Notes on The Angel of The Lord

The Angel of The Lord is literally from the Hebrew The Messenger of Hashem - Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh.  This angel is only given assignments that have to do with the revelation of the Name of the One whose Name is spelt with the letters, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, which will not be openly pronounced until it  is openly revealed in all the world.

The following are the places in the Tanach where the Angel of Hashem appears.

The angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude" (Genesis 16:10).

She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me" (Genesis 16:13).

The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day (Genesis 18:1).

The angel of the LORD stopped Abraham saying: 

He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me" (Genesis 22:12).

The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven (Genesis 22:15).

Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am' (Genesis 31:11).

the Angel who has delivered me from all harm - may He bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly upon the earth (Genesis 48:16).

There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up (Exodus 3: 2).

I am going to send an angel in front of you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Be attentive to him and listen to his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him. But if you listen attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. When my angel goes in front of you, and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I blot them out (Exodus 23:20-23).

when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" And he said, "No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his servant?" And the captain of the LORD's host said to Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so (Joshua 5:13-15).

Then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the LORD; and Gideon said, "Help me, Lord GOD! For I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face." But the LORD said to him, "Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die" (Judges 6:22).

When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24:16).

Then they spoke to the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, "We have patrolled the earth, and lo, the whole earth remains at peace." Then the angel of the LORD said, "O LORD of hosts, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you have been angry these seventy years?" Then the LORD replied with gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with Me (Zechariah 1:11-13).

Notes:
It is sometimes thought that The Angel of The Lord is a manifestation of the Lord Himself.  However, a messenger of someone, in this case The Lord, is by definition not that person.  Since in seeing The Angel of The Lord people would sometimes not see that angel but The Lord Himself, we are left to understand that this angel was created to be able to manifest an appearance of The Personal Presence of The Lord.  This is the case In Revelation chapter one, where this angel manifests the Personal Presence of the Glorified Mashiach.  Just as it was Hashem who was the person present and speaking in a number of occasions in Israel's past, on those occasions when He desired to be present through the limiting vessel of the angel, so it was Mashiach who was present and speaking through the vessel of the angel to Yochanan.