The New Testament distinguishes between the hidden God and the revealed
God--the Son or Logos--who is connected with the former by oneness of
nature, and who from everlasting, and even at the creation itself,
filled up the immeasurable distance between the Creator and the
creation;--who has been the Mediator in all God's relations to the
world;--who at all times, and even before He became man in Christ, has
been the light of [Pg 116] the world,--and to whom, specially, was
committed the direction of the economy of the Old Covenant.
It is evident that this doctrine stands in the closest connection with
the Christology,--that it forms, indeed, its theological foundation and
ground-work. Until the Christology has attained to a knowledge of the
true divinity of the Saviour, its results cannot be otherwise than very
meagre and unsatisfactory. Wheresoever the true state of human nature
is seen in the light of Holy Scripture, no high expectations can be
entertained from a merely human Saviour, although he were endowed even
with as full a measure of the gifts of the Spirit of God as human
nature, in its finite and sinful condition, is able to bear. But unless
there exist in the one divine Being itself, such a distinction of
persons, the divinity of the Saviour cannot be acknowledged, without
endangering the unity of God which the Scriptures so emphatically
teach. If, however, there be such a distinction,--if the Word be indeed
with God, we cannot avoid ascribing to God the desire of revealing
Himself; nor, in such a case, can we conceive that He should content
Himself with inferior forms of revelation, with merely transitory
manifestations. We can recognise in these only preparations, and
preludes of the highest and truest revelation.
The question then is, whether any insight into this doctrine is to be
found as early as in the Books of the Old Testament. Sound Christian
Theology has discovered the outlines of such a distinction betwixt the
hidden and the revealed God, in many passages of the Old Testament, in
which mention is made of the Angel or Messenger of God. The general
tenor of these passages will be best exemplified by the first among
them,--the narrative of Hagar in Gen. xvi. In ver. 7, we are told that
the Angel of Jehovah found Hagar. In ver. 10, this Angel ascribes to
Himself a divine work, viz., the innumerable increase of Hagar's
posterity. In ver. 11, He says that Jehovah had heard her distress. He
thus asserts of Jehovah what, shortly before. He had said of Himself.
Moreover, in ver. 13, Hagar expresses her astonishment that she had
seen God, and yet had remained alive.--The opinion that these passages
form the Old Testament foundation for the Proemium of St John's
Gospel, has not remained uncontroverted. From the very times of the
Church-fathers it has been asserted by many, that where the [Pg 117]
Angel of the Lord is spoken of, we must not think of a person connected
with God by unity of nature, but of a lower angel, by whom God executes
His commands, and through whom He acts and speaks. The latest defenders
of the view are _Hofmann_ in "_Weissagung und Erfüllung_" and in the
"_Schriftbeweis_" and _Delitzsch_ in his commentary on Genesis.--Others
are of opinion, that the Angel of Jehovah is identical with Jehovah
Himself,--not denoting a person distinct from Him, but only the form in
which He manifests Himself. We shall not here discuss the question in
its whole extent; we shall, in the meantime, consider only what the
principal passages of the Pentateuch and of the adjacent Book of Joshua
teach upon this point, and how far their teaching coincides with, or is
in opposition to, these various views. For it is only to this extent
that the inquiry belongs to our present object.
In Gen. xvi. 13, these words are of special importance: "_And she
called the name of the Lord who spoke unto her, Thou art a God of
sight: for she said, Do I now_ (properly _here_, in the place where
such a sight was vouchsafed to me) _still see after my seeing?_" "Do I
see" is equivalent to, "Do I live," because death threatened, as it
were, to enter through the eyes. (Compare the expression, "Mine eyes
have seen," in Is. vi.) רֹאִי is the pausal form for רֳאִי; see Job
xxxiii. 21, where, however, the accent is on the penultimate. Then
follows ver. 14: _They called the well_, "_Well of the living sight_;"
_i.e._, where a person had a sight of God, and remained alive.
