Letter 3.

LETTER 3.

The subject of the former letter continued.

REV. SIR,—Should you deny that Jehovah who “appeared to Abraham” in the plains of Mamre, accompanied by two angels, was the Logos, we prove our assertion thus. The Scriptures nowhere speak of any transient incarnation of the Father; it is therefore unscriptural to suppose, that the person who “did eat of the butter, milk, and cakes,” which Abraham did set before him, and who kindly inquired after Sarah, was the “Father.” Nevertheless, that he was God, is evident; for he is called eight times Jehovah in the context. And therefore the analogy of faith requires us to believe that it was Jehovah the Son, who already condescended to quit his “form of God,” and to appear in the form of a servant, that he might “receive sinners and eat with them:” compare Genesis 18:8, with Luke 15:2, and John 21:12.

The same reasons prove that the Divine person, who stood above the mysterious ladder which Jacob saw in Bethel, was “Jehovah the Son.” “Behold,” saith the historian, “Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; behold, I am with thee in all places whither thou goest, and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And Jacob waking out of his sleep said, Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I knew it not: it is none other but the house of God and the gate of heaven,” Genesis 28:13-17. Now the God who appeared to Abraham, Genesis 22:1, to Isaac, Genesis 26:24, to Jacob, Genesis 28:13, and to Moses, Exodus 3:6, is again and again called the angel of Jehovah, or rather Jehovah the angel, as appears from Genesis 22:11, 12, 18; Exodus 3:2, and Malachi 3:1. Now that this Jehovah, angel both of the Jewish and of the Christian covenant, is “the Son,” appears from these three reasons:

(1.) The Father never sustained the part of an angel, a messenger, or an envoy. Who should send him?

(2.) The Son, who can with propriety be sent by the Father, is frequently said to have been delegated on errands worthy of redeeming love. And

(3.) The Scriptures expressly declare that Jehovah, Angel of the covenant, is our Lord Jesus Christ. Compare Malachi 3:1, &c, with Mark 1:1, &c.

Nor will it avail to say that the Jews, not having the New Testament, could not find out the truth I assert: for, as has been observed in the former part, the Old Testament clearly indicates that, in the Deity, there is a mysterious distinction of interlocutors and agents, though without any division. The Jews who, as we have seen, had this key given them at the very beginning of their revelation, could not but take notice, that although each of these interlocutors is called Jehovah, yet one of them is Jehovah the envoy, the ambassador, or the angel. And they might as well deny the veracity of Moses, as deny that Jehovah, who appeared to Jacob in Bethel, is Jehovah the envoy. For Jacob said to Rachel and Leah, “The angel of God appeared to me in a dream, saying, I am the God of Bethel where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land,” Genesis 31:11, 13. Now the God of Bethel declared to Jacob in Bethel, that he was the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and therefore every attentive Jew could not but see that Jehovah-envoy, or the angel of the Jewish covenant, was the God of the patriarchs, viz. the Logos, the Son, who, being “Jehovah, rained from Jehovah fire upon Sodom,” after he had told Abraham that he could not spare that wicked city.

Christ is represented in the New Testament as the Captain of our salvation, armed with a sword, Hebrews 2:10, and Revelation 19:15. And the Old Testament exhibits Jehovah-envoy as sustaining the same character. “When Joshua was by Jericho, he lift up his eyes, and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went to him and said, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay, but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant! And the Captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy:” the very charge which the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob gave to Moses from the flaming bush in Horeb. And when Joshua had obeyed, the man, who appeared as Captain of the Lord’s host, gave him directions about the taking of Jericho, as the God of Abraham had given directions to Moses about the delivering his people from the Egyptian bondage. These orders are thus expressed: And “Jehovah said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thy hands Jericho; ye shall compass the city six days,” &c, Joshua 5:13, &c, and 6:2, &c. Unless we absurdly suppose that the Captain of the Lord’s host appeared merely to bid Joshua loose his shoes from off his feet, it follows from this narration, that the personage who appeared to Moses’ successor, was Jehovah God of Abraham. This is evident,

(1.) From his being called Jehovah, and

(2.) From his requiting and accepting religious worship from Joshua.

