of man, wrestled with Jacob, and who is, by Hosea, chap. xii., denominated the Messenger and the Jehovah Zebaoth, is called Dabar Jehovah, the Personal Word. "Now Dabar Jehovah came unto Jonah, saying, [or, and said,] Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah, and he found a ship and went down into it to go unto Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah." Chap. i. "And Dabar Jehovah came unto. Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh." iii. 1, 2. These passages indicate a personal and visible presence. How else could Jonah attempt to

conceal himself by flight? In the context the Personal Word who thus came is identified with Jehovah, who speaks and is addressed as one locally and visibly pres

ent.

"Now Samuel did not yet know Jehovah, neither was Dabar Jehovah yet revealed unto him." 1 Sam. iii. 7. No manifestation of the Personal WORD had been made to him. "And Jehovah appeared again in Shiloh: for Jehovah revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by Dabar Jehovah." Ibid. v. 21. "Then came Dabar Jehovah to Samuel, saying, It repenteth me, &c." Ibid. xv. 10. "It was charged me by Dabar Jehovah. . . . It was said to me by Dabar Jehovah." 1 Kings xiii. 9, 17. "And Elijah came to a cave and lodged there; and behold, Dabar Jehovah came to him, and he said unto him, What dost thou here, Elijah? . . . And he said, Go forth and stand upon the mount before Jehovah. And behold, Jehovah passed by." 1 Kings xix. 9, 11.

"Dabar Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying, Before I formed thee, I knew thee. . . . Then said I, Ah, Adonai Jehovah! behold I cannot speak. . . Then

Jehovah put forth his hand and touched my mouth. Moreover, Dabar Jehovah came unto me, saying, [or, and said,] What seest thou? .. And Dabar Jehovah came unto me the second time," &c. Jer. i.

Such are some of the instances in which this term appears to be employed as a personal designation. The meaning and reference of such use of it appear to have been familiar both to the earlier and later Jews. the chapters relating to the Chaldee Para phrases.

See

CHAPTER III.

Reasons for rendering the formula, "Melach Jehovah," the Messenger (who is) Jehovah; and not the Angel, or an Angel of the Lord.

An examination of the numerous passages in which the denominative Melach is coupled with the name Jehovah, or Elohim, or used interchangeably with those. names, renders it conclusively manifest that in each and every instance the reference is to one and the same official Person. This, however, is not entirely obvious from our common version, owing to the circumstance that the translators rendered the formula, Melach Jehovah, the angel, or sometimes an angel of the Lord. The word Jehovah, in the original, never has the article; nor the word Melach, when coupled with Jehovah, though when employed alone to designate the same official Person, the article is sometimes prefixed, as in Gen. xlviii. 16: "The Melach, which redeemed me." The word Elohim often has the article, and retains it in most of the instances in which the formula Melach Elohim

occurs, requiring it to be read, Melach the, or who is the, Elohim. See some twelve instances in the book of Ezra, and more than twenty in Nehemiah, where there was a special occasion to distinguish the true from the false God. In the formula, Melach Jehovah, there is nothing in the original to forbid the two words being considered as in apposition, and the rendering consequently the Messenger Jehovah, or the Messenger who is Jehovah. And that such should be the rendering, instead of the angel or messenger of Jehovah, is apparent from the following considerations:

1st. That the Person identified by this name of office is Jehovah, as is shown by the use, in numerous passages, of the two names interchangeably. The word Melach, it may be observed, is, when coupled with the name Jehovah, and when used separately or interchangeably, with the same personal reference, always in the singular number; and, when coupled with that name, generally precedes it; by which circumstances, and the relations in which it occurs separately, all confusion as to its reference is precluded.

2d. From the consideration that this rendering corresponds with the official character of the Person designated. His office is that of a messenger, sent of the Father-the Mediator, the Christ. The designation in question is in no instance applied to any created angel, and no doubt it was intended to distinguish the delegated Person from the Father who sent him. But to render it, the angel or messenger of Jehovah, especially in sentences in which the Person designated is called Melach Jehovah, and also called Jehovah, Adonai, or Elohim, is not to distinguish but to confuse.

3d. This rendering comports with the official agency of the delegated Person, as the creator, upholder, law

giver, and ruler of all creatures. The works ascribed to him are, in the same sentences and connections, ascribed to Jehovah.

4th. It comports with the designation by which, when he became incarnate, he was familiarly known, and which is translated Lord, as the equivalent of the name Jehovah in Hebrew. Thus, Luke ii. 11, he is announced as the "Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Campbell renders it, The Lord Messiah. The sense is the same as that of Jehovah who is the Messiah, or the Messenger who is Jehovah, or the Anointed who is Jehovah. Again, when Thomas saw him after his resurrection, he exclaimed, "My Lord and my God"-my Jehovah and my Elohe. John xx.

5th. It comports with Hebrew usage in other cases. The instances are common in which particular persons are designated by two words in apposition, indicating different characteristics. Thus, 1 Kings iv. 1: "So king Solomon was king over all Israel;" literally, so was the king, Solomon (or, who is Solomon) king, &c. Ibid. vii. 13, 14: And the king, Solomon, sent and fetched Hiram, son of a woman, a widow—i. e., a woman who was a widow; and xvii. 9, a woman (who is) a widow. Deut. xxii. 23, 28: A damsel, a virgin-i. e., a damsel who is a virgin.

When the article is prefixed to the word Elohim, it often and perhaps always is meant expressly to distinguish the True God from the false; as when the people, seeing the triumph of Elijah over the prophets of Baal, exclaimed, "Jehovah, he is the Elohim :" he, and not the pretended Elohim of idolaters, is the true God. The import of the formula, Jehovah Elohim, is Jehovah the true Elohim, and is not clearly or fully expressed by the translation Lord God, any more than it would be by a repetition of one or the other of those words. The

meaning is, Jehovah who is the true God. So Melach Jehovah, the respective terms referring indisputably to the same person, means, the Messenger who is Jehovah.

But our translators render Melach Jehovah, the angel of the Lord, as though the angel was a created agent; or, as though Jehovah in this connection was the Father. McCaul, in his observations on Kimchi's translation of Zechariah, defends this rendering: First, on the ground, that if the words Melach Jehovah are in apposition, the translation should be, not, the Angel Jehovah, but an angel, or a Messenger Jehovah. But, since the word Jehovah never admits the article, and since in the formula in question the word Melach never admits it, no reason can be assigned why the rendering should not be the Angel, or the Messenger Jehovah; it being admitted that one and the same Person is uniformly desig nated by this formula. On the contrary, if this objection were well founded, then in rendering the word Jehovah, where it occurs alone, it should read in English, a Lord, instead of the Lord.

Moreover, if his criticisms were well founded, such a passage as 2 Chron. xxxii. 21, where the order of the designations is Jehovah Melach, would require to be rendered, Lord of the angel, instead of Jehovah the Messenger, or the Jehovah Messenger. The statement in the text just quoted from 2 Chronicles is repeated in Isaiah xxxvii. 36, where the order of the words in question is Melach Jehovah. Again, the formula, (the) Elohim Melach, occurs in 1 Chron. xxi. 15, and also in that and the next verse, Melach Jehovah, referring to the same Person.

2d. He urges that if the words Melach Jehovah were to be rendered the Angel Jehovah, then we should expect to find the article before the word Melach; because, he says, the word Adon uniformly has it when