Hagar must have been convinced that she had seen God without the
mediation of a created angel; for, otherwise, she could not have
wondered that her life was preserved. Man, entangled by the visible
world, is terrified when he comes in contact with the invisible world,
even with angels. (Compare Dan. viii. 17, 18; Luke ii. 9.) But this
terror rises to fear of death only when man comes into contact with the
Lord Himself. (Compare the remarks on Rev. i. 17.) In Gen. xxxii. 31--a
passage which bears the closest resemblance to the one now under
review, and from which it receives its explanation--it is said: "And
Jacob called the name of the place _Peniel_, for I have seen God face
to face, and my life has been preserved." In Exod. xx. 19, the children
of Israel said to Moses, "Speak thou with us, and we will hear; and let
not God speak with us, [Pg 118] lest we die;" compared with Deut. v.
21: "Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume
us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall
die." (Compare also Deut. xviii. 16.) And it is Jehovah who, in Exod.
xxxiii. 20, says, "There shall no man see Me and live." Israel's Lord
and God is, in the absolute energy of His nature, a "consuming fire,"
Deut. iv. 24. (Compare Deut. ix. 3; Is. xxxiii. 14: "Who among us would
dwell with the devouring fire? who among us would dwell with
everlasting burning?" Heb. xii. 29.) It is not the reflected light,
even in the most exalted creatures, nor the sight of the saints of whom
it is said, "Behold, He puts no trust in His servants, and His angels
He chargeth with folly,"--but the sight of the thrice Holy One, which
makes Isaiah exclaim, "Woe is me, for I am undone; for I am a man of
unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips."
So much then is clear,--that the opinion which considers the Angel of
the Lord to be a created angel is overthrown by the first passage where
that angel is mentioned, if the exposition which we have given of vers.
13, 14--an exposition which is now generally received, and which was
last advanced by _Knobel_--be correct. But _Delitzsch_ gives another
exposition: "Thou art a God of sight, _i.e._, one whose all-seeing eye
does not overlook the helpless and destitute, even in the remotest
corner of the wilderness." Against this we remark, that ראי never
denotes the act of seeing, but the sight itself. "Have I not even here
(even in the desert land of destitution) looked after Him who saw me?"
"Well of the living one who seeth me," _i.e._, of the omnipresent
divine providence. In opposition to this exposition, however, we must
remark, that God is nowhere else in Genesis called the Living One. But
our chief objection is, that these expositions destroy the connection
which so evidently exists between our passage and those already
quoted,--especially Gen. xxxii. 31; Exod. xxxiii. 20. (Compare,
moreover, Jud. xiii. 22: "And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall
surely die, because we have seen God.")
It has been asked. Why should the Logos have appeared first to the
Egyptian maid? But the low condition of Hagar cannot here come into
consideration; for the appearance is in reality intended, not for her,
but for Abraham. Immediately [Pg 119] before, in chap. xii. 7, it is
said, "And the Lord appeared unto Abraham;" and immediately after, in
chap. xvii. 1, "And when Abraham was ninety years old and nine, the
Lord appeared to him;" the appearance of the Lord Himself is mentioned
in order that every thought of a lower angel may be warded off. The
passage under consideration, then, contains the indication, that such
appearances must only be conceived of as manifestations of the Deity
Himself to the world. Just as our passage is preserved from erroneous
interpretations by such passages as Gen. xii. 7, xvii. 1, so these
receive from ours, in return, their most distinct definition. We learn
from this, that wherever appearances of Jehovah are mentioned, we must
conceive of them as effected by the mediation of His Angel. There is no
substantial difference betwixt the passages in which Jehovah Himself is
mentioned, and those in which the Angel of Jehovah is spoken of. They
serve to supplement and to explain one another. The words, "In His
Angel," in chap. xvi. 7, furnish us with the supplement to the
succeeding statement, "And _Jehovah_ appeared to him" (so, _e.g._, also
in chap. xviii. 1), just as the writer in Gen. chap. ii. iii. makes use
of the name Jehovah-Elohim, in order that henceforth every one may
understand that where only Jehovah is spoken of. He is yet personally
identical with Elohim.
Let us now turn to Gen. xviii. xix. According to _Delitzsch_. all the
three men who appeared to Abraham were "finite spirits made visible."
