Who is the Angel of the Lord?

As you are reading through the Bible you will come across someone referred to as “the Angel of the Lord.” This angel is a topic of debate among Christians. Who exactly is the Angel of the Lord? Why is he distinguished from all the other angels that appear in Scripture? In this essay we will examine the mystery surrounding this popular supernatural being.

The Angel of the Lord is mentioned roughly sixty to seventy times throughout the Old Testament, and at times appears with slightly different titles such as “the angel of God” or “the angel of the presence” (Genesis 22:9-18, Judges 6:20, Psalm 34:7). Some of the places in Scripture where you can find the Angel of the Lord include:

1. When he speaks to Hagar after she and Ishmael are sent away from Abraham (Genesis 16:7-14).
2. During God’s testing of Abraham concerning the near-sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22:11-15).
3. When Abraham sends his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac, Abraham tells the servant that God’s angel will lead him to the proper girl who turned out to be Rebekah (Genesis 24:7, 40).
4. The angel appears to Jacob in a dream (Genesis 31:11-13).
5. Perhaps the famous scene involving the Angel of the Lord is in Exodus 3. It is here that God appears to Moses in the burning bush. Verse 2 explicitly tells us that it is the Angel of the Lord who is appearing to Moses in the bush.
6. The angel appears among the Israelites after the Exodus, and it is he who leads them to the Promised Land (Exodus 14:19; 23:20-23; 32:34-33:17).
7. He appears in Numbers 22 during the episode of Balaam and his donkey.
8. The Angel makes appears in the book of Judges when he speaks to the people of Israel (Judges 2) and Gideon (Judges 6:11-24) and Samson (Judges 13).

Who is the Angel of the Lord?

The issue concerning the Angel of the Lord revolves around the two main interpretations concerning his identity: 1) he is God himself who is temporarily present in angelic form or Jesus before the incarnation,[1] and 2) he is an angel with a special commission from God. That is, he is a normal angel who has been tasked with a special assignment.[2] Let’s look at the arguments for the first view.

First, many passages in the Old Testament present the angel as identifying himself with the Lord on different occasions.[3] Genesis 22:12, 15-18 heavily implies that the Angel of the Lord is God manifesting to Abraham.[4] In Genesis 31:11-13, the Angel appears to Jacob in a dream and says he is the “God of Bethel.”[5] In Exodus 3, the angel tells Moses that “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (3:6).

Scholar Douglas Stuart mentions that Exodus 3 “is perhaps the strongest of all passages for identifying the ‘Angel of the LORD’ as the Lord himself, for it continually refers to the individual first identified as ‘the Angel of the Lord’ as both Lord [Yahweh] (vv. 2, 4, 7, 15, 16, 18) and God (vv. 4-6, 11-16, 18).”[6]

In Judges 2:1, 4, the Angel of the Lord says that he brought the Israelites out of Egypt into the Promised Land and that he was the one who promised the land of Israel to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Since we know that it was God who did these things then it is not a stretch to conclude that the Angel of the Lord is God in angelic form.

The second argument in favor of the angel being God is that people in Scripture often identify and speak of him as being divine.[7] In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles with a man whom the passage identifies as being supernatural. Jacob even says here that he had “seen God face to face,” and the prophet Hosea (12:3-5) identifies the man as an angel. Later in his life, Jacob equated God with the Angel of the Lord (Genesis 48:15-16).

In Judges 6:11-24, the angel appears to Gideon where verses 14-18 identify the angel as being the Lord himself. These verses are important since “[t]he alternation of the phrases used to describe Gideon’s divine visitor shows that the angel of the Lord is used synonymously with the Lord.”[8] The angel also appears to the parents of Samson in Judges 13 where Samson’s father associates seeing the Angel of the Lord with seeing God himself (v. 22).

Third, the angel is sometimes described in terms that are normally reserved for God. In Exodus 23:20-23, for example, the angel has the power to forgive or not forgive sins, give teachings and commands that must be obeyed, will judge and destroy God’s enemies, and has within him God’s Name.[9]

The Angel of the Lord is also identified with God while the Israelites are wandering in the desert. As the people are moving in the desert they are guided by God in the form of a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire by night. In Exodus 14:19, the Angel of God is said to be traveling with Israel and is associated with the pillar of cloud. The Angel moves from the front of the people to the rear to protect them from the Egyptians. When the angel does this the pillar of cloud also moved thus implying that the angel and cloud were the same. In this context, the angel and the cloud were the physical manifestations of God to the Israelites.[10] 

The Angel is mentioned once again among the Israelites in Exodus 32:34-33:17 as they wander in the desert after the Exodus. Here the angel is said that he will drive the Canaanites out of the Promised Land. God is often seen as the one completing this action. Again, this implies that the Angel of the Lord is a manifestation of God.

