During the course of our studies in the Book of Genesis and the life and events surrounding that great patriarch, Abraham, we have begun to encounter an interesting character who pops in and out of the story, and that is “the Angel of the Lord.” A natural question arises from this encounter, and that question is this: Who or What is the Angel of the Lord?
The bottom line is that the precise identity of the Angel of the Lord is not given in the Bible. However, there are many important “clues” that are given in Scripture, all of which shed light upon His identity. There are Old and New Testament references to “angels of the Lord,” “an angel of the Lord,” and “the Angel of the Lord.” It seems when the definite article “the” is used it is specifying a unique Being, separate from the other angels. Let us take a few moments now to examine the passages of Scripture in which we encounter “the Angel of the Lord.” The first of these is the appearance of the Angel of the Lord to Hagar after Sarai dealt harshly with her after Hagar conceived a child with Abraham. Remember, it was at Sarai’s prompting that Abraham took Hagar as his wife in the first place for the very purpose of Hagar becoming with child! But once this happened, Hagar looked at Sarai her mistress with contempt, Sarai grew jealous of Hagar’s ability to conceive after years of Sarai remaining barren, Sarai lashed out at Abraham for impregnating Hagar, and Abraham, seeking to keep the peace, then told Sarai to do what she wanted with Hagar since she was Sarai’s handmaid in the first place. So Sarai ordered Hagar out of the household immediately! Genesis 16:7-13 [RSV] says,
7. The Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8. And He said, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai." 9. The Angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit to her."
10. The Angel of the Lord also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude." 11. And the Angel of the Lord said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ishmael; because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. 12. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen." 13. So she called the name of the Lord Who spoke to her, "Thou Art a God of Seeing"; for she said, "Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing Him?"
In verse 10 above, the Angel of the Lord promised to multiply Hagar’s descendants, something only God could promise and fulfill. A similar promise is given to Abraham by God in Genesis 13:16 and Genesis 15:5:
“I will make your descendants as the dust of the Earth; so that if one can count the dust of the Earth, your descendants also can be counted” (Genesis 13:16 [RSV]).
“And He brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be’” (Genesis 15:5 [RSV]). So as can be seen clearly, the language attributed to God while speaking to Abram is almost identical to the words spoken to Hagar by the Angel of the Lord. Only God is capable of making good on the promise of giving innumerable descendants to an individual.
When the Angel appeared to Hagar, she acknowledged that she was in the presence of God, referring to the Angel of the Lord as El Roi. El in Hebrew means “God,” and Roi means “Thou Art a God of Seeing” or “The God Who Sees All,” indicating the One Who is omniscient, meaning all-knowing. Only God knows all. Only He is omniscient.
Hagar was blessed to see the emergence of the Angel of the Lord before her eyes a second time when He appeared to her following her second and final expulsion from the household of Abraham. This occurred when Ishmael made the mistake of making fun of his younger brother, Isaac, when Isaac was being weaned.
14. So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. 15. When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16. Then she went, and sat down over against him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, "Let me not look upon the death of the child." And as she sat over against him, the child lifted up his voice and wept. 17. And God heard the voice of the lad; and the Angel of God called to Hagar from Heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not; for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast with your hand; for I will make him a great nation." (Genesis 21:14-18 [RSV])
Here again we are told that the Angel of the Lord called from Heaven to Hagar during her time of great distress. The Angel of the Lord told her God had heard the weeping of Ishmael, and then says, “I will make him a great nation.” Only God has the power to raise up and humble individuals, and only God has the power to make of anyone a great nation of people. It is also interesting to note how the Angel of the Lord twice makes a fascinating play on the name of Ishmael. “Ishmael” means “God hears,” and twice in verse 17 we are told, “God heard” and “God has heard.”
