Is The Angel of The Lord God?

In the Bible, we find the character known as the Angel of The Lord. Some scholars have come to the conclusion that the being is God, specifically, Jesus, as the Bible gives great implications it is so.

Biblical Evidence:

In the book of Exodus, we read: "Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God," (Exodus 3:1-6 NASB19 95).

So, what have we read? Moses is walking in the wilderness and finds a bush on fire. Moses becomes confused as to why the bush is not burned up. The angel(or messenger) of the Lord reveals himself. The angel claims to be divine by stating: "I am the God of your father" and is said to be the Lord: "When the Lord". The word "Lord" here is the divine name, that is "יְהוָ֖ה" or "Yahweh".

In another passage found in Genesis, we get a rather interesting implication: “Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.” Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” The angel of the Lord said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. “He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers.” Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” (Genesis 16:7-13 NASB1995). In this passage, we find the angel of the Lord and Hagar speaking. The angel of the Lord is called God, the Devine name, “You are a Yahweh who sees”. As Hagar claimed the angel is Yahweh, we have a fair case he is.

In Genesis 22 we read: "But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad (or boy), and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me," (Genesis 22:11-12 NASB1995). Here, we read that the angel of the Lord is speaking to Abraham. He says Abraham does not have to injure his son for the angel knows that he trusts the Lord God, yet, he says it in an interesting way. "... since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me," (Genesis 22:12c). Not from Yahweh, but from him, the angel. This seems to imply this angel is God.

In the same chapter, it says: "Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice," (Genesis 22:15-18 NASB1995). Not only does Moses call the angel Lord, "declares the Lord", but he also blesses Abraham. It would be unlikely for a mere angel to bring blessings upon men.

Again in Genesis, we read: "Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob’; and I said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Now raise your eyes and see that all the male goats that are mating are striped, speckled, or mottled; for I have seen everything that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a memorial stone, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth," (Genesis 31:11-13 NASB). In this passage, we read that the angel of The Lord was speaking to Jacob in a dream. The angel of the Lord calls himself the "God of Bethal". Either the angel is committing blasphemy or he is actually God as he claims.

Patristic Evidence:

The belief this angel is God was also a very common idea among the early church fathers. Hilary of Poitiers writes: "He Who is called the Angel of God is also Lord and God. The Son of God is also, according to the prophet, the Angel of great counsel. To discriminate clearly between the Persons, He is called the Angel of God; He Who is God from God is also the Angel of God, but, that He may have the honour which is His due, He is entitled also Lord and God," (On the Trinity, Book IV § 23). Here, Hilary calls the Angel of The Lord God. Again, he says, "The Angel of of God is also Lord and God".

Justin Martyr writes: "In announcing that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses, and in afterwards declaring him to be Lord and God," (Dialogue with Trypho Chapter 60). Justin is a very early church father, living from either the late first or early second century. This would mean this is a very early belief. Justin again says: "Have you perceived, sirs, that this very God whom Moses speaks of as an Angel that talked to him in the flame of fire, declares to Moses that He is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob?" (Dialogue with Trypho Chapter 59). For more, read chapter 58.

Refuting Arguments:

What Does Angel Mean?

Some push back arguing that an angel is different than God; however, we must realize what it means to be an angel. The Hebrew word used here is: "מַלְאַ֨ךְ". This word merely means "a messenger" and does not specifically (but can) refer to a divine being. For example, in 1 Kings we read: "Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time," (1 Kings 19:2 NASB1995). The word used for messenger in this verse is "מַלְאָ֔ךְ", the same used in Exodus.

Another example is in 2 Kings: "And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean," (2 Kings 5:10 KJV). Once again, the Hebrew word "מַלְאָ֣ךְ" is used. Also read: Proverbs 13:17, Ezekiel 23:40, & Haggai 1:13.

It Should be "an Angel of the Lord":

Some skeptics will claim a more accurate translation should be "an angel of the Lord" rather than "the angel of the Lord" for there is no definite article (the word "the") in any case where we find "angel of the Lord". It is true we never do see a definite article with the title "Angel of The Lord", the definite article is the Hebrew letter "ה". Example: הַפָּר = the bull, פָּר = a bull. The title "Angel of The Lord" is: "מַלְאַ֣ךְ יְהוָ֔ה". It is important to remember our forms in Hebrew, the one most important now is the construct form.

The construct form in Hebrew is a Hebrew relationship between two or more nouns that in English translates as "of". It is similar to the gentive case found in some languages. For example, "אֲבִי הַנַּעַר" means "The father of the boy". "בֶּן־יוֹסֵף" means "the son of Joseph". A definite fina0l noun (i.e. the last noun in a chain/list) or proper noun makes the entire chain definite. In the phrase: "מַלְאַ֣ךְ יְהוָ֔ה", Yahweh is a proper noun. This thus makes angel or "מַלְאַ֣ךְ" definite.

It Should be "The Presence of The Lord":

Another argument against the angel of the Lord being Yahweh is that the term "מַלְאַ֣ךְ" just means presence. This claim is simply absurd and is not taught by any reputable scholars. Dr. George M. Landes in his book "Building Your Biblical Hebrew Vocabulary: Learning Words by Frequency and Cognate" notes the word "מלאך" merely means messenger or angel (Landes 165). We would also have to conclude if we had to translate "מַלְאַ֣ךְ" as presence that the prophet Haggai is God. In Haggai we read: "Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke by the commission of the LORD to the people saying, "'I am with you,' declares the LORD," (Haggai 1:13 NASB). Is Haggai merely a messenger, or the presence of God?

In 1 Kings it says: "Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time," (1 Kings 19:2 KJV). Did Jezebel send a presence to Elijah to speak to him, or simply a messenger? It seems clear such a definition (i.e. presence) is inadequate and leads to heretical doctrines.

Work Cited:

Image by Luke Stackpoole on Unsplash

Mitchel, Larry A. A Student's Vocabulary for Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic, Updated Edition: Frequency Lists with Definitions, Pronunciation Guide, and Index. United States, Zondervan, 2017 (link).

Translated by E.W. Watson and L. Pullan. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, (On the Trinity) Vol. 9. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1899.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/330204.htm.

Translated by Marcus Dods and George Reith. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, (Dialogue with Trypho) Vol. 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01285.htm.