religion of Israel, the doctrine of monotheism had not been formally
stated, so that the idea of "angel" in the modern sense does not
occur, but we find the _Mal'akh Yahweh_, Angel of the Lord, or
_Mal'akh Elohim_, Angel of God. The _Mal'akh Yahweh_ is an appearance
or manifestation of _Yahweh_ in the form of a man, and the term
_Mal'akh Yahweh_ is used interchangeably with Yahweh (cf. Exod. iii.
2, with iii. 4; xiii. 21 with xiv. 19). Those who see the _Mal'akh
Yahweh_ say they have seen God.[8] The _Mal'akh Yahweh_ (or _Elohim_)
appears to Abraham, Hagar, Moses, Gideon, &c., and leads the
Israelites in the Pillar of Cloud.[9] The phrase _Mal'akh Yahweh_ may
have been originally a courtly circumlocution for the Divine King;
but it readily became a means of avoiding crude anthropomorphism, and
later on, when the angels were classified, the _Mal'akh Yahweh_ came
to mean an angel of distinguished rank.[10] The identification of the
_Mal'akh Yahweh_ with the _Logos_, or Second Person of the Trinity, is
not indicated by the references in the Old Testament; but the idea
of a Being partly identified with God, and yet in some sense distinct
from Him, illustrates the tendency of religious thought to distinguish
persons within the unity of the Godhead, and foreshadows the doctrine
of the Trinity, at any rate in some slight degree.

In the earlier literature the _Mal'akh Yahweh_ or _Elohim_ is almost
the only _mal'akh_ ("angel") mentioned. There are, however, a few
passages which speak of subordinate superhuman beings other than the
_Mal'akh Yahweh_ or _Elohim_. There are the cherubim who guard Eden.
In Gen. xviii., xix. (J) the appearance of Yahweh to Abraham and
Lot is connected with three, afterwards two, men or messengers; but
possibly in the original form of the story Yahweh appeared alone.[11]
At Bethel, Jacob sees the angels of God on the ladder,[12] and later
on they appear to him at Mahanaim.[13] In all these cases the