McCaul further observes, that the word Jehovah must sometimes be taken as the genitive case, and cites Mal. ii. 7: “The priests’ lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth, [referring to Jehovah Zebaoth, vs. 2 and 4,] for he is Melach Jehovah Zebaoth,” rendered, “the messenger of the Lord of hosts.” But he gives no reason why Melach Jehovah in this passage should not be rendered, the Messenger Jehovah, as well as in any other passage. Again, he observes, that to translate the formula, Melach Jehovah, the angel Jehovah, is plainly against the Masoretic punctuation. But that is not conclusive; for the points formed no part of the original text, and no one pretends that they were inspired. The authors of that system of punctuation were governed, in their application of the points, by their theological, as well as by their grammatical theory; and however grammatically correct they may have been in their appropriation of them in all ordinary cases, in those passages of which they held an erroneous theological or exegetical theory, they of course arranged the points conformably, so as to make the text express their preconceived opinions. In relation to the present instance, for example, Kimchi, as McCaul observes, “considered the Person designated the ‘angel of the Lord,’ as nothing more than one of the many angels to whom he supposes the governance of this lower world is committed.” Observations, page 9. Doubtless the authors of the points held the same opinion. McCaul observes, in his introduction, that Kimchi and other Rabbies of his day “endeavored to get rid of the Christian interpretations, and to root out the Christian doctrines which had descended from the ancient Jewish Church.”
CHAPTER IV.
Visible Appearance of the Messenger Jehovah to Hagar.
The first recorded instance of the visible appearance of the Angel or Messenger Jehovah, is that to Hagar, Gen. xvi., where the designation Melach Jehovah is repeated several times. The Messenger Jehovah found Hagar by a fountain of water. He called her by name; directed her to return to her mistress; promised to multiply her seed exceedingly; and directed her to call her son Ishmael, “because Jehovah had heard her affliction.” “And she called the name of Jehovah that spake unto her, Thou El seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?” The visible Person whom she saw, and who spoke to her, and promised what none but a Divine Person could promise, is called Melach Jehovah, and also Jehovah, and El. He was therefore not a messenger of Jehovah, or a distinct person from him, but Jehovah himself, as recognized and worshipped under the several designations here applied to him. Considered as the administrator of Providence, the things said and done by him were in keeping with his delegated character, and with the acts ascribed to him on other occasions. There is a further notice of his dealings with Ishmael, Gen. xxii. 17, after his expulsion, with Hagar, from Abraham’s house, and her abandonment of him in despair of his life. “And Elohim heard the voice of the lad: and Melach Elohim [in our version, the angel of God] called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not; for Elohim hath heard the voice of the lad, where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thy hand; for I will make of him a great nation. And Elohim opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and Elohim was with the lad,” &c. Here the speaker is Melach Elohim, which designation must refer to the same official Person as that of Melach Jehovah in the former instance, for he personally promised the same thing; saying in the one case, “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude;” and in the other, “I will make him a great nation.” That the import and reference of the two formulas is the same, is also evident beyond a question from other passages, where both are indifferently applied to the same person; as Judges vi. 20, 21: “And Melach (the) Elohim said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then Melach Jehovah put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh,” &c. And again, Judges xiii. 3–9: “And Melach Jehovah appeared unto the woman, and (the) Elohim hearkened to the voice of Manoah, and Melach (the) Elohim came again unto the woman.” The narratives in which these passages occur clearly restrict the reference to one and the same Person.
In the original of these quotations, the article is prefixed to the word Elohim, as it is also elsewhere, (underscored, or included above and hereafter in parenthesis,) which is by some supposed to require the rendering to be, as in our common version, the angel or messenger of Elohim. But this conclusion cannot be sustained: 1st, because it indicates something different in respect to the Person referred to from the formula Melach Jehovah; and 2d, because in other instances of similar formulas the article does not occur, as in Gen. xxi. 17: “And Melach Elohim called to Hagar.” The occurrence of the article does not determine the construction. It is often redundant, and is prefixed to the word Elohim where it cannot be a sign of the genitive, because not immediately preceded by a noun to govern it. Thus in the passage above quoted from Judges xiii. we read, “and the Elohim hearkened,” &c., the article being prefixed in the original. So Gen. vi. 11: “The earth also was corrupt before the Elohim.” Gen. xvii. 18: “And Abraham said unto the Elohim.” Gen. xxii. 3, 9, xxvii. 28, and many other places.
CHAPTER V.
No visible Divine Appearances ever made except of the Messiah, the Mediator in all the Relations of God to the World.
Having shown that the denominative Melach, when coupled with the name Jehovah, or the name Elohim, or used interchangeably with either of those or with other Divine names, is a designation of the Messiah; that when that denominative is employed interchangeably with the names Jehovah, Elohim, or Adonai, those names designate the same official Person; and that the formulas Melach Jehovah and Melach Elohim have one and the same personal import and reference, the way is prepared for an examination of other Scriptures in which occur the same designations of the delegated One of whom Moses and the prophets wrote, the Word who was in the beginning, and by whom all things were created and are upheld.
This wonderful Person often, in the course of the ancient dispensations, manifested himself visibly in the likeness of that form which in due time he permanently assumed, by taking human nature into union with his person. In his delegated official character, being the agent in all external and visible works and manifestations, and the medium of all relations between creatures and the Self-existent, he was from the beginning the image and acting representative of the invisible Deity; delegated of the Father to accomplish the works which, pursuant to the counsels of eternity, belong to his comprehensive administration. To him, in this character and in distinction from the Father, belonged all visible personal manifestations. And hence, to enforce the necessary discrimination, and prevent erroneous impressions, the Evangelist John, chap. i., on announcing the visible Word, the Word incarnate, as the visible expression of the glory of the Father, says: “No man hath seen God (the Father) at any time; it is [see Campbell’s version] the only-begotten Son, that is in the bosom of the Father, who hath made him known.” And again, chap. vi. 45: “Every man that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me; not that any man hath seen the Father;” (or, as rendered by Campbell,) “not that any man, except him who is from God, hath seen the Father. He, indeed, hath seen the Father,” Again xiv. 9: “He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father;” that is, hath seen the image, the only visible representative of the Father. And in his first epistle, chap. iv: “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.”
These statements preclude the supposition of any visible personal appearance during the preceding dispensations, excepting of the delegated official Person to whom the revelation of the