The Angel of the Lord

The Angel of the Lord¹
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—1995

Of the various topics in any survey of theology, the study of angels is one of the most popular. People are fascinated by the prospect of other beings who exist outside the physical realm yet who occasionally enter our world and even interact with us.² The Bible records several examples of such interaction and only rarely identifies the angel involved. In most cases, he remains unnamed.³ This session we will look at a few Old Testament passages in which the biblical writers call an angelic visitor "the angel of the LORD." Is he, as some think, a pre-incarnate manifestation of Christ (i.e., Christophany; so Baron 1918:23; Feinberg 1979:23; Leupold 1942 1:500-501; Morris 1976:330,370; Wood 1975:231,n.12)?⁴

1. The suppositions of this view⁵

A. His title is distinctive.

• The biblical writers distinguish him from other angels by calling him the angel of the LORD.

Appearing to Balaam⁶

Nurn 22:21 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. 22 But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

Appearing to devotees⁷

Ps 34:7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.

B. His speech is identical.

• The biblical writers mark no difference when he speaks and when the LORD speaks. That is, the angel's words are essentially God's words.⁸

Conversing with Hagar

Gen 16:7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered. 9 Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." 10 The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."

Conversing with Israelites

Judg 2:1 The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you." 4 When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, 5 and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the LORD.

C. His relationship to God is close.

• The biblical writers equate him with God.⁹

Standing before Hagar

Gen 16:7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered. 9 Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." 10 The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count." ...13 She gave this name to THE LORD WHO SPOKE TO HER: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, I HAVE NOW SEEN THE ONE WHO SEES ME." 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

NB: Hagar equates seeing the angel with seeing God (v. 13).

Standing before Moses¹⁰

Exod 3:1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire FROM WITHIN A BUSH. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up." 4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, GOD CALLED TO HIM FROM WITHIN THE BUSH, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am." 5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to LOOK AT GOD.... 16 "Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, 'THE LORD, THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS-THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB-APPEARED TO ME and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites - a land flowing with milk and honey.'

NB: The narrator equates the angel's appearance in the bush with God's appearance there (comp v. 2 with v. 4), as does Moses (vv. 6, 16).

II. An evaluation of this view

A. His title is a matter of grammar.

1. The definite article in this phrase is a necessary function of Hebrew grammar. When two nouns join together in the phrase "x of y" and the second noun is definite—in this case, the LORD—it makes the entire phrase definite.¹¹

2. Furthermore, the angel may be an angel in the same context.¹²

Appearing to David and Araunah¹³

I Chr 21:15 And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people. "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.... 20 While Araunah was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the angel; his four sons who were with him hid themselves.... 27 Then the LORD spoke to the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.

Appearing to Elijah

I Kgs 19:5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." ...6b He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you."

Appearing to Joseph

Matt 1:20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." ...24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

B. His speech is a matter of rhetoric.

1. The switch back and forth between the angel's speaking and the LORD's speaking indicates the representative relationship of the messenger and his commissioner.¹⁴

2. Sometimes, however, the angel uses an introductory formula to distinguish his speech from God's speech.

Conversing with Elijah¹⁵

2 Kgs 1:3 But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?" 4 Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!'" So Elijah went.

Conversing with Zechariah

Zech 3:1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" 3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, [God speech? —>] "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you." 5 Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by. 6 The angel of the LORD gave this charge to Joshua: 7 "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.'"

C. His relationship to God is a matter of context.

• Often the messenger is distinct from God, and may even be a human being.¹⁶

Standing before Samson's parents

Judg 13:15 Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you." 16 The angel of the LORD replied, "Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, OFFER IT TO THE LORD." (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the LORD.)

NB: The angel distinguishes himself from God (v. 16).

Standing before David¹⁷

1 Chr 21:14 So the LORD sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. 15 And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 16 David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.... 18 Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 19 So David went up in obedience to the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the LORD.... 27 Then the LORD spoke to the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. 28 At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there. 29 The tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses had made in the desert, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at Gibeon. 30 But David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

NB: God distinguishes Himself from the angel (v. 15), as do the narrator (vv. 15, 27) and David (v. 30).

Standing before Haggai¹⁸

Hag 1:13 Then Haggai, the LORD's messenger, gave this message of the LORD to the people: "I am with you," declares the LORD.

NB: The angel (i.e., messenger) is the prophet, who distinguishes his speech from God's speech with a concluding formula.

What to remember: The angel of the LORD is not the pre-incarnate Christ but one of many messengers God appoints to do His will and is not necessarily the same messenger in each case. The messianic hypothesis is pure speculation, fueled by a desire to Christianize the Old Testament; that is, to make the Old Testament relevant by finding Jesus there. Unfortunately, it relies on poor methodology, which can only produce poor theology.

For the Endnotes, see the pdf here.