Identifying The Angel of Yahweh—02

Recognizing the Angel of Yahweh When He Appeared

At first, the identification of the Angel of Yahweh may look somewhat random but it couldn’t be. As stated before, 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

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

If one knew that God would never personally appear to anyone but only through “the Angel of Yahweh”, then if one had good reason to believe that he was seeing God, he would know that he was seeing the Angel of Yahweh.

One of the most instructive accounts which answers this question is the story of the meeting of Gideon and the Angel of Yahweh.

Gideon’s story is very helpful in understanding how the patriarchs and saints of old recognized the Angel of Yahweh when he appeared or spoke to them.

Gideon and the Angel of Yahweh

As usual, when the Angel of Yahweh appeared to Gideon, he did not introduce himself to Gideon. Not long into their conversation, however, Gideon, suspected that he was speaking with the Angel of Yahweh and this was without the Angel identifying himself directly.

That Gideon suspected that he was the Angel of Yahweh is evident from his request,

“…give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.” [Jdg 6:17-18].

What made Gideon think that he could be the Angel of Yahweh?

The Basis of Gideon’s Suspicion

All that Gideon had at this point were

The words of the Angel of Yahweh to him and
The look of the Angel of Yahweh for, shortly after the conversation was struck, we are told that the Angel turned to him [Jdg 6:14]. However, since Gideon had never seen him before, it could not be a matter of facial recognition. Nevertheless, the Angel’s appearance was more glorious than that of men [Jdg 13:6]—this appearance was however not peculiar to the Angel of Yahweh but was common to all angels of God.

Gideon’s suspicion could only have come from his tone, for he spoke to Gideon with authority as one who was lord over Gideon and indeed all Israel. He commanded Gideon personally,

“Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” [Jdg 6:14]

“I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.” [Jdg 6:16]

So, the first thing we observe is that

At this time when there was no king in Israel, only one person could speak with such an authority, only one person could command any Israelite and all Israel—the Angel of Yahweh, the Captain of the Host of Israel!
Also, he was speaking as though he was the God of Gideon and Israel for he says, “I will be with you”. If Gideon had the same belief that Yahweh God would only appear in the person of the Angel of Yahweh, then if this really was Yahweh, he was the Angel of Yahweh.

Confirmation

Now, of course, as Jesus implied, it is easy to speak as though one were God even if he weren’t but so much harder to exercise the power of God if he were not really God [Mat 9:5ff]. Therefore, this could just have been some presumptuous person or some pretender and deceiver, and so, needed further confirmation. Gideon asked,

“…give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.” [Jdg 6:17-18].

The Angel of Yahweh obliged and confirmed Gideon’s perception with a miracle.

So, the second thing we observe is that the Angel of Yahweh is recognized by his power—his words of authority are confirmed by his exercise of divine power.

The Same Belief About The Angel of Yahweh and His Relationship To God

Now we should note, for it is quite significant, that Gideon, does not simply say, “I have seen Yahweh”, but instead said, “I have seen the Angel of Yahweh” [Jdg 6:22].

This shows us that Gideon’s suspicion was that this was the Angel of Yahweh.

Therefore, Gideon wasn’t speculating about the identity of this divinity, he wasn’t thinking, “Is this Yahweh or is this the Angel of Yahweh?”.

We see again, that it was a fact taken for granted that Yahweh himself would never make an appearance but only the Angel of Yahweh would.

Furthermore, we can see that there was the belief that seeing the Angel of Yahweh meant death. This we can see from the fact that even though Gideon believed that it was the Angel of Yahweh he had seen, he was afraid that he would die.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Gideon identified the Angel of Yahweh by

His commanding, authoritative speech and by
His divine power.

Thus, if we ever found anyone speaking with absolute authority like the Angel of Yahweh, as though he were God, as though he was the Lord of Israel, and if he exercised the power of God as the Angel of Yahweh did, then this person is the Angel of Yahweh.

This plainly tells us that the Angel of Yahweh is the One who came in human form as the Lord Jesus Christ.

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

The only difference between the human Jesus Christ and the Angel of Yahweh was the “awesome appearance” of angels which Jesus did not have because he was in human form. And this was just as Isaiah prophesied,

“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” [Isa 53:2]

Apart from the “awesome appearance”, Jesus displayed, in words and in power, the same attributes of the Angel of Yahweh

He spoke as God and lord over Israel—he spoke with authority [Mat 7:29] and
He exercised the power of God.

The Jews reasoned that Jesus was blaspheming for speaking as God and claiming to be the Son of God but Jesus pointed to his power as proof that his claims were not blasphemy.

“Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. ₃₈But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” [Joh 10:37-38]

At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” ₄Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? ₅Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ₆But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” ₇And the man got up and went home. [Mat 9:3-7]

The Jews, however found it hard to believe Jesus because, as they could perceive, Jesus was a man, he did not have an “awesome appearance” like that of angels

“We are …stoning you for …blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” [Joh 10:33].

They missed Isaiah’s words that he would not appear with a external form of glory and fulfilled his prophecy that they would reject him on this account.

Bonus/Appendix—The Principle of Sonship Applied Backwards to the Angel of Yahweh

We can draw out a principle from Jesus’ words and that is that anyone who claims to have authority as God and has power as God is “the Son of God”. Applied backwards to the Angel of Yahweh, since he fulfills those conditions, this means that the Angel of Yahweh was “the Son of God”!.

Please note that this principle does not require “humanity”. That is, that person does not have to be a human to be the Son of God. That this is the truth of the Lord, i.e., that the principle is truly independent of humanity is confirmed in Jesus’ description of the relationship between his sonship and his messiahship.

Sonship Has Nothing to Do With Humanity

Of course, the Messiah had to be human and has to be a descendant of David. Therefore, it is very significant when Jesus says that the Messiah is not the Messiah because he is the Son of David but because he is the Son of God [Mat 22:42-45]. This means that being the Son of God has nothing to do with his connection to David (be it through a virgin or not) nor with his humanity.

Furthermore, the Jews did not have a problem believing that Jesus was the Messiah, what they had a problem with was his claiming to be the Son of God. They were willing to accept him as the Messiah [Joh 6:14-15; 10:24] but they could not accept him as the Son of God in the way he was claiming it.

The Old Testament Regarded the Angel of Yahweh as the Son of God

Again the principle Jesus sets forth means that the Angel of Yahweh was the Son of God even before his birth as a human. Now, we find confirmation of this doctrine in the words of Agur son of Jakeh,

“Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!” [Pro 30:4]

Here we find one of the wise men of Scriptures stating that God has a Son and that both have a Name. His words mean that God the Father and his son bear the same Name.

Now, of course, we know that God is Yahweh and we know that the Angel of Yahweh bears this Name too. This is the only one in scriptures who shares this unique Name with God. Certainly, since this is a fact of the Scriptures and was evidently known to the patriarchs and ancients, Agur, and others like him, would have known this.

Therefore, saying that the One who bears the same name as God is his son means that they regarded the Angel of Yahweh to be God’s Son.