Genesis 16:7 The Angel of the Lord God’s proper name is composed of the four letters YHVH. The Jewish people do not pronounce this name out of reverence for the sacredness of the divine name. For many years it has been transliterated as Yahweh or Jehovah using the vowels of the name Adonai. It is consistently translated in the majority of our English translations of the Old Testament as “LORD†with all four letters in capital letters. The name Adonai is distinguished “Lord†in our English translations. The messenger of Yahweh or Angel of the LORD†(mal’akh Yahweh) is seen in the Old Testament as an important figure, mysterious as well as intriguing, reverenced and obeyed. It is interesting how often the appearance of the Angel of the LORD marked a turning point in history or brought about some event that produced long-lasting consequences. He is seen as the guardian over the chosen people of God who appears over and over again. At times the Angel of the LORD is called the Angel of the Countenance meaning that He was ever before the face of God. God made a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation (Genesis 12:2, 7; 15:1–6). Abraham obeyed and walked by faith and entered into the Promised Land (Genesis 15:7). However, time passed and he had still not seen the birth of the promised son who was so crucial to the fulfillment of the covenant. Desperate to have the promised son, Abraham listened to Sarah and got into deep trouble (Genesis 16:3-4). When left to human ingenuity, we often fail. God, however, wants it to be clearly understood by everyone involved that the child was in every sense to be a child of promise. Abraham and Sarah were now advanced in years and were both beyond child bearing age. Man can contribute nothing. Only the God of grace can provide the son of the promise. Abe and Sarah had waited long enough or so they thought. Hagar was Sarahs maid, and she was the innocent party. She was just a family maid who was loyal to her master and a believer in the God of Abraham. Abraham made Hagar pregnant and strife broke out in the home (16:5–6). In despair Hagar ran away. Sarah treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence (16:6). It was while Hagar was in the wilderness, alone and fearful that the angel of the LORD found her and revealed Himself to her (16:7-10). This is the first occurrence of the angel of the LORD in the Scriptures. Who is this angel of Yahweh? What makes the angel of the LORD different from other angels who appear in the Old Testament? Our focus should not only be on the first occurrence of the Angel of the LORD in the Bible, but all of the passages in the Scriptures. When we study all of these passages, the conclusion is evident that the Angel of the LORD is part of the eternal Godhead (cf. Gen. 16:7-10, 13; 18:1-33; 21:17-20; 22:11-18; 31:11-13; 32:24-32; 48:15, 16; Ex. 3:2-14; Josh. 5:13-15; Judges 13:3-23; 2 Kings 19:35; 1 Chron. 21:15-18, 26-30; Ps. 34:7; Zech. 1:8-17; 3:1-2; 12:8). A. H. Strong said, Commonly in the Old Testament, the angel of Jehovah is a theophany, a self-manifestation of God. The only distinction is that between Jehovah in Himself and Jehovah in manifestation. The appearance of the angel of Jehovah seem to be preliminary manifestation of the divine Logos, as in Genesis 18:2, 13; Daniel 3:24-28 . . . I agree with E. W. Hengstenberg in Christology of the Old Testament, the German Old Testament scholars Keil and Delitzsch, H. C. Leupold, Lewis Chafer, A. H. Strong and many other scholars as to the identification of this special person.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 10:30:49 +0000
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