In [Judges 6](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JDG.6), the Angel of the Lord appears to Gideon, delivering a message of deliverance for Israel from the Midianites. > [!bible]+ [Judges 6:11-18](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JDG.6.11-18) - ESV > 11. Now the angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13. And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14. And the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15. And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” 16. And the LORD said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17. And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18. Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.” %% #Judges #[Judges 6](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JDG.6) %% Here the angel of the Lord is being swapped with the God in verse 14 and 16, but swapped back in verse 20 and 21 when the angels vanishes. In Verse 14, the angel speaks in the first person "...do not **I** send you?" and again in verse 16 "But **I** will be with you" > [!bible]+ [Judges 6:19-21](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JDG.6.19-21) - ESV > 19. So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20. And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21. Then the angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. %% #Judges #[Judges 6](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JDG.6) %% After the event, Gideon understands that it was the angel of the Lord that he saw, and he suddenly fears that he will die for having seen the angel. This is strange, as most interactions with angels in the Bible do not have this effect on a person. Additionally, after the angel disappears from the sight of Gideon, God is suddenly talking in verse 23. It is not known from the text if God was talking from Heaven to Gideon's heart, or though the angel once again but unseen. > [!bible]+ [Judges 6:22-25](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JDG.6.22-25) - ESV > 22. Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.” 23. But the LORD said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24. Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it, The LORD Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites. 25. That night the LORD said to him, “Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it %% #Judges #[Judges 6](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JDG.6) %% In the narrative from [Judges 6](https://www.bible.com/bible/59/JDG.6), the appearance and actions of the Angel of the Lord to Gideon offer compelling evidence of this figure’s divine nature. The seamless interchangeability between "the Angel of the Lord" and "the Lord" within the text in verses 14 and 16, strongly suggests that this Angel embodies the presence and authority of God Himself. The personal pronouns "I" used by the Angel, speaking as God, further blur the distinction between the Angel and God. Gideon's reaction post-encounter, where he fears for his life believing he has seen God face to face, aligns with Old Testament beliefs that seeing God would lead to death, indicating that Gideon perceived the Angel as a divine being. The subsequent peace and instructions provided by God, coupled with Gideon's construction of an altar called "The Lord Is Peace," reinforce the understanding that the Angel’s presence and message were indeed manifestations of God's direct intervention. #TheAngelOfTheLORD