Angel of the Lord

 

Hagar recognized the Angel of the Lord as “the Lord, the God who sees me.”

  • Genesis 16:7-14 HCSB  The Angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.  8  He said, "Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" She replied, "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai."  9  Then the Angel of the LORD said to her, "You must go back to your mistress and submit to her mistreatment."  10  The Angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count."  11  Then the Angel of the LORD said to her: You have conceived and will have a son. You will name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard your cry of affliction.  12  This man will be like a wild ass. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him; he will live at odds with all his brothers.  13  So she named the LORD who spoke to her: The God Who Sees, for she said, "Have I really seen here the One who sees me?"  14  That is why she named the spring, "A Well of the Living One Who Sees Me." It is located between Kadesh and Bered.
  • Genesis 21:17-18 HCSB  God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What's wrong, Hagar? Don't be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from the place where he is.  18  Get up, help the boy up, and sustain him, for I will make him a great nation."

Note: Beer-lahairoi means “well of the Living One who sees me.”

 

As Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, the Angel of the Lord shouted to him to stop. That angel identified himself as God. He said “I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld even your beloved son from ME.”

  • Genesis 22:11-18 HCSB  But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" He replied, "Here I am."  12  Then He said, "Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me."  13  Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.  14  And Abraham named that place The LORD Will Provide, so today it is said: "It will be provided on the LORD's mountain."  15  Then 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 thing and have not withheld your only son,  17  I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gates of their enemies.  18  And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed My command."

 

The Angel of the Lord clearly identified Himself as the Lord God. Further, He demanded worship, something no good angel would ever do.

  • Exodus 3:2-6 HCSB  Then the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed.  3  So Moses thought: I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn't the bush burning up?  4  When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, "Moses, Moses!" "Here I am," he answered.  5  "Do not come closer," He said. "Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."  6  Then He continued, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

 

The Angel of the Lord took credit for making the covenant with Israel. He again received worship from the people of Israel.

  • Judges 2:1-5 HCSB  The Angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, "I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I had promised to your fathers. I also said: I will never break My covenant with you.  2  You are not to make a covenant with the people who are living in this land, and you are to tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed Me. What is this you have done?  3  Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a trap to you."  4  When the Angel of the LORD had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.  5  So they named that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the LORD.

 

Deborah and Barak called to the people of Israel to fight on the Lord’s side against Sisera. Not everyone responded to the call. All those that failed to rise and fight for the Lord were cursed. One particular city was singled out to be cursed by the Angel of the Lord. He cursed Meroz, which seems to have been a considerable city in its day, and it promptly withered and faded from the pages of history.

  • Judges 5:23 HCSB  "Curse Meroz," says the Angel of the LORD, "Bitterly curse her inhabitants, for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty warriors."

On an historical note: Historically, Meroz became known as Jabesh Gilead. Every male, every child and every woman who had known a man was slain in Meroz because of their passivity (Judges 21:8-10).

 

Once again, we see immanent God appearing in the form of the Angel of the Lord. He predicts the future, commissions Gideon, performs a miracle, comforts Gideon who fears the prohibition against seeing God – not by denying His deity but by granting a dispensation. He then accepts worship.

  • Judges 6:11-24 HCSB  The Angel of the LORD came, and He sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the wine vat in order to hide it from the Midianites.  12  Then the Angel of the LORD appeared to him and said: "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."  13  Gideon said to Him, "Please Sir, if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about? They said, 'Hasn't the LORD brought us out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian."  14  The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and deliver Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not sending you?"  15  He said to Him, "Please, Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Look, my family is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house."  16  "But I will be with you," the LORD said to him. "You will strike Midian down as if it were one man."  17  Then he said to Him, "If I have found favor in Your sight, give me a sign that You are speaking with me.  18  Please do not leave this place until I return to You. Let me bring my gift and set it before You." And He said, "I will stay until you return."  19  So Gideon went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from a half bushel of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought them out and offered them to Him under the oak.  20  The Angel of God said to him, "Take the meat with the unleavened bread, put it on this stone, and pour the broth on it." And he did so.  21  The Angel of the LORD extended the tip of the staff that was in His hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the Angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.  22  When Gideon realized that He was the Angel of the LORD, he said, "Oh no, Lord GOD! I have seen the Angel of the LORD face to face!"  23  But the LORD said to him, "Peace to you. Don't be afraid, for you will not die."  24  So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it Yahweh Shalom. It is in Ophrah of the Abiezrites until today.

