Page images
PDF
EPUB

This blessing is promised to the nation of the Israelites, and it was continued as long as they obeyed the condition on which it was to be bestowed; but when they crucified our SAVIOUR, and impiously prayed that his blood might be on them and their children, their nation was given up to desolation, and they were scattered abroad over the whole earth, and they are now a living and perpetual miracle.

CHAP. VII.

V. 9.-Know, therefore, that JEHOVAH thy GOD, he is ELOHIM, the faithful GOD, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him.

Here again I wish to enforce Jones's remark," that each separate Person of the Trinity is often represented as acting with the full power of the whole Godhead," as, in the above, JEHOVAH is ELOHIM. These passages confirm the Unity in Trinity.

СНАР. Х.

V. 12.—What doth JEHOVAH thy God require of thee, O Israel, but to fear him and to walk in his ways! 15. For he had a delight in thy fathers, to love them, and he chose their seed after them. 16. Therefore be no more stiff-necked. 17. For JEHOVAH your GOD is GOD ELOHIM, the ADoni of Lords, a Great God, Mighty and TERRIBLE. 18. He doth execute judgment, and loveth the stranger.

The 17th verse deserves the greatest attention. Can there be a grander display of the whole Godhead, and can it be reflected on without the reader perceiving a distinction of Persons, concentrating in the term ELOHIM? for if it is not so, then this sublime description of the Godhead becomes an extraordinary instance of tautology.

JOSHUA.

CHAP. III.

V. 7.—And JEHOVAH said to Joshua, This day I will begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know, that as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. 8. And thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan. 13. As soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the Ark of JEHOVAH, the ADONI of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand in a heap.

JEHOVAH is the person of the Trinity who, it is shown, is always with Joshua, conducting him through the battles with the Canaanites, &c. In the 13th verse JEHOVAH himself declares that he is the ADONI (Judge) of the whole earth. These two facts confirm St. Paul's assertion in the Corinthians.

CHAP. XXIV.

And then he recapitu

V. 1.-And Joshua gathered all the tribes, and they presented themselves before ELOHIM. And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith JEHOVAH, GOD of Israel. lates what JEHOVAH had done. 14. Therefore fear JEHOVAH, and serve him in sincerity and truth. And the people said, 16. God forbid that we should forsake JEHOVAH to serve other gods. 17. For JEHOVAH Our GOD, he it is that brought us out of the land of Egypt. 26. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of ELOHIM.

Although the inspired writer is, in the above chapter, eagerly pointing out the mercies of JEHOVAH the Divine Protector, yet he particularly specifies that he shall write them in the Book of the Law of ELOHIM.

JUDGES. 1

CHAP. XIII.

V. 3.-And the angel of JEHOVAH appeared unto the wife of Manoah, and saith; 5. Thou shalt bear a son, and the child shall be a Nazarite unto ELOHIM from the womb. 6. And the woman told her husband, saying, A man of ELOHIM came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of ELOHIM, very terrible. 8. And Manoah entreated JEHOVAH, and said, O ADONI, let the man of ELOHIM teach us what we shall do. 22. And Manoah said to his wife, we shall surely die, because we have seen ELOHIM. 23. 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. 24. And the woman bare a son and called his name Samson. 25. And the Spirit of JEHOVAH began to move him at times in the camp.

Manoah says, We shall die because we have seen ELOHIM, thereby ascribing to the sight of ELOHIM a consequence very different to that occasioned by their frequent intercourse with JEHOVAH, whom the wife represents as having graciously received their offering. Surely this proves that the Jews themselves acknowledged a plurality in the Godhead.

CHAP. XVI.

V. 17. And Samson told Dalilah, I have been a Nazarite unto ELOHIM from my mother's womb. 28. And Samson called unto JEHOVAH, and said, O ADONI JEHOVAH, remember me, I pray, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O ELOHIM, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

Here a distinction of persons is very marked. Samson is dedicated to ELOHIM from his birth. When in distress he invokes JEHOVAH, and wishing punishment to be inflicted on the guilty, he again addresses JEHOVAH as ADONI (or Judge); and, finally, he implores ELOHIM, or the whole Godhead, for help.

C

BOOK OF RUTH.

Naomi addresses JEHOVAH, and prays to him that her daughter may find rest, and the people prayed to JEHOVAH to make the woman Ruth like Rachel and Leah, which two did build the house of Israel JEHOVAH granted the prayer, and she bare a son, called his name Obed.

and and

It is true that the writer of the Book of Ruth has not introduced all the distinctive names of the Godhead, but an attentive reader cannot fail to perceive that JEHOVAH is addressed with precisely the same meaning as in the preceding books.

FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL.

CHAP. III.

V. 2.—And it came to pass when Eli was laid down in his place, and ere the lamp of ELOHIM went out in the temple of JEHOVAH, where the ark of ELOHIM was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep: 4. That JEHOVAH called Samuel; this he did three times, and at length Eli called Samuel, and said, 17. What is the thing the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me-ELOHIM do so to thee and more also, if thou hide any thing from me. 21. JEHOVAH appears to Samuel, and reveals himself in Shiloh, and smites the Israelites before the Philistines.

The inspired penman says "the ark of ELOHIM," because it contained the law of ELOHIM, and the records of his mercies, and the appointment of the Paschal Lamb, which was the type of the sacrifice of our blessed Saviour; but he adds, it was placed in the temple of JEHOVAH, because (Exod. xxv.) it is said JEHOVAH gave Moses the directions for building it; thus consistently is the distinction of the divine persons preserved, and yet the unity of the Godhead enforced.

CHAP. IV.

V. 4. So the people sent to Shiloh, that, they might bring from thence the Ark of the Covenant of JEHOVAH of Hosts. And the two sons of Eli were with the Ark of the Covenant of ELOHIM. 7. And the Philistines were afraid, for they said ELOHIM is come into the camp. 8. Woe unto us, who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mighty gods, these gods who smote the Egyptians with all the plagues.

The Philistines say "these mighty gods:" is not this a strong proof that, in their opinion, there was a plurality of persons comprised in the one comprehensive word ELOHIM? nor can we doubt but that they must have learnt this from the Jews themselves.

HOVAH.

CHAP. V.

V. 1. The ark is called the Ark of ELOHIM. 3. The Ark of JE7. The Ark of the God of Israel by the men of Ashdod, while they are moving it from place to place; and in the 11th verse they say, Send away the Ark of the God of Israel, and let it go to its own place again, that it slay not us and our people, for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city, and the hand of ELOHIM was very heavy there.

In this chapter, proof is given of the co-equality of the different persons of the Trinity, and also their unity, in the comprehensive term ELOHIM: for after the persons have been named separately, then at the conclusion of the narrative, it is said, the Philistines are terrified, and declare that ELOHIM (the mighty gods, chap. iv. v. 8.) was punishing them for their presumptuous guilt.

CHAP. XVII.

Goliah comes forward and defies the armies of the living ELOHIM. 43. Then David said to the Philistine, I come to thee in the name of JEHOVAH of Hosts, GoD of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast de

« PreviousContinue »