Looking beyond the books of the Bible and into other ancient Jewish writings containing some very different views of biblical heroes can be a most interesting experience.
Have a look at The Prayer of Joseph (1st or 2nd century CE):
[1] “I, Jacob, who is speaking to you, am also Israel, an angel of God and a ruling spirit.
[2] Abraham and Isaac were created before any work.
[3] But, I, Jacob, who men call Jacob but whose name is Israel am he who God called Israel which means, a man seeing God, because I am the firstborn of every living thing to whom God gives life.
[4] And when I was coming up from Syrian Mesopotamia, Unel, the angel of God, came forth and said that I had descended to earth and I had tabernacled among men and that I had been called by the name of Jacob.
[5] He envied me and fought with me and wrestled with me saying that his name and the name that is before every angel was to be above mine.
[6] I told him his name and what rank he held among the sons of God.
[7] ‘Are you not Uriel, the eighth after me? and I, Israel, the archangel of the Power of the Lord and the chief captain among the sons of God?
[8] Am I not Israel, the first minister before the face of God?‘
[9] And I called upon my God by the Inextinguishable Name.”
Even Moses appears to have had a pre-existence in heaven before he appeared on earth to deliver the Israelites from Egypt: Continue reading “Bible Heroes in Heaven Before They Came to Earth”