Why does the angel of the Lord call out from heaven to Abraham at Genesis 22?

Question

At Genesis 22:1, "Now it came about after these things that "GOD" tested Abraham. At verse 2, "And He/God said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."

Verse 9, Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there, and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood." Verse 10, "And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son."

Verse 11, "But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am. Verse 12, "And he said/the angel of the Lord, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." At verses 13-14 the Lord provides a ram for Abraham to sacrifice.

Verse 15, "Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, vs16, and said, (the angel of the Lord is speaking), By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, vs17, "indeed I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies."

Verse 18, "And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed MY VOICE." The following is a list of verses where God Himself calls out from heaven. Genesis 21:17, Exodus 20:22, Deuteronomy 4:36, Nehemiah 9:13, Daniel 4:31 and other in the Old Testament.

Here are some in the New Testament. Mark 1:11, Luke 3:22, John 12:28, 2 Peter 1:18, Revelation 14:2 and Revelation 12:10. There are also others in the NT. Since God had no problem speaking from heaven numerous times, why does the angel of the Lord call out to Abraham from heaven two times at Genesis 22:11, and at Genesis 22:15 claiming to be God?

This is confirmed by the writer of the book of Hebrews at Hebrews 6:13-14, "For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, HE SWORE BY HIMSELF, vs14, saying, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply you."

Answer 1

OK, a response for consideration. Not necessarily one you are looking for, but one for consideration.

Genesis is a book, written not just ‘in’ Hebrew, but ‘by’ a Hebrew. And, for an audience who were Hebrews. And it is important to understand this, so that when we read it, we don’t read it from a ‘western’ perspective. An example...

GENESIS 38: 7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord killed him.

‘We’ read this, and it ‘says’ that the Lord killed him. That’s what it says - in ‘our’ reading. But, to a Hebrew listener/reader, they would be interpreting this from their worldview. And they would instinctively/naturally ‘read/understand’ this passage in this way. .....

This firstborn child was killed, [by someone] because they were ‘wicked’. God is sovereign. Therefore if this person ‘killed’ the firstborn, God must of allowed it. Because this man was wicked. - Therefore The Lord killed him.

So, when God ‘speaks’, it is not necessarily God speaking directly. It will be a representative. BUT when this representative ‘speaks’, it will be as if God is speaking. And importantly - important for ‘westerners’ to ‘know’, itwillbe written as if God (The Lord) is speaking, even though it is a representative.

So we have ..

EXODUS 3: 7 And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows

Note - Who is speaking. Note how the ‘author of Genesis’ (Moses, a Hebrew, writing to Hebrews, not westerners!) says it is the Lord. Here, the Lord is speaking to Moses. And now note who Moses responds to .....

EXODUS 3: 11 But Moses said to God ...

But, here is the crucial aspect. The point. Exactly who was in the Burning Bush? ‘We’ would say it was God, or the Lord. But, we don’t need to answer this, the Bible tells us .... at the start of this story ..... clearly!

EXODUS 3: 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush.

Now, in ‘western thinking’, we have a crowd in that bush. More than one entity. But - in Hebrew thinking we have an angel. A messenger. A representative. An ‘entity’ representing God, but [importantly] it is as if it were God himself! And in any account of this incident, it would be ‘written/related’ as if it were God.

‘Westerners’ struggle with this concept of representation. A Hebrew wouldn’t. So we ‘look’ for ways to resolve this, example by calling this a ‘Christophony’. Note- I am not saying this can’t be, or wasn’t a pre-incarnation. I am showing, outlining the ‘thinking’ behind how this was written..... because.....

.... This answers your query. That it wasn’t (just/only) an angel who called to Abraham, as far as Abraham would have ‘seen/heard’ this, to him - even though that’s the way it was written - it was God. And in fact, all those ‘other’ incidents throughout the Old Testament that ‘say’ it was God, it would have been a representative (angle/the angel/a prophet/etc.).

God has only ever worked [on earth] through a ‘representative’, example Jesus, and these days, the Holy Spirit.