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.