Exodus 23 · a question people ask
Who is the angel who has the LORD's name "in him"?
The chapter says the LORD sends him (23:20), calls him "my angel" (23:23), and says, "listen to his voice. Don’t provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him" (23:21). It doesn't give his name. Exodus has spoken of an angel before: "The LORD’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire" at the bush (3:2), and "The angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel" moved behind them at the sea (14:19). Christians read the angel of 23:20-23 in two main ways. Both agree that the LORD sends him, that his voice is to be obeyed, and that the LORD's own name is in him (23:20-22).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The LORD himself, appearing as his angel
Those who hold this view point out that the LORD's name is "in him" (23:21), and that the angel is spoken of as one who can pardon or not: "he will not pardon your disobedience" (23:21). They set this beside the question the scribes asked about Jesus, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Mark 2:7). At the bush, "The LORD’s angel appeared to him" (3:2), then "God called to him out of the middle of the bush" (3:4) and said, "I am the God of your father" (3:6). Many who hold this view see the Son of God before he was born, pointing to Paul, who says of Israel in the wilderness, "the rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4), and "Let’s not test Christ, as some of them tested" (1 Corinthians 10:9).
Exodus 23:21 · Mark 2:7 · Exodus 3:2-6 · 1 Corinthians 10:4 · 1 Corinthians 10:9
An angel sent by the LORD
Those who hold this view read the angel as a messenger the LORD sends, who speaks with the LORD's authority because "my name is in him" (23:21). They point out that after the golden calf the LORD says, "I will send an angel before you" and then, "but I will not go up among you" (33:2-3), keeping the angel and the LORD's own going apart, and that Moses answers, "If your presence doesn’t go with me, don’t carry us up from here" (33:15). They also point to the New Testament's words about angels at Sinai: "the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai" (Acts 7:38), and the law "ordained through angels" (Galatians 3:19).
Exodus 23:21 · Exodus 32:34 · Exodus 33:2-3 · Exodus 33:15 · Acts 7:38 · Galatians 3:19
The verses
““Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don’t provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him. But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries. For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off.”
“The LORD’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”
“The angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them, and stood behind them.”