_Hofmann_ (_Schriftb._ S. 87) says: "Jehovah is present on earth in His
angels, in the two with Lot, as in the three with Abraham." We,
however, hold fast by the view of the ancient Church, that in chap.
xviii. the Logos appeared accompanied by two inferior angels.
Abraham's regards are, from the very first, involuntarily directed to
one from among the three, and whom he addresses by אֲדוֹנָי, O Lord
(xviii. 3); the two others are considered by him as companions only.
But Lot has to do with both equally, and addresses them first by אֲדוֹנַי,
my Lords.--In chap. xviii., it is always one only of the three who
speaks; the two others are mute;[1] while in chap. xix. everything
comes from the two [Pg 120] equally. He with whom Abraham has to do,
always, and without exception, speaks as God Himself; while the two
with whom Lot has to do speak at first, as λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα,
distinguishing themselves from the Lord who sent them (compare ver.
13); and it is only after they have thus drawn the line of separation
between themselves and Jehovah, that they appear, in vers. 21, 22, as
speaking in His name. They do so, moreover, only after Lot, in the
anxiety of his heart and in his excitement, had previously addressed,
in them, Him who sent them, and with whom he desired to have to do as
immediately as possible. The scene bears, throughout, a character of
excitement, and is not fitted to afford data for general conclusions.
We cannot infer from it that it was, in general, customary to address,
in the angels, the Lord who sent them, or that the angels acted in the
name of the Lord. In chap. xviii., from ver. 1, where the narrative
begins with the words, "And Jehovah appeared unto him," Moses always
speaks of him with whom Abraham had to do as Jehovah only, excepting
where he introduces the three men. (He with whom Abraham has to do is
called, not fewer than eight times, Jehovah, and six times אֲדוֹנָי.) But
in chap. xix., Jehovah, who is concealed behind the two angels, appears
only twice in the expression, "And He said," in vers. 17, 21, for which
ver. 13 suggests the supplement: "through His two angels."--Even in
ver. 16, the narrative distinguishes Jehovah from the two men,--and all
this in an exciting scene which must have influenced even the narrator.
If he who spoke to Abraham was an angel like the other two, we could
scarcely perceive any reason why he should not have taken part in the
mission to Sodom; but if he was the Angel of the Lord κατ᾽ ἐξοχήν, the
reason is quite obvious; it would have been inconsistent with divine
propriety.--In chap. xviii. Moses speaks of three men; it is evidently
on [Pg 121] purpose that he avoids speaking of three angels. In chap.
xix. 1, on the contrary, we are at once told: "And there came the two
angels." (Compare ver. 15.) The reason why in chap. xviii. the use of
the name _angels_ is avoided can only be, because it might easily have
led to a misunderstanding, if the Angel of the Lord had been
comprehended in that one designation along with the two inferior
angels, although it would not, in itself, have been inadmissible.--If
we suppose that he, with whom Abraham had to do, was some created
angel, we cannot well understand how, in chap. xviii. 17 seq., the
judgment over Sodom could, throughout, be ascribed to him. _He_ could
not, in the name of the Lord, speak of that judgment, as not he, but
the two other angels who went to Sodom, were the instruments of its
execution. Hence it only remains to ascribe the judgment to him as the
_causa principalis_.--If the three angels were equals, it would be
impossible to explain the adversative clause in chap. xviii. 22: "And
the men turned from thence and went to Sodom; _but Abraham stood yet
before the Lord._" Jehovah and the two angels are here contrasted. It
is true that, in the two angels also, it is Jehovah who acts. This is
evident from xviii. 21: "I will go down and see"--where the going down
does not refer to descending to the valley of Jordan, the position of
which was lower (thus _Delitzsch_); but, according to xi. 7, it refers
to a descent from heaven to earth. That Jehovah, though on earth,
should declare His resolution to go down, as in xi. 7, may be explained
from the ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ in John iii. 13. God, even when He is on
earth, remains in heaven, and it is thence that He manifests Himself.
Moreover, the words immediately following show in what sense this going
down is to be understood,--that it is not in His own person, but
through the medium of His messengers. The resolution, "I will go down,"
is carried into effect by the going down of the angels to Sodom.