As Hagar escaped this very difficult and life-threatening situation, the Angel of the Lord in the pre-incarnate presence of Jesus met her by a spring of water in the wilderness. We can assume safely that this was God in the Person of Jesus Christ, appearing to Abraham and Hagar before His incarnation and birth at Bethlehem. We can safely assume this because of God the Father it says in John 1:18 [RSV], “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.” Additionally, no man has ever seen God in the Person of the Father:
14. I charge you to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; 15. and this will be made manifest at the proper time by the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16. Who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, Whom no man has ever seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:14-16 [RSV])
Therefore, if God appeared to someone in human appearance in the Old Testament (and no one has seen God the Father) it makes sense the appearance is of the eternal Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, before His incarnation in Bethlehem.
This special individual referred to as the Angel of the Lord spoke as though He were distinct from Yahweh, yet also spoke in the first person as though He were indeed to be identified as Yahweh Himself, with Hagar recognizing that in seeing this Angel, she had seen God. Others throughout Scripture had the same experience and came to the same conclusion as does Hagar. The Angel of the Lord, Who does not appear after the birth of Christ, is often identified as the pre-incarnate Christ.
As we will see shortly, the Angel of the Lord speaks as God, identifies Himself with God, and exercises the responsibilities and abilities that only belong to God. We will also see that many of the individuals who saw the Angel of the Lord feared for their very lives, as was the case with Hagar. Therefore, it is clear that in at least some instances, the Angel of the Lord is an appearance of God in physical form.
Speaking to Abraham on Mt. Moriah, the Angel of the Lord unequivocally identifies Himself as the Lord, or Yahweh. Genesis 22:10:18 [RSV] says,
10. Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from Heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." 12. He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." 13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14. So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided." 15. And the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from Heaven, 16. and said, "By Myself I have sworn,” says the Lord, “because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17. I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, 18. and by your descendants shall all the nations of the Earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed My voice."
In the above passage, the Angel of the Lord tells Abraham that he had obeyed “My voice.” He also told Abraham that “‘By Myself I have sworn,’ says the Lord,” and the words translated “the Lord” are Yahweh, meaning God Almighty.
Let us take a few moments now to consider and compare the two appearances of the God of Bethel to Jacob with those of the Angel of God. Genesis 28:12-22 [RSV] says,
12. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the Earth, and the top of it reached to Heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; 14. and your descendants shall be like the dust of the Earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the Earth bless themselves. 15. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you." 16. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it." 17. And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven."
18. So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone which he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19. He called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21. so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22. and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that Thou givest me I will give the tenth to Thee."
Now see what is revealed to Jacob and us in Genesis 31:11-13 [RSV]:
11. Then the Angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am!' 12. And He said, 'Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that leap upon the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go forth from this land, and return to the land of your birth.'"
In our earlier reading with Jacob, Jacob saw a vision of Yahweh God appearing to him. And now in chapter 31, the Angel of God tells Jacob that He is the God of Bethel, the very same Lord Yahweh Who had appeared to Jacob at Bethel.
In Genesis chapter 48 just before Jacob passes away to his reward, he uses the names “God” and “Angel” interchangeably. Additionally, Jacob identifies the Angel as the One Who has redeemed him from all evil, an attribute that no created angelic being could possibly do. This is the first time in Scripture that God is referred to as Redeemer, Deliverer, or Savior. Only God is able to redeem us from evil and our sins, and Jesus Christ is our Redeemer, Deliverer and Savior.
15. And he blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God Who has led me all my life long to this day, 16. the Angel Who had redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and in them let my name be perpetuated, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the Earth." (Genesis 48:15-16 [RSV])
From the reading above, we are given and supplied full proof that this was no mere created angel, but the Messenger of the Divine Council Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who, then, was the Angel that redeemed Jacob? Who was the Angel Jacob invoked to bless Ephraim and Manasseh? Who else could it be? Is it not Jesus Christ? He alone can be called Redeemer. He alone is our Redeeming Kinsman. He alone took part of our flesh and blood by humbling Himself and being born of a virgin that the right of redemption might be His. He it was Who forfeited possession of the favor and image of God, and emptied Himself to take upon the form of an obedient servant, willingly going to the cross to die in our behalf (Philippians 2:6-8). Because of His sacrifice, all of us might be redeemed, brought back, and restored to a right relationship with God if we believe in His name and come to Him through obedient, saving faith. For Jacob to have invoked any other angel or messenger in such a manner would have been improper and full of impiety. Angels do not bless; to God alone this prerogative belongs. With what confidence may a truly religious father use these words in behalf of his children.
