come to His temple. The messenger who goes before the face of the Lord and prepares His way is undoubtedly Elijah the prophet who is mentioned in the last two verses of Malachi's prophecy. When Elijah prepares the way, the Lord comes suddenly to His temple. As to who is referred to by 11 "Lord," there is no doubt that he is speaking of one of the Divine Persons; but who is meant by the expression n' "Angel of the Covenant?" If the law of Hebrew parallelism obtains here, the answer is plain, namely, that the names "Lord" and "Angel of the Covenant" refer to the same personality. The flow of thought points definitely and positively to the conclusion that such is the case; hence only one individual is here spoken of. From the facts which have been learned from the passages in which the "angel of the Lord" occurs, there is but one conclusion to be drawn, namely, that this "angel of the Lord" is one of the Divine Persons. מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה IV. THE LORD GOD Throughout the Tenach appear the words in which, from the context in which they appear, refer also to one of these Divine Persons. Furthermore, one of these Personalities is sometimes addressed as 17 "the Lord." V. THE TRINITY OF DIVINE PERSONALITIES Thus far one has seen that the following names, the Lord, the Lord God, Spirit of God, Son of God, and the Angel of the Lord are applied to one or more of these Divine Personalities. With these facts in mind the reader may advance a step by investigat "Hearken unto me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. Yea, my hand hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spread out the heavens : when I call unto them, they stand up together. Assemble yourselves, all ye, and hear: who among them hath declared these things? He whom the Lord loveth shall perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans. I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him; I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous. Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God hath sent me, and his Spirit." Here are three Divine Beings: ?" "the Lord God"; " (sent) "Me" (the speaker Who has created the universe); and in "His Spirit." As to the divine nature of the first one mentioned there can be no doubt. The speaker refers to Himself as "Me" since the Lord God hath sent Him. "Me" is attached to the verb of which "the Lord God" is the subject, and as has already been seen, the context shows that He (the speaker) created the world; hence He is God, since other passages ascribe the creation of the world to God. The third one is the Spirit of God, and, as seen above, possesses all the charcharacteristics of God; hence is the third of the Divine Beings. The three Divine Persons forming the Trinity again appear in people, children that will not deal falsely: so he was their Savior. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them." In verse 8 the prophet refers to what the Lord God said concerning Israel's being His people. In verse 9 he states that "the angel of His presence saved them." As seen in the preceding section, the angel of the Lord is one of the Divine Personalities. In Ex. 23: 20, 21 appears the angel who was to go before Israel in the journey to the promised land. This angel is none other than "the angel of the Lord," for, said God, "My Name is in Him." To proclaim the Name of God is to set forth God's wonderful character (Ex. 34:6,7). Hence when God said that His Name was in this angel He was simply declaring that the angel was not an ordinary created being, but one of the Divine Personalities. In referring to this same Divine Person God said, "My presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest. And he said unto Him, if Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence" (Ex. 33:14, 15). Therefore the angel of His Presence in the passage which is under consideration is one of these Divine Persons. In verse 10 the prophet said that Israel "rebelled, and grieved His Holy Spirit," Who, as seen above, is a Divine Person; hence this passage likewise teaches that there are three Divine Persons Who constitute a Unity. The doctrine of the Trinity is not, therefore, a doctrine which the Christians have imagined and formulated but is the clear teaching of the Tenach. Not only do the Jewish Scriptures teach the doctrine of the Trinity, but a thoughtful consideration of the second article of the "Thirteen Principles of the Faith" to which Judaism subscribes shows that the unity of God is not an ordinary unity, for it states that "The Creator, blessed be His Name, is a Unity, and that there is no unity in any manner like unto His, and that He alone is our God, Who was, is, and will be." The word "Unity" in this article of faith does not affirm oneness in the absolute sense, i. e., a oneness to the exclusion of all others, but it connotes a compound unity for it is different from unity in the absolute sense, since there are millions of illustrations of unity in the absolute sense. Furthermore, Zohar, in commenting on Deut. 6:4, says, "Hear, oh Israel, Jehovah our God, Jehovah is One," saying, "Why is there need of mentioning the Name of God three times in this verse?" Then follows the answer, "The first Jehovah is the Father of all; the second is the Stem of Jesse, the Messiah, Who is to come from the family of Jesse through David; and the third One is the Way, Who is the Lord (meaning the Holy Spirit, Who shows us the way, as pointed out before), and these three are One." Likewise, Mr. Claude Montefiore, an eminent Hebrew, says, "I am well aware that in the purest and most philosophical presentation of the Christian doctrine of Trinity no infraction of the Divine Unity is intended. It will be needful for the Jewish theologians to consider anew the interpretation of the Trinity." |