The fourth argument involves grammar. The word for “angel” in Hebrew (malak) simply means “messenger” or “envoy” and can refer to supernatural (angels) or human messengers. It is argued that the Hebrew for the “Angel of the Lord” (which is malak Yahweh) points not to any angel but a special angel.  

Stuart explains it this way: the Hebrew phrase “is a construct…and according to the rule of constructs, both elements must be either definite or indefinite. Since the proper noun ‘Yahweh’ [translated as LORD in English] is intrinsically definite, the noun that precedes it [must] also be definite; so the phrase cannot therefore mean ‘an angel of the Lord’ but must connote greater definiteness, in other words, ‘the Angel of the LORD’” (emphasis mine).[11]  

Another scholar, Victor Hamilton, says, “It is clear…that the angel of Yahweh is a visible manifestation (either in human form or in fiery form) of Yahweh that is essentially indistinguishable from Yahweh himself. The angel of Yahweh is more a representation of God than a representative of God. In the words of R. North, ‘malak means representation, as a ‘presence’ or manner of rendering oneself present, rather than a specific form of this representative which is [a] messenger.”[12]

So to summarize the view that the Angel of the Lord is God (Jesus) in angelic form:

1. The Angel identifies himself as God on numerous occasions.
2. People who meet the angel often speak of him as being God.
3. The angel is sometimes described in terms that are often reserved only for God.
4. The grammar of the phrase “Angel of the Lord” supports the idea that this angel is God manifesting to his people.

A Different View

The second view concerning the identity of the Angel of the Lord is that he is not God in angelic form but a normal angel who is God’s representative on earth. This perspective centers on the Hebrew that is translated “Angel of the Lord.” Above it was argued that the Hebrew indicates a special angel. However, this view interprets the Hebrew (malak Yahweh) in the most basic way. As previously mentioned, the word for “angel” simply means “messenger” or “envoy.” Thus, the “Angel of the Lord” simply means “messenger/envoy of the LORD.”[13]

It is argued that in Scripture God will often completely authorize his messengers with his word that they become indistinguishable from him when they speak his messages.[14] Scholar Daniel Block explains this idea when he says, “[t]he term malak simply means an officially authorized spokesperson for a superior. The narrator highlights the total identification of the envoy with his commissioning authority by having him speak in the first person, thereby representing the voice of Yahweh and identifying the speaker in this exchange alternatingly as Yahweh’s ‘messenger/angel’ and as Yahweh’s alter ego.”[15]

Scholar Bruce Waltke says it this way, “In the ancient Near East the royal messenger was treated as a surrogate of the king (Judg. 11:13; 2 Sam. 3:12-13; 1 Kings 20:2-4). So also the Lord’s messenger is treated as God and yet is distinct from God, as God’s angel.”[16] Whenever a king in the ancient Middle East would send a messenger to someone that messenger was treated and listened to as if he (the messenger) was the king. This may sound strange to someone living in the modern world but this was the way things were done in ancient times.

Thus, the Angel of the Lord is simply an authorized envoy of God. In this sense, “he is God’s official spokesman.” This is also seen with the prophets in the Old Testament as they also “display this kind of identity with God when they identify his message with their message.”[17] Interestingly, the prophets are also referred to as the Lord’s messengers (malakim). (For examples, see 2 Chronicles 36:15-16, Isaiah 42:19 and 44:26, Haggai 1:13, and Malachi 3:1).[18] Essentially what this view is teaching is that a prophet or angel (an ambassador/messenger) from God will make a transition into the words of the one who sent and commissioned him (in this case God).

Exodus 23:21 comes to mind here where the angel of the Lord is said to guard the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land. The people were to listen to him and not rebel against him. He is given the power to forgive or not forgive the people since God’s Name is in him. These powers are not the angel’s natural powers but God granted the angel these powers for a special purpose and time.

Technically, the Angel of the Lord functions “as the alter ego of God. This explains why, in many contexts, Yahweh/God and malak Yahweh are freely interchanged…the envoy’s speech is cast as a divine speech in the first person. What the messenger says, God says, and vice versa.”[19]

Scholar H.C. Leupold disagrees with this argument. He believes that although human ambassadors may do this he feels “that the Almighty stands too far above the creature, even an angel, to allow for such a piece of presumption on the part of His representatives. If [Exodus] 3:6 be examined, as one of the passages bearing upon the case, one could hardly venture to say that such a transition from one person to another takes place. The claim to being none other than Yahweh Himself is too distinct.”[20]

I understand the point that Leupold is saying; that God is above this kind of representation, that he would not allow an angel or prophet to be his alter ego. The problem with Leupold’s argument is that it is only his “feeling” that disagrees with it. There is nothing in Scripture that denies the idea that an angel or prophet could be given this kind of status as an envoy of the Lord. This does not mean that this view is correct, but that this is not the best argument against it.