 

Yet again, the Angel of the Lord personally predicts the future, something that no other angel ever does. They always say “the Lord says to tell you…yada yada yada.” Manoah’s wife is unsure whether the Angel is a prophet or an angel. She just knows He’s scary. The Angel of God accepts their sacrifice and miraculously ascends on the flames (much as Christ would ascend into the clouds many years hence). Only then does the couple realize that they were speaking to God.

  • Judges 13:3-23 HCSB  The Angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "It is true that you are barren and have no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son.  4  Now please be careful not to drink wine or other alcoholic beverages, or to eat anything unclean;  5  for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines."  6  Then the woman went and told her husband, "A man of God came to me. He looked like the awe-inspiring Angel of God. I didn't ask Him where He came from, and He didn't tell me His name.  7  He said to me, 'You will conceive and give a birth to a son. Therefore, do not drink wine or other alcoholic beverages, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth until the day of his death.'"  8  Manoah prayed to the LORD and said, "Please Lord, let the man of God you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born."  9  God listened to Manoah, and the Angel of GOD came again to the woman. She was sitting in the field, and her husband Manoah was not with her.  10  The woman ran quickly to her husband and told him, "The man who came to me today has just come back!"  11  So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, "Are You the man who spoke to my wife?" "I am," He said.  12  Then Manoah asked, "When Your words come true, what will the boy's responsibilities and mission be?"  13  The Angel of the LORD answered Manoah, "Your wife needs to do everything I told her.  14  She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine or drink wine or other alcoholic beverages. And she must not eat anything unclean. Your wife must do everything I have commanded her."  15  "Please stay here," Manoah told Him, "and we will prepare a young goat for You."  16  The Angel of the LORD said to him, "If I stay, I won't eat your food. But if you want to prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD." For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the LORD.  17  Then Manoah said to Him, "What is Your name, so that we may honor You when Your words come true?"  18  "Why do you ask My name," the Angel of the LORD asked him, "since it is wonderful."  19  Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the LORD, and He did a wonderful thing while Manoah and his wife were watching.  20  When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the Angel of the LORD went up in its flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown on the ground.  21  The Angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the Angel of the LORD.  22  "We're going to die," he said to his wife, "because we have seen God!"  23  But his wife said to him, "If the LORD had intended to kill us, He wouldn't have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us, and He would not have shown us all these things or spoken to us now like this."

 

David wrongly demanded a census of the people, trusting in his numbers rather than God. God disciplined David but gave him the choice of the form of discipline. At David’s request, God used the Death Angel to kill 70,000 Israelis in three days. When the Death Angel was about to slaughter Jerusalem, the Angel of the Lord (Jesus, who is the leader of all angels) stayed his hand, saving Jerusalem the Holy City. David addressed the Angel of the Lord as though He were God and was not disabused.

  • 2 Samuel 24:13-17 HCSB  So Gad went to David, told him the choices, and asked him, "Do you want three years of famine to come on your land, to flee from your foes three months while they pursue you, or to have a plague in your land three days? Now, think it over and decide what answer I should take back to the One who sent me."  14  David answered Gad, "I have great anxiety. Please, let us fall into the LORD's hands because His mercies are great, but don't let me fall into human hands."  15  So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and from Dan to Beer-sheba 70,000 men died.  16  Then the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, but the LORD relented concerning the destruction and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough, withdraw your hand now!" The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.  17  When David saw the angel striking the people, he said to the LORD, "Look, I am the one who has sinned; I am the one who has done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let Your hand be against me and my father's family."

 

King Sennacherib of Assyria besieged Jerusalem with what was reportedly a 200,000 man army. But when he arrogantly boasted against God, the Angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrian troops in a single night. When the remaining 15,000 woke up to find the corpses the Bible, in what is perhaps the greatest understatement ever, says they went home.

