Now all these mighty works of creation or providence, which are assigned to this voice of the Lord, or TM λow Tas durautas, to the word of his power, or to his powerful word, are immediately wrought per λόγον εσιώδη Οι ενυπόστατον, by the essential word of God, John i. 3. Col. i. 16. who was with God in the beginning, or at the creation of all things, John i. 1, 2. as his eternal wisdom, Prov. viii. 22-25. and power. This expression therefore of p, may also denote To Moyor Tov Olov, xar' sox, the Word of God, that is God, the essential Word of God, the Person of the Son. For here our first parents heard this Word walking in the garden, before they heard the outward sound of any voice or words whatever. For God spake not unto them until after this, ver. 9. “The Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him."

And this change of the appearance of God some of the Jews take notice of; so the author of Tseror Hammor, Sect. Bereshith,

קודם החטא היו רואים כביד ח' מדבר עמם ועכשיו שחטאו ,Before they sinned לא ראוהו אלא שמעו קולו מתהלך בגן

6

they saw the glory of the blessed God speaking with him, but after their sin they only heard his voice walking.' God dealt now otherwise with them than he did before. And the Chaldee paraphrast observing that some especial presence of God is ex

ושמעו ית קל מימרא דיי pressed in the words, renders them And they heard the voice of the Word * אלהים מתהלך בגנתא

6

of the Lord God walking in the garden. So all the Targums, and that of Jerusalem, begins the next verse accordingly,

And the word of the Lord * וקרא מימרא דיי אלהים לאדם

God called unto Adam.' And this expression they afterwards make use of in places innumerable, and that in such a way as plainly to denote a distinct Person in the Deity. That this also was their intention in it, is manifest, because about the time of the writing of the first of those Targums, which gave normam loquendi, the rule of speaking unto them that followed, it was usual amongst them to express their conceptions of the Son of God, by the name of Moyes tov Otov, or the word of God, the

.מימרא דיי same with

και

So doth Philo express their sense, de Confusione Linguarum, μηδέπω μεντοι τυγχανη τις αξιοχρέως ως ύιος Θεού προσαγορευεσθαι, σπε δαζε κοσμείσθαι κατα τον πρωτόγονον αυτό λόγον, τον αγγελον πρέσβυτατον ὡς αρχαγγελον πολυωνυμον ὑπάρχοντα, και γαρ αρχή, και ονομα Θεού, και λο γος, καὶ ὁ κατ' εικόνα ανθρωπος, και όρων ισραηλ προσαγορεύεται. If any be not yet worthy to be called the Son of God, yet endeavour thou to be conformed unto his first begotten Word, the most ancient angel, the archangel with many names; for he is called the Beginning, the name of God, and the Word, the man according to the image of God, the Seer of Israel. How suitably these things are spoken unto the mysteries revealed in the

gospel, shall elsewhere be declared. Here I only observe how he calls that angel which appeared unto the fathers, and that sometimes in human shape, the Word, the FIRST BEGOTTEN WORD. And he expresseth himself again to the same purpose, και γαρ ει μήπω ἱκανοι Θες παίδες νομίζεσθαι, γεγόναμεν αλλα τοι της αιδια είκονος αυτό, λογά του ἱερωτατου, Θεου γαρ οίκων λόγος ὁ πρεσβυτατος. “For if we are not yet meet to be called the sons of God, let us be so of his eternal image, the most sacred word, for that most ancient Word is the image of God.' How these things answer, the discourses of our apostle about Jesus Christ, Col. i. 15-18. Heb. i. 3. is easily discerned. And this conception of theirs, was so far approved by the Holy Ghost, as suitable unto the mind of God, that John, in the beginning of his Gospel, declaring the eternal Deity of Christ, doth it under this name of hoyos, the Word, that is, "77, the Word of God: the "Word that was with God, and that was God," John i. 1. For he there alludeth to the story of the first creation, in which God is described as making all things by his word; for he said of every thing, Let it be, and it was made. And in a similar way the Psalmist expresseth it, "He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast," Psal. xxxiii. 9. On the same subject David speaks, yet more fully, in the 6th verse of the same Psalm, declaring that " by the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth;" in answer whereunto, John teacheth, that all things were made by this Word of God whereof he speaks, ch. i. 3. And Peter also expresseth the same sentiment, 2 Peter iii. 5. In the Chaldee, creation is also assigned unto this Word, where mention is not made of it in the original; as Isa. xlv. 12. and ch. xlviii. 13.

In the words cited above, John might also have respect unto that ascription of the work of the redemption of the church to this Word of the Lord, which was admitted in the church of the Jews. That place, amongst others, is express to this purpose, Hos. i. 7. where the words of the prophet, "I will save them by the Lord their God," are rendered by the Targumist,

I will save (or redeem) them • ואפרקנון במימרא דיי אלהחון

by the Word of the Lord their God,'-the Word, the Redeemer. And it is not unworthy of consideration, that the wisest and most contemplative of the philosophers of old, had many notions about the λoyos idios, the eternal Word, which was unto them δυναμις της όλης κτίσεως ποιητική, the formative or creative power of the universe; to which purpose many sayings have been observed, and might be reported out of Plato, with his followers, Amelius, Chalcidius, Proclus, Plotinus, and others, whose expressions are imitated by our own writers, as Justin Martyr, Clemens, Athenagoras, Tatianus, and many more. And among

the Mahometans themselves, this is the name that in their A coran they give unto Jesus, xh, the Word of God. So prevalent hath this notion of the Son of God been in the world. And as those words, Ezek. i. 24. "I heard the voice of their wings, Twp, as the voice of the Almighty," are

as the voice :,כקלא מין קרם שדי,rendered by the Targumist

from the face of the Almighty,' what this is shall be after wards shewn. Some copies of the LXX. render them by qar Tov Xoyou, the voice of the WORD, that is of God, who was repre sented in that vision, as shall be manifested.

Some would put another sense on that expression of the Targumists, as though it intended nothing but God himself; and instances of the use of it in that sense have been observed. As Eccles. viii. 17. "If a wise man say (b) in his word," that is, say in himself.-Gen. vi. 6. It repented the Lord () in his word." Also Ruth iii. 8. is urged to give countenance unto this suspicion; as did Paltiel, the son of

66

,בין מימרי ובין מיכל בת שאול Laish, who placed his sword

between his word and Michal, the daughter of Saul, the wife of David." But, 1. The former places use not the word 2, which is peculiar unto the sense contended for. 2. The Targums on the Hagiographa, are a late postalmudical endeavour, made in imitation of those of Onkelos and Ben Uzziel, when the Jews had lost both all sense of their old traditions, and the use of the Chaldee language, any farther than what they learned from those former paraphrases. Nothing therefore can hence be concluded as to the intention of the Targumists in these words. And they can have no other sense in that of Psalm ex. 1. 18, The Lord said in (or to) his word,' for "to my Lord," as in the original.

במימריה

་་

,אמר

§ 3. The Jews discern that n, walking, relates in this

יהוה אלהים the voice, and not into קול place immediately to

the Lord God, and therefore endeavour to render a reason of that kind of expression. So Aben Ezra on the place giveth instances, where a voice or sound in its progress is said to walk. As Exod. xix. 19. pm on Sip, "The voice of the trumpet went and waxed strong;" and Jer. xlvi. 22. 7 nɔɔ mbip, "The voice thereof shall go like a serpent." But these examples correspond not with that under consideration. For although

may express sometimes the progression or increase of a voice, yet it doth not so, but where it is intimated to be begun before; but here was nothing spoken by God, until after that Adam had heard this word of God walking. And therefore R. Jona, cited by Aben Ezra, would apply ann, walking, unto Adam, He heard the voice of God, as he was himself walking in the garden,' the absurdity of which fiction the words of the text and context sufficiently evince. For not

in the beginning of ישמעו would answer unto מתהלכים but

the verse. It is therefore most probable, that in the great alteration which was now coming upon the whole creation of God, mankind being to be cast out of covenant, the serpent and the earth being to be cursed, and a way of recovery for the elect of God to be revealed, that He, by whom all things were made, and by whom all were to be renewed who were to be brought again unto God, did in an especial and glorious manner appear unto our first parents, as he in whom this whole dispensation centred, and unto whom it was committed. And as after the promise given, he appeared, εν μορφή ανθρωπινη, κα human shape, to instruct the church in the mystery of his future incarnation, and under the name of angel, to shadow out his office as sent unto it, and employed in it by the Father, so here before the promise, he discovered his distinct glorious person, as the eternal Voice or Word of the Father.

