announced at this scene to Christ, and adds: “These things said Esaias when he saw his glory and spake of him.”

With respect to the point now particularly in view, the Scriptures quoted above render it certain that the Divine Person who by Malachi is called the Messenger of the Covenant, and the Adonai, and by Hosea, the Messenger, Elohim, and Jehovah, is identical with Jesus the Christ.

“Sometimes the same Divine appearance which at one time is called Melach Jehovah, is afterwards called simply Jehovah, as in Gen. xvi. 7; Col. v. 13; Exod. iii. 2; Col. iv., &c., &c. This is to be so understood that the Angel of God is here nothing else than the invisible Deity itself, which thus unveils itself to mortal eyes.” And after referring to Michaëlis and Tholuck, “Hence Oriental translators, as Saadias, Abusaides, and the Chaldeo-Samaritan, wherever Jehovah himself is said to appear on earth, always put for the name of God, the Angel of God.” Gesenius, Lex., Art. Melach.

Illustrations might be adduced from the New Testament to show that the apostles understood the Messiah and the Messenger Jehovah to be the same Person. Thus, Galatians iv. 14: “Ye received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus;” where the rendering, in our own and other versions, “an angel,” corresponds with the erroneous usage so common in the Old Testament. The meaning is: Ye received me with respect and confidence, as ye would have received the Melach, the Messenger Jehovah, even Jesus the Messiah. For undoubtedly, had a created angel been referred to, a comparison would not have been made placing the Messiah on a level with him. The instances in the New Testament in which the Angel Jehovah is referred to, though unhappily not discriminated in our translation, are from the context easily distinguishable. See Acts vii. 30, 35, 38.

The word Adonai occurs as a Divine designation several hundred times in the Old Testament, chiefly in the form indicated above, but sometimes simply Adon. It is often employed in connections which clearly show it to be a personal designation of the Messiah, and which assert or imply his official prerogatives, agency, or relations. It is employed interchangeably with Jehovah, Elohim, and other Divine designations, sometimes preceding and at others following them; sometimes with, but more commonly without the article.

In the second of the above forms, this word is commonly, like the secular English title lord, applied to men in the relation of masters or rulers, as Melach is applied to men to distinguish them officially as messengers. And as our own, in common with other translators, failed to mark the distinction between the use of the word Melach, as a designation of the Messiah, and the use of it with reference to created agents, human or angelic, so they seem to have regarded the words Adonai and Adon as importing something inferior to the Divine designations of Jehovah and Elohim; which difference they indicate by uniformly writing their translation of the former words in small letters, and their translation of the latter in capitals.

Whatever impression or inference may result from this usage to the English reader, or to the Israelite who reads the original under the same views which influenced the translation, it is by no means probable that either of them would infer, or be struck with the impression, that Adonai was a distinctive and familiar title of the delegated One, the Messiah, of correlative and equivalent significance as a Divine designation with those with which it is indifferently and interchangeably employed. For the further illustration of this point, therefore, the following passages are cited:

In Gen. xviii., we read that Jehovah appeared visibly to Abraham in the likeness of man, i. e., in the delegated official Person, Messiah. In what is related in the narrative as having been said or done by him, while visibly present, he is called Jehovah, while Abraham, in speaking to him, uniformly calls him Adonai, prays to him as having power to save the righteous in Sodom, and addresses him as Judge of all the earth. It is therefore manifest that the two designations, Jehovah and Adonai, identify the same Person; that Abraham speaks to him as visibly present; and that his visible presence in the likeness of man determines him to have been the delegated One. At the close of their interview, “Jehovah went his way, and Abraham returned to his place.”

When the personal Word came to Abram, Gen. xv., saying, Fear not, I am thy shield, &c., Abram, replying, verse 2, calls him Adonai Jehovah, and also in verse 8; while in verses 4, 6, 7, and 18, he calls him Jehovah. Instances like that in chap. xviii., and others, would seem to indicate that in cases of local visible manifestation of the personal Word, designations specially appropriate to his official character and agency were suggested to the minds of the beholders. Thus Moses, Exod, iv. 10, “said unto Jehovah, O Adonai.” The Person whom he addressed was the Messenger Jehovah, who had appeared to him. Again, verse 13, he says: “O Adonai.” In other parts of that chapter, the same Person is called Jehovah, Elohim, and Elohe. In Moses’ song, chap. xv. 17, Jehovah (that is, the Messenger) and the Adonai are addressed as the same Person: “Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance; in the place, O Jehovah, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in; in the sanctuary, O Adonai, which thy hands have established.” So, chap. xxxiv., when Jehovah (the Messenger) descended and manifested the glory of his Person to Moses, and proclaimed himself Jehovah as he passed by, Moses bowed and worshipped; and he said: “If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Adonai, let Adonai, I pray thee, go among us.” In like manner, Deut. iii. 23, 24, Moses, praying to Jehovah, addresses the Adonai: “And I besought Jehovah at that time, saying, O Adonai Jehovah.... I pray thee let me go over and see the good land.” Also, chap. ix. 26: “I prayed therefore unto Jehovah, and said, O Adonai Jehovah, destroy not thy people, and thine inheritance which thou hast redeemed.” Once more, when, after the trespass of Achan, the Israelites were smitten, Joshua fell upon his face before the ark of Jehovah, and said: “Alas! O Adonai Jehovah.... O Adonai, what shall I say,” &c. Similar instances occur in the prayers of Gideon, Manoah, David, and the prophets; and throughout their writings, as in the instances quoted, doubtless this term designates the Messenger of the Covenant, the Holy One, the Christ, and whether sometimes substituted by copyists for the word Jehovah or not, its import is the same, as appears from the connections in which it occurs.

At the interview of the same Divine Person with Gideon, Judges vi., he is called Melach Jehovah, Jehovah, Adonai, Melach the Elohim, and Adonai Jehovah Melach Jehovah came and sat under an oak—appeared visibly—and said unto Gideon, Jehovah is with thee. Gideon replied, O Adonai, if Jehovah be with us, &c. Jehovah looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might. Gideon answered, O Adonai, wherewith shall I save Israel? Jehovah said, Surely I will be with thee. Gideon prepared a sacrifice. Melach the Elohim said, Take the flesh, &c. Melach Jehovah touched the flesh with his staff. Fire rose out of the rock and consumed the flesh. Melach Jehovah departed out of Gideon’s sight. Gideon exclaimed, Alas, O Adonai Jehovah! for I have seen Melach Jehovah face to face. Jehovah said unto him, Peace be unto thee.

The purport of the expressions in this narrative may be more fully represented as follows: The Melach, (the Messenger,) who is