The Big Questions About the Identification of the Angel of Yahweh

We note that the Angel of Yahweh never introduces himself as “The Angel of Yahweh” yet the patriarchs and saints identified him as “The Angel of Yahweh”. At the burning bush, for example, the Angel of Yahweh did not refer to himself as “The Angel of Yahweh” but said,

“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” [Exo 3:6]

and he also called his Name

“Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” [Exo 3:15].

Yet Moses wrote that it was the angel of Yahweh that appeared to him in the flames of the burning bush [Exo 3:2; Num 20:16].

The question then is,

1. What is the basis of Jacob and Moses’ identification of the Angel of Yahweh as the Angel of Yahweh when
   1. He never identifies himself as “The Angel of Yahweh”, and
   2. When nothing in his words suggest him to be an angel?
2. Why did Jacob, Moses and others such as Gideon, all consider him to be the same Angel of Yahweh
   1. Even when they, e.g., Gideon, may have never seen him before? And
   2. Even though God has many angels who are neither mute nor powerless?

Their Beliefs About the Angel of Yahweh

Another important question concerns what they believed about the Angel of Yahweh.

Not only were they able to identify the Angel of Yahweh when he appeared or spoke to them, but they also very clearly had certain beliefs about him. For example,

1. They evidently considered him to be God.
2. They believed that he bore the same name as God, Yahweh.
3. Even though, since they called him an angel, they apparently knew that he was under Yahweh, yet they believed too that seeing him was seeing God, meeting with him was meeting with God.

Jacob evidently believed these things about the Angel of Yahweh as is evident in

1. His blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh—where he equated the Angel of Yahweh to the God of Abraham and Isaac [Gen 48:15-16]—and
2. His confession when he wrestled with the Angel of Yahweh at Peniel—where he refers to the Angel as God and the Presence of God [Gen 32:30].

But this is not only true for Jacob but also for others saints and authors of scriptures who expressed the same beliefs about the Angel of Yahweh.

Quite certainly, there was some knowledge they all had by which they recognized the Angel of Yahweh whenever they met him and what they all knew about him which was not plainly stated. The question then is: What is this knowledge that the patriarchs and saints had about the Angel of Yahweh?

The Patriarchal Doctrine of the Angel of Yahweh

In answering this question, the first thing we must point out, I think, is that whatever the principle is by which they recognized the Angel of Yahweh, it could not have been irrational but must have been based on either

1. A plainly stated rule which had been taught them or
2. A deducible, self-evident principle

With regard to their beliefs about Yahweh, Since there is no apparent reason in the accounts why the “Yahweh” who appeared to them was referred to as the Angel of Yahweh and considering how old their practice of identifying Yahweh was, we come to the following conclusion that evidently,

1. They all believed that
   1. God would never relate directly with men but
   2. That there was a particular Angel through whom God revealed himself to men, whenever he wanted to.
   This is why whenever they saw “Yahweh” they never thought it was God himself but always said he was “the Angel of Yahweh”
2. They believed that
   1. This Angel alone, and no other apart from him, fully represented God. That he
      1. Had the same Name—Yahweh—as God and
      2. Was equal to God (in the same way that Joseph was equal to Pharoah)
   Thus he is regarded as “the Presence of God” for to see him is to have seen God.
3. They believed that God being their God, since God would not relate directly with men, meant in practice that this Angel was over them. Very clearly, Jacob and Moses believed this.
   1. Jacob in blessing Ephraim and Manasseh with the Angel of Yahweh and equating him to the God of Abraham and Isaac [Gen 48:15-16].
   2. Moses in his belief that the Angel of Yahweh’s Presence going with them was the same as Yahweh himself going with them [Exo 32:14-16].

This was their belief about the Angel of Yahweh and his relationship to God and we can point out one or two confirmations of the fact.

