Exploration of Biblical Appearances

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Examination of "Angel of the Lord"

So, we left off with an angel of the Lord showing up to pregnant Hagar after she left Sarai’s presence. And we read:

Genesis 16:7 And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

I have to touch on this phrase, “angel of the Lord,” a bit more. As mentioned last week, “angel of the Lord” is used a total of 58 times in the Bible – 49 in the Old Testament. Because the Apostolic record is an extension of the Old Testament in the Gospels and into Acts chapter up to chapter 10, we also see the term, Angel of the Lord used there – four times in Matthew, once in Luke, then four times in Acts.

We do not see the term used again in all of the Apostolic Record thereafter. The gospel references are before Jesus’ birth and the Acts references happen after His Ascension then they disappear from all other Apostolic writings forevermore. This seems to support the idea that the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament was in fact Jesus preincarnate.

Preincarnate Appearances of Christ

Because the 49 times the term is used in the Old Testament, most Christian scholars maintain that these are visits from the preincarnate Christ, in His “spiritual body,” which sustains at least a BINITY which at least indicated a second person of God co-eternal. So, we have to ask at this point – who is the being/person/God in this appearance. Back in Genesis 12 we remember reading

7 And the “LORD” appeared unto Abram, (with LORD coming from YHWH, God’s proper-noun name)

Because we have other passages in the Apostolic Record that flatly state “no man has seen God at any time,” we wondered what Moses meant here when he said, “and the Lord appeared to Abram.” In what way this appearance was made we do not know, however, Christian tradition often states that this appearance was the preincarnate person of the second person of the Trinity otherwise known as Jesus.

Theophany and Christophany Discussions

Here in chapter 16 we have “an angel of the Lord” appearing now, and it, for the first time in scripture is called, “the angel of the Lord,” and not just “the Lord.” Why the first appearance was not called “the angel of the Lord” by Moses but just “the Lord,” is another mystery – but in both cases, Christians assume that this is probable Jesus preincarnate OR it is what they deem a theophany in the first mention and a Christophany in the second.

What is troubling to me is IF, as Jesus said, “no man has ever seen God,” but Christians say that either both or one of these appearances in the Old Testament were the preincarnate person of Jesus WHO IS GOD FROM ALL ETERNITY, I want to know how anyone could have seen Him either – especially as the preincarnate Christ where He would truly manifest as God since He was without carnal flesh?

I will have you know that while an entire cottage industry was created by the early church Fathers that says the appearances of LORD (YHWH) in the Old Testament was Jesus, the second person of the Trinity (which then lends support to John 1:1 which tells us that in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the Word was God – but outside of these opinions we have little support for this view.

Yet the commentaries I consulted often say things like, “this was probably by the great angel of the covenant, Jesus the Christ,” which, again, gives direct support for Him being a person separate and distinct from YHWH the Father and thereby validating at least two persons of the Trinity as being present in the Old Testament.

However, and whomever this was, whether an apparition of God in light, flesh or that of an angel, or if it was the preincarnate Word of God manifest in the shape of a man, the appearance satisfied Abram and caused him to believe it was at least of Divine origin.

It is worthy of remark is that Abram is the first man to whom God is said to have shown himself or appeared (in some fashion or another) even though some assume that He was appearing to Adam and Noah too. In the Abraham story, God appears to him first, in Ur of the Chaldees, (according to Acts 7:2) and then at the oak of Moreh.

Jesus Christ and the Angel of the Lord

Most common consensus of this line, the angel of the Lord is that this was

“Jesus Christ, in a body suited to the dignity of his nature, frequently appeared to the patriarchs.”

The justifications for this are said to be that the “person” (angel) mentioned here was greater than any created being which is made evident due to the following things –

• From his promising to perform what God alone could do, and foretelling what God alone could know, including the phrases
• "I will multiply thy seed exceedingly," &c., Ge 16:10;
• "Thou art with child, and shalt bear a son," &c., Ge 16:11; and
• "He will be a wild man," &c., Ge 16:12.

Instead of believing that a heavenly messenger could simply be speaking for God, the assumption is that all of these things prove “a prescience and power” in the angel which is possible with God alone.

• Hagar considers the person who spoke to her as God because she is calling him “la El,” and addresses him in the way of worship, which, had he been a created angel, he would have refused.

If, in this Old Testament setting the angel who was speaking on behalf of God did not refuse the worship from Hagar it, to me, does not necessarily mean that the angel was God. I mean, if the angel is allowed to speak as if it was God then what’s the problem if people responded to it as God as well? I realize that there are instances where John tries to worship angels in Revelation and is stopped but those angels did not present themselves as God in the first place.

• It is said that Moses, who relates the transaction, calls this angel expressly JEHOVAH; for, says he, she called “the NAME of the LORD that spake to her,” (at Genesis 16:13).

