The (or an) angel of the ( he, מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה '' mal’āḵ

YHWH The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', '' he'', ''waw'', and '' ...

'' "messenger of

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...

") is an entity appearing repeatedly in the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

) on behalf of the

God of Israel God of Israel may refer to: * God in Judaism, God as understood in Jewish theological discussion * Yahweh, the national god of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah * Tetragrammaton, the four Hebrew letters YHWH as the name of God, and various ...

. The guessed term ''YHWH'', which occurs 65 times in the text of the Hebrew Bible, can be translated either as "the angel of the Lord" or "an angel of the Lord". The

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

usually translates it as "the angel of the "; less frequently as "an angel of the ". The

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

(LXX) sometimes uses (an angel of the Lord), sometimes (the angel of the Lord): in Genesis 16:7–11, it gives first the sounded word without a Greek article, then, in all the subsequent mentions with the article, as in the anaphoric use of the article. A closely related term is "angel of God" (), mentioned 12 times (2 of which are plural). Another related expression,

Angel of the Presence In some Judeo-Christian traditions, the Angel of the Presence / Face (lit. "faces", Hebrew: ''Mal'akh HaPanim'', ) or Angel of his presence / face (Hebrew: ''Mal'akh Panav'', ) refers to an entity variously considered angelic or else identified with ...

, occurs only once (Isaiah 63:9). The

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

uses the term "angel of the Lord" () several times, in one instance (Luke 1:11–19) the angel's name is

Gabriel In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር� ...

Hebrew Bible

Angel of Yahweh

The word Angel found numerous times in the scriptures of the bible refers to a heavenly entity who delivers a message from God to humans on Earth, in other words a messenger of God. There is a difference between an angel and the Angel of the Lord, The Angel of the Lord is the only angel appearing continually throughout the old testament referring to himself as the Lord and God in the first person, while the other angels mentioned in the scripture reference to the Lord God as a hallowed third person always humbling themselves and not accepting any type of glory. Examples of use of the Hebrew term are found in the following verses, here given in the King James Version translation: * Genesis 16:7–14. The angel of the Lord appears to

Hagar Hagar, of uncertain origin; ar, هَاجَر, Hājar; grc, Ἁγάρ, Hagár; la, Agar is a biblical woman. According to the Book of Genesis, she was an Egyptian slave, a handmaiden of Sarah (then known as ''Sarai''), whom Sarah gave to he ...

. The angel speaks as God himself in the first person, and in

verse 13 Verse may refer to: Poetry * Verse, an occasional synonym for poetry * Verse, a metrical structure, a stanza * Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme * Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict ...

Hagar identifies "the that spoke to her" as "The God Who sees". * Genesis 22:11–15. The angel of the Lord appears to

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

and refers to himself as God in the first person. * Exodus 3:2–4. The angel of the Lord appears to

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

in a flame in verse 2, and God speaks to Moses from the flame in verse 4, both instances referring to himself in the first person, the text seemingly conflates the two as one. * Numbers 22:22–38. The angel of the Lord meets the prophet

Balaam Balaam (; , Standard ''Bīlʿam'' Tiberian ''Bīlʿām'') is a diviner in the Torah (Pentateuch) whose story begins in Chapter 22 of the Book of Numbers (). Ancient references to Balaam consider him a non-Israelite, a prophet, and the son of Beo ...

on the road. In verse 38, Balaam identifies the angel who spoke to him as delivering the word of God. * Judges 2:1–3. The angel of the Lord appears to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. * Judges 6:11–23. The angel of the Lord appears to

Gideon Gideon (; ) also named Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth, was a military leader, judge and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites are recounted in of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. Gideon was the son of Joash, from the Abiez ...

, and in verse 22 Gideon fears for his life because he has seen the angel of the Lord face to face, which is similar to when others in the Tanakh (Old Testament) fear they will die because they have seen God. * Judges 13:3–22. The angel of the Lord appears to

Manoah Manoah ( ''Mānoaḥ'') is a figure from the Book of Judges 13:1-23 and 14:2-4 of the Hebrew Bible. His name means "rest". Family According to the Bible, Manoah was of the tribe of Dan and lived in the city of Zorah. He married one woman, who w ...

and his wife and, in verse 16, tells them to offer to the LORD if they are to make an offering ("And the angel of the said unto Manoah ..if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the . For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the ."). Later Manoah thought he and his wife will die for they "have seen God" * Zechariah 1:12. The angel of the Lord pleads with the Lord to have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. * Zechariah 3:4. The angel of the Lord takes away the sin of the high priest Joshua. The Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the

translates the Hebrew phrase as , "angel of the Lord" or as , "the angel of the Lord". "Owing to the Hebrew idiom, this may mean no more than 'an angel of God', and the Septuagint renders it with or without the article at will."Pope, Hugh
"Angels"
in ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. accessed 9 July 2018 The

KJV The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

and

NKJV The New King James Version (NKJV) is an English translation of the Bible. The complete NKJV Bible was published in 1982 by Thomas Nelson, now HarperCollins. The NKJV is described by Thomas Nelson as being "scrupulously faithful to the origin ...

capitalize "Angel" in the Old Testament references to "''the'' Angel of the Lord", while using lower-case "angel" in the Old Testament references to "''an'' angel of the Lord" (and in the New Testament references). Most versions, including NASB,

RSV RSV may refer to: Biology and medicine * Respiratory syncytial virus, causing respiratory disease * Rous sarcoma virus, causing cancer in chickens Road vehicles * Several :Aprilia motorcycles, Aprilia motorcycles, e.g.RSV4 * Minicar RSV, a US saf ...

