222 APPEARANCES OF THE SON OF GOD [FXERC. X.
same work,—one as Lord and Prince, the other two as his ministering servants.
And this is further cleared in that expression of Moses, Gen. xix. 24, “The LorD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LoRD out of heaven.” Targum, ™ ptpn, “ from before the Lord,” or “the face of the Lord.” Aben Ezra answers, mny pwd NN pyym,—that this is the elegancy of the tongue, and the sense of it is, “from himself;” and this gloss some of our late critics em- brace. And there are instances collected by Solomon Jarchi to confirm this sense,—namely, the words of Lamech, Gen. iv. 23, “ Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech,”’ not “my wives;” and of David, 1 Kings i. 33, “Take with you the servants of your lord,” not “my servants;” and of Ahasuerus unto Mordecai, Esther viii. 8, “Write ye for the Jews in the king’s name,” not “in my name.” But the difference of these from the words under consideration is wide and evident. In all these places the persons are introduced speaking of themselves, and describe themselves either by their names or offices, suitably unto the occasion and subject spoken of: but in this place it is Moses that speaketh of the Lord, and he had no occa- sion to repeat 717! NSD, were it not to intimate the distinct persons unto whom that name, denoting the nature and self-existence of God, was proper; one whereof then appeared on the earth, the other manifesting his glorious presence in heaven. Wherefore Rashi, ob- serving somewhat more in this expression, contents not himself with his supposed parallel places; but adds, that the } m3 is to be understood, and gives this as a rule, 2 MD) NT "DY DIP Gyan “Every place where it is said, 7, ‘And the Lorp,’ he and his house of judgment are intended”! as if God had a sanhedrim in heaven,—a fancy which they have invented to avoid the expressions which testify unto a plurality of persons in the Deity. There is therefore in this place an appearance of God in a human shape, and that of one distinct person in the Godhead, who now repre- sented himself unto Abraham in the form and shape wherein he would dwell amongst men, when of his seed he would be “made flesh.” This was one signal means whereby Abraham saw his day and rejoiced; which himself lays upon his pre-existence unto his in- carnation, and not upon the promise of his coming, John viii. 56, 58. A solemn preludium it was unto his taking of flesh, a revelation of his divine nature and person, and a pledge of his coming in human nature to converse with men.
8. Gen. xxxii. 24, 26-30, “ And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the ascending of the mornmg. And he said, Let me go, for the day ascendeth. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be
SECT. 8-10.] UNDER THE OLD TESTAMENT. 223
called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore dost thou ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” This story is twice reflected upon in the Scripture afterwards: once by Jacob himself, Gen. xlviii. 15, 16, “ And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads;” and once by the prophet Hosea, chap. xii. 3-5, “ By his strength he had power with God: yea, he had power over the Angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us; even the LorD God of hosts; the Lorp is his memorial.” In the first place he is called a “man:” “There wrestled a man,” Gen. xxxii, 24. In the second, Jacob calls him an “ Angel:” “The Angel which re- deemed me,” chap. xlviii. 16. And in the third, he is expressly said to be “God, the Lorp God of hosts,” Hos. xii. 3, 5.
9. Jacob was now passing with his whole family into the land of Canaan, to take seizure of it, by virtue of the promise, on the behalf of his posterity. At the very entrance of it he is met by his greatest adversary, with whom he had a severe contest about the promise and the inheritance itself. This was his brother Esau, who coming against him with a power which he was no way able to with- stand, he feared that he would utterly destroy both his person and his posterity, Gen. xxxii.11. In the promise about which their contest was, the blessed Seed, with the whole church-state and worship of the old testament, was included; so that it was the greatest contro- versy, and had the greatest weight depending on it, of any that ever was amongst the sonsof men. Wherefore, to settle Jacob’s right, to preserve him with his title and interest, he who was principally con- cerned in the whole matter doth here appear unto him; some especial particulars of which manifestation of himself may be re- marked.