The point being made is this name is never given to any created being and is restricted to God himself.

The Identity of the Angel

This person, who is here called, “the Angel of the Lord,” is the same who is called,

• “the redeeming Angel or the Angel the Redeemer,” (in Genesis 48:16),
• the Angel of God's presence, (in Isaiah 63:9); and
• “the Angel of the Covenant,” (in Malachi 3:1); who is said to be the same person which the Septuagint, in Isaiah 9:6, is called,
• “the Angel of the Great Counsel or Design,” and that these things cannot be spoken of any human or created being, for the knowledge, works, and the rest that are attributed to this person are such as belong only to God; and as in all these cases there is a most evident “personal appearance” of Jesus Christ meant; for of God the Father has never been seen.

In most instances, “the angel of the Lord” appears to Bible characters when something dramatic and meaningful was about to happen, generally with serious consequences, whether good or evil, and often in some way are related to God's plan of salvation. In its appearances on earth, “the angel of the Lord” spoke with the authority of God and acted as God so it's easy to become confused about his true identity because the writers of those Bible books switched between calling the speaker "the angel of the Lord" and "God."

Bible scholars tried to clear things up by suggesting those visits were actually theophanies (or manifestations of God in the body of an angel). But why didn't God just show up as himself? And remember, angel means messenger of God and does not need to mean an angelic heavenly being with wings.

Human Perception of God

Because no human can see the face of God and survive as we read:

"But," (God) said (to Moses), "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." (Exodus 33:20)

And because of this impasse many scholars think the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament was a pre-incarnate appearance of the Word, or Jesus Christ, as a Christophany.

But here is the problem repeated for emphasis:

if Jesus preincarnate was fully God, the second person and had not become human, then I do not see any reason why anyone could see Him either. And if he was to assume an incarnate body to make these appearances then why wouldn’t the invisible God do the same thing.

For me the math just doesn’t add up right. And for these reasons (and more) our better scholars caution against trying to prove that this angel of the Lord was God Himself in

The Angel of the Lord: An Examination

If the angel of the Lord was the preincarnate Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, then He actually wore two disguises. First, he posed as an angel, and second, that angel appeared as a man, not in true angelic form. The adjective "the" before "angel of the Lord" indicates God is disguised as an angel. The adjective "an" before "angel of the Lord" describes a created angel. But significantly, the term "an angel of the Lord" is used only in the New Testament.

As stated, "the angel of the Lord" typically appears to people during a time of crisis in their life, and in most instances, those characters and the event surrounding them played a major role in God's plan of salvation. Usually, the people did not realize right away that they were talking to a divine being, so we can assume that “the angel of the Lord” was in the form of a human. When people realized he was an angel, they trembled in fear and fell to the ground.

Encounters with the Angel of the Lord

Sometimes the angel of the Lord arrived on the scene to bring rescue. We will see that the angel of the Lord called to Hagar in the desert when she and Ishmael were cast out and opened her eyes to a well of water. The prophet Elijah also got a visit from the angel of the Lord when he was fleeing evil Queen Jezebel. The angel provided him with food and drink. An angel from God brings bread and water for the sleeping prophet Elijah, to sustain him as he travels for forty days and nights to Mount Horeb.

Twice the angel of the Lord was seen in fire. He appeared to Moses in a burning bush. Later, in the time of the judges, Samson's parents offered a burnt sacrifice to God, and the angel of the Lord ascended in the flames. On two occasions, people had the boldness to ask the angel of the Lord his name as well. After wrestling with Jacob all night, the angel refused to tell Jacob his name. When Samson's parents asked the mysterious visitor his name, he replied, "Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding," which implies that His name is YHWH (Judges 13:18).

The Theological Conundrum

Sometimes, instead of help or a message, “the angel of the Lord” brought destruction. In 2 Samuel 24:15, the angel inflicted a plague on Israel that killed 70,000 people. In 2 Kings 19:35, the angel put to deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. 185,000 Assyrians. In the end, the best argument that the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ is that he did not appear in Jesus' incarnation. While created angels did visit people in the apostolic record as stated, they are never called “the angel of the Lord” while Jesus was alive. Only before and after. So, we are left with a true conundrum:

LISTEN CAREFULLY

If pre-incarnate Jesus was the angel of the Lord, He could NOT be considered God (pre-incarnate) because NO MAN HAS SEEN GOD AT ANY TIME. If the angel of the Lord was not Jesus preincarnate, but merely God in disguise or an angel assigned to speak for God, then the line holds that the pre-incarnate Word of God was in fact, God Himself.

I might suggest that the Word of God could have manifested in the form of a messenger (after all, don’t words convey messages?) and that seeing the Word of God does not seem to be prohibited in scripture, therefore seeing the Word of God which would become flesh was possible in the Old Testament. But I cannot see a reasonable way to describe this angel of the Lord as Jesus God of the Trinity because no man can see God and live.