By the Jehovah who, from Jehovah out of heaven, caused brimstone and
fire to rain upon Sodom and Gomorrah (xix. 24), we are not at liberty
to understand the two angels only,[2] but, [Pg 122] agreeably to the
views of sound Christian expositors generally, Christ,--with this
modification, however, that the two angels are to be considered as His
servants, and that what they do is His work also. It is true that the
angels say, in xix. 13, "We will destroy," etc.; but much more
emphatically and frequently does he with whom Abraham has to do,
ascribe the work of destruction to himself. (Compare xviii. 17, where
Jehovah says, "How can I hide from Abraham that thing which I am
doing?" vers. 24-28, etc.) If in xix. 24 there be involved the contrast
between, so to speak, the heavenly and earthly Jehovah,--between the
hidden God and Him who manifests Himself on earth,--then so much the
more must we seek the latter in chap. xviii., as in ver. 22, compared
with ver. 21, the angels are distinctly pointed out as His Messengers.
_Delitzsch_ asserts that in Heb. xiii. 2, the words, ἔλαθόν τινες
ξενίσαντες ἀγγέλους, clearly indicate that "all three were finite
spirits made visible." This assertion, however, which was long before
made by the Socinian _Crellius_, has been sufficiently refuted by _Ode
de Angelis_, p. 1001. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews intends
to connect the events which happened to Abraham and Lot equally--τίνες;
and for this reason he did not go beyond what was common to them both.
Moreover, the Angel of the Lord is likewise comprehended in the
appellation "_angels_," for the name has no reference to the nature,
but to the mission.
Footnote 1: The words in ver. 9, "And they said to him," are to be
understood only thus:--that one spoke at the same time in the name of
the others; in the question thus put, it is, in the first instance,
only the general relation of the guests to the hostess that comes into
consideration. That such is the case, appears from ver. 10, where the
use of the plural could not be continued, because a work was on hand
which was peculiar to the one among them, and in which the others were
not equally concerned. If the words in ver. 9 were spoken by all the
three, then the one in ver. 10 ought to have been singled out thus:
"And one from among them thus spoke." On account of the suffix in
אחריו, "And the door was behind _him_," the ויאמר in ver. 10 can be
referred only to the one, and not to the Jehovah concealed behind all
the three. This shows how the preceding, "And they said," is to be
understood.
Footnote 2: _Delitzsch_ says: "As the two are really sent to destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah, it is evident that Jehovah, in ver. 24, who causes
brimstone and fire to rain from Jehovah out of heaven, is viewed as
being present in the two on earth, but in such a manner that,
nevertheless, His real judicial throne is in heaven."
* * * * *
Of no less importance and significance is the passage Gen. xxxi. 11
seq. According to ver. 11, the Angel of God, מלאך האלהים, appears to
Jacob in a dream. In ver. 13, the same person calls himself the God of
Bethel, with reference to the event recorded in chap. xxviii. 11-22. It
cannot be supposed that in chap xxviii. the mediation of a common angel
took place, who, however, had not been expressly mentioned; for Jehovah
is there contrasted with the angels. In ver. 12, we read: "And behold
the angels of God ascending and descending on it." In ver. 13, there is
another sight: "And behold Jehovah stood by him and said, I am Jehovah,
the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land whereon
thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed."
[Pg 123]
This passage is also in so far of importance, because, agreeably to
what has been remarked in p. 119, it follows from it that even there,
where Jehovah simply is mentioned, the mediation through His Angel is
to be assumed.
* * * * *
He with whom Jacob wrestles, in Gen. xxxii. 24, makes himself known as
God, partly by giving him the name Israel, _i.e._, one who wrestles
with God, and partly by bestowing a blessing upon him. Jacob calls the
place _Peniel_, _i.e._, face of God, because he had seen God face to
face, and wonders that his life was preserved. The answer which Elohim
gives here to Jacob's question regarding His name, remarkably coincides
with that which in Judges xiii. 17, 18, is given by _the_ Angel of the
Lord to a similar question. In Hosea xii. 4 (comp. the remarks on this
passage in the Author's "_Genuineness of the Pentateuch_," vol. i. p.
