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peared to Moses in the burning bush: Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place, whereon thou standest, is holy.' Nor, like that Angel, does he assume to himself a less exalted style than the style of very Jehovah. The general sense of the context evidently shews, that the sixth chapter of the book of Joshua ought, by those who thus divided the originally unbroken text of the Bible, to have been made to begin at the thirteenth verse of the preceding chapter, and consequently that there ought to have been no pause or interruption between the two chapters as they are now exhibited. The reason is this. As the apparent sense is now présented to the English reader, the Archangel manifests himself to Joshua without delivering to him any message whatsoever, unless the injunction to loose off his shoe can be deemed a message. But we cannot imagine, that a person of such dignity would be revealed absolutely to communicate no intelligence. We must therefore, in order to procure his message, annihilate the ill-judged division of the present fifth and sixth chapters: and the whole passage will then be perspicuous and intelligible. The message is, that Jericho is delivered into the hand of Joshua; and, to accomplish this point, certain directions are given, which the priests and the people are carefully to observe. Such is plainly the message, which the anthropomorphic Archangel descends to communicate. But Jehovah himself is said to have been the speaker,

1 Josh. v. 15. Exod. iii. 5.

who communicated it. Therefore the Archangel is Jehovah.'

4. When Joshua was dead, the same divine personage still continued to superintend the affairs of Israel, and still from time to time visibly manifested himself in a human form.

We hear of him for the first time remonstrating with the people, because they had neglected to extirpate idolatry.

The Angel of Jehovah came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: I made you go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no

league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars. But ye have not obeyed my voice. Why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you: but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. And it came to pass, when the Angel of Jehovah spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice and wept.*

It is abundantly clear, that the Angel of Jehovah here mentioned is that Angel, in whom was the Name of Jehovah; because we find the very same office ascribed to each. Now the Angel, spoken of in the present place, declares himself to be the person, who brought up the Israelites from Egypt, who promised the land of Canaan to their fathers, 2 Judg. ii. 1-4.

> Josh. v. 13-15. vi. 1—5.

and who had entered with them into a special covenant. The inference is obvious and undeniable, that this Angel must be Jehovah the God of the Hebrews.

5. The same being, under the same appellation of the Angel of Jehovah, afterwards revealed himself to Gideon and the terror, which that chieftain displayed lest he should die in consequence of having seen the Angel of Jehovah face to face, sufficiently shews the opinion which he entertained of his essential dignity.

Jehovah, as Gideon well knew, had said to Moses; Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.' Hence originated his dread but, if he believed the apparition to be only a created angel like one of those whom Jacob beheld at Mahanaim, he would no more have apprehended any danger of death than Jacob then did.2

This fear of Gideon was exactly analogous to that of Manoah; and the exclamation of the latter serves admirably to explain the terror of the former.

The Angel of Jehovah successively appeared to the wife of Manoah, and to Manoah himself, in a human form nor do they at the first seem to have been certain that he was any thing more than a man of God or a prophet, though some ineffable 'dignity in his countenance led them early to suspect his true character. To the inquiry respecting his

Exod. xxxiii. 20.

2

Judg. vi. 11-24.

Name, that Name of Jehovah which was in him essentially, he replies; Why askest thou thus after my Name, seeing it is wonderful? Afterwards, when he mounts to heaven in the flame of the altar, Manoah is forthwith convinced, that he is indeed the Angel of Jehovah. But what is his remarkable observation upon the circumstance; and what, the scarcely less remarkable answer of his wife? We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him: If Jehovah were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these. The person, whom they had beheld, was doubtless the Angel of Jehovah in the form of a man. Yet Manoah dreads instant death, on the special ground of their having seen GOD: and his wife acknowledges, that it was indeed JEHOVAH who had been conversing with them, but expresses her hopes of safety from the gracious manner in which he accepted the sacrifice.

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It is to be observed, that the inspired historian, while stating their language, does not express any disapprobation of it; which he assuredly would have been led to do, if Manoah and his wife had erroneously supposed a created angel to be the Supreme God. In that case, their idolatry, however unintentional, would have required immediate correction, lest others should be led away into the same mistake: nor can we forget, how St. John was instantaneously rebuked by a created angel, to

whom he prostrated himself; evidently, I think, under the false impression that he was an appearance of the Angel of Jehovah, to whom divine worship had always been paid by his forefathers." This remarkable difference indubitably proves, that the Angel of Jehovah was a being essentially unlike all created angels. Worship God, says a pure spirit to the apostle; that is to say, Gou only. But the Angel of Jehovah was worshipped, without any censure being attached to his worshippers. Therefore the Angel of Jehovah must be God."

III. Enough has been now said to shew, that the Angel of Jehovah was the God of the Levitical dispensation no less than of the Patriarchal, and that he was accustomed on various occasions to manifest himself to his worshippers under a substantial human form. Omitting therefore to dwell particularly on his appearance to David,' to Nebuchadnezzar, to Daniel, and to Amos," I pass on to the third or Christian dispensation

1. It might readily be anticipated a priori even from the very fitness of the thing, that, it the Divine Word displayed himself corporeally under the two preparatory dispensations, much more might he be expected to appear in some eminent and extraordinary manner under the last and consummating dispensation.

3

Accordingly, as the earliest promise set forth a

Rev. xxii. 8, 9.

2 Sam. xxiv. 16, 17.

$ Dan. vii. 13.

2

Judg. xiii. 2-23.

4 Dan. iv. 13. iii. 25.

6 Amos vii. 7---9. ix. i.

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