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What's New
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July 2026
New article: “The Book of Revelation” (Revelation).
New article: “The Letters to the Seven Churches” (Revelation).
New article: “The Liturgy of Heaven” (Revelation).
New article: “The Woman, the Dragon, and the Lamb” (Revelation).
New article: “Babylon and the Judgment” (Revelation).
New article: “The New Jerusalem” (Revelation).
New article: “The Catholic Letters” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Letter of James” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Letters of Peter” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Letters of John” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Letter of Jude” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Book of Acts” (Acts).
New article: “Pentecost” (Acts).
New article: “The Church of the First Days” (Acts).
New article: “The Gospel to the Nations” (Acts).
New article: “To the Ends of the Earth” (Acts).
New article: “The Book of Hosea” (Hosea).
New article: “The Book of Micah” (Micah).
New article: “The Book of Jonah” (Jonah).
New article: “The Book of Habakkuk” (Habakkuk).
New article: “The Book of Zephaniah” (Zephaniah).
New article: “The Book of Malachi” (Malachi).
New article: “The Book of Daniel” (Daniel).
New article: “Faith in the Trial” (Daniel).
New article: “The Kingdoms That Pass” (Daniel).
New article: “The Son of Man and the Resurrection” (Daniel).
New article: “Susanna and the Wisdom of God” (Daniel).
New article: “The Book of Jeremiah” (Jeremiah).
New article: “Jeremiah, the Tested Prophet” (Jeremiah).
New article: “The New Covenant” (Jeremiah).
New article: “The Fall of Jerusalem and the Lamentations” (Jeremiah).
New article: “Baruch and the Hope of Exile” (Jeremiah).
New article: “The Song of Songs” (Song of Songs).
New article: “The Movement of Love” (Song of Songs).
New article: “The Garden of Symbols” (Song of Songs).
New article: “Love Strong as Death” (Song of Songs).
New article: “The Senses of the Song” (Song of Songs).
New article: “The Book of Job” (Job).
New article: “The Prologue and the Trial” (Job).
New article: “Job and His Friends” (Job).
New article: “God’s Answer” (Job).
New article: “My Eyes Have Seen You” (Job).
New article: “The Book of Ecclesiastes” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “The Quest for Happiness” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “A Time for Everything” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “The Joy That Is God’s Gift” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “Remember Your Creator” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “The Book of Wisdom” (Wisdom).
New article: “The Righteous, the Wicked, and Immortality” (Wisdom).
New article: “Wisdom, the Breath of God” (Wisdom).
New article: “Wisdom, Guide of History” (Wisdom).
New article: “Knowing God and the Folly of Idols” (Wisdom).
New article: “The Book of Sirach” (Sirach).
New article: “The Fear of the Lord, Source of Wisdom” (Sirach).
New article: “Wisdom and the Law” (Sirach).
New article: “The Choice of Life and Everyday Wisdom” (Sirach).
New article: “The Praise of the Ancestors” (Sirach).
New article: “The Book of Proverbs” (Proverbs).
New article: “The Fear of the Lord and the Two Ways” (Proverbs).
New article: “Personified Wisdom” (Proverbs).
New article: “Wisdom for Daily Life” (Proverbs).
New article: “The Valiant Woman” (Proverbs).
New article: “The Psalter, Prayer of Israel” (Psalms).
New article: “The Psalms of Praise and Thanksgiving” (Psalms).
New article: “The Psalms of Supplication and Trust” (Psalms).
New article: “The Royal and Messianic Psalms” (Psalms).
New article: “The Psalms of Ascents and Wisdom” (Psalms).
New article: “The Psalms on the Lips of Christ” (Psalms).
New article: “The Crisis and the Profanation of the Temple” (1 Maccabees).
New article: “Eleazar and the Seven Brothers” (2 Maccabees).
New article: “Judas Maccabeus and the Dedication of the Temple” (1-2 Maccabees).
New article: “Jewish Independence” (1 Maccabees).
New article: “Tobit” (Tobit).
New article: “Judith” (Judith).
New article: “Esther” (Esther).
New article: “The Return and the House of God” (Ezra).
New article: “Ezra and the Return to the Law” (Ezra, Nehemiah).
New article: “Nehemiah and the Rebuilt City” (Nehemiah).
New article: “Samuel and the Rise of Kingship” (1-2 Samuel).
New article: “Saul and the Rise of David” (1 Samuel).
New article: “David, the Covenant, and the Promise” (2 Samuel).
New article: “Solomon and the Temple” (1 Kings).
New article: “The Schism and the Northern Kingdom” (1-2 Kings).
New article: “Judah until the Exile” (2 Kings, 2 Chronicles).
New article: “The Entry into the Promised Land” (Joshua).
New article: “The Division of the Land and the Covenant at Shechem” (Joshua).
New article: “The Time of the Judges” (Judges).
New article: “In Those Days There Was No King” (Judges).
