To a plain reader, abiding by the common rules of grammar and the usage of all languages, it would appear, that the angel of the Lord here calls himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But it has been said that this is a Trinitarian prejudice; let us see, then, how the Jews, who are supposed to be free from this prejudice, understood the passage: :

Aben Ezra expresses his opinion thus: "And when the Lord saw."- "These are also the words of Moses, afterwards, and the angel is called by the glorious name in the same way as in the passage, For my name is in him,' and there I shall explain it. And this is also done with respect to the angel who appeared to Gideon, where it is written, And the LORD said to him.' Or the meaning may be thus, The Lord saw that he turned aside to see, and commanded the angel to call to him, and, therefore, the words (God) is used. [God called unto him out of the bush.] And this name [] is not a noun of substance, but a noun of quality, as I will explain: and it comprehends all holy beings, which are not corporeal, and whose power is not corporeal, as it is written, 'The Gods, b, whose dwelling is not with flesh,' which is corporeal. And, behold, (God) in this passage, is the angel mentioned above."* (Comment. in loc.) Aben Ezra here offers two ways of interpreting the fourth verse; according to the first, there is no change of person. The angel is, therefore, the only agent throughout, and consequently says, "I am the God of Abraham, &c." According to the other interpretation there are two agents, Jehovah and the angel. The sense of the verse on this view would be, "When the Lord

*

גם אלה דברי משה בסוף ונקרא המלאך בשם הנכבד כדרך כי שמי בקרבו ושם אפרשנו וכך המלאך שנראה לגדעון ושם כתוב ויאמר לו יי' או השם איננו שם העצם רק שם תאר כאשר אפרש והוא כולל כל קדוש שאינו גוף ולא כח בגוף ככתוב להן אלהין די מדרהון עם בשרא לא איתוהי שהוא הגוף והנה אלהים במקום הזה הוא המלאך

הנזכר :

saw that he turned aside to see, the angel called unto him out of the midst of the bush." We do not stop to show the untenableness of this interpretation at present, for it does not alter the argument. Aben Ezra grants that the angel is the speaker, and that is all that we require. We only wish at present to establish the fact, not to explain it.

R. Bechai testifies unreservedly to the fact, that the angel here calls himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. "Ask not," he says, "how Moses could hide his face before the angel, for the angel mentioned here is the angel, the Redeemer, of whom it is written, I am the God of Bethel.' And in like manner it is said here, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,' and he it is of whom it is said, 'My name is in him."" (Comment. in loc.)

R. Moses ben Nachman goes a step farther; he not only confirms the fact, but rejects the explanation, that the angel was speaking in the name of him that sent him. His words are, "The explanation, that in the words, 'I am the God of thy father,' the messenger spoke in the language of him that sent him is not correct, for Moses's degree in prophecy was too high for him to hide his face before the angel. Our rabbies have said in Bereshith Rabba, This angel is Michael. As in the case of R. Jose, the Patient, wherever he was seen, they said, There is our holy rabbi; so wherever Michael is seen, there is the glory of the Shechinah.' They meant to say, that at first Michael appeared to him, and that the glory of the Shechinah was there, but he did not see the glory, for he did not apply his mind to the prophetic vision; but, when he applied his mind and turned aside to see, then the appearance of the Shechinah was revealed

* ואל תתמה איך יסתיר משה פניו מן המלאך כי המלאך הנזכר בכאן הוא המלאך הגואל שכתוב בו אנכי האל בית אל וכן אמר בכאן אנכי אלהי אביך אלהי אברהם אלהי יצחק ואלהי יעקב והוא שנ' עליו כי שמי בקרבו :

unto him, and God called unto him out of the midst of the bush. And in the way of truth, this angel was the angel, the Redeemer, for it is said, 'My name is in him.' He it is who said to Jacob, I am the God of Bethel;' and of him it is said, 'And God called to him.' But he is called angel, 78, with reference to the government of the world; and thus it is written [in one place], 'And the LORD brought us out of Egypt' (Deut. vi. 21); and [in another place] it is written, And he sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt.' (Numb. xx. 16.) Again, it is said, 'The angel of his presence saved them,' that is to say, The angel who is his presence. (Isaiah lxiii. 9.) For it is written, 'My presence shall go, and I will give thee rest.' (Exod. xxxiii. 14.) And this is what is said, 'The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come. (Mal. iii. 1.)' And thou wilt understand this further in other verses yet to come, which treat of the same matter."

We have here the confession of Jews, that that Being who is called the angel of the Lord says of himself, that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; that this is the plain meaning of the text, what, then, is the conclusion? What can it be, but that He is what he claimed to be? We have seen that there is but one being who is called the angel of the Lord. Secondly, That the name of this one Being is Jehovah, the incommunicable name of God: and, Thirdly, That this Being says of himself, distinctly and unequivocally, that He is the God whom Jacob worshipped, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and we have seen, Fourthly, That this is as plainly asserted by the Jews as by us. There is but one possible conclusion, and that is, that this Being is very God.

Enough, I trust, has been here said, to establish the

fact it would take a volume to go through all the passages of the Bible, and more than one volume, to collate the passages of the rabbies. Schöttgen has given many more from more ancient books, but I have quoted commentators, who were almost cotemporary with Kimchi, to show what was the Jewish opinion of his time.

28

CHAPTER II.

(In the English Bible, chap. i. 18.)

1. (i. 18.) "Then I lifted up."-In this vision he turned to behold another vision, clearer than the first, for he understood from it, that the horns were to push with, as (Deut. xxxiii. 17), "His horns are like the horns of an unicorn; with them he shall push the people together," but he did not understand who these horns were.

"Four horns."-These are the four monarchies, and they are the Babylonian monarchy, the Persian monarchy, and the Grecian monarchy; * and so the Targum of Jonathan has it," the four monarchies." And these four did evil unto Israel, as the angel exclaims, saying,. "which scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."

which scattered."

2. (i. 19.) "And I said They pushed them even until they scattered them hither and thither; each of the horns in its time did them evil. For the Persian monarchy, although at its beginning it brought them up from their captivity, afterwards did them evil, in the days of Artaxerxes the First, and in the days of Ahasuerus until the second year of Darius.

3. (i. 20.) "And the Lord showed me four workmen," as in Isaiah xliv. 13, "The workmen of wood,"† in order to cut off the horns, that is to say, each kingdom shall be a carpenter, to cut off the kingdom that preceded it, for the Babylonian monarchy fell by the hand of the Persian, and the Persian monarchy fell by the hand of the Greek. Or the carpenters may signify in a parable,

He does not mention the fourth.

The English has in both places carpenter, as Kimchi explains. I have translated literally "workmen," in order to show how our translators had the best authority for this choice of words.