Whatever impression or inference may result from this usage to the English reader, or to the Israelite who reads the original under the same views which influenced the translation, it is by no means probable that either of them would infer, or be struck with the impression, that Adonai was a distinctive and familiar title of the delegated One, the Messiah, of correlative and equivalent significance as a Divine designation with those with which it is indifferently and interchangeably employed. For the further illustration of this point, therefore, the following passages are cited:
In Gen. xviii., we read that Jehovah appeared visibly to Abraham in the likeness of man, i.e., in the delegated official Person, Messiah. In what is related in the narrative as having been said or done by him, while visibly present, he is called Jehovah, while Abraham, in speaking to him, uniformly calls him Adonai, prays to him as having power to save the righteous in Sodom, and addresses him as Judge of all the earth. It is therefore manifest that the two designations, Jehovah and Adonai, identify the same Person; that Abraham speaks to him as visibly present; and that his visible presence in the likeness of man determines him to have been the delegated One. At the close of their interview, “Jehovah went his way, and Abraham returned to his place.”
When the personal Word came to Abram, Gen. xv., saying, Fear not, I am thy shield, &c., Abram, replying, verse 2, calls him Adonai Jehovah, and also in verse 8; while in verses 4, 6, 7, and 18, he calls him Jehovah. Instances like that in chap. xviii., and others, would seem to indicate that in cases of local visible manifestation of the personal Word, designations specially appropriate to his official character and agency were suggested to the minds of the beholders. Thus Moses, Exod, iv. 10, “said unto Jehovah, O Adonai.” The Person whom he addressed was the Messenger Jehovah, who had appeared to him. Again, verse 13, he says: “O Adonai.” In other parts of that chapter, the same Person is called Jehovah, Elohim, and Elohe. In Moses’ song, chap. xv. 17, Jehovah (that is, the Messenger) and the Adonai are addressed as the same Person: “Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance; in the place, O Jehovah, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in; in the sanctuary, O Adonai, which thy hands have established.” So, chap. xxxiv., when Jehovah (the Messenger) descended and manifested the glory of his Person to Moses, and proclaimed himself Jehovah as he passed by, Moses bowed and worshipped; and he said: “If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Adonai, let Adonai, I pray thee, go among us.” In like manner, Deut. iii. 23, 24, Moses, praying to Jehovah, addresses the Adonai: “And I besought Jehovah at that time, saying, O Adonai Jehovah. … I pray thee let me go over and see the good land.” Also, chap. ix. 26: “I prayed therefore unto Jehovah, and said, O Adonai Jehovah, destroy not thy people, and thine inheritance which thou hast redeemed.” Once more, when, after the trespass of Achan, the Israelites were smitten, Joshua fell upon his face before the ark of Jehovah, and said: “Alas! O Adonai Jehovah. … O Adonai, what shall I say,” &c. Similar instances occur in the prayers of Gideon, Manoah, David, and the prophets; and throughout their writings, as in the instances quoted, doubtless this term designates the Messenger of the Covenant, the Holy One, the Christ, and whether sometimes substituted by copyists for the word Jehovah or not, its import is the same, as appears from the connections in which it occurs.
At the interview of the same Divine Person with Gideon, Judges vi., he is called Melach Jehovah, Jehovah, Adonai, Melach the Elohim, and Adonai Jehovah Melach Jehovah came and sat under an oak—appeared visibly—and said unto Gideon, Jehovah is with thee. Gideon replied, O Adonai, if Jehovah be with us, &c. Jehovah looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might. Gideon answered, O Adonai, wherewith shall I save Israel? Jehovah said, Surely I will be with thee. Gideon prepared a sacrifice. Melach the Elohim said, Take the flesh, &c. Melach Jehovah touched the flesh with his staff. Fire rose out of the rock and consumed the flesh. Melach Jehovah departed out of Gideon’s sight. Gideon exclaimed, Alas, O Adonai Jehovah! for I have seen Melach Jehovah face to face. Jehovah said unto him, Peace be unto thee.
The purport of the expressions in this narrative may be more fully represented as follows: The Melach, (the Messenger,) who is Jehovah, came in the form of a wayfaring man, and sat down under an oak in a field where Gideon was, and said unto him, Jehovah is with thee. And Gideon said to him, (Jehovah,) O Adonai, &c. Jehovah looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might, &c. Gideon said to him, O Adonai, wherewith shall I save Israel? Jehovah said to him, Surely I will be with thee. Gideon presented a sacrifice to him. The Melach, (or Messenger,) who is the true Elohim, said to Gideon, Take the flesh, &c., and lay them upon this rock, and he did so. The the Melach, (or Messenger,) who is Jehovah, put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh, &c.; and there rose up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh, &c. Gideon said, Alas, O Adonai Jehovah! for I have seen the Melach, who is Jehovah, face to face. To which Jehovah replied, Peace be unto thee; fear not, &c. Then Gideon built an altar there unto Jehovah.
So in the narrative of the visible appearance of the same Divine Person to Manoah and his wife, Judges xiii., where, as in the foregoing and other parallel instances, the term Melach distinguishes the Divine Person referred to as present and seen. The Melach (who is) Jehovah appeared unto the woman, &c. The woman came and told her husband, saying, A man, the Elohim, came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the Melach (who is) the Elohim, &c. Then Manoah entreated Jehovah, and said, O Adon, let the man, the Elohim which thou didst send, come again unto us. … And the Elohim hearkened to the voice of Manoah, and the Melach, the (or who is the) Elohim, came again unto the woman as she sat in the field. … And she ran and said to her husband, Behold the man hath appeared unto me that came unto me the other day. … And Manoah came and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am. … And the Melach (who is) Jehovah said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. And Manoah said to the Melach (who is) Jehovah, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. And the Melach (who is) Jehovah said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto Jehovah. For Manoah knew not that he was the Melach (who is) Jehovah. … So Manoah took a kid, with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto Jehovah. And … it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the Melach (who is) Jehovah ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on, and fell on their faces to the ground, &c. Then Manoah knew that he was the Melach (who is) Jehovah. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen Elohim. But his wife said unto him, If Jehovah were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering at our hands, &c. Nothing surely can be more evident than that all these designations refer to the one delegated official Person—Messiah, the Messenger of the Covenant, visible in the form of man.
Behold, the Adon, Jehovah Zebaoth, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, &c. Isa. iii. 1.
Therefore shall the Adon, Adonai Zebaoth, send, &c. Isa. x. 16.
Behold, the Adon, Jehovah Zebaoth, shall lop the bough, &c. Isa. x. 33.
Thou (Abiathar) bearest the ark of Adonai Jehovah. 1 Kings ii. 26.
Thou art my Elohe and my Adonai. Ps. xxxv. 23.
To Jehovah Adonai belong the issues from death. Ps. lxviii. 20.
Let not them that wait on thee, O Adonai, Jehovah Zebaoth, be ashamed. Ps. lxix. 6.
Thou art my hope, O Adonai Jehovah. Ps. lxxi. 5.
But do thou for me, O Jehovah Adonai, for thy name’s sake. Ps. cix. 21.
O Jehovah Adonai, the strength of my salvation. Ps. cxl. 7.
Mine eyes are unto thee, O Jehovah Adonai.