At the burning bush, it was the Angel of the Lord Who appeared and called Moses from the midst of the burning bush. It is the Angel of the Lord Who calls Himself “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” and because of his fear at what he was witnessing, “Moses hid his face.”
2. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3. And Moses said, "I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." 4. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here am I." 5. Then He said, "Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 6. And He said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. (Exodus 3:2-6 [RSV])
It cannot be stated any clearer than this. The Angel of the Lord calls Himself God, and tells Moses that He is the same God Who appeared centuries before to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
We are also told that the Angel of the Lord (God) was none other than the Lord Who appeared to the children of Israel in the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of light by day.
21. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night; 22. the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. (Exodus 13:21-22 [RSV])
18. “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen." 19. Then the Angel of God Who went before the host of Israel moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20. coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness; and the night passed without one coming near the other all night. (Exodus 14:18-20 [RSV])
So using Scripture itself to interpret Scripture, the right conclusion is that the Angel of the Lord is God, a pre-incarnate form of Jesus Christ, and not a created being.
In Judges chapter 2, we learn that the Angel of the Lord states that He will never break His covenant.
1. Now the Angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And He said, "I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you into the land which I swore to give to your fathers. I said, 'I will never break My covenant with you, 2. and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.' But you have not obeyed My command. What is this you have done? 3. So now I say, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall become adversaries to you, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’" 4. When the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.
In the passage we just read, it is the Angel of the Lord Who took ownership of giving commands as well as claiming He was the One Who brought the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt. Clearly, a literal interpretation of this passage identifies the Angel of Jehovah with the One Who made a covenant with Israel. A created angel is never recorded as cutting a covenant, leaving no doubt that this Angel is no ordinary created angel but is the Lord Himself. The Angel of the Lord is demonstrated again to be Yahweh God. The fact that God Himself came to give the message shows how serious and depraved, and so far removed from God, that things had become in Israel at that time.
In Judges chapter 6, Gideon becomes fearful that he was going to die because the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and Gideon knew he had seen God.
20. And the Angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them." And he did so. 21. Then the Angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and there sprang up fire from the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the Angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22. Then Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face." 23. But the Lord said to him, "Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die." 24. Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites. (Judges 6:20-24 [RSV])
In the realization that he had been in the presence of God, the sensitive sinner, Gideon, was conscious of great guilt. Fire from God further filled Gideon with awe as well as the fear of death. When he saw the Lord, he knew the Lord had also seen him in his fallen state as a sinner. Thus, Gideon feared the death that sinners should die before Holy God. But God in the form of the Angel of God graciously promised life to Gideon, and he raised up Gideon to be a great leader and hero of his people.
In this passage, we see the Angel of the Lord (God) being memorialized with an altar named The Lord Is Peace. The Prince of Peace is a name that was prophesied and given to Jesus Christ in Isaiah 9:6 [RSV] 700 years before His birth: “For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’”
The Apostle Paul also tells us that only in Christ can true peace of God come: 6. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 [RSV]) Paul also adds in Romans 5:1 [RSV], “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” So using Scripture to interpret Scripture, the Angel of the Lord is called the Lord Is Peace, Jesus is prophesied to be the Prince of Peace, and the Apostle Paul tells us in Christ we have peace. Therefore, the Angel of the Lord is Jesus Christ, God Himself.
In the Book of Judges, again we have an encounter with the Angel of the Lord, this time with Manoah and his wife, prophesying the birth of their son, Samson. From Judges 13:3-23 [RSV], we have this fascinating encounter recorded:
3. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold, you are barren and have no children; but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4. Therefore beware, and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5. for lo, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines."
6. Then the woman came and told her husband, "A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very terrible; I did not ask Him whence He was, and He did not tell me His name; 7. but He said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son; so then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.'" 8. Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, "O, Lord, I pray Thee, let the Man of God Whom Thou didst send come again to us, and teach us what we are to do with the boy that will be born." 9. And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her.
