or _the Angel Jehovah_, a title given to Christ
in his different appearances to the patriarchs and others in the Old
Testament.
When the Angel of the Lord found Hagar in the wilderness, “she called
the name of JEHOVAH that spake to her, Thou God seest me.”--JEHOVAH
appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre. Abraham lifted up his
eyes, and three _men_, three persons in human form, “stood by him.” One
of the three is called Jehovah. And JEHOVAH said, “Shall I hide from
Abraham the thing that I do?” Appearances of the same personage occur to
Isaac and to Jacob under the name of “the God of Abraham, and of Isaac.”
After one of these manifestations, Jacob says, “I have seen God face to
face;” and at another, “Surely the Lord (JEHOVAH) is in this place.” The
same Jehovah was made visible to Moses, and gave him his commission; and
God said, “I AM THAT I AM; thou shalt say to the children of Israel, I
AM hath sent me unto you.” The same JEHOVAH went before the Israelites
by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire; and by
Him the law was given amidst terrible displays of power and majesty from
Mount Sinai. “I am the Lord (JEHOVAH) thy God, which have brought thee
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: Thou shalt have
no other gods before me,” &c. The collation of a few passages, or of the
different parts of the same passages, of Scripture, will show that
Jehovah, and “the Angel of the Lord,” when used in this eminent sense,
are the same person. Jacob says of Bethel, where he had exclaimed,
“Surely _Jehovah_ is in this place;” “The _Angel_ of God appeared to me
in a dream, saying, I am the God of Bethel.” Upon his death bed he gives
the names of _God_ and _Angel_ to this same person: “The _God_ which fed
me all my life long unto this day, the _Angel_ which redeemed me from
all evil, bless the lads.” So in Hosea xii, 2, 5, it is said, “By his
strength he had power with _God_; yea, he had power over the _Angel_,
and prevailed.” “We found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us,
even the _Lord God of Hosts_; the Lord is his memorial.” Here the same
person has the names, _God_, _Angel_, and _Lord God of Hosts_. “The
_Angel of the Lord_ called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and
said, By _myself_ have I sworn, saith the Lord, (JEHOVAH,) that, since
thou hast done this thing, in blessing will I bless thee.” The _Angel of
the Lord_ appeared to Moses in a flame of fire; but this same Angel
“called to him out of the bush, and said, I am the God of thy fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and Moses
hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.” To omit many other
passages, St. Stephen, in alluding to this part of the history of Moses,
in his speech before the council, says, “There appeared to Moses in the
wilderness of Mount Sinai, _an Angel of the Lord_ in a flame of fire,”
showing that that phraseology was in use among the Jews in his day, and
that this Angel and Jehovah were regarded as the same being; for he
adds, “Moses was in the church in the wilderness with the _Angel_ which
spoke unto him in Mount Sinai.” There is one part of the history of the
Jews in the wilderness, which so fully shows that they distinguished
this Angel of Jehovah from all created angels, as to deserve particular
attention. In Exodus xxiii, 20, God makes this promise to Moses and the
Israelites: “Behold, I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the
way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of
him, and obey his voice; provoke him not; for he will not pardon your
transgressions, for my name is in him.” Of this Angel let it be
observed, that he is here represented as the guide and protector of the
Israelites; to him they were to owe their conquests and their settlement
in the promised land, which are in other places often attributed to the
_immediate_ agency of God; that they are cautioned to “beware of him,”
to reverence and stand in dread of him; that the pardoning of
transgressions belongs to him; finally, “that the _name_ of God was in
him.” This _name_ must be understood of God’s own peculiar name,
JEHOVAH, I AM, which he assumed as his distinctive appellation at his
first appearing to Moses; and as the names of God are indicative of his
nature, he who had a right to bear the peculiar name of God, must also
have his essence. This view is put beyond all doubt by the fact, that
Moses and the Jews so understood the matter; for afterward when their
sins had provoked God to threaten not to go up with them _himself_, but
to commit them to “an angel who should drive out the Canaanite,” &c, the
people mourned over this as a great calamity, and Moses betook himself
to special intercession, and rested not until he obtained the repeal of
the threat, and the renewed promise, “My _presence_ shall go with thee,
and I will give thee rest.” Nothing, therefore, can be more clear than
that Moses and the Israelites considered the promise of the Angel, in
whom was “the name of God,” as a promise that God _himself_ would go
with them. With this uncreated Angel, this _presence_ of the Lord, they
were satisfied, but not with “an angel” indefinitely, who was by
_nature_ of that order of beings usually so called, and therefore a
created being; for at the news of God’s determination not to go up with
them, Moses hastens to the tabernacle to make his intercessions, and
refuses an inferior conductor:--“If thy presence go not with me, carry
us not up hence.”
The Jews held this Word, or Angel of the Lord, to be the future Messiah,
as appears from the writings of their older rabbins. So that he appears
as the Jehovah of all the three dispensations, and yet is invariably
described as a separate person from the unseen Jehovah who sends him. He
was then the Word to be made flesh, and to dwell for a time among us, to
open the way to God by his sacrifice, and to rescue the race, whose
nature he should assume, from sin and death. This he has now actually
effected; and the Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian religions are thus
founded upon the same great principles,--the fall and misery of mankind,
and their deliverance by a _Divine Redeemer_.
in his different appearances to the patriarchs and others in the Old
Testament.
