Is the angel of the Lord in Genesis 16:7-13 and Matthew 1:18-20 one and the same?

Question

Genesis 16:7-13 ASV

And the angel of Jehovah found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. 8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid, whence camest thou? and whither goest thou? And she said, I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai. 9 And the angel of Jehovah said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. 10 And the angel of Jehovah said unto her, I will greatly multiply thy seed, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. 11 And the angel of Jehovah said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son; and thou shalt call his name [b]Ishmael, because Jehovah hath heard thy affliction. 12 And he shall be as a wild ass among men; his hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell [c]over against all his brethren. 13 And she called the name of Jehovah that spake unto her, [d]Thou art [e]a God that seeth: for she said, Have I even here looked after him that seeth me?

Matthew 1:18-20 ASV

18 Now the [o]birth [p]of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. 20 But when he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is [q]conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit

Is there only one angel of the lord, or are there more?

Answer 1

Summary: We cannot know if the angel is the same unless the angel is named in both places.

Is there only one angel of the lord, or are there more?

One might think that there is only one angel of the lord by the way the sentence is translated.

For the NIV if you search specifically for "the angle of the lord" you get 61 results.
In the sentence "the" indicates that there is only one angel present in that situation.
"of the lord" indicates that God sent the angel, the angel is acting according to God's will.

In Genesis 28:12 and 32:1 speaks of "the angels of God". There are more than one and they are also "of God" or from God.

Psalm 103:20 has "Praise the Lord, you his angels"
A different way of referring to many of God's angels

What we know:

1. There are many angels
2. When God sends one angel that angel is an angel of the Lord, or "his angel" or "the angel"
3. Sometimes God sends more than one angel, they are also God's angel

Unless the Bible names an angel we don't know which angel is meant. In the case of Genesis 16:7-13 and Matthew 1:18-20 the angel is not named and so we cannot know if the angel was the same or different.

Most of the time the angel is not named. The person to focus on is the message sender, not the messenger.

Answer 2

To address your very last sentence Alex, yes, there is only one angel of the Lord, period. Secondly, "The" angel of the Lord "NEVER" appears in the New Testament as "the angel of the Lord."

You referenced Matthew 1:18-20. Notice Matthew 1:24 and how it's worded, "And Joseph arose from his sleep and did as "the" angel of the Lord commanded him." Even though the word "the" is used this is still not "the" angel of the Lord because vs20 clearly states "an" angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream."

The same can be said regarding Stephen at Acts 7 where he mentions the angel of the Lord by quoting the Old Testament. But first notice Acts 7:2, "And he said "hear me, brethren and fathers! "The God of glory APPEARED to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran."

Stephen is giving the Jews a history lesson. Now notice Vs30, "And after forty years had passed, "AN" angel appeared to him/Moses in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush." At vs31, "there came the voice of the Lord." Vs32, "I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob."

At vs33, the Lord ask Moses to take off his sandals. Skipping down to vs37. "This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, God shall raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. Now for vs38, "This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with "THE" angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai. In essence, the Jews were rejecting God Himself.

What is also noteworthy is what Stephen says while the Jews were stoning him at vs59, "And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit."

At this point I think it's important to define the difference between the little word "an/a" and the word, "the." The chief grammatical function of "an" (or a) is to connote a thing "NOT" previously noted or recognized. "The" connotes a thing "PREVIOUSLY noted or recognized.

The first appearance of the angel of the Lord as "the" angel of the Lord is at Genesis 16:7. He multiplies Hagar's descendants at vs10. Hagar says she saw God and lived to tell about it at vs13.

At Genesis 17:1-2 the Lord God Almighty physically appears to Abraham and God multiplies his descendants. This multiplying Abraham's descendants is reinforced at Genesis 22:17. If you read at Genesis 22 starting at vs11-18 you will discover that it is the angel of the Lord who multiplied Abraham's descendants and swore an oath to Abraham (vs16) to seal the deal, so to speak.

The writer of the book of Hebrews at Hebrews 6:13-17 references this swearing from Genesis 22 and is clearly identified as God. Hebrews 6:13, "For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could not swear by no one greater, HE SWORE BY HIMSELF, vs14, saying, I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you."

If the angel of the Lord is just that, an actual angel he could not have sworn the oath to Abraham, angels cannot swear oaths on behalf of God Almighty Himself.

The following site shows many of the early Church Fathers believed the angel of the Lord was the preincarnate Jesus Christ. http://catholicnick.blogspot.com/2019/05/is-angel-of-lord-in-old-testament.html Now, this is a Roman Catholic site and after reading it I realized I posted my comments on this site back in 2022. You can find them at the very bottom when I'm the last poster. Btw, I am "NOT" a Roman Catholic, far from it.

Answer 3

The only named angel in the Bible is Gabriel who is named just four times in the Bible: Dan 8:16, 9:21, Luke 1:19, 26.

Since the LORD has many angels (Gen 28:12, 32:1, Deut 32:43, Heb 1:6, Luke 12:8, 9, 15:10, John 1:51, etc) and we are not told the name of the angel in Matt 1:18-20, we cannot know if it is the same angel that spoke to Hagar in Gen 16.