{Judges 6:11} An angel of Jehovah came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.
{Judges 6:12} The angel of Jehovah appeared to him, and said to him, "Jehovah is with you, you mighty man of valor!"
{Judges 6:13} Gideon said to him, "Oh, my lord, if Jehovah is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, 'Did not Jehovah bring us up from Egypt?' But now Jehovah has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian."
{Judges 6:14} Jehovah, facing him, said, "Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have not I sent you?"
{Judges 6:15} He said to him, "O Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."
{Judges 6:16} Jehovah said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man." -- American Standard Revised Version.
These verses are often cited as proof of the trinity doctrine. Obviously, since there is nothing at all here about Jehovah being more than one person, nor that Jesus is Jehovah, what the trinitarian has to do is to fabricate various assumptions in order to "see" their beloved "trinity" in what is written. On one site, we read: "When the Angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, we recognize this is as a theophany – an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ, in human, bodily form, but before His incarnation in Bethlehem." Another claims: "'The Angel of the LORD; appears to Gideon in verses 11-12 and the following verses confirm him to be the LORD, aka Yahweh (verses 14 & 16)."
At most, one could reason that the angel (messenger) of Jehovah is Jehovah Himself (with is actually self-contradictory). A messenger sent by one is not the one who sent the messenger. Even if an angel of Jehovah should be Jehovah Himself (which we do not at all believe) this would not mean that we need to add to the scripture that any such angel is Jesus, etc.
Of course, there are many, many, assumptions that the trinitarian has to create beyond what is written which have to then be added to, and read into, what is written in order to "see" their cherished trinitarian dogma into what is stated. It is claimed that in verses 14 and 16 that the angel speaks of himself and is spoken of as though he were Jehovah. And thus, it is claimed that this angel of Jehovah was actually Jesus. However, it is imagined, assumed, added to, and read into the scriptures is that Jehovah is more than one person, and then it is further imagined, assumed, added to, and read into the verse that Gideon actually saw the bodily substance of Jehovah, and then it is further imagined, assumed, added and read into the scriptures that it is only the first person of their beloved triune God which one cannot see, and then it is further imagined, assumed, added to, and read into the scriptures that one can see the bodily substance of the alleged second person of Jehovah, whom it is imagined, assumed, added to, and read into the scriptures that this is Jesus. It is then imagined, assumed, added to, and read into the scriptures that while one cannot see the bodily substance of the alleged first of the professed triune God, one can see the bodily substance of the second person of the supposed triune God.
According to Hebrews 1:1,2, the God and Father of Jesus is the one who stated: "man may not see me and live." (Exodus 33:20) This is the same unipersonal God that John spoke of in John 1:18: "No one [amongst mankind] has seen God at any time." Thus, God's appearances to men have been through His angels, His spirit, by means of dreams and visions, or through some other outward manifestation. God can certainly appear and speak by any means that he desires, and yet not allow any person to actually see his invisible spirit bodily glory. -- Genesis 15:1; 16:7-14; 18:1-32; 19:1-22; 20:3,6; 22:11-15; 31:11,24; Exodus 3:2-4; Numbers 12:6; 14:14,19; 22:22-28; Deuteronomy 5:4; Judges 6:11-23; 13:3-22; 1 Kings 3:5; Isaiah 1:1; 21:2; 22:1; Ezekiel 11:24; Obadiah 1:1; Matthew 1:20; 2:13,19.
Nothing in any of his means that we need to imagine, assume, add to, and read into the scriptures that Jehovah is more than one person and further imagine, assume, add to and read into the scriptures that it is only one person of Jehovah who cannot be seen by man while at least of the other imagined persons of Jehovah can be seen by man, and then further imagine, assume, add to, and read into the scriptures that it was Jesus as a person of Jehovah who appeared to and spoke through the prophets of old, etc., contrary to what is stated in Hebrews 1:1,2.
We believe that the default reasoning is not to imagine, assume, add to, and read into the scriptures that Jehovah is more than one person, but rather that Jehovah spoke and acted through His angel. Does this mean that we need to imagine and assume the angel sent is actually Jehovah Himself, and thus that we need to create a lot of assumptions to explain this, such as that Jehovah is more than one person, and that this angel was the second person of Jehovah who can be seen is not the first person of Jehovah who cannot be seen, etc., etc.? The more direct conclusion is simply that Jehovah spoke and acted by means of one of his angels to Gideon.
Definitely, there is nothing in Judges 6 (or anywhere else in the Bible) that says anything about one of Jehovah's angels being the Son of God, our Lord Jesus, or that Jehovah is more than one person, etc. Again, such ideas have to be formulated beyond what is written, added to what is written, and read into what is written.
One claims that there is only one who is "the angel of the LORD." Indeed, many translations place "the" before "angel" in Judges 6:11 rather than the indefinite article "an", even though the Hebrew is not definite but indefinite. The reality is that if there is only one who has the title "angel of the Lord" or, more correctly, "angel of Jehovah," then that angel must be Gabriel. (Luke 1:11,19,26) The reality is, however, that the idea that there is only one who is "the" angel of Jehovah has to be imagined, assumed, added to, and read into the scriptures. It then has to be further imagined, assumed, added to, and read into the scriptures that this one "angel of the Jehovah" is none other than Jesus.
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