Words to search through the PDF for: God, Jesus, Christ, Messiah, divine, angel, archangel, created, etc.
Page numbers refer to E.W. Hengstenberg’s printed version available on Google Books here. Links will point to digital copy.
"Finally, the doctrine of the Divine Mediator of the unseen God, of the Angel of the Lord, or of the Logos, which forms the theological foundation for the Christology, is already found pervading the Books of Moses." p. 14
Fear of death if God is seen is a common reaction: Gen 32:31; Exo 20:19; 33:20; Deu 4:24; 5:21; 9:3; 18:16; Judges 13:22; Isa 33:14;
| Passage | Recipient | Message | Date | PageRef |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gen 3:15 | Adam & Eve | through your seed | ? | 11, 14-30 |
| Gen 9:25-27 | Noah | Shem is blessed, Canaan is cursed | ? | 11, 30 |
| Gen 12:2; 17:7 | Abraham | God makes his covenant through Abraham | 1200 BC? | 11, |
| Gen 17:19 | Isaac | Covenant established through Isaac | 12, | |
| Gen 27:27-29 | Jacob | 12, 57 | ||
| Gen 49:10 | Judah | Scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes | 12, 57 | |
| Num 24:17-19 | Balaam | "A star will come out of Jacob, And a scepter will rise out of Israel" Balaam was not an Israelite, yet he prophesied of the coming of the Jewish Messiah. | ? | 13 |
| Jos | Angel of the Lord in Joshua | p. 115ff | ||
| Gen 16 | Hagar | 116-117 | ||
But if it be thus undeniable that Christ declared Himself to be the prophet of our passage, it must be considered an indirect attack upon His divinity... p. 108
We cannot fail to perceive that here, if ever, a divine revelation was appropriate concerning the coming of Christ, who, as the Mediator between God and man, veiled His Godhead, and in human form, brought God nearer to man. p. 114
The New Testament distinguishes between the hidden God and the revealed God - the Son or Logos - who is connected with the former by oneness of nature, and who from everlasting, and even at the creation itself , filled up the immeasurable distance between the Creator and the creation... p. 115
It is evident that this doctrine stands in the closest connection with the Christology, - that it forms, indeed , its theological foundation and groundwork. Until the Christology has attained to a knowledge of the true divinity of the Saviour, its results cannot be otherwise than very meagre and unsatisfactory. Wheresoever the true state of human nature is seen in the light of Holy Scripture, no high expectations can be entertained from a merely human Saviour, although he were endowed even with as full a measure of the gifts of the Spirit of God as human nature, in its finite and sinful condition, is able to bear. But unless there exist in the one divine Being itself, such a distinction of persons, the divinity of the Saviour cannot be acknowledged, without endangering the unity of God which the Scriptures so emphatically teach. p. 116
[Hagar and the AotL] So much then is clear, that the opinion which considers the Angel of the Lord to be a created angel is overthrown by the first passage where that angel is mentioned, if the exposition which we have given of Gen 16:13,14 - an exposition which is now generally received, and which was last advanced by Knobel - be correct. p. 118
It has been asked, Why should the Logos have appeared first to the Egyptian maid?Gen 17:1 --"And when Abraham was ninety years old and nine , the Lord appeared to him;" the appearance of the Lord Himself is mentioned in order that every thought of a lower angel may be warded off. p.119
We, however, hold fast by the view of the ancient Church, that in Gen 18 the Logos appeared accompanied by two inferior angels. p. 119
If we suppose that he, with whom Abraham had to do, was some created angel, we cannot well understand how, in Gen 18:17 seq., the judgment over Sodom could, throughout, be ascribed to him. p. 121
God, even when He is on earth, remains in heaven, and it is thence that He manifests Himself.