10. And the woman ran in haste and told her husband, "Behold, the Man Who came to me the other day has appeared to me." 11. And Manoah arose and went after his wife, and came to the Man and said to Him, "Are you the Man Who spoke to this woman?" And He said, "I am." 12. And Manoah said, "Now when Your words come true, what is to be the boy's manner of life, and what is he to do?" 13. And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her beware. 14. She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe."
15. Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, "Pray, let us detain You, and prepare a kid for You." 16. And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "If you detain Me, I will not eat of your food; but if you make ready a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord." (For Manoah did not know that He was the Angel of the Lord.)
17. And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, "What is Your name, so that, when Your words come true, we may honor You?" 18. And the Angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask My name, seeing it is Wonderful?"
19. So Manoah took the kid with the cereal offering, and offered it upon the rock to the Lord, to Him Who works wonders. 20. And when the flame went up toward Heaven from the altar, the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.
21. The Angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the Lord. 22. And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God!" 23. But his wife said to him, "If the Lord had meant to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a cereal offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these."
Again in those spiritually dark days of the time of the judges in Israel’s history, a time in which it was said, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25 [RSV]), we encounter another appearance of the Angel of the Lord, this time to announce the upcoming birth of Samson. That He is God cannot be denied.
In verse 18 we are reminded once more of the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6 in which Wonderful was said would be a name of the Lord, the Messiah to come. Here the Angel of the Lord tells Manoah that His name is Wonderful. He is Jesus Christ in a pre-incarnate form.
In Psalm 34:7 [RSV] one finds one of the three times the Angel of the Lord is mentioned in the Psalms. “The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them.” This verse depicts a battlefield scene in which the Lord is said to make His camp around His faithful and delivers them from their enemies. The word “deliver” means to tear or snatch away in order to rescue. Throughout the writings of the Prophets and in the Psalms themselves, many times David is not only rescued from his enemies, he is also rescued from his fears by God, too. In Psalm 34 alone, David is depicted as being delivered from his shame and his troubles, confirming that the Angel of the Lord and God are One and the same.
Finally, the Angel of His Presence is also a synonym of the Angel of the Lord, a pre-incarnate form of Jesus. Isaiah 63:8-10 [RSV] states, 8. For He said, “Surely they are My people, sons who will not deal falsely;” and He became their Savior. 9. In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in his pity He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. 10. But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned to be their enemy, and Himself fought against them.
How tender are these words, and how apropos they are in describing how Jesus became our Suffering Servant. In His love and in His pity, the Angel of His Presence redeemed and carried them. Jesus Christ, in His love and in His pity for us, redeemed us by carrying our sins with Him all the way to the cross of Calvary.
There are other cases in the Old Testament where the Angel of the Lord appears to men, and it is evident that the Angel is God, Christ in a pre-incarnate form, such as when Jacob wrestled with God in Genesis 32. Of this, Hosea writes in Hosea 12:3-5 [RSV], 3. In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. 4. He strove with the Angel and prevailed, he wept and sought His favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with him – 5. the Lord the God of hosts, the Lord is His name: Hosea uses “the Angel,” “the Lord,” “God” and “the God of hosts” all interchangeably.
We also see Him in 2 Samuel 24:16, when the Angel of the Lord stood poised to destroy Jerusalem. He also is seen throughout the Book of Zechariah. (Zechariah 1:12; Zechariah 3:1 and Zechariah 12:8). The appearances of the Angel of the Lord cease after the incarnation of Christ. Angels are mentioned numerous times in the New Testament, but “the Angel of the Lord” is never mentioned in the New Testament after the birth of Jesus. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the appearances of the Angel of the Lord were manifestations of Jesus before His incarnation. Jesus declared Himself to be existent “before Abraham” in John 8:58, so it is logical that He would be active and manifest in the world. It is also not unreasonable to believe that Jesus could have appeared as the Angel of the Lord because we know for a fact that He did appear in various forms prior to His incarnation as Jesus Son of Man, for the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 [RSV], 1. I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2. and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3. and all ate the same supernatural food 4. and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
The bottom line is that the precise identity of the Angel of the Lord is not given in the Bible. However, there are many important “clues” that are given in Scripture, all of which shed light upon His identity. There are Old and New Testament references to “angels of the Lord,” “an angel of the Lord,” and “the Angel of the Lord.” It seems when the definite article “the” is used it is specifying a unique Being, separate from the other angels. Let us take a few moments now to examine the passages of Scripture in which we encounter “the Angel of the Lord.” The first of these is the appearance of the Angel of the Lord to Hagar after Sarai dealt harshly with her after Hagar conceived a child with Abraham. Remember, it was at Sarai’s prompting that Abraham took Hagar as his wife in the first place for the very purpose of Hagar becoming with child! But once this happened, Hagar looked at Sarai her mistress with contempt, Sarai grew jealous of Hagar’s ability to conceive after years of Sarai remaining barren, Sarai lashed out at Abraham for impregnating Hagar, and Abraham, seeking to keep the peace, then told Sarai to do what she wanted with Hagar since she was Sarai’s handmaid in the first place. So Sarai ordered Hagar out of the household immediately! Genesis 16:7-13 [RSV] says,
7. The Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8. And He said, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai." 9. The Angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit to her."
10. The Angel of the Lord also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude." 11. And the Angel of the Lord said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ishmael; because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. 12. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen." 13. So she called the name of the Lord Who spoke to her, "Thou Art a God of Seeing"; for she said, "Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing Him?"
In verse 10 above, the Angel of the Lord promised to multiply Hagar’s descendants, something only God could promise and fulfill. A similar promise is given to Abraham by God in Genesis 13:16 and Genesis 15:5:
“I will make your descendants as the dust of the Earth; so that if one can count the dust of the Earth, your descendants also can be counted” (Genesis 13:16 [RSV]).
“And He brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be’” (Genesis 15:5 [RSV]). So as can be seen clearly, the language attributed to God while speaking to Abram is almost identical to the words spoken to Hagar by the Angel of the Lord. Only God is capable of making good on the promise of giving innumerable descendants to an individual.
When the Angel appeared to Hagar, she acknowledged that she was in the presence of God, referring to the Angel of the Lord as El Roi. El in Hebrew means “God,” and Roi means “Thou Art a God of Seeing” or “The God Who Sees All,” indicating the One Who is omniscient, meaning all-knowing. Only God knows all. Only He is omniscient.
Hagar was blessed to see the emergence of the Angel of the Lord before her eyes a second time when He appeared to her following her second and final expulsion from the household of Abraham. This occurred when Ishmael made the mistake of making fun of his younger brother, Isaac, when Isaac was being weaned.
14. So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. 15. When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16. Then she went, and sat down over against him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, "Let me not look upon the death of the child." And as she sat over against him, the child lifted up his voice and wept. 17. And God heard the voice of the lad; and the Angel of God called to Hagar from Heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not; for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him fast with your hand; for I will make him a great nation." (Genesis 21:14-18 [RSV])
Here again we are told that the Angel of the Lord called from Heaven to Hagar during her time of great distress. The Angel of the Lord told her God had heard the weeping of Ishmael, and then says, “I will make him a great nation.” Only God has the power to raise up and humble individuals, and only God has the power to make of anyone a great nation of people. It is also interesting to note how the Angel of the Lord twice makes a fascinating play on the name of Ishmael. “Ishmael” means “God hears,” and twice in verse 17 we are told, “God heard” and “God has heard.”
As Hagar escaped this very difficult and life-threatening situation, the Angel of the Lord in the pre-incarnate presence of Jesus met her by a spring of water in the wilderness. We can assume safely that this was God in the Person of Jesus Christ, appearing to Abraham and Hagar before His incarnation and birth at Bethlehem. We can safely assume this because of God the Father it says in John 1:18 [RSV], “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.” Additionally, no man has ever seen God in the Person of the Father:
14. I charge you to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; 15. and this will be made manifest at the proper time by the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16. Who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, Whom no man has ever seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:14-16 [RSV])
Therefore, if God appeared to someone in human appearance in the Old Testament (and no one has seen God the Father) it makes sense the appearance is of the eternal Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, before His incarnation in Bethlehem.