128 ff.), he who wrestled with Jacob is called Elohim, as in Genesis;
but in ver. 5, he is called מלאך, a word which is more distinctly
defined by the preceding Elohim; so that we can, accordingly, think
only of the Angel of God. As it was certainly not the intention of the
prophet to state a new historical circumstance, the mention of the
Angel must be founded upon the supposition, that all revelations of God
are made by the mediation of His Angel,--a supposition which we have
already proved to have its foundation in the book of Genesis itself.
_Delitzsch_ says, S. 256, "Jehovah reveals Himself in the מלאך, but
just by means of a finite spirit becoming visible, and therefore in a
manner more tolerable to him who occupies a lower place of communion
with God." And similarly, _Hofmann_ expresses himself, S. 335: "It is
quite the same thing whether it be said, he saw God, or an angel, as is
testified by Hosea also; and nowhere have we less right to explain it
as if it were an appearance of God the Son, in contrast with the
appearance of an angel."
But since it is an essentially different matter, whether Jacob wrestled
with God Himself, or, in the first instance, with an ordinary angel
merely, we have, as regards this opinion, only the choice between
accusing the prophet Hosea, who brought in the angel, of an
Euhemerismus, or of raising against sacred history the charge that it
cannot be relied on, because it omitted so important [Pg 124] a
circumstance. The name Israel, by which, "at the same time, the
innermost nature of the Covenant-people was fixed, and the divine law
of their history was established" (_Delitzsch_), is, in that case, a
falsehood. Jacob has overcome omnipotence, and, in this one adversary,
all others who might oppose him,--as he is expressly assured in ver.
29: "Thou hast wrestled with God and _with men_, and hast prevailed."
Can God invest a creature with omnipotence? Jacob would certainly not
have gone so cheerfully to meet Esau, if in Him over whom he prevailed
with weeping and supplication, he himself had recognised only an angel,
and not Jehovah the God of hosts, as Hosea, in ver. 6, calls the very
same, of whom in ver. 5 he had spoken as the angel. The consolatory
import of the event for the Church of all times is destroyed, if Jacob
had to do with a created angel only. With such an one, Jacob had not to
reckon on account of his sinfulness, and it is just the humiliating
consciousness of this his sinfulness which forms the point at issue in
his wrestling. Moreover, with such a view, the New Testament Antitype
would be altogether lost. Jesus, the true Israel, does not wrestle with
an angel,--such an one only appears to strengthen Him in His struggle,
Luke xxii. 43--but with God, Heb. v. 7.--The occurrence would,
according to this opinion, furnish a strong argument for the worship of
angels: "He wept and made _supplication_ unto him," Hos. xii. 5
(compare Deut. iii. 23). The ἀγωνίζεσθαι ἐν ταῖς προσευχαῖς, mentioned
in Col. iv. 12, in allusion to our passage, would, in that case,
besides God, have the angels for its object.
If an ordinary angel were here to be understood, we must likewise
believe that an angel is spoken of in Gen. xxxv. 9 seq. For, of the
same angel with whom Jacob wrestled, Hosea says that Jacob found him in
Bethel: "And he wrestled with the Angel and prevailed, he wept and made
supplication unto him; he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with
us." (_Tarnov_: "_Nobiscum qui in lumbis Jacobi hærebamus._") Then, it
must have been a common angel, too, who appeared to Jacob in Gen.
xxviii. 10 ff.; for chap. xxxv. 9, compared with ver. 7, does not allow
us to doubt of the identity of him who appeared on these two occasions.
But such an idea cannot be entertained for a moment; for in chap.
xxviii. 13, Jehovah is contrasted with the angels ascending and
descending on the ladder.
[Pg 125]
In Gen. xlviii. 15, 16, we read of Jacob: "_And he blessed Joseph, and
said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, and
the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which
redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads._"
In this passage, God first appears, twice in the indefiniteness of His
nature, and then, specially, as the Angel concerned for Jacob and his
posterity.
