Brief Introduction and Background
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are considered as the three Abrahamic religions and share almost the same traditions, Scriptures, and mythology. The diction, style, and theme of their Scriptures, including Old Testament (Holy Torah), New Testament (Holy Bible), and the Holy Quran and the personalities discussed in it are almost one and the same with minute differences in translations, interpretations, and descriptions.
According to the mythology of Abrahamic religions, an angel is the messenger, from Almighty God sent to the prophets, saints, and pious people, to communicate the commands and instructions given by the Lord in order to guide humanity, reward the nobles, address human faults, give glad tidings to the noble, or punish the transgressors on doing wrong and committing sins. The same is the case with the Angel of Jehovah. The Angel of Jehovah is one of the most mysterious characters described in the Old Testament, the oldest of the Abrahamic Scriptures, who appears in the Scripture on many different occasions.
Critique of the Article by Daniel Finestone
The Jewish theologians believe that Almighty God gives His appearance in various forms, including human beings, angels, and even the objects of nature in order to guide and teach the Chosen Seed or the House of Jacob. Is, therefore, the Angel of Jehovah is thought to be the Almighty Himself in the guise of an angel. It is because of the very fact that the appearance of the Angel of Jehovah was made on some occasions of the greatest and outstanding significance, as well as the Angel, was provided with special attention and respect in comparison with the other angels sent by God. Daniel Finestone (1938) presents many examples of these special occasions, where the Angel either saved the life of some extra-ordinary personality or bestowed some exceptional favors to the Prophets of God.
The Angel of Jehovah saved Abraham from fire, protected Hagar when she was to give birth to Ishmael, forbade Abraham from sacrificing his son, blessed Moses with the responsibilities of the prophethood in the midst of the Bush, and communicated the glad tidings of a holy son to the Virgin Mary.
On all these occasions, not only the appearance of the Angel of Jehovah was decisive, but also his way of communicating was powerful, sublime, and somewhat instructive, which was not attributed to other angels. It is why the Angel is regarded as Holy Jesus Christ in an angelic form to be appeared before the Prophets to convey the message of the Lord of the Empyrean. The Christian scholars and interpreters of the Holy Scripture also consider the Angel of Jehovah as the Second of the Holy Trinity, whose diction and words reveal him the same as attributed to the Deity.
Personal Conclusion
The Holy Scriptures maintain their unique style of addressing the prophets as well as common people. Their divine words and tone look sonorous, resonant, and inspiring that narrate the stories of the people of the past civilizations on the one hand, and provide a complete code of life on the other. Almighty God has conveyed His sublime message through His prophets and angels. During the lives of the holy prophets, His angels often appear in the Scriptures visiting the prophets giving instructions to them from the Lord.
The angels often guise the form of humans while visiting the prophets, saints, and holy men. But the appearance of the Archangels, especially the angel Gabriel, is specific to the meeting with the prophets only, and they did never visit any holy man other than a prophet or a member of his family. It is, therefore, some of the theologians, scholars, and critics believe that it was Gabriel, who saved Abraham from the fire enlightened by Nimrod and met Abraham in the plains of Mamre.
The angel Gabriel asked Hagar to return to Sarah’s service who met him at the spring, angry by Sarah’s harsh behavior. In the same way, God sent the same Archangel to save Abraham’s son from being sacrificed as well as an encounter with Jacob at the Brook Jabbok and while appearing before Moses in the fire of Bush. It was also Gabriel who announced the birth of Holy Christ to the Virgin Mary in a highly dignified way.
The Christians consider Holy Christ as the pre-incarnate Angel of Jehovah. It is due to the very fact that the language, tone, and style of the Angel are specific to the Deity. Since Christians strongly believe in Holy Trinity and consider God, Christ, and Gabriel the component divine personalities of the Holy Trinity, they vehemently declare the Angel of Jehovah as one of the three of the Holy Trinity. By studying the revelations and commands described by the Angel of Jehovah, it becomes certain that the Angel belongs to the Holy Trinity; hence, the Angel of Jehovah is either the Archangel Gabriel or the Holy Christ in the pre-incarnate human form.