And that it was Jehovah the Son is equally plain,

(1.) From his assuming the form of a servant:

(2.) From his styling himself the Captain of Jehovah’s armies; for according to the analogy of faith, the Son, Jehovah-envoy, may be called the Captain of his Father’s host, but the Father can never be sent on an expedition, as Captain of his Son’s armies.

That Jehovah-envoy, so frequently styled the envoy of Jehovah; or as we have it in our translation, “the angel of the Lord,” was known to the Jews, as the “mighty God,” whose name is Wonderful, appears from the following account: “The angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, and said, Jehovah is with thee: and Jehovah looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, [the might which I impart unto thee,] and thou shalt save Israel: have I not sent thee?” And when Gideon drew back, “Jehovah [namely, the angel Jehovah] said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.” Hence the Israelites, when they fell upon the Midianites, shouted, “The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon.” When Jehovah-envoy, who appeared only as a traveller, with “a staff in his hand,” disappeared, after giving a proof of his divinity, by showing he was God that answereth by fire, see Judges 6:21, Gideon perceived the infinite dignity of the personage who had spoken to him, and remembering that Jehovah had said to Moses, “No man shall see me [in my form of God] and live,” Exodus 33:20; and thinking he was to die immediately, cried out, “Alas! O Lord God, for because I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face: and Jehovah [as he disappeared] said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die: and Gideon built an altar there unto Jehovah, and called it Jehovah-Shalom,” that is, The God of peace. From this account it is evident,

(1.) That the angel, who appeared to Gideon, is the very angel Jehovah, who appeared to Abraham on Mount Moriah, to Jacob in Bethel, and to Moses in Horeb.

(2.) That he is Jehovah, who answers by fire, seeing he manifested his glory to Gideon as he did to Moses and Elijah, by a supernatural fire.

(3.) And that as the analogy of faith does not permit us to believe that God the Father ever appeared as a man with a staff in his hand, it was without doubt Jehovah Jesus, who, as the great Saviour of the Israelites, appointed saviours for the deliverance of his people, and Gideon among others; as afterward in the days of his flesh, as the great apostle of our profession, he appointed twelve apostles to instruct mankind.

This doctrine is confirmed by the account we have of the manner in which Samson was raised to the office of a temporal saviour of the Israelites. A personage, who is called several times the angel of the Lord, or the envoy Jehovah, appeared as a man to Manoah and his wife, to whom he promised the birth of Samson. Manoah, not knowing his dignity, asked him his name: and the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret, or wonderful? PELI, the very word afterward used by the prophet, who saith, His name shall be called Wonderful, PELI, Isaiah 9:6. “So Manoah took a kid, with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto Jehovah; and the angel of the Lord [or Jehovah-envoy] did wonderfully,” for showing himself the God that appeared in the burning bush to Moses, and accepting the propitiatory sacrifice, which Manoah and his wife offered, “he ascended in the flame of the altar as they looked on, and fell on their faces to the ground. Then Manoah knew that he was [Jehovah-envoy, or] the angel of the Lord; and he said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God: but his wife [perceiving that it was Jehovah-Shalom, the God of Gideon, the God of peace, who had appeared unto them] said to him, If Jehovah were pleased to kill us, he would never have received a burnt offering at our hands,” Judges 13:23.

The same reasons which prove that the person who appeared to Gideon is Jehovah Jesus, prove also that the person who appeared to Manoah and his wife, whom they at first called a man, and before whom they trembled when they knew him to be God and Jehovah, is that very Emmanuel, that God manifested in the flesh, whom Christians worship as Jehovah. Shalom, coming to make peace and reconciliation.