By the Angel, we cannot here understand a divine emanation and
messenger, because no permanent character belongs to such; while here
the whole sum of the preservations of Jacob, and of the blessings upon
Ephraim and Manasseh, is derived from the Angel. And just as little can
we thereby understand a created angel, according to the view of
_Hofmann_, who, in S. 87, says: "Jacob here makes mention of God, not
thrice, but twice only; first as the God of his fathers, and then as
the God of his own experience, but in such a way that in ver. 16 he
names, instead of God, the Angel who watched over him; and he does so
for the purpose of denoting the special providence of which he had been
the object."
The analogy of the threefold blessing of Aaron in Num. vi. 24-26 would
lead us to expect that the name of God should be three times mentioned.
No created angel could in this manner be placed by the side of God, or
be introduced as being independent of, and co-ordinate with, Him. Such
an angel can only be meant as is connected with God by oneness of
nature, and whose activity is implied in that of God. The singular יברך
is here of very special significance. It indicates that the Angel is
joined to God by an inseparable oneness, and that his territory is just
as wide as that of Elohim.[1] If by the angel we understand some
created one, we cannot then avoid the startling inference, that God is,
in all His manifestations, bound [Pg 126] absolutely to the mediation
of the lower angels. In the history upon which Jacob looks back, the
inferior angels do not appear at all as taking any part in all the
preservations of Jacob. Twice only are they mentioned in his whole
history,--in chap. xxviii. 12, and xxxii. 2. _Lastly_,--The angel
cannot well be a collective noun; for we nowhere meet with the _ideal_
person of the angel, as comprehending within himself a real plurality.
(Compare remarks on Ps. xxxiv. 8.) We should therefore be compelled to
think of Jacob's protecting angel. But this, again, would be in
opposition to the fact, that Scripture nowhere says anything of the
guardian angels of any individual. Moreover, it is a plurality of
angels that in xxviii. 12, xxxii. 2, serves for the protection of
Jacob, and we nowhere find the slightest trace of one inferior angel
being attached to Jacob for his protection.
Footnote 1: This significance of the singular was pointed out as early
as in the third century by _Novatianus_, who, _de Trinitate_ c. xv. (p.
1016 in _Ode_), says: "So constant is he in mentioning that Angel whom
he had called God, that even at the close of his speech he again
refers, in an emphatic manner, to the same person, by saying, 'God
bless these lads.' For had he intended that some other angel should be
understood, he would have used the plural number in order to comprehend
the two persons. But since, in his blessing, he made use of the
singular, he would have us to understand that God and the Angel are
quite identical."
* * * * *
In Exod. xxiii. 20, 21, Jehovah says to the children of Israel:
"_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; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your
transgressions: for My name is in him._"
As the people are here told to beware of the Angel, because he will not
pardon their transgressions, so Joshua xxiv. 19 warns them as regards
the most high God: "Ye will not be able to serve Jehovah: for He is a
holy (_i.e._, a glorious, exalted) God; He is a jealous God; He will
not forgive your transgressions nor your sins." The energetic character
of the reaction proceeding from the angel against all violations of His
honour, is founded upon the words, "For My name is in him." By the
"name of God" all His deeds are understood and comprehended, His glory
testified by history, the display and testimony of His nature which
history gives. (Compare the remarks in my commentary on Ps. xxiii. 2,
xlviii. 11, lxxxiii. 17-19, lxxxvi. 11.) "My name is him;" _i.e._,
according to Calvin, "My glory and majesty dwell in him." Compare here
what in the New Testament is said of Christ: ἃ γὰρ ἂν ἐκεῖνος ποιῇ
ταῦτα καὶ ὁ υἱὸς ὁμοίως ποιεῖ, John v. 19; ἵνα πάντες τιμῶσι τὸν υἱὸν
καθὼς τιμῶσι τὸν πατέρα, John v. 23; ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν, John x.