One more insight I recently gleaned from our Brother Ramon who visited with us from last week and works in Nuclear physics. As we drove to the airport together he shared with me the following which rings true to me when I consider the biblical teachings that say that God is invisible, God is a consuming fire and that Jesus was the Word of God made visible.

Ramon, who works in a nuclear facility in Illinois pointed out to me that the Sun is really just one giant nuclear reactor. And he said that what we see in the sky is only a small part of what the sun is.

The Invisible Power

Providing – we see the visible part. But he added that the invisible contributions the sun gives the galaxy – the gamma rays and the radiation are tasteless, colorless, invisible, undetectable but represent the majority of what the sun provides. He fittingly believes that Jesus resurrected is like the visible part of the sun – but that God in Him shining out of Him is the invisible consuming fire part that we do not see at all. To me this rings true with what John saw in revelation and I am wondering if the one on the throne above in the New JerusalemThe spiritual reality of God's fulfilled presence with humanity—replacing Sheol after 70 A.D. will have Jesus sitting upon it providing the visible part with God His Father emanating out and giving all the invisible power and fire to His Kingdom and those in it. Just something to consider.

Genesis 16 and the Story of Hagar

Okay, let’s read the rest of the chapter as the Angel of the Lord has come to Hagar who has fled to the desert.

Genesis 16.8-12
October 9th 2022

8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.
9 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
10 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
13 And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
14 Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
16 And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

The Encounter with the Angel

Alright, in verse seven we read, "And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur." As this was the road from Hebron to Egypt, it is probable Hagar was making her way back to her own country.

8 And he (the angel of the Lord, said) Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. Interestingly, if the quote is accurate from Moses, the Angel reminds Hagar of her place in addressing her, saying, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid.” This mode of address is used to show her that she was known, and to remind her that she was the rightful property of another and therefore of her rightful place.

9 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. God wanted Hagar to be restored and called her to humility. We will read in the next passages that Hagar was loved by God, and so was the Nation that would come from her son, Ishmael. But there was an order being established that He also wanted her to adhered and the angel reminds her of this.

The Puzzle of Redemption

I strongly suggest that the living God was not preferring Sarai and Isaac of the future over Hagar and Ishmael because they were of greater value or worth as human or because He “respected” them more. God is NOT a respecter of persons. Period. I think we might see everything God was doing and had done as independent pieces of a 1000 piece puzzle called, "How God created, designed and redeemed the world,” and both Hagar and Sarai, and Ishmael and Isaac, are independent pieces in the picture and without either piece the puzzle would not be complete. So each piece had to play their part and for Hagar, this meant she had to submit to Sarai as she would bear the child of promise while Hagar would bring the child that would temper that promised nation. We could easily take that puzzle theme out for ourselves, expand it, and relabel it, “the reconciled world,” with each one of us being a piece and playing a part – none respected more than another, all part of the

The Influence of Hagar's Descendants

If God foreknew what kind of people would come from Hagar’s line, then God foreknew the roles all the rest of us would play – good and bad – we might try and understand this before choosing to judge others. I don’t mean to suggest He forced or predestined people to be what they are, but I wonder if He chooses and uses all people and their decisions to bring about His will and to the betterment of humankind?

The Angel's Message

The angel continues to speak (verse 10)

10 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

Because of the authoritative way in which the angel says this, most suggest that this angel is God in some form or another. The line,

I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.

is cumbersome in the King James and better means

Genesis 16:10 (BBE) And the angel of the Lord said, Your seed will be greatly increased so that it may not be numbered.

(and Moses adds)

11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.

Really an important verse for us to remember, folks. First of all, YHWH is the one who named Hagar’s future son, and the son’s name is an eternal reminder that God was cognizant of this child, his mother, and the nation that it would become.

Also notice that the angel refers to YHWH here and does not say, “I have heard thy affliction,” but says, “the Lord has heard thy affliction.” This is important in our understanding of the true identity of this angel. The angel also says something important as verse 12 says

12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

Reflection on Ishmael's Legacy

I do not see this as predestinational but it could be as God was setting everything up to bring forth the Promised one. But again NOTE the tenderness in which God sees this nation!

We as followers of Christ have such a tendency to look out at the world with animus to the Arab countries that came from Ishmael, and to hate them collectively, but the LORD GOD heard her affliction, and knew how the child and its offspring would be, saying

“a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”

He does not cause Hagar to miscarry but brings this “wild son” forth, names him in advance, and promises his mother to make him a nation of incalculable numbers.

In describing this nation, we find insight, so again, the Angel says that Ishmael would be

a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

The root word for wild man does not occur in the Hebrew so it is believed to be of Arabic origin and it means,

a wild ass that is swift and untamable.

It is believed by some that Job is describing the descendants of Ishmael – meaning the Arabs in general (especially the people called the Bedouins).

(Job, by the way, from all accounts, was written about 400 years BEFORE Genesis) and says:

Job 39:5 Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?
6 Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings.
7 He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.
8 The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.

Some believe that Job was describing the offspring of Ishmael here. Whether true or not, remember, God himself has sent them out and allowed them to exist as a free desert people with the wilderness as their habitation.

It also says, that “his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him.” A number of groups and peoples have tried to subjugate the Arabs over the centuries including the Persians, Egyptians, and Turks – but to no avail. Cyrus, Pompey, and Trajan all tried to conquer Arabia, but also…

The Testament of Ishmael and His Descendants

Failed and from this beginning to the present day they have maintained their independency. Guess what? It is God who is mindful of them and who preserves them as a lasting monument of his care. Their very existence proves the words of Moses written so many thousands of years before, and LISTEN – this description alone shows the revelatory nature of the Old Testament writings! In other words, these passages are a fantastic proof of Old Testament prophecy being accurate.

According to the Book of Genesis, Ishmael had one daughter and twelve sons, or the "twelve princes" we will see mentioned in Genesis 17:20. In Islamic tradition, this gave rise to the "Twelve Tribes of Ishmael", Arab tribes from which the early Muslims were descended. Of course, in the Jewish tradition, the Twelve Tribes of Israel were descended from Abraham's other son, Isaac, through Isaac's son Jacob, but know this – these traditions are accepted by both Islam and Judaism. They ought to be accepted by Christians too as of God.

The Qedarites and the Nabataeans

Genesis and 1 Chronicles describe the Qedarites as a tribe descended from the second son of Ishmael, Qedar. Some Abrahamic scholars described the historic tribe of Nabataeans as descendants of Nebaioth (based on the similarity of sounds) but others reject this connection. Different Islamic groups assign the ancestry of the Islamic prophet Muhammad either to Qedar or Nebaioth.

According to the Quran, "Allah has gifted all of Ishmael, Alyasa, Yunus and Lut a favor above the nations. With some of their forefathers and their offspring and their brethren, We chose them and guided them unto a straight path." (Quran 6:86.) To the Muslims, Ibrahim and Hajar bore the prophetic child, who was named “Ishmael” by Allah through one of his angels. God ordered Ibrahim to bring Ishmael and Hajar to present-day Mecca and there he prayed for them after leaving them, saying: "O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in an uncultivatable valley by Your Sacred House (the Kaaba in Mecca) in order, O our Lord, that they may perform As-?al?t. So fill some hearts among men with love towards them, and (O Allah) provide them with fruits so that they may give thanks."

The Origin of the Arab Nation

At this point in Islamic teachings, Ishmael and Hagar were very thirsty, and Hagar ran between the hills of Safa and Marwa in search of water for her son. After her seventh run between the hills, an angel appeared before her. He helped them, saying that God heard Ishmael's cry and would provide them with water; Hajar stopped the water with stones and gathered it up in a well. A group of people passed by and saw the well and Hajar and Ishmael sitting there. They asked Hagar for some of the water from the well; she agreed, and the Arab nation, through its first tribe, began here.

Ishmael grew up there and learned Arabic from that tribe while waiting for his father. When Ibrahim arrived in Marwa, he learned that his son was alive. When young Ishmael saw his father, he ran to him and they embraced.

In Islam, God decided to test Ibrahim again, and he dreamed two nights in a row of sacrificing Ishmael. Ibrahim blindfolded himself because he could not bear to see his son suffer. When he was about to wield the knife, a voice ordered him to sacrifice a goat instead of his son. God then ordered Ibrahim to rebuild the mosque for Ishmael's tribe which had been constructed by Adam, the first Islamic prophet, and Ibrahim and Ishmael began building the Kaaba, Islam's most sacred mosque in Mecca. Ibrahim built the mosque, and Ishmael provided the stones. When the walls were built and the roof was almost complete, Ibrahim stood on a miraculously small stone to finish the roof.

The white board shows the twelve tribes or princes that came from Ishmael –

Family of Ishmaelites
Abraham

Hagar

Ishmael

1. Nebajoth
2. Kedar
3. Adbeel
4. Mibsam
5. Mishma
6. Dumah
7. Massa
8. Hadar
9. Tema
10. Jetur
11. Naphish
12. Kedemah

In the age of fulfillment, with God having victory over sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. and death through the Nation of Israel, the Nation of Islam, Muslims, are reconciled to the Father with every individual Muslim having the opportunity to seek the Father in Spirit and Truth like all other people. The religious tenets of Islam, along with their traditions, may very well serve to both bring souls to the Christ or to keep them from Him – the difference is in the hands of the Spirit and the will of each person and their desires for Him.

Let’s stop there and we will finish the chapter up next week.

Questions/Comments

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