For a concordance of מֲלְאָךְ (mălʼâk) 97x with definitions other than “angel,” see here.
Source: The Trinity — Evidence and Issues by Robert Morey Chapter 9, pp. 138ff
One of the most interesting theophanies of the Old Testament was the appearance of a “Man” who is called in the KJV and other translations “the Angel of the LORD.” This “Man” was actually a manifestation of God in human form in the role of a messenger. This may come as a surprise to many people today because their understanding of the word “angel” comes more from Medieval art than from the Bible.
If the word מֲלְאָךְ (mălʼâk) simply meant “messenger,” then where did we get the word “angel?” The mistake was made during the Middle Ages. The Greek word “ἄγγελος” (angelos) was used in the Septuagint for מֲלְאָךְ because it too meant messenger. It was a real and proper translation from Hebrew to Greek.
This is in contrast to the Latin Bible where the Greek word “ἄγγελος” is merely transliterated into Latin and becomes angelus... This error was further compounded when the Latin Bible was translated into English. Instead of translating the Latin word angelus as messenger, it was again transliterated into the English word “angel.”
| Word | Language | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| מֲלְאָךְ | Hebrew |
messenger |
| ἄγγελος | Greek (LXX) |
messenger |
| angelus |
Latin |
transliterated from Greek |
| angel | English | transliterated from Latin |
If the authors of the English Bible would have consistently translated the words מֲלְאָךְ and ἄγγελος as “messenger,” we would not be in the mess we find ourselves today. The word angel is now so loaded with misconceptions and ridiculous images that most people do not have a clue as to the biblical meaning of the term.
This introduction should alleviate one common objection to understanding the “Angel of the LORD” as a theophany. When we say that God came to this world on different occasions in the Old Testament with a message for various individuals and hence was called a “messenger” (מֲלְאָךְ in Hebrew), we are not saying God put on wings, a halo, and ran around with a harp. God never became an “angel” in the popular sense of the word.
This will once again underscore the multi-person nature of God because Yahweh will be sending Yahweh to speak for Yahweh. The Yahweh on earth is a distinct Person from the Yahweh in heaven. But they both make up the one unified Yahweh. Lange explains:
While the angel of Jehovah is Jehovah himself, it is remarkable, that in the very meaning of the name, as messenger, or one who is sent, there is implied a distinction of persons in the Godhead. There must be one who sends, whose message he bears. The phraseology indicates to us a certain inherent plurality within the essence of the one only God, of which we have had previous indications, ch. 1,26; iii. 22 — John Peter Lange, Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Grand Rapids: Zondervan) 1:416
When the Trinitarian picks up his Bible, he expects to find in its pages the idea or the concept of God becoming a Man. Thus, he is not surprised to find numerous theophanies in the Old Testament as a preparation for the Incarnation as recorded in the New Testament.
This is why the early Church had no difficulty understanding that the mysterious person called, “The Messenger of Yahweh” who appeared from time to time throughout the Old Testament was Jesus Christ appearing in human form before His Incarnation.
Those who reject the Trinity have always had a hard time with theophanies in general and the “Messenger of Yahweh” in particular because they falsely assume that the word “angel” has the ontological meaning of a created being.
Because they fail to understand the difference between “being” and “function,” they assume that if God came to earth as a מֲלְאָךְ or a ἄγγελος, this would reduce God to being nothing more than a מֲלְאָךְ or a ἄγγελος. But then they have always failed to understand the difference between being and function.
While the Unitarian will assume that “the Messenger of Yahweh” was only a created being, i.e., an "angel," and hence not God at all, the Trinitarian assumes that “the Messenger of Yahweh” was actually Yahweh in human form delivering a message. It was, thus, one more theophany which prepared the way for the Incarnation. Which view is right? Only the evidence can decide who is right.
All the passages which mention an appearance of God.
Gen 16:7-14 -- Hagar
E.W. Hengstenberg comments: "Hagar must have been convinced that she had seen God without the mediation of a created angel; for, otherwise, she could not have wondered that her life was preserved." (The Christology of the Old Testament 1:109)
Keil also comments: "Believing that a man must die if he saw God (Exo 20:19; 33:20), Hagar was astonished that she had seen God and remained alive, and called Jehovah, who had spoken to her, "God of seeing," i.e., who allowed Himself to be seen, because here, on the spot where this sight was granted to her, after seeing she still saw, i.e., remained alive. (Keil and Delitzsch, The Pentatuch 1:221)