ESV The English Standard Version (ESV) is an English translation of the Bible. Published in 2001 by Crossway, the ESV was "created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors." The ESV relies on recently published critic ...

, etc., do not capitalize "angel" in the mentions of "angel of the Lord".

Angel of Elohim

The term "angel of God" (Heb. ) occurs 12 times (2 of which are plural). The following are examples: * Genesis 31:11. The angel of God calls out to

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...

in a dream and tells him "I am the God of

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...

". * Exodus 14:19. The angel of God leads the camp of Israel, and also follows behind them, with the pillar of fire. * Judges 13:9. The angel of God approached

Manoah's wife Manoah's wife (also referred to as Samson's mother) is an unnamed figure in the Book of Judges, the wife of Manoah. She is introduced in Judges 13:2 as a barren woman. The angel of the Lord appears to her and tells her she will have a son. She la ...

after the Lord heard

Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 107

Angel sent by God

In addition, there are mentions of God "sending an angel", of which the following are examples: * Exodus 23:20–21. The says he will send an Angel before the Israelites, and warns them to obey the Angel's voice, and that the Angel "will not pardon transgressions" because the 's "name is in him". * Exodus 33:2. God says he will send an angel before the Israelites, and that God will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. * Numbers 20:16. The sent an angel and brought the people of Israel forth from Egypt. * 1 Chronicles 21:15. God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but then repented and told the angel to stay his hand. * 2 Chronicles 32:21. The sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria.

New Testament

In the

the Greek phrase (—"angel of the Lord") is found in , , , , ; , ; ; , , , and . English translations render the phrase either as "an angel of the Lord" or as "the angel of the Lord". The mentions in and of "his angel" (the Lord's angel) can also be understood as referring either to ''the'' angel of the Lord or ''an'' angel of the Lord. An angel of the Lord who is mentioned in Luke 1:11 makes himself and his identity known as

in .

Interpretations

Most appearances of the "angel of the Lord" leave the reader with the question of whether it was an angel or

who appeared. Apart from the view that "the angel of the Lord is just that—an

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

", a wide array of solutions have been offered, such as making the angel an earthly manifestation (

avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...

) of the God of Israel or of

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

. In the ''

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

'' (1907) Hugh Pope writes: "The earlier

Fathers A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fath ...

, going by the letter of the text in the Septuagint, maintained that it was God Himself who appeared as the Giver of the Law to Moses. It was not unnatural then for

Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...

..to regard such manifestations in the light of preludes to the

Incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...

, and most of the Eastern Fathers followed the same line of thought." Pope quotes the view of

Theodoret Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus ( grc-gre, Θεοδώρητος Κύρρου; AD 393 – 458/466) was an influential theologian of the School of Antioch, biblical commentator, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus (423–457). He played a pivo ...

that this angel was probably Christ, "the Only-begotten Son, the Angel of great Counsel", and contrasts Theodoret's view with the opposite view of the Latin Fathers

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman pr ...

, and

Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregori ...

that it was no more than an angel, a view that, he says, "was destined to live in the Church, and the Scholastics reduced it to a system". As an exponent of this view he quotes Augustine, who declared that "the angel is correctly termed an angel if we consider him himself, but equally correctly is he termed 'the Lord' because God dwells in him." He indicates, however, that within the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

the opposite view was also upheld. The appearances of the "angel of the Lord" are in fact often presented as

theophanies Theophany (from Ancient Greek , meaning "appearance of a deity") is a personal encounter with a deity, that is an event where the manifestation of a deity occurs in an observable way. Specifically, it "refers to the temporal and spatial manifest ...

, appearances of YHWH himself rather than a separate entity acting on his behalf. In , "the angel of God" says, "I am the God of Beth-el". In "the angel of Yahweh" () appeared to Moses in the flame of fire, and then "Yahweh" () says to him: "I am the God of thy father". Compare also ; . At times the angel of the Lord speaks in such a way as to assume authority over previous promises (see Gen. 16:11 and 21:17). According to the

New American Bible The New American Bible (NAB) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1970. The 1986 Revised NAB is the basis of the revised Lectionary, and it is the only translation approved for use at Mass in the Latin-rite Catholic dioces ...

