Old Testament verses about the Trinity as the Lord, the Angel of the Lord, & the Shecania:
- Exodus 23:20-21
The Lord shares His name with His Angel (cf. Esa. 42:8).
- Exodus 3:2-6,14
The Angel of the Lord is called God & calls Himself the Existing.
- Genesis 19:24
The Angel of the Lord, Who Abraham prayed to & worshipped (Gen. 18:22-33), rains fire from the Lord.
- Psalms 67:21
The pathways out of death are called the Lord’s Lord, i.e. Christ.
- Josue 5:13-15
Josue worships the Angel of the Lord, & He repeats what He said to Moses.
- Judges 6:22; 13:17-23
Gedeon & Manoe call the Angel of the Lord God & the Lord, & He calls Himself the Wonderful.
- Judges 6:22-23
Gedeon worships the Angel of the Lord as God.
- Genesis 16:10,13
Hagar calls the Angel of the Lord God & the Lord.
- Genesis 32:25-26,30-33
Jacob calls the Angel of the Lord God.
- Exodus 13:21; 14:19; 19:9,18
- Numbers 11:25
- Ezechiel 1:4,25-26
The Angel of the Lord is in a Cloud & called God (cf. Ex. 14:24, Num. 12:1, Ps. 67:8-9, 2 Esd. 19:12).
- Exodus 33:9-11,18
The Cloud speaks to Moses, is worshipped by the Israelites, & is called the Lord.
- 2 Chronicles 7:1-3
The Cloud is worshipped by Solomon.
- Esaias 63:9,11-14
The Angel of the Lord is said not to be a mere angel, & the Spirit is said to have led the Israelites (cf. Ex. 24:16-17).
The Masoretic reads “the Angel of His Presence saved them” instead of “the Lord Himself saved them”.
- 3 Kings 19:9,11-12
- 4 Kings 2:11
The Lord is said to be in the Voice of a Breeze, & Elias is taken up in a fiery Chariot described as a Whirlwind (cf. 3 Ki. 19:11-12; Gen. 3:8), i.e. the Cloud.
- Genesis 3:8
- Genesis 15:1-2,4-6
- Exodus 20:18
- 1 Kings 3:1
- 2 Kings 7:4
- Jonas 1:1
- Zacharias 1:1
- Jeremias 1:4-6,9
The Word & Voice of the Lord is said to walk, speak, appear, touch, brought Abraham out, formed Jeremias, & is called the Lord & God.
The Masoretic for Gen. 3:8 reads “in a Breeze” (or Whirlwind) instead of “in the evening”.
- Siarch 24:4
- Wisdom 10:17
Wisdom is said to be enthroned in a Cloud, & to have led the Israelites, with a cover by day & a light by night (cf. Ex. 13:21-22).
- Proverbs 3:19
Wisdom is said to be by Whom the world was made.
- Proverbs 8:22-25
- Sirach 1:4; 24:9
Wisdom is said to pre-exist with & be begotten by God.
- Wisdom 7:22-30
Wisdom is called Almighty, everlasting Light, the Breath & Image of God, & is said to pre-exist creation.
- Job 33:4
- Psalm 103:30
The Spirit is said to create all creatures.
- Esaias 11:2
- Esaias 61:1
The Spirit is distinguished from the powers of God, & is said to be upon & anoint Christ.
- Esaias 9:5
The Child to be born, i.e. Christ, is identified as the Angel of the Lord.
The Alexandrian reads, “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty One, Ruler, Prince of Peace, Father of the age to come.”
- Malachias 3:1-3
Christ is identified as the Angel of the Lord, the Lord, & the Angel of the Covenant (cf. Ex. 23:20-23).
- Psalms 2:7
- 2 Kings 7:14
Christ is said to be the Son of God.
- Psalms 44:7
Christ is called God.
- Psalms 109:4
Christ is said to be begotten before the world.
- Michæas 5:1
Christ is said to exist from eternity.
Extrabiblical
Gen. 1:26, 2:18, 3:22, 11:7 demonstrate These are not different names of the same person, but distinct Persons. He only says “We,” “Our,” & “Us” when speaking amongs Himself, but “I,” “My,” & “Me” when speaking to man. This demonstrates that it is not a plural intensifier, which wouldn’t be translated into the Septuagint anyways, nor the so-called ‘royal we’ of other, much later, authors.
The Targumim will support us here, it reads:
The Word of the Lord said, Let there be light.
- Genesis 1:3
The Word of the Lord made man, according to His image.
- Genesis 1:27
Abraham trusted in the Word of the Lord .
- Genesis 15:6
I have made My covenant between My Word & thee.
- Genesis 17:7
And the Word of the Lord rained on Sodom & Gomorrha brimstone & fire from the Lord out of heaven.
- Genesis 19:24
Then shall the Word of the Lord be for a God to me.
- Genesis 28:21
The Word of the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, I am the Lord .
- Exodus 3:14
Philo the Jew will also support us here:
Labor earnestly to be adorned according to His first-born Word, the eldest of His Angels, as the great Archangel of many names; for He is called, the Authority, & the Name of God, & the Word, & Man according to God’s Image, & He Who sees Israel. … For even if we are not yet suitable to be called the sons of God, still we may deserve to be called the children of His eternal Image, of His most-sacred Word; for the Image of God is His most ancient Word.
- On the Confusion of Tongues
The Word rejoices in the gift, &, exulting in it, announces it & boasts of it, saying: “I stood in the midst, between the Lord & You; neither being uncreated as God, nor yet created as you, but being in the midst between these two extremities, like a hostage, as it were, to both parties: a hostage to the Creator, as a pledge & security that the whole race would never fly off & revolt entirely, choosing disorder rather than order; & to the creature, to lead it to entertain a confident hope that the merciful God would not overlook His own work.
- Who is the Heir of Divine Things?
And further, Nachmanides the Jew will support us:
Jonathan ben Uzziel said, “Blessed is the Glory of the Lord from the place of the house of His Shecania.” If the Glory intended by the verse is the true essence of the Creator, as in “Please show me Thy Glory,” which Maimonides interprets this way, notice that it mentions “place,” “house,” & “Shecania,” & if you say It is a created glory, which is Maimonides’ opinion concerning “the Glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle” & other verses, how could they proclaim it “blessed”—one who blesses & prays to a created glory is like engaging in idolatry!? In the words of our teachers, there are many indications that the name Shecania refers to God.
It is in response to this the Jewish Talmud tries to explain away the Angel of the Lord (Chagiga 15a:5-6), & Jews banned discussion of the Shecania.