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" 2 . That the expression is nothing but a Hebraism to denote God him * self , or any peculiar token of the Divine presence , such as the burning bush was , or the pillar of cloud and fire , or the ark of the sanctuary . Thus Mr . Belsham says , ' The phrase angel of Jehovah means either the visible symbol of the Divine presence , or Jehovah himself . ' ( Galm Inquiry , p . 308 . ) But this hypothesis utterly fails , by its leaving unaccounted for the very strong attributions of intellisrence . wilL power , moral action , and all personal
properties ; which it would be perfectly absurd to apply to a visible splendour , or any symbolical phenomenon whatever ; and by its overlooking the essential part of the case , the clear and marked distinction which is preserved between this personal angel and him who sent him . It is this distinction so widely different from the idea of either a symbolical token or a personal periphrasis , which makes the insuperable difficulty upon the Unitarian hypothesis . "
* ' 3 That the being eminently called the angel of Jehovah , is one who is in certain respects or properties distinct from God ; and yet is at the same time truly and essentially the same with God . " To our minds this latter hypothesis is encumbered with difficulties incomparably greater than any which can be supposed to belong to either of the others . It is in fact perfectly unintelligible , predicating distinctness or difference , and sameness or identity , at one time , of the same subjects , which , if words have their ordinary meaning , is absurd and contradictory , and if otherwise , can convey no useful instruction ; but we must inquire a
little into the alleged utter failure of the Unitarian hypothesis . It fails , according to our author , 1 st , by leaving unaccounted for the attributions of intelligence , &c , which it would be perfectly absurd to apply to a visible splendour or any symbolical phenomenon . But is it absurd to apply them to the being whose immediate interference the outward symbol was intended to manifest , and to whom alone the acts and words accompanying it were alleged to belong ? The question we apprehend to be , whether it can be shewn by sufficient examples that the phrase angel of Jehovah is used to signify any agent , animate or inanimate , which is specially employed to accomplish the Divine Will , or any sensible manifestation of his presence visible , audible , or both , in human form or otherwise , which God was
pleased to make in accomplishing his purposes . It is nothing to our present argument if the word angel is sometimes applied to human messengers , sometimes to a superior order of created intelligences . If we can shew that it is used in the manner stated above , Dr . Smith's objection is answered , and his own explanation of the passages he has cited is rendered needless and improbable . Now , in Isa . xxxvii . 36 , we read , " The angel of Jehovah went forth , and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and fourscons and five thousand : and when they arose early in the morning , they
were all dead corpses , " where , although there is some difference of opinion among the commentators whether God made use for the accomplishment of his purpose of a sudden plague , or of the Simoom , the pestilential wind of the desert , it is generally agreed that he employed some natural agent which is denominated the •* angel of Jehovah , " Ps . xxxv . 5 . The an <* el of the Lord signifies any instrument of Divine vengeance . In Exod . iii . 2 , the
angel of Jehovah most plainly means the " flame of fire in the midst of the bush . " It was a visible symbol of the Divine presence intended to fix the attention of Moses on the spot from which the voice was to proceed . Another indisputable instance of the symbol of the Divine p resence being called the angel of Gody is found Exod . xiv . 19 , compared with xiii . 21 , 22 , " And the angel of God , which went before the camp of Israel , removed
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Dr . J . P . Smith's Scripture Testimony to the Messiahs $ 33
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1831, page 333, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2597/page/45/
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