Crack open your Old Testament and you will notice that it portrays the Word of the Lord not as an impersonal utterance but as a communicator exhibiting full personal traits—initiative, intentionality, and authority. The repeated prophetic formula “the Word of the Lord came to…” (Jer 1:4; Ezek 1:3; Hos 1:1) presents the Word as an acting subject that initiates contact, addresses specific individuals, and delivers intelligible speech. The Word confronts, instructs, and commissions the prophets, distinguishing itself from their own thoughts or reflections. Such consistent depiction of the Word as one who comes, speaks, and addresses persons demonstrates individual agency and personal interaction rather than abstract divine information.
Although God’s essence is declared inaccessible—“You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exod 33:20)—the Old Testament records genuine encounters in which God is present and personally engaged through a mediating manifestation that speaks and relates. In Genesis 18:1–13, the LORD appears, speaks, questions, and responds to Abraham; in Genesis 32:30, Jacob confesses, “I have seen God face to face,” yet lives. These texts reveal a divine presence that communicates, knows, and engages humans—core marks of personal identity—showing that God’s self-revelation in the Old Testament is mediated through the Word exhibiting full individual personality.