This special individual referred to as the Angel of the Lord spoke as though He were distinct from Yahweh, yet also spoke in the first person as though He were indeed to be identified as Yahweh Himself, with Hagar recognizing that in seeing this Angel, she had seen God. Others throughout Scripture had the same experience and came to the same conclusion as does Hagar. The Angel of the Lord, Who does not appear after the birth of Christ, is often identified as the pre-incarnate Christ.
As we will see shortly, the Angel of the Lord speaks as God, identifies Himself with God, and exercises the responsibilities and abilities that only belong to God. We will also see that many of the individuals who saw the Angel of the Lord feared for their very lives, as was the case with Hagar. Therefore, it is clear that in at least some instances, the Angel of the Lord is an appearance of God in physical form.
Speaking to Abraham on Mt. Moriah, the Angel of the Lord unequivocally identifies Himself as the Lord, or Yahweh. Genesis 22:10:18 [RSV] says,
10. Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from Heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." 12. He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." 13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14. So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided." 15. And the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from Heaven, 16. and said, "By Myself I have sworn,” says the Lord, “because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17. I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, 18. and by your descendants shall all the nations of the Earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed My voice."
In the above passage, the Angel of the Lord tells Abraham that he had obeyed “My voice.” He also told Abraham that “‘By Myself I have sworn,’ says the Lord,” and the words translated “the Lord” are Yahweh, meaning God Almighty.
Let us take a few moments now to consider and compare the two appearances of the God of Bethel to Jacob with those of the Angel of God. Genesis 28:12-22 [RSV] says,
12. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the Earth, and the top of it reached to Heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; 14. and your descendants shall be like the dust of the Earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the Earth bless themselves. 15. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you." 16. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it." 17. And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven."
18. So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone which he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19. He called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first. 20. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21. so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22. and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house; and of all that Thou givest me I will give the tenth to Thee."
Now see what is revealed to Jacob and us in Genesis 31:11-13 [RSV]:
11. Then the Angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am!' 12. And He said, 'Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that leap upon the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go forth from this land, and return to the land of your birth.'"
In our earlier reading with Jacob, Jacob saw a vision of Yahweh God appearing to him. And now in chapter 31, the Angel of God tells Jacob that He is the God of Bethel, the very same Lord Yahweh Who had appeared to Jacob at Bethel.
In Genesis chapter 48 just before Jacob passes away to his reward, he uses the names “God” and “Angel” interchangeably. Additionally, Jacob identifies the Angel as the One Who has redeemed him from all evil, an attribute that no created angelic being could possibly do. This is the first time in Scripture that God is referred to as Redeemer, Deliverer, or Savior. Only God is able to redeem us from evil and our sins, and Jesus Christ is our Redeemer, Deliverer and Savior.
15. And he blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God Who has led me all my life long to this day, 16. the Angel Who had redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and in them let my name be perpetuated, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the Earth." (Genesis 48:15-16 [RSV])
From the reading above, we are given and supplied full proof that this was no mere created angel, but the Messenger of the Divine Council Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who, then, was the Angel that redeemed Jacob? Who was the Angel Jacob invoked to bless Ephraim and Manasseh? Who else could it be? Is it not Jesus Christ? He alone can be called Redeemer. He alone is our Redeeming Kinsman. He alone took part of our flesh and blood by humbling Himself and being born of a virgin that the right of redemption might be His. He it was Who forfeited possession of the favor and image of God, and emptied Himself to take upon the form of an obedient servant, willingly going to the cross to die in our behalf (Philippians 2:6-8). Because of His sacrifice, all of us might be redeemed, brought back, and restored to a right relationship with God if we believe in His name and come to Him through obedient, saving faith. For Jacob to have invoked any other angel or messenger in such a manner would have been improper and full of impiety. Angels do not bless; to God alone this prerogative belongs. With what confidence may a truly religious father use these words in behalf of his children.