New article: “Ruth the Moabite” (Ruth).
New article: “Abraham, Father of Believers” (Genesis).
New article: “Isaac and Jacob” (Genesis).
New article: “Joseph” (Genesis).
New article: “The Creation and the Rest” (Genesis).
New article: “The Garden and the Fall” (Genesis).
New article: “From Cain to Babel” (Genesis).
New article: “Personal Responsibility” (Ezekiel).
New article: “The Ministry of the New Covenant” (2 Corinthians).
New article: “The Collection for the Saints” (2 Corinthians).
New article: “Strength in Weakness” (2 Corinthians).
New article: “The Decalogue.”
New article: “The Law of the Neighbor.”
New article: “The Law of Worship and Holiness.”
New article: “The Law and Christ.”
New article: “The Law, Gift of the Covenant.”
New article: “Freedom and idols” (1 Corinthians 8-10).
New article: “The charisms and the assembly” (1 Corinthians 12 and 14).
New article: “The Cardinal Virtues”.
New article: “Prudence”.
New article: “Temperance”.
The French Bible of the site is now the Chérubin translation, with section headings in the reader.
New article: “Resentment and Forgiveness”.
New article: “Judging One’s Neighbour”.
New article: “The New Temple and the River of Life” (Ezekiel).
New article: “The Restoration of Israel” (Ezekiel).
New article: “The Oracles Against the Nations” (Ezekiel).
New article: “The Symbolic Actions and the Judgment of Jerusalem”.
New article: “Ezekiel, the Prophet of the Exile”.
New article: “Anger and Meekness”.
New article: “Love”.
New article: “The Desire to Feel the Spirit”.
New article: “The Dark Night of the Soul”.
June 2026
New article: “Consolation and Desolation”.
New article: “Discerning the Movements of the Heart”.
New article: “The Fall of Nineveh”.
New article: “The God Who Judges and Who Saves”.
New article: “Nahum and the Assyrian Empire”.
New article: “Justice, the Day of the Lord, and Hope”.
New article: “The Visions and the Rejected Worship”.
New article: “The Judgment of the Nations and of Israel”.
New article: “Amos, the Shepherd Prophet”.
New article: “The Glory of the Second Temple”.
New article: “The Four Oracles”.
New article: “Haggai and the Rebuilding of the Temple”.
New article: “The Expansion of Christianity”.
New article: “All Under Sin”.
New article: “The Epistle to the Romans”.
New article: “Sinai and the covenant”.
New article: “The deliverance”.
New article: “The bondage and the call”.
New article: “The oracles against the nations”.
New article: “Sadness”.
New article: “Fear”.
New article: “The finger of God”.
New article: “The baptism of Christ”.
New article: “The Resurrection and the Glorification”.
New article: “Holy Week”.
New article: “The third year: the opposition”.
New article: “The second year: popularity”.
New article: “The first year: the inauguration”.
New article: “The preparation for the ministry”.
New article: “The prologues and the coming of Christ”.
New: the “Memorise” tool.
New article: “The Real Presence.”
New article: “The four Servant Songs”.
New article: “Trito-Isaiah”.
New article: “Deutero-Isaiah”.
New article: “Proto-Isaiah”.
New article: “Predestination”.
New article: “The Angel of the Lord”.
New article: “Wars of Extermination in the Bible”.
New article: “Slavery in the Bible”.
New article: “The Nature of God”.
New article: “The Age of the Martyrs”.
New article: “The Abode of the Dead”.
New article: “The Canon and the Deuterocanonical Books”.
New article: “The Deacon”.
New article: “The Priest”.
New article: “Sola Scriptura”.
New article: “The Angels”.
New article: “Sola Fide”.
New article: “Once Saved, Always Saved”.
New article: “Elijah at Horeb”.
New article: “Turning the Other Cheek”.
New article: “Buy a Sword”.
New article: “Let the Dead Bury Their Dead”.
New article: “Jesus before Pilate”.
New article: “Jesus and Nicodemus”.
New article: “Invincible Ignorance”.
New article: “The Prophet and His Time”.
New article: “The Eight Night Visions”.
New article: “Joshua, the Branch and the Crown”.
New article: “Fasting and Restoration”.
New article: “First Oracle: The King Who Comes”.
New article: “The Book of Obadiah”.
New article: “Second Oracle: The Pierced One”.
New article: “The Day of the Lord”.
New article: “The Plague and the Day of the Lord”.
New article: “Conversion and the Spirit Poured Out”.
New article: “The Judgment of the Nations and the Salvation of Zion”.
New article: “The Three Ways of the Interior Life”.
New article: “Freedom and Responsibility”.
New article: “The Moral Conscience”.
New article: “Doubt and the Moral Systems”.
New article: “Doing Evil for a Good”.
New article: “Adoration and Praise”.
New article: “Why God Asks for Adoration”.
New article: “Faith and Science”.
New article: “The Theory of Evolution”.
New article: “The Woes of Isaiah”.
New article: “The Dwelling, the Priesthood and the Sacrifices”.
New article: “The Forty Years in the Desert”.
New article: "The Discourses of Moses".
New article: "The Death of Moses".
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Sign in
or

