CHAPTER IV.

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.