At the burning bush, it was the Angel of the Lord Who appeared and called Moses from the midst of the burning bush. It is the Angel of the Lord Who calls Himself “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” and because of his fear at what he was witnessing, “Moses hid his face.”
2. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3. And Moses said, "I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." 4. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here am I." 5. Then He said, "Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 6. And He said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. (Exodus 3:2-6 [RSV])
It cannot be stated any clearer than this. The Angel of the Lord calls Himself God, and tells Moses that He is the same God Who appeared centuries before to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
We are also told that the Angel of the Lord (God) was none other than the Lord Who appeared to the children of Israel in the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of light by day.
21. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night; 22. the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. (Exodus 13:21-22 [RSV])
18. “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen." 19. Then the Angel of God Who went before the host of Israel moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20. coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness; and the night passed without one coming near the other all night. (Exodus 14:18-20 [RSV])
So using Scripture itself to interpret Scripture, the right conclusion is that the Angel of the Lord is God, a pre-incarnate form of Jesus Christ, and not a created being.
In Judges chapter 2, we learn that the Angel of the Lord states that He will never break His covenant.
1. Now the Angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And He said, "I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you into the land which I swore to give to your fathers. I said, 'I will never break My covenant with you, 2. and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.' But you have not obeyed My command. What is this you have done? 3. So now I say, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall become adversaries to you, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’" 4. When the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.
In the passage we just read, it is the Angel of the Lord Who took ownership of giving commands as well as claiming He was the One Who brought the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt. Clearly, a literal interpretation of this passage identifies the Angel of Jehovah with the One Who made a covenant with Israel. A created angel is never recorded as cutting a covenant, leaving no doubt that this Angel is no ordinary created angel but is the Lord Himself. The Angel of the Lord is demonstrated again to be Yahweh God. The fact that God Himself came to give the message shows how serious and depraved, and so far removed from God, that things had become in Israel at that time.
In Judges chapter 6, Gideon becomes fearful that he was going to die because the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and Gideon knew he had seen God.
20. And the Angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them." And he did so. 21. Then the Angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and there sprang up fire from the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and the Angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22. Then Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, "Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face." 23. But the Lord said to him, "Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die." 24. Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites. (Judges 6:20-24 [RSV])
In the realization that he had been in the presence of God, the sensitive sinner, Gideon, was conscious of great guilt. Fire from God further filled Gideon with awe as well as the fear of death. When he saw the Lord, he knew the Lord had also seen him in his fallen state as a sinner. Thus, Gideon feared the death that sinners should die before Holy God. But God in the form of the Angel of God graciously promised life to Gideon, and he raised up Gideon to be a great leader and hero of his people.
In this passage, we see the Angel of the Lord (God) being memorialized with an altar named The Lord Is Peace. The Prince of Peace is a name that was prophesied and given to Jesus Christ in Isaiah 9:6 [RSV] 700 years before His birth: “For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’”
The Apostle Paul also tells us that only in Christ can true peace of God come: 6. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 [RSV]) Paul also adds in Romans 5:1 [RSV], “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” So using Scripture to interpret Scripture, the Angel of the Lord is called the Lord Is Peace, Jesus is prophesied to be the Prince of Peace, and the Apostle Paul tells us in Christ we have peace. Therefore, the Angel of the Lord is Jesus Christ, God Himself.
In the Book of Judges, again we have an encounter with the Angel of the Lord, this time with Manoah and his wife, prophesying the birth of their son, Samson. From Judges 13:3-23 [RSV], we have this fascinating encounter recorded:
3. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold, you are barren and have no children; but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4. Therefore beware, and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5. for lo, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines."
6. Then the woman came and told her husband, "A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very terrible; I did not ask Him whence He was, and He did not tell me His name; 7. but He said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son; so then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.'" 8. Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, "O, Lord, I pray Thee, let the Man of God Whom Thou didst send come again to us, and teach us what we are to do with the boy that will be born." 9. And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her.
10. And the woman ran in haste and told her husband, "Behold, the Man Who came to me the other day has appeared to me." 11. And Manoah arose and went after his wife, and came to the Man and said to Him, "Are you the Man Who spoke to this woman?" And He said, "I am." 12. And Manoah said, "Now when Your words come true, what is to be the boy's manner of life, and what is he to do?" 13. And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her beware. 14. She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe."
15. Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, "Pray, let us detain You, and prepare a kid for You." 16. And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "If you detain Me, I will not eat of your food; but if you make ready a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord." (For Manoah did not know that He was the Angel of the Lord.)
17. And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, "What is Your name, so that, when Your words come true, we may honor You?" 18. And the Angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask My name, seeing it is Wonderful?"
19. So Manoah took the kid with the cereal offering, and offered it upon the rock to the Lord, to Him Who works wonders. 20. And when the flame went up toward Heaven from the altar, the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.
21. The Angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the Lord. 22. And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God!" 23. But his wife said to him, "If the Lord had meant to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a cereal offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these."
Again in those spiritually dark days of the time of the judges in Israel’s history, a time in which it was said, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25 [RSV]), we encounter another appearance of the Angel of the Lord, this time to announce the upcoming birth of Samson. That He is God cannot be denied.
In verse 18 we are reminded once more of the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6 in which Wonderful was said would be a name of the Lord, the Messiah to come. Here the Angel of the Lord tells Manoah that His name is Wonderful. He is Jesus Christ in a pre-incarnate form.
In Psalm 34:7 [RSV] one finds one of the three times the Angel of the Lord is mentioned in the Psalms. “The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them.” This verse depicts a battlefield scene in which the Lord is said to make His camp around His faithful and delivers them from their enemies. The word “deliver” means to tear or snatch away in order to rescue. Throughout the writings of the Prophets and in the Psalms themselves, many times David is not only rescued from his enemies, he is also rescued from his fears by God, too. In Psalm 34 alone, David is depicted as being delivered from his shame and his troubles, confirming that the Angel of the Lord and God are One and the same.
Finally, the Angel of His Presence is also a synonym of the Angel of the Lord, a pre-incarnate form of Jesus. Isaiah 63:8-10 [RSV] states, 8. For He said, “Surely they are My people, sons who will not deal falsely;” and He became their Savior. 9. In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in his pity He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. 10. But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned to be their enemy, and Himself fought against them.
How tender are these words, and how apropos they are in describing how Jesus became our Suffering Servant. In His love and in His pity, the Angel of His Presence redeemed and carried them. Jesus Christ, in His love and in His pity for us, redeemed us by carrying our sins with Him all the way to the cross of Calvary.
There are other cases in the Old Testament where the Angel of the Lord appears to men, and it is evident that the Angel is God, Christ in a pre-incarnate form, such as when Jacob wrestled with God in Genesis 32. Of this, Hosea writes in Hosea 12:3-5 [RSV], 3. In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. 4. He strove with the Angel and prevailed, he wept and sought His favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with him – 5. the Lord the God of hosts, the Lord is His name: Hosea uses “the Angel,” “the Lord,” “God” and “the God of hosts” all interchangeably.
We also see Him in 2 Samuel 24:16, when the Angel of the Lord stood poised to destroy Jerusalem. He also is seen throughout the Book of Zechariah. (Zechariah 1:12; Zechariah 3:1 and Zechariah 12:8). The appearances of the Angel of the Lord cease after the incarnation of Christ. Angels are mentioned numerous times in the New Testament, but “the Angel of the Lord” is never mentioned in the New Testament after the birth of Jesus. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the appearances of the Angel of the Lord were manifestations of Jesus before His incarnation. Jesus declared Himself to be existent “before Abraham” in John 8:58, so it is logical that He would be active and manifest in the world. It is also not unreasonable to believe that Jesus could have appeared as the Angel of the Lord because we know for a fact that He did appear in various forms prior to His incarnation as Jesus Son of Man, for the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 [RSV], 1. I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2. and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3. and all ate the same supernatural food 4. and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
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