  • 2 Kings 19:35 HCSB  That night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning--there were all the dead bodies!

On an historical note: Sennacherib (sĕnăk'ərĭb) or Senherib, d. 681 B.C., king of Assyria (705–681 B.C.). The son of Sargon, Sennacherib spent most of his reign fighting to maintain the empire established by his father. It is difficult to determine the exact sequence of his conquests, but his first campaign seems to have been waged against Babylonia. Later he marched against an uprising of the western nations (Phoenicia, Judah, and Philistia), who were supported by Egypt. He defeated the Egyptians at Eltekeh (701 B.C.) and prepared to take Jerusalem. Isaiah had warned Hezekiah not to join the uprising against Assyria, but the king had refused the advice. Thus, Sennacherib destroyed many Judaean cities and besieged Jerusalem, forcing the king to pay a heavy tribute. Hezekiah built the famous Siloam Tunnel when the water supply was threatened by the approach of the Assyrian forces. Disturbances in Babylonia called the king to that area, and he waged a naval campaign against the Chaldaeans. He laid Elam waste and finally fought both the Chaldaeans and the Elamites at the battle of Halulina (Khaluli) (c.691 B.C.). The exact outcome of the battle is uncertain. Two years later Sennacherib captured and destroyed Babylon. He constructed canals and aqueducts and built a magnificent palace at Nineveh. Two of his sons, jealous of their brother Esar-haddon, murdered Sennacherib. Esar-haddon succeeded to the throne.

 

In his vision Zechariah saw the Angel of the Lord as a man standing among myrtle trees. The man explained that the other angel riders were sent by the Lord to patrol the earth. In the very next sentence the angels reported to the man! He is then described as the Angel of the Lord who is once again in charge of other angels and particularly interested in the fate of Judah. The Angel prays to the Almighty who responds with kind and comforting words something never done for any other angel.

  • Zechariah 1:10-13 HCSB  Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, "They are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth."  11  They reported to the Angel of the LORD standing among the myrtle trees, "We have patrolled the earth, and right now the whole earth is calm and quiet."  12  Then the Angel of the LORD responded, "How long, LORD of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that You have been angry with these 70 years?"  13  The LORD replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.

 

Here the Angel of the Lord shows His authority over Israel’s priesthood and as the Judge before whom Satan accuses humanity. He personally rebukes Satan, something even Michael wouldn’t do. He claims to remove sin and demands obedience. If obeyed He promises access to the Lord’s presence in the Temple and calls it “My Presence.”

  • Zechariah 3:1-10 HCSB  Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.  2  The LORD said to Satan: "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! May the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn't this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?"  3  Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the Angel.  4  So He spoke to those standing before Him, "Take off his filthy clothes!" Then He said to him, "See, I have removed your guilt from you, and I will clothe you with splendid robes."  5  Then I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So a clean turban was placed on his head, and they clothed him in garments while the Angel of the LORD was standing nearby.  6  Then the Angel of the LORD charged Joshua:  7  "This is what the LORD of Hosts says: If you walk in My ways and keep My instructions, you will both rule My house and take care of My courts; I will also grant you access among these who are standing here.  8  "Listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your colleagues sitting before you; indeed, these men are a sign that I am about to bring My servant, the Branch.  9  Notice the stone I have set before Joshua; on that one stone are seven eyes. I will engrave an inscription on it"--the declaration of the LORD of Hosts--"and I will take away the guilt of this land in a single day.  10  On that day, each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree." This is the declaration of the LORD of Hosts.

 

The Angel of the Lord will personally defend Jerusalem on that Great Day, a role we find in other passages being played by the Christ. He describes the last great battle and His “parousia” or appearing when all Israel will recognize “me whom they have pierced” as for a “firstborn son who has died.”

  • Zechariah 12:8-10 HCSB  On that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the one who is weakest among them will be like David on that day, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD, before them.  9  On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.  10  "Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at Me whom they pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for Him as one weeps for a firstborn.

 

Appearances of the Angel cease after the incarnation of Christ. Clearly the Angel of the Lord was the pre-incarnate Christ.