The second argument in favor of the angel not being God is that the Angel of the Lord appears in the New Testament after Jesus’ incarnation, resurrection, and ascension. This makes it very difficult to identify the angel as God since Jesus is the second person of the Trinity. Why would Jesus resurrect and ascend into heaven just to reappear in the form of an angel? The New Testament never claims that the Angel of the Lord is Jesus before or after the incarnation.

Lastly, the angel’s actions are “described as an act of the Lord himself, and he sometimes speaks in the first person for the Lord himself” (Acts 12:7; Rev. 22:6, 7, 12).[21] This is important to understand since one of the main arguments in favor of the angel being divine is that he speaks in the first person. If the Angel of the Lord is not God in the New Testament yet he speaks on God’s behalf, then it is reasonable to conclude that the same is going on in the Old Testament. Thus, the Angel of the Lord if not divine but simply a messenger from God who speaks in the first person as if he is God.[22]

So…who is the Angel?

In my opinion, both interpretations make good points. In many passages, the Angel of the Lord does seem to be identified as God in angelic form. Whether it is the fact that he is given divine characteristics, is identified as being God by people who encounter him, or that he identifies himself as the Lord, makes it difficult to not conclude that the Angel is a manifestation of Jesus before the incarnation.

However, the second view makes a great point when comparing the Angel of the Lord to an envoy of a king. Essentially, the envoy represents the king who sent him. His words are seen as identical to the one who sent the messenger. This interpretation also makes another great point by noting that the Angel of the Lord appears in the New Testament after the resurrection of Christ. If the Angel is God then why not identify the Angel as Jesus instead of an angel?

It is also possible that both views are correct in some sense. Perhaps sometimes the Angel of the Lord is God making an appearance while at other times he is a normal angel.[23] There are times when he is distinguished from the Lord and times that he is identified with the Lord. To know the difference the reader would have to pay attention to the details in each passage. For some, this may be the best way to understand the differences between the various verses where the Angel of the Lord appears.

What are your thoughts? Is the Angel of the Lord an angelic manifestation of Jesus or is he a special messenger sent from God with a special task?

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[1] Sam Storms, Tough Topics (Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2013), 124-125. Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology 2^nd Ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1998), 467-468. Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus. In the “New American Commentary” vol. 2 (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2006). Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17 (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), 450-451. Arthur E. Cundall and Leon Morris, Judges and Ruth (Downers Grove, Ill: Intervarsity Press, 1968). Cundall and Morris (p. 64) say, “The angel of the Lord is regularly used in the Old Testament to denote the manifestation of the Lord himself in a theophany.” H.C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1942). Leupold (p. 500-501) says that the Angel of the Lord is divine “is to be regarded as a kind of pre-incarnation of the Messiah” and that “[t]his Angel of the Lord is in a class by Himself and distinctly recognized as a superior being by the writers of the Old Testament books.” Henry Morris, The Genesis Record (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1976). Morris (p. 330, 499) says that the Angel of the Lord is a “preincarnate appearance of the Messiah.” Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000), 401.

[2] Storms, 125. Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1999), 110-111, 259. Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001), 253-254.

[3] Leupold, 500.

[4] Morris says that the Angel claims “to be none other than the Lord Himself” (p. 381).

[5] Hamilton, 450.

[6] Stuart, 112.

[7] Leupold, 500. Storms, 125.

[8] Cundall and Morris, 103.

[9] Stuart, 111-112.

[10] Ibid., 340.

[11] Ibid., 110.

[12] Hamilton, 451.

[13] Block, 110.

[14] Storms, 125.

[15] Block, 259.

[16] Waltke, 253-254.

[17] Storms, 125.

[18] Block, 110.

[19] Ibid., 110-111.

[20] Leupold, 501.

[21] Bandstra, quoted in Storms, 125.

[22] If the Angel of the Lord is not God then it possible that the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament may be the angel who announces the birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:11) and of Jesus (Matt. 1:20, 24; Luke 2:9) and identifies himself as Gabriel (Luke 1:19). See Waltke, 254.

[23] Although Grudem supports the view that the Angel is God in angelic form, he does mention (p. 401) that at other times God and the Angel are distinguished (2 Samuel 24:16; Psalm 34:7; Zechariah 1:11-13).