Basic HTML Version
often contains the phrase “Thus says … ,” or “This is what … says,” signifying
the authority of the messenger in giving the message of his master: “Thus saith Jephthah,
Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon” (Judg.
11:15).
As a representative of a king, the
might have performed the function of a
diplomat. In 1 Kings 20:1ff., we read that Ben-hadad sent messengers with the terms of
surrender: “He sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him,
Thus saith Benhadad …” (1 Kings 20:2).
These passages confirm the important place of the
. Honor to the messenger
signified honor to the sender, and the opposite was also true. David took personally the
insult of Nabal (1 Sam. 25:14ff.); and when Hanun, king of Ammon, humiliated David’s
servants (2 Sam. 10:4ff.), David was quick to dispatch his forces against the Ammonites.
God also sent messengers. First, there are the prophetic messengers: “And the Lord
God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending;
because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked
the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath
of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy” (2 Chron. 36:15-16).
Haggai called himself “the messenger of the Lord,”
'
(
.
There were also angelic messengers. The English word
is etymologically
related to the Greek word
whose translation is similar to the Hebrew:
“messenger” or “angel.” The angel is a supernatural messenger of the Lord sent with a
particular message. Two angels came to Lot at Sodom: “And there came two angels to
Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet
them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground …” (Gen. 19:1). The angels
were also commissioned to protect God’s people: “For he shall give his angels charge
over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways” (Ps. 91:11).
Third, and most significant, are the phrases
'
(
“the angel of the Lord,”
and
“the angel of God.” The phrase is always used in the singular. It
denotes an angel who had mainly a saving and protective function: “For mine angel shall
go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites,
and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off” (Exod. 23:23).
He might also bring about destruction: “And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel
of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand
stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in
sackcloth, fell upon their faces” (1 Chron. 21:16).
The relation between the Lord and the “angel of the Lord” is often so close that it is
difficult to separate the two (Gen. 16:7ff.; 21:17ff.; 22:11ff.; 31:11ff.; Exod. 3:2ff.; Judg.
6:11ff.; 13:21f.). This identification has led some interpreters to conclude that the “angel
of the Lord” was the pre-incarnate Christ.
In the Septuagint the word
is usually translated by
and the phrase
“angel of the Lord” by
$ $
. The English versions follow this twofold
distinction by translating
as simply “angel” or “messenger” (
KJV
,
RSV
,
NASB
,
NIV
)