called Iaoel by Him who moves that which exists with me on the seventh expanse of the firmament, a power by virtue of the ineffable Name dwelling in me." The angel who bore God's own unutterable Name within himself, the same role the rabbis later assigned to Metatron, whose name is said to be like that of God Himself.
Iaoel's duties were cosmic in scale. He restrained the living creatures of the Cherubim from attacking one another. He taught the throne-bearers the song of the seventh hour of night. He was ordained to restrain Leviathan, and every single reptile was subject to him. He had been the one commissioned to set fire to Terah's house.
"I have been sent to bless you and the land which the Eternal One has prepared for you. Stand up, Abraham! Go without fear. Be glad and rejoice, for I am with you. Eternal honor has been prepared for you by the Eternal One. I have been appointed to be with you and with the generation that will spring from you. And with me, Michael blesses you forever. Be of good cheer. Go!"