The Angel of the Lord

One same figure runs through the Old Testament, called “the angel of the Lord”. The word says an envoy, distinct from the God who sends him; and yet the text gives him the Name of God, his words, his acts and the worship that belong to God alone. Within the one God, this figure already lets a distinction be seen, and the most ancient tradition recognised in this Angel the Son himself, the Word, before he took flesh.

An envoy who bears the Name

The word rendered by “angel”, Hebrew malak (מַלְאָךְ) and Greek angelos (ἄγγελος), means the messenger: it names a function, the sending, not a nature, and Scripture applies it even to a man: John the Baptist is called “angel”, in Greek as in Hebrew (Mark 1:2; Malachi 3:1). Thus “the angel of the Lord” is sent by the Lord, distinct from him; and yet this envoy acts as God himself, speaking in the first person: he forgives or withholds forgiveness, he saves, and he receives the worship due to God alone. Above all, he bears within himself the very Name of God, those four letters, YHWH (יהוה), which Israel dared not pronounce: in reading, they said in its place the Hebrew word for “Lord,” Adonai (אֲדֹנָי). Announcing this Angel who is to lead his people through the wilderness, the Lord sends him as another and confesses at the same time that he is more than another. “listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he would not forgive your rebellion: my name is in him.” Exodus 23:20-23 To bear the Name of God is to bear what God is. Distinct from the Lord who sends him, he bears nonetheless the Name of the Lord.

Hagar in the wilderness

The first time, it is “the angel of the Lord” who finds Hagar fleeing in the wilderness. He announces to her, in his own name, a son and a descendance so numerous it cannot be counted, which God alone can promise and accomplish (Genesis 16:7-12). And she names the one she has met: “Hagar gave a name to the Lord who had spoken to her: ‘You are the God who sees me.’” Genesis 16:13-14 The account gives the same person two names: “the angel of the Lord” and “God”.

Jacob’s ladder

While fleeing toward Laban, Jacob falls asleep at Luz and sees in a dream a ladder set up from earth to heaven, on which the angels of God ascend and descend. A voice then renews for him the promise of the fathers. “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.” Genesis 28:12-15 On waking, Jacob names the place Bethel, “house of God”, the gate of heaven, and sets up as a pillar the stone he had under his head, anointing it with oil. Years later, in the country of Laban, it is “the angel of God” who speaks to him in a dream, and he names himself with the very name of the God of that vision. “I am the God of Bethel, where you consecrated a standing stone and made me a vow.” Genesis 31:11-13 The envoy who speaks to Jacob and the Lord he had seen at the top of the ladder are one.

Jacob’s journey with this Angel goes further still. God himself sends him back to Bethel with this command: “Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” Genesis 35:1 The worship thus belongs to the Angel who had appeared to him. And dying, Jacob blesses the sons of Joseph: “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked … the Angel who delivered me from all evil, bless these boys!” Genesis 48:15-16 He looks to the God of his fathers and to the Angel for one and the same blessing: in his eyes, they are one God.

Jacob at Penuel

The night before his reunion with his brother, Jacob wrestles until dawn with a stranger of human appearance. In the morning, he names the place Peniel, “face of God”, for having held God before him. “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” Genesis 32:25-31 Long after, Hosea reads this combat again: “He wrestled with the angel and prevailed… The Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord is his name.” Hosea 12:4-6 The prophet names Jacob’s adversary the angel, and the Lord: one alone.

The sacrifice of Isaac

When Abraham raises the knife over his son, it is “the angel of the Lord” who calls him from heaven and stays his hand: an envoy, distinct from the one in whose name he speaks. But his words are those of God himself: it is to himself that Abraham did not refuse his son. “you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Genesis 22:11-12 Then he swears by himself to bless Abraham: now to swear by oneself belongs to God alone (Genesis 22:15-18). “When God made his promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater than himself, he swore by himself, saying, ‘I will surely bless you and multiply you.’” Hebrews 6:13-14 The envoy speaks, and it is God who binds himself.

The burning bush

At Horeb, the account is precise: it is “the angel of the Lord” who appears to Moses in the bush that burns without being consumed, and at once it is God who calls him from the midst of the fire, orders him to remove his sandals for the ground is holy, and names himself the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob (Exodus 3:1-6). Moses veils his face, not daring to look upon God. And when he asks his Name, the answer unveils the very being of God. “I AM WHO I AM.” Exodus 3:13-15 The one the text first called the angel is the very one who names himself “I am”: the envoy and God are one, and yet the text distinguishes them. Before the Sanhedrin, Stephen takes up the scene of the bush: an angel appears to Moses, and it is the voice of the Lord that is heard, that of the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob (Acts 7:30-32).

