I. Name

The word ‘angel’ in this phrase is literally ‘messenger’. The juxtaposition of the common noun “messenger” with a following divine name in a genitive construction signifying a relationship of subordination is attested elsewhere in the ancient Near East (e.g. mlak ym, KTU 1.2; mār šipri šaDN, cf. CAD M/1 265). However, most of the appearances in the Bible of the phrase malʾak YHWH are not easily explicable by recourse to Near Eastern paradigms, for the malʾak YHWH in the Bible presents a…