Confirmation—Dying From Seeing God

The above deduction is confirmed in the belief of the Israelites that no man could speak to God and live to tell the story [Deut 5:24-26]. But lest anyone think this was some ridiculous superstition of the Jews, take note that this belief was really true for

1. Moses evidently approves of it [Deut 4:33]
2. And, more significantly, God himself confirmed as true [Deut 5:28].
3. And furthermore, which was why even the High Priest was not permitted to enter the Most Holy Place as he pleased for Yahweh appeared above the Ark and if he saw him, he would die [Lev 16:2,13]
4. But, perhaps more significantly, we find this same belief in Jacob who believed that he ought to have died from seeing God face to face [Gen 32:30]

Confirmation—Yahweh and the Holy Spirit, Yahweh and the Angel of Yahweh

Another confirmation of the above deduction is in the Scriptural doctrine of the Holy Spirit, a doctrine which is taken for granted in scriptures and never really plainly stated.

In fact, we could ask the same big question we are asking about the Angel of Yahweh about the Holy Spirit for, since God has many spirits in His service,

1. Why did the authors of Scriptures never consider that God could have spoken through a true prophet by an evil Spirit? Or
2. Why did the authors of Scriptures never consider that God could have worked the miracles he did by some other spirit but instead always consider all the miracles of God to be through His Holy Spirit?
3. Why did the authors of Scriptures identify the Spirit as the Holy Spirit even when he does not identify or introduce himself as the Holy Spirit of God?

God is Lord over all spirits, even evil and unclean spirits [Jdg 9:23-24; 1Sa 16:14-16; 1Sa 18:10-11; 1Ki 22:19-22]. Nevertheless, it is a fact taken for granted that God will never speak to his prophets and chosen ones by any other spirit other than His Holy Spirit. Though it is nowhere really plainly stated or explained in Scriptures, this principle is self-evident and applied all through the Holy Scriptures such that to argue against it could only be born of mischief or severe ignorance.

Since the Angel of Yahweh is certainly not the only angel of God, the scriptural and patriarchal belief about the Angel of Yahweh’s relationship to God is therefore similar to the scriptural and prophetic belief about the Holy Spirit and thus finds confirmation in it. It is taken for granted but is clearly what they believed about the Angel of Yahweh and his relationship to God.

Applied to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Testimony of the Apostles

Since God’s ways and truths do not change, if we read the New Testament with the understaning of the doctrine of the patriarchs regarding the Angel of Yahweh, we are led to the certain conclusion that the Angel of Yahweh is the One who we now know as the Lord Jesus Christ.

Since, like the Angel of Yahweh, Jesus was “God”, and since God would only related with men, his saints, through the Angel of Yahweh, then it means that the Angel of Yahweh is the One we now know as the Lord Jesus Christ.

Stated differntly, if Jacob or Moses or Gideon had been on earth in the days of Jesus’ humanity, they would have, without a doubt or hesitation, identified him as the Angel of Yahweh in human flesh.

Conclusion

We have made the somewhat obvious observation that, often, when “God” or “Yahweh” appeared to men, to a group or to an individual, the saints and the scriptures identified him as the Angel of Yahweh. From this we have reconstructed their belief and underlying doctrine of Scriptures regarding the Angel of Yahweh.

This doctrine and belief is that God will not relate directly with men but will only do so through a particular Angel whom he had chosen out of his many angels, whom the Scriptures often call the Angel of Yahweh. This Angel is, as Joseph was to Pharaoh, equal to God, thus he bore the Name Yahweh, exercised the power and authority of God and was regarded and related to as God. Yet, this Angel is an angel of God and not God in person.

Thus, though it could be refined further, we have established, the ‘uncodified’ doctrine of the patriarchs regarding the Angel of Yahweh and his relationship to God and men.

Does this answer the question of how they recognized the Angel of Yahweh which we started out with?

Yes. To an extent, yes.

With this knowledge, if one had good reason to believe that  “God” a.k.a “Yahweh” had appeared to him, he would know that he was seeing the Angel of Yahweh.

So, yes, to an extent, this knowledge tells us how they recognized the Angel of Yahweh when they saw him. But there is more to be said about how they recognized the Angel of Yahweh as “the Angel of Yahweh” when he appeared to them even without introduction. This we will see next.