Angel of the Lord: Messenger or euphemism?

Abstract

The figure of the ‘angel of the LORD’ as a messenger is a familiar one throughout the Bible. But in a number of passages the angel speaks, acts, and is addressed not as a messenger, but as God himself. In some passages the text switches from angel of the LORD to God, and in others there is a juxtaposition of God and the angel of the LORD. This paper suggests that the phrase ‘angel of the LORD’ is a euphemism for God used both to create tension in the narrative and to emphasise the transcendence of Yahweh.