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Genesis 16 · a question people ask

Who is "the LORD's angel"? He speaks as if he were God.

Interpretation

The angel says, "I will greatly multiply your offspring" (16:10), and Hagar names "the LORD who spoke to her" (16:13). Protestants read the angel of the LORD in two main ways.

How Christians read it

Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.

A messenger who speaks for God

A created angel sent with God's authority, so he speaks God's words in the first person. God later says of an angel he sends, "my name is in him" (Exodus 23:20-21).

Exodus 23:20-21 · Genesis 21:17

The LORD himself appearing

In other passages the angel and God are treated as one: the angel appears in the bush, and then "God called to him out of the middle of the bush" (Exodus 3:2-6); Manoah sees the angel and says, "we have seen God" (Judges 13:22). Many who hold this view see the Son of God appearing before he became man.

Exodus 3:2-6 · Judges 13:18-22

The verses

“The LORD’s angel said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, that they will not be counted for multitude.””
Genesis 16:10 · World English Bible
“She called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?””
Genesis 16:13 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Genesis 16

Genesis 16: The God who sees

The Bible's first "angel" comes to a runaway Egyptian servant, and she becomes the first person in the Bible said to name the LORD: "a God who sees". Her son's name, Ishmael, says God hears. The plan that brought her there uses the words of the fall.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions