s_: "Thou thyself
be present, not some commander only"); and in Deut. iv. 37, where
[Hebrew: bpniv] means _in_, or _with_, _his personal presence_: "He
[Pg 128] brought them out with His face, with His mighty power out of
Egypt."

The state of things has in xxxiii. 14, 15, evidently become again what
it was in xxiii. 20, 21. