* The Bible’s words for “angel” (malach in Hebrew and angelos in Greek) mean simply messenger. Whether this refers to a human messenger, a spirit-being messenger (an angel), or God himself acting as a messenger must be determined from the context.
2) One of the “three men,” two of whom are later identified as “messengers” (Gen. 19:1), that appeared to Abraham (mentioned above): “And the LORD appeared to him” (Gen. 18:1), “And the LORD said to Abraham” (Gen. 18:13), “while Abraham was still standing before the LORD” (Gen. 18:22).
3) The “messenger of the LORD” that spoke as God to Abraham at his offering of Isaac (Gen. 22:11,15): “You have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (Gen. 22:12).
4) The “messenger of God” that identified himself as “God” to Jacob at Bethel (Gen. 31:11): “I am the God of Bethel” (Gen. 31:13).
5) The “man” identified as “God” that wrestled with Jacob at Peniel (Gen. 32:24): “I have seen God face to face” (Gen. 32:30).
6) The “messenger” identified with God in Jacob’s three-fold blessing over Joseph’s sons (Gen. 48:16): “The God before whom my fathers...walked, the God who has been my shepherd..., the messenger who has redeemed me from all evil” (Gen. 48:15-16).
7)
The “messenger of the LORD” identified
as “God” that spoke to Moses from the
burning bush (Exo. 3:2): “God called to him from the middle of the
bush” (Exo. 3:4).
8) The “messenger” with God’s name in him that went before the children of Israel in the desert (Exo. 23:20): “My name is in him” (Exo. 23:21).
9) The appearance of “the God of Israel” before Moses and the seventy elders on Mt. Sinai, traditionally identified as an angelic messenger: “And they saw the God of Israel” (Exo. 24:10).
10) The “LORD” (#1) who descended and stood by Moses as the “LORD” (#2) passed by in front of him (Exo. 34:5-6): “And the LORD descended in the cloud and stationed himself with him there.... Then the LORD passed by over his face...” (Exo. 34:5).
11) The “captain of the Lord’s army,” identified as “the LORD,” that spoke to Joshua (Joshua 5:14-15): “And the LORD said to Joshua” (Josh. 6:2).
12) The “messenger of the LORD” that spoke as God at Bochim (Judges 2:1,4): “I brought you up out of Egypt” (Judges 2:1).
13) The “messenger of the LORD” identified as “the LORD” that spoke to Gideon (Judges 6:11): “And the LORD turned toward him” (Judges 6:14).
14) The “messenger of the LORD,” identified as “a man of God” with “the appearance of a messenger of God,” who appeared to the parents of Samson (Judges 13:3,6,8): “We have seen God” (Judges 13:22).
15) The “messenger of great counsel” in the old Greek (Septuagint or LXX) version of Isa. 9:6, who in the Hebrew is called “mighty God, eternal Father.”
16) The “messenger of his [God’s] presence” in Isa. 63:9, referring to Exo. 23:20-21 (see #8 above).
17) The “likeness with the appearance of a man” that glowed like metal in Ezekiel’s vision of the storm cloud, who is identified as “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD” and who speaks as God (Eze. 1:26-28): “I am sending you to the sons of Israel...who have rebelled against me....and you will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says’” (Eze. 2:3-4).
18) The “messenger of the LORD” who speaks as God before Joshua the high priest (Zech. 3:1, 3, 5-6): “And the LORD said to Satan” (Zech. 3:2), “I am going to bring in my servant” (Zech. 3:8).
(For more on this topic, see our teaching Does God Have Parts? or the index category the Angel of the Lord.)
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