When the Angel of the Lord found Hagar in the wilderness, “she called
the name of JEHOVAH that spake to her, Thou God seest me.”--JEHOVAH
appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre. Abraham lifted up his
eyes, and three _men_, three persons in human form, “stood by him.” One
of the three is called Jehovah. And JEHOVAH said, “Shall I hide from
Abraham the thing that I do?” Appearances of the same personage occur to
Isaac and to Jacob under the name of “the God of Abraham, and of Isaac.”
After one of these manifestations, Jacob says, “I have seen God face to
face;” and at another, “Surely the Lord (JEHOVAH) is in this place.” The
same Jehovah was made visible to Moses, and gave him his commission; and
God said, “I AM THAT I AM; thou shalt say to the children of Israel, I
AM hath sent me unto you.” The same JEHOVAH went before the Israelites
by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire; and by
Him the law was given amidst terrible displays of power and majesty from
Mount Sinai. “I am the Lord (JEHOVAH) thy God, which have brought thee
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: Thou shalt have
no other gods before me,” &c. The collation of a few passages, or of the
different parts of the same passages, of Scripture, will show that
Jehovah, and “the Angel of the Lord,” when used in this eminent sense,
are the same person. Jacob says of Bethel, where he had exclaimed,
“Surely _Jehovah_ is in this place;” “The _Angel_ of God appeared to me
in a dream, saying, I am the God of Bethel.” Upon his death bed he gives
the names of _God_ and _Angel_ to this same person: “The _God_ which fed
me all my life long unto this day, the _Angel_ which redeemed me from
all evil, bless the lads.” So in Hosea xii, 2, 5, it is said, “By his
strength he had power with _God_; yea, he had power over the _Angel_,
and prevailed.” “We found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us,
even the _Lord God of Hosts_; the Lord is his memorial.” Here the same
person has the names, _God_, _Angel_, and _Lord God of Hosts_. “The
_Angel of the Lord_ called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and
said, By _myself_ have I sworn, saith the Lord, (JEHOVAH,) that, since
thou hast done this thing, in blessing will I bless thee.” The _Angel of
the Lord_ appeared to Moses in a flame of fire; but this same Angel
“called to him out of the bush, and said, I am the God of thy fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and Moses
hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.” To omit many other
passages, St. Stephen, in alluding to this part of the history of Moses,
in his speech before the council, says, “There appeared to Moses in the
wilderness of Mount Sinai, _an Angel of the Lord_ in a flame of fire,”
showing that that phraseology was in use among the Jews in his day, and
that this Angel and Jehovah were regarded as the same being; for he
adds, “Moses was in the church in the wilderness with the _Angel_ which
spoke unto him in Mount Sinai.” There is one part of the history of the
Jews in the wilderness, which so fully shows that they distinguished
this Angel of Jehovah from all created angels, as to deserve particular
attention. In Exodus xxiii, 20, God makes this promise to Moses and the
Israelites: “Behold, I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the
way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of
him, and obey his voice; provoke him not; for he will not pardon your
transgressions, for my name is in him.” Of this Angel let it be
observed, that he is here represented as the guide and protector of the
Israelites; to him they were to owe their conquests and their settlement
in the promised land, which are in other places often attributed to the
_immediate_ agency of God; that they are cautioned to “beware of him,”
to reverence and stand in dread of him; that the pardoning of
transgressions belongs to him; finally, “that the _name_ of God was in
him.” This _name_ must be understood of God’s own peculiar name,
JEHOVAH, I AM, which he assumed as his distinctive appellation at his
first appearing to Moses; and as the names of God are indicative of his
nature, he who had a right to bear the peculiar name of God, must also
have his essence. This view is put beyond all doubt by the fact, that
Moses and the Jews so understood the matter; for afterward when their
sins had provoked God to threaten not to go up with them _himself_, but
to commit them to “an angel who should drive out the Canaanite,” &c, the
people mourned over this as a great calamity, and Moses betook himself
to special intercession, and rested not until he obtained the repeal of
the threat, and the renewed promise, “My _presence_ shall go with thee,
and I will give thee rest.” Nothing, therefore, can be more clear than
that Moses and the Israelites considered the promise of the Angel, in
whom was “the name of God,” as a promise that God _himself_ would go
with them. With this uncreated Angel, this _presence_ of the Lord, they
were satisfied, but not with “an angel” indefinitely, who was by
_nature_ of that order of beings usually so called, and therefore a
created being; for at the news of God’s determination not to go up with
them, Moses hastens to the tabernacle to make his intercessions, and
refuses an inferior conductor:--“If thy presence go not with me, carry
us not up hence.”
The Jews held this Word, or Angel of the Lord, to be the future Messiah,
as appears from the writings of their older rabbins. So that he appears
as the Jehovah of all the three dispensations, and yet is invariably
described as a separate person from the unseen Jehovah who sends him. He
was then the Word to be made flesh, and to dwell for a time among us, to
open the way to God by his sacrifice, and to rescue the race, whose
nature he should assume, from sin and death. This he has now actually
effected; and the Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian religions are thus
founded upon the same great principles,--the fall and misery of mankind,
and their deliverance by a _Divine Redeemer_.