, the visual form under which God appeared and spoke to men is referred to indifferently in some Old Testament texts either as God's angel or as God himself. Another interpretation builds on the usage by which ancient spokesmen, after an introductory phrase, used the grammatically first person in proclaiming the point of view of the one they represent. Another proposal is Samuel A. Meier's interpolation theory, which holds that, originally, stories in which there is ambiguity between Yahweh and the "angel of Yahweh" were written with Yahweh himself delivering the message. Later, copyists inserted the term before the divine name to modify the narratives, in order to meet the standards of a changing theology which more strongly emphasized a transcendent God. If the term is removed from these passages, the remaining story fits neatly with a "default" format in Near Eastern literature in which the deity appears directly to humans without an intermediary. The addition of does not require any change in the form of the verbs connected to it, since both and a deity such as

Elohim ''Elohim'' (: ), the plural of (), is a Hebrew word meaning "gods". Although the word is plural, in the Hebrew Bible it usually takes a singular verb and refers to a single deity, particularly (but not always) the God of Israel. At other times ...

are of masculine grammatical gender and since the noun before which is introduced remains unaffected on the consonantal level. On the other hand, the removal of the word from the narration usually makes it more coherent and in line with its

Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...

literary context. Although Wojciech Kosior favours this interpolation theory, he mentions some unsolved difficulties connected with it: the large number of similar theophanies in which the word has ''not'' been added to the names of Yahweh and Elohim and the fact that it is never associated with names such as El-Elyon, El-Shadday or El-Ro’eh worshipped by the biblical Hebrews.

Possible christophany

The early

Fathers of the Church The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical pe ...

, such as

Justin Martyr Justin Martyr ( el, Ἰουστῖνος ὁ μάρτυς, Ioustinos ho martys; c. AD 100 – c. AD 165), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and philosopher. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and ...

, identify the angel of the Lord as the pre-incarnate Christ whose appearance, i.e.

Christophany A Christophany is an appearance or non-physical manifestation of Christ. Traditionally the term refers to visions of Christ after his Ascension of Jesus, ascension, such as the bright light of the conversion of Paul the Apostle. Also, following ...

, is recorded in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

. On the reason why some early Christians viewed Jesus as the angel of the Lord, Susan Garrett says:

he logic behind thereading of Jesus into accounts of the angel of the LORD went deeper. Many Jews before and during the time of Jesus were deeply interested in angels. Some understood the angel of the LORD as a being completely separate from God—a sort of angelic vizier or righthand angel, who served as head of the heavenly host and in other important capacities, including as a mediator between God and humans. Further, some Jews routinely appropriated language used in Scripture to describe the angel of the LORD and used it to characterize certain of God’s attributes, including God’s ''word'', ''glory'', ''wisdom'', ''spirit'', ''power'', and ''name''—almost as if these aspects of the Deity were themselves independent angels. In other words, quite apart from Christianity there was talk among ancient Jews of God’s ''word'', God’s ''glory'', and so forth in terms highly reminiscent of the angel of the LORD. So, when early Christian authors like Justin Martyr connected Jesus with God’s word and that word, in turn, with the angel of the LORD, they were not inventing from scratch so much as adding a new layer to well-established ways of reading Scripture.

Matthew Henry Matthew Henry (18 October 166222 June 1714) was a Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist minister and author, who was born in Wales but spent much of his life in England. He is best known for the six-volume biblical commentary ''Exposition ...

refers to 1 Cor 10:9, where the Israelites are said to have tempted Christ in the desert, as evidence that the angel of God is Christ. The Hellenistic Jewish philosopher

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. Philo's deplo ...

identified the angel of the Lord (in the singular) with the

Logos ''Logos'' (, ; grc, wikt:λόγος, λόγος, lógos, lit=word, discourse, or reason) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric and refers to the appeal to reason that relies on logic or reason, inductive and deductive ...

. In ''Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology'', Louis Goldberg writes: "The functions of the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament prefigure the reconciling ministry of Jesus. In the New Testament, there is no mention of the angel of the Lord; the Messiah himself is this person."Angel of the Lord
- Elwell, Walter A. - ''

Evangelical Dictionary of Theology The ''Evangelical Dictionary of Theology'' is a Christian reference work published by Baker Books Baker Publishing Group is a Christian book publisher that discusses historic Christian happenings for its evangelical readers. It is based in Ada, ...

''. Retrieved 9 April 2012. On the other hand, Knofel Staton says: "The idea that this angel was Christ is unlikely for many reasons, which include the following: 1) God never said to any angel (including the 'angel of the Lord') 'you are my son' (Heb 1:5) ...";

Ben Witherington Ben Witherington III (born December 30, 1951) is an American Wesleyan-Arminian New Testament scholar. Witherington is Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary, a Wesleyan-Holiness seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, an ...

says: "The angel of the Lord is just that – an angel. .. Te divine son of God ..was no mere angel of the Lord, nor did he manifest himself in some observable form prior to the Incarnation."

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...

teach that the angel who brought the Israelites into their promised land and would not pardon transgression because God's name was in him () was "God's firstborn Son", the pre-existent Christ, also called the

archangel Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

, the Prince of the people of Israel mentioned in , the firstborn called "the Son of God" because he was created with qualities like those of his Father.Bible Questions Answered: Why is Jesus called God’s Son?
/ref>