30; ἵνα γνῶτε καὶ πιστεύσητε ὅτι ἐν ἐμοὶ ὁ πατὴρ κᾀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ, [Pg 127]
John x. 38; οὐ πιστεύεις ὅτι ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστι,
John xiv. 10; καθὼς σὺ πάτερ ἐν ἐμοὶ κᾀγὼ ἐν σοί, John xvii. 21; ἐν
αὐτῷ κατοικεῖ πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς, Col. ii. 9.--It is
impossible that the name of God could be communicated to any other, Is.
xlii. 8. The name of God can dwell in Him only, who is originally of
the same nature with God.
* * * * *
After Israel had contracted guilt by the worship of the golden calf. He
who had hitherto led them--Jehovah = the Angel of Jehovah--says, in
Exod. xxxii. 34, that He would no more lead them Himself, but send
before them His Angel, מלאכי: "_For I_ (myself) _will not go up in the
midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee
in the way_;" xxxiii. 3, compared with xxiii. 21. The people are quite
inconsolable on account of this sad intelligence, ver. 4.
The threatening of the Lord becomes unintelligible, and the grief of
the people incomprehensible, if by the Angel in chap. xxiii. an
ordinary angel be understood. But everything becomes clear and
intelligible, if we admit that in chap. xxiii. there is an allusion to
the Angel of the Lord κατ᾽ ἐξοχήν, who is connected with Him by oneness
of nature, and who, because the name of God is in Him, is as zealous as
Himself in inflicting punishment as well as in bestowing salvation;
whilst in chap. xxxii. 34, the allusion is to an inferior angel, who is
added to the highest revealer of God as His companion and messenger,
and who appears in the Book of Daniel under the name of Gabriel, while
the Angel of the Lord appears under the name of Michael.
On account of the sincere repentance of the people, and the
intercession of Moses, the Lord revokes the threatening, and says in
xxxiii. 14, "My face shall go." But Moses said unto Him, "If Thy face
go not, carry us not up hence."
That פנים, _face_, signifies here the _person_, is granted by
_Gesenius_: "The face of some one means often his personal
presence,--himself in his own person." A similar use of the word occurs
in 2 Sam. xvii. 11: "Thy face go to battle" (_Michaelis_: "Thou thyself
be present, not some commander only"); and in Deut. iv. 37, where בפניו
means _in_, or _with_, _his personal presence_: "He [Pg 128] brought
them out with His face, with His mighty power out of Egypt."
The state of things has in xxxiii. 14, 15, evidently become again what
it was in xxiii. 20, 21. The face of the Lord in the former passage, is
the Angel of the Lord in the latter. Hence, we cannot here admit the
idea of some inferior angel; we can think only of that Angel who is
connected with the Lord by oneness of nature.
The connection between the face of the Lord in xxxiii. 14, 15, and the
Angel in whom is the name of the Lord, in xxiii., becomes still more
evident by Is. lxiii. 8, 9: "And He (Jehovah) became their Saviour. In
all their affliction (they were) not afflicted, and the Angel of His
face saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them, and He
bore and carried them all the days of old." The Angel of the face, in
this text, is an expression which, by its very darkness, points back to
some fundamental passage--a passage, too, in the Pentateuch--as facts
are alluded to, of which the authentic report is given in that book.
The expression, "Angel of the face," arose from a combination of Exod.
xxiii. 20--from which the "Angel" is taken--and Exod. xxxiii. 14,
whence he took the "face." To explain "Angel of the face" by "the angel
who sees His face," as several have done, would give an inadequate
meaning; for by the whole context, an expression is demanded which
would elevate the angel to the height of God. Now, as in Exod. xxxiii.
14, "the face of Jehovah" is tantamount to "Jehovah in His own person,"
the Angel of the face can be none other than He in whom Jehovah
appeal's personally, in contrast with inferior created angels. The
Angel of the face is the Angel in whom is the name of the Lord.