The commander of the army of the Lord

At the gates of Jericho, a man appears, sword drawn in hand. To Joshua who asks on which side he stands, he answers that he is the commander of the army of the Lord: he belongs to the Lord, he is at his service, distinct from him. And yet he demands at once of Joshua the gesture God had asked of Moses before the bush, and Joshua falls face to the ground and prostrates himself. “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” Joshua 5:13-15 This drawn sword in hand is his mark: it is he who bars the way to Balaam (Numbers 22:22-35) and who stands above Jerusalem in the days of David (1 Chronicles 21:15-17). Commander of the armies of the Lord, he receives the prostration due to the Lord.

Gideon and the parents of Samson

Gideon receives the visit of “the angel of the Lord”, whom the account, in the course of the conversation, names “the Lord”; when he understands whom he has seen, he believes he will die for having seen God face to face, and he builds an altar to the Lord (Judges 6:11-24). The parents of Samson, for their part, ask “the angel of the Lord” his name, who answers that his name is mysterious, too high to be told (Judges 13:15-18); then they see him ascend to heaven in the flame of their offering, and Manoah understands whom they have seen. “We are going to die, for we have seen God!” Judges 13:20-23 They met the one the text names the envoy of the Lord, and they are certain they have seen God. The name he refuses to give, the text nonetheless supplies: “Why do you ask my name? It is Wonderful” Judges 13:18. It is the very name under which Isaiah will announce the Messiah to come: “And his name is proclaimed: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” Isaiah 9:5. The Angel names himself as the Child will be named.

A worship no angel receives

An angel refuses to be worshipped. In Revelation, when John prostrates himself before the angel who speaks to him, the angel stops him short and turns the worship back to God. “Do not do that… Worship God!” Revelation 22:8-9 The Angel of the Lord, for his part, accepts it. Joshua prostrates himself before him, Gideon and Manoah present him a sacrifice that he receives by consuming it with fire. He does more still: he forgives sins. Before the prophet Zechariah, the high priest Joshua stands in filthy garments that figure his fault, and it is the Angel himself who takes it from him. “See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I clothe you in festal robes.” Zechariah 3:1-5 Now forgiving sins belongs to God alone, and Christ will recall it. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Mark 2:5-7

The angel of the covenant

The prophet Malachi announces two comings, one after the other. First that of a messenger who prepares the way, whom the New Testament will recognise in John the Baptist; then that of another, at once envoy and Lord. “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; and suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. See, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 3:1 The last of the prophets names the Messiah “the angel of the covenant” and “the Lord”.

At once God and distinct from God

“The angel of the Lord” is sent by the Lord, and bears the Name of God, speaks as God, receives the worship of God, forgives as God, and he is announced as the Messiah who is to come. He is therefore not a creature, for no creature bears the Name of God nor receives worship. And he is not, purely and simply, the one who sends him either, since the text distinguishes him from him. He is God, and he is distinct from God. Isaiah will say it in a word, calling him “the angel of his presence” Isaiah 63:8-9: the very face of God turned toward men, and yet named his angel. This double truth resolves itself in one way only: in God, who is one, there is a distinction. The Old Testament already shows this distinction before naming it: the one who sends and the one who is sent. The Father and the Son are there, in germ.

The face of the Son before the Incarnation

The most ancient tradition, in Saint Justin already, gave a name to this envoy who is God: the Son, the Word, before he took flesh. The New Testament confirms it. It is the Angel of the Lord who, in the Old Testament, says he brought Israel up out of Egypt (Judges 2:1-5); and the New Testament says that the one who saved this people out of Egypt is Jesus (Jude 1:5). The one the Old Testament called the Angel, the New calls the Son. Paul says it too of the desert crossing: the rock that gave Israel drink, “that rock was Christ” 1 Corinthians 10:4, and it was Christ the people put to the test (1 Corinthians 10:9). The Son already went with his own, before his coming in the flesh.

The Church holds this reading as venerable and long received, without having made it a defined article of faith: it lights up Scripture without forcing it. Augustine joined to it a precision that keeps it from all misunderstanding: in his nature God remains invisible, and no one has ever seen the divinity itself. When the Angel of the Lord shows himself, it is therefore not the divine substance that falls under sight, but a presence God gives through the sign he chooses; the Name, the words, and the adoration do not stop at the messenger, they go to God who makes himself present there. Far from weakening what tradition has seen, this reserve makes it firmer: in this envoy who is God and distinct from God, tradition rightly discerns the first trait of the Son, the one through whom the Father utters and shows himself from all time, and who will take flesh in the end.

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