By the Jehovah who, from Jehovah out of heaven, caused brimstone and fire to rain upon Sodom and Gomorrah ( Gen 19:24 ), we are not at liberty to understand the two angels only, but, agreeably to the views of sound Christian expositors generally, Christ, with this modification, however, that the two angels are to be considered as His servants, and that what they do is His work also. p. 121-122
The analogy of the threefold blessing of Aaron in Num 6:24-26 would lead us to expect that the name of God should be three times mentioned. No created angel could in this manner be placed by the side of God, or be introduced as being independent of, and coordinate with, Him. Such an angel can only be meant as is connected with God by oneness of nature, and whose activity is implied in that of God. p. 125Col. 2:9 - It is impossible that the name of God could be communicated to any other, Isa 42:8. The name of God can dwell in Him only, who is originally of the same nature with God. p. 127
The threatening of the Lord becomes unintelligible, and the grief of the people incomprehensible, if by the Angel in Exo 23 an ordinary angel be understood. But everything becomes clear and intelligible, if we admit that in chap. 23 there is an allusion to the Angel of the Lord κατ' ἐξοχήν, who is connected with Him by oneness of nature, and who, because the name of God is in Him, is as zealous as Himself in inflicting punishment as well as in bestowing salvation; whilst in Exo 32:34, the allusion is to an inferior angel, who is added to the highest revealer of God as His companion and messenger, and who appears in the Book of Daniel under the name of Gabriel, while the Angel of the Lord appears under the name of Michael. p. 127
The face of the Lord in the former passage, is the Angel of the Lord in the latter. Hence, we cannot here admit the idea of some inferior angel; we can think only of that Angel who is connected with the Lord by oneness of nature. p. 128
Now, as in Exo 33:14, "the face of Jehovah" is tantamount to "Jehovah in His own person," the Angel of the face can be none other than He in whom Jehovah appears personally, in contrast with inferior created angels. The Angel of the face is the Angel in whom is the name of the Lord. p. 128
It is only at a late period, in Malachi 3:1, that the doctrine of the Angel of the Lord is expressly brought into connection with that of Christ. But a knowledge of the divine nature of the Messiah is found at a much earlier period; and we can certainly not suppose that the doctrine of the Angel of the Lord, and that of a truly divine Saviour, should have existed by the side of each other, and yet that manifold forebodings regarding their close obvious connection should not have been awakened in the mind. p. 130
The Messianic prophecy, as we have seen, began at a time long anterior to that of David. Even in Genesis, we perceived it, increasing more and more in distinctness. There is at first only the general promise that the seed of the woman should obtain the victory over the kingdom of the evil one; then, that the salvation should come through the descendants of Shem; -- then, from among them Abraham is marked out, -of his sons, Isaac, -from among his sons, Jacob, and from among the twelve sons of Jacob, Judah is singled out as the bearer of dominion, and marked out as the person from whom, at length, should proceed the glorious King whose peaceful dominion is destined to extend over all the nations of the earth. p. 131
p. 50ff Abraham saw Christ: John 8:53 and Gen 18:1-33
p. 51 - "The key to the right understanding of this is furnished by the doctrine of the Angel of the Lord, which meets us as early as in Genesis. From the passages in which, at the appearances and revelations of Jehovah, the mediation of the Angel is expressly mentioned, we infer that it ( the mediation ) took place even when Jehovah by Himself is spoken of; and the more so, since, even in the former series of passages, the simple name of Jehovah is commonly varied by that of the Angel of Jehovah. The Evangelist John's whole doctrine of the Logos points to the personal identity of Jesus with the Angel of the Lord. Not less so does the passage, John 12:41; and there is unquestionably a purpose which cannot be misunderstood in the fact, that, throughout the discourses of Jesus, as reported by John, the declaration that God sent Him occurs with such frequency and regularity. But we can scarcely conceive of any other purpose than that of marking out Jesus as the Angel or Messenger of Jehovah spoken of in the writings of the Old Testament."
Hagar p. 115ff
Hagar must have been convinced that she had seen God without the mediation of a created angel; for, otherwise, she could
not have wondered that her life was preserved. Man, entangled by the visible world, is terrified when he comes in contact
with the invisible world, even with angels. (Compare Dan. 8:17,18; Luke 3:9) But this terror rises to fear of death only
when man comes into contact with the Lord Himself. p. 117