* * * * *
When Joshua was standing with the army before Jericho, in a state of
despondency at the sight of the strongly fortified city, a man appeared
to him, with his sword drawn; and when he was asked by Joshua, "Art
thou for us or for our adversaries?" he answers, in chap. v. 14, "Nay,
for I am the Captain of the host of Jehovah, שר צבא יהוה, now I have
come." This Captain claims for himself divine honour, in ver. 15,
precisely in the same manner as the Angel of Jehovah in Exod. iii., by
commanding [Pg 129] Joshua to put off his shoes, because the place on
which he stood was holy. In chap. vi. 2 he is called Jehovah. For it
is evident that we are not to think of another divine revelation
there given to Joshua in any other way--as some interpreters suppose;
because, in that case, the appearance of the Captain, who only now
gives command to Joshua, would have been without an object. In chap. v.
the directions would be wanting; in chap. vi. we should have no report
of the appearance.
There can be no doubt that, by the host of the Lord, the heavenly host
is to be understood; and _Hofmann_ (S. 291) has not done well in
reviving the opinion of some older expositors (_Calvin_, _Masius_)
which has been long ago refuted, viz., that the host of the Lord is
"Israel standing at the beginning of his warfare," and in asserting
that the prince of this host is some inferior angel. The Israelites
cannot be the host of the Lord, that explanation is excluded by the
comparison with the host of the Lord mentioned at the very threshold of
revelation, in Gen. ii. 1; that which is commonly (Gen. xxxii. 2; 1
Kings xxii. 19; Neh. ix. 6; Ps. ciii. 21, cxlviii. 2, compared with 2
Kings vi. 27) so called, infinitely surpasses the earthly one in glory,
and of it the Lord has the name Jehovah Zebaoth. It is only in two
isolated passages of the Pentateuch that the appellation which properly
belongs to the heavenly hosts of God is transferred to the earthly
ones; and that is done in order to point out their correspondence, and
thereby to elevate the mind. In the first of these passages, Exod. vii.
4, the "host of the Lord" is not spoken of absolutely, but it is
expressly said what host is intended: "And I bring forth My host. My
people, the children of Israel." The second passage, in Exod. xii. 41,
is similarly qualified, and refers to the first. According to this view
of _Hofmann_, the words, "now I have come," are quite inexplicable.[1]
The Captain of the host of the Lord expresses Himself in such a manner
as if, by His coming, everything were accomplished. But if he was only
the commander of Israel--an inferior [Pg 130] angel--his coming was no
guarantee for success, for his limited power might be checked by a
higher one. But if the Captain of the host of Jehovah be the Prince of
angels, we cannot by any means refer the divine honour which He demands
and receives, to Him who sent Him, in contrast with Him who is sent;
the higher the dignity, the more necessary is the limitation. If the
honour be ascribed to Him, He must be a partaker of a divine nature.
Jesus not at all indistinctly designates Himself as the Captain of the
Lord's host spoken of in our passage, in Matt. xxvi. 53: Ἢ δοκεῖς ὅτι
οὐ δύναμαι ἄρτι παρακαλέσαι τὸν πατέρα μου, καὶ παραστήσει μοι πλείους
ἢ δώδεκα λεγεῶνας ἀγγέλων; This passage alone would be sufficient to
refute the view which conceives of the Angel of the Lord as a mere
emanation and messenger. It also overthrows the opinion that he is an
inferior angel, inasmuch as the Angel of the Lord here appears as
raised above all inferior angels.
Thus there existed, even in the time of Moses, the most important
foundation for the doctrine concerning Christ. He who knows the general
relation which the Pentateuch bears to the later development of
doctrine, will, _a priori_, think it impossible that it should have
been otherwise; and, instead of neglecting these small beginnings,
appearing, as it were, in the shape of germs, he will cultivate them
with love and care.
It is only at a late period, in Malachi iii. 1, that the doctrine of
the Angel of the Lord is expressly brought into connection with that of
Christ. But a knowledge of the divine nature of the Messiah is found at
a much earlier period; and we can certainly not suppose that the
doctrine of the Angel of the Lord, and that of a truly divine Saviour,
should have existed by the side of each other, and yet that manifold
forebodings regarding their close obvious connection should not have
been awakened in the mind.
Footnote 1: _Seb. Schmid_ says: "I have now come with my heavenly host
to attack the Canaanites, and to help thee and thy people. Be thou of
good cheer; prepare thyself for war along with me, and I will now
explain to thee in what manner thou must carry it on;" vi. 2 ff.