References to various Appearances of Jehovah and Elohim to the
Patriarchs.
It is evident from the preceding illustrations that during the
patriarchal dispensation, the personal Word, Jehovah in the delegated
character of Messiah, appeared visibly in the form of man, and was
recognized under official and other Divine designations, appropriated
separately and interchangeably to the one manifested and acting
interposer and agent in the works of creation, providence and
redemption. There are in the records of that dispensation numerous
collateral evidences and implications to the same effect, which may be
comprised under what relates to personal designations and appearances,
the import and reference of sacrificial offerings, the places, manner,
and immediate object of worship, prayer, faith and trust, and the
familiarity of intercourse on the part of the Divine administrator of
Providence and guardian of his people during that economy.
As a further evidence that the instances in which it is said that Elohim
or Jehovah _appeared_ to Abraham or others were local, personal, visible
appearances, it may be observed that on the occasion mentioned, Gen.
xvii., it is said that Jehovah _appeared_ to him: "And he left off
talking with him, and Elohim _went up_ from Abraham;" as in a passage
before referred to, chap. xxxv., that "Elohim appeared unto Jacob; and
Elohim _went up_ from him in the place where he talked with him." The
word translated _went up_, signifies to _ascend_, _to go up_, &c., and
is of frequent occurrence. Thus, Ps. lxviii. 18: "Thou hast _ascended_
up on high, thou hast led captivity," &c.; quoted and applied to Christ,
Eph. iv. Judges xiii. 20: "When the flame _went up_ towards heaven from
off the altar, Melach Jehovah _ascended_ in the flame of the altar."
Ezekiel xi. 23: "And the glory of Jehovah _went up_ from the midst of
the city, and stood upon the mountain." Gen. xix. 28: "The smoke of the
country _went up_, as the smoke of a furnace."
The like evidence as to the local, personal presence of Jehovah on such
occasions, results from the use of the word translated _came down_,
_descended_, where his presence or the local exercise of his
prerogatives is mentioned. Thus, with reference to Babel and the
dispersion: "Jehovah _came down_ to see the city and the tower.... So
Jehovah scattered them abroad," &c. Gen. xi. 5. So on the occasion of
his first visible appearance to Moses: "Melach Jehovah appeared unto him
in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Moses hid his face, for
he was afraid to look upon Elohim. And Jehovah said, I am _come down_ to
deliver them," &c. Exod. iii. Again: "Jehovah _came down_ upon mount
Sinai, on the top of the mount; and Jehovah called Moses up to the top
of the mount, and Moses went up." Exod. xix. 20. And when Moses took the
two tables of stone up to the top of Sinai, "Jehovah _descended_ in the
cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah."
Exod. xxxv. At the consecration of the seventy elders, "Jehovah _came
down_ in a cloud, and spake unto Moses." Numbers xi. 25. At the sedition
of Miriam and Aaron, "Jehovah _came down_ in the pillar of the cloud,
and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and said, Hear now my words."
Ibid. xii. 5. These and various other passages clearly import a personal
descent in a visible form; and no less clearly indicate, by the titles,
occasions and acts narrated, that it was the delegated One, the Word, to
whom all such manifestations refer, conformably to the allusion to the
ascension of Christ, Ephes. iv.: "He that _descended_ is the same also
that _ascended_ up far above all heavens."
The word translated _appeared_, in all the instances of local personal
manifestation, literally means _appeared visibly_, _was seen_; as Gen.
i. 9: "Let the dry land _appear_;" Gen. viii. 5: "The tops of the
mountains _were seen_;" and vii. 1: "Thee have I _seen_ righteous;" ix.
14: "The bow _shall be seen_;" xxxi. 42: "Elohim hath seen mine
affliction;" xlviii. 3: "El-Shadai _appeared unto me_ at Luz;"
literally, _was seen by me_. Judges xiii. 22: "We _have seen_ Elohim."
Exod. xxiv. 10: "And they saw the Elohe of Israel."
This will be further illustrated by reference to particular instances
mentioned in the book of Genesis. "And Jehovah appeared unto Abram, and
said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar
unto Jehovah who appeared unto him." Chap. lxii. 7. That this was a
visible manifestation, is indicated not only by the obvious import of
the terms employed, but by Abram's building an altar, and consecrating
the locality as a place of worship, and of typical offerings to Jehovah.
Again, chap. xvii. 1: "Jehovah _appeared_ to Abram, and said unto him, I
am El-Shadai; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And Abram fell on his
face; and Elohim talked with him, saying," &c. After changing his name
to Abraham, and that of his wife to Sarah, announcing a covenant with
him, hearing his prayer for Ishmael, and giving sundry promises and
directions, "Elohim left off talking with him, and _went up_ from
Abraham." The language, and all the circumstances and details of this
interview, imply a local, personal, visible presence of Jehovah.
The next instance, chap. xviii., is that in which "Jehovah _appeared_ to
Abraham in the plains of Mamre," in the likeness of man; was entertained
by him, walked and conversed with, and heard his requests in behalf of
the righteous in Sodom: which undoubtedly was a local, visible, personal
appearance of Jehovah the Word.
In the 26th chapter we read that Isaac went to Gerar, "And Jehovah
_appeared_ unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt," &c. Afterwards
he removed to Beersheba, "And Jehovah _appeared_ unto him, and said, I
am the Elohe of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee," &c.
"And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of Jehovah, and
pitched his tent there." At these interviews the same promises
substantially respecting his descendants were made to him, that had been
made to Abraham, with the same introductory formula concerning the
appearance of the Divine speaker; and considering that Isaac built an
altar and fixed his residence at Beersheba, worshipped, doubtless
presenting typical offerings on the altar, and consecrating that as the
place of his future worship in the confidence of its being thereafter a
place of Divine manifestation, there seems to be very ample ground to
conclude that these were local, personal, and visible appearances,
similar in their form, as they were in their object, to those vouchsafed
to Abraham.
The first instance to be noticed in the history of Jacob, is referred to
in chap. xlviii. 3: "And Jacob said unto Joseph, El-Shadai _appeared_
unto me at Luz, and blessed me," &c. The occasion was that of his vision
of a ladder: "And Jehovah stood above it and said, I am Jehovah Elohe of
Abraham;" see chap. xxviii. Subsequently, chap. xxxv., he was directed
to return and reside at that place. "Elohim said unto Jacob, Arise, go
up to Bethel, and make there an altar unto El, that _appeared_ unto thee
when thou fleddest from the face of Esau. And he built there an altar,
and called the place El-Beth-El; because there (the) Elohim _appeared_
unto him, when he fled," &c. The repetition of the word _appeared_ in
these passages, its implied significance as a reason for building an
altar, the occasion referred to, and the object of speaking of it to
Joseph, indicate a memorable personal, visible appearance at the place
specified.
"And Elohim _appeared_ unto Jacob again, and said unto him, I am
El-Shadai; and Elohim _went up_ from him in the place where he talked
with him," chap. 35: which can hardly be taken for any other than a
local and visible presence.