§ 4. Gen. xviii. 1-3. "And the Lord appeared unto him (Abraham) in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the tent-door, in the heat of the day; and he lift up his eyes and looked, and lo three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he came to meet them from the tent-door, and bowed himself toward the ground; and said, My Lord, if I have now found favour in thy sight," &c. The Jews in Bereshith Ketanna say, that this appearance of God unto Abraham, was three days after his circumcision, from the sore whereof, being not recovered, he sat in the door of his tent, and that God came to visit him in his sickness. But the reason of his sitting in the door of the tent, is given in the text, namely, because it was □ □, as in, or about the heat of the day, as the day grew hot; in an opposition unto the time of God's appearance unto Adam, which was n mb, in the cool air of the day. For as when God comes to curse, nothing shall refresh the creature, though in its own nature suited thereunto-it shall wither in the cool of the day; so when he comes to bless, nothing shall hinder the influence of his blessing upon his creatures, however any thing in itself may, like the heat of the day, be troublesome or perplexing.

§ 5. He lift up his eyes and looked, and behold three men stood by him. The title is,, the Lord appeared unto him; and the narrative is, lo, three men stood by him: the Lord therefore was amongst them. And it seems to be a sudden appearance that was made to him: he saw them on a sudden standing by him: he looked up and saw them, and this satisfied him that it was a heavenly apparition.

§ 6. The business of God with Abraham at this time, was to renew unto him the promise of the seed who was to be a blessing, and to confine it unto his posterity by Sarah, now

when he was utterly hopeless of this, and began to desire that Ishmael might be heir of the promise. Unto this signal work of mercy, was adjoined the intimation of an eminent effect of vindictive justice, wherein God would set forth an example of this attribute unto all ensuing generations, in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And both these were the proper works of the Son of God. Unto him was committed the care of the church, as its blessedness depended on the promise of his coming; and to him was given the government of the world, that he may act as its present Ruler and its future Judge. And hence, in the overthrow of those cities, he is said to set forth an 66 ensample of his future dealing with ungodly men," 2 Peter

ii. 6.

§ 7. Aben Ezra reflects with scorn on the Christians, who from this place, because three men are said to appear unto Abraham, and he calls them, my Lord, would prove the tri

הנה קצת אמרו כי השם ג' אנשים .personality of the Deity Because of the appearance of הוא אחד יהוא ג' ולא יתפרדו

three men, God is three, and he is one, and they are not separated or divided.' How then doth he answer what they say?

Behold they forget • והנה שכחו ויבאו שני המלאכים סדומה

that there came two angels unto Sodom.' That is, that two of those who appeared were angels, and no more. But if any

Christians have taken these three persons to have been the three Persons of the Trinity, it were an easy thing to out-balance their mistake with instances of his own, and of his companions pernicious curiosities and errors. It is true, a Trinity of persons in the Deity cannot be proved from this place, seeing one of them is expressly called Jehovah, and the other two, in distinction from him, are said to be angels, ch. xix. 1. But yet a distinction of persons in the Deity, although not the precise number of them, is hence demonstrable. For it is evident, that he of the three that spake unto Abraham, and to whom he made his supplication for the sparing of Sodom, was Jehovah the Judge of all the world, ver. 22. 25. And yet all the three were sent upon the work, that One being the Prince and Head of the embassy; as he who is Jehovah, is said to be sent by Jehovah, Zech. ii. 8, 9. Neither is there any ground for the late exposition of this and the like places, namely, that a created angel, representing the person of God, doth both speak and act in his name, and is called Jehovah; an invention to evade the appearances of the Son of God under the Old Testament, contrary to the sense of all antiquity; nor is any reason or instance produced to make it good. The Jews indeed say, that there were three angels, because of the threefold work they were employed in; for they say, no more than one angel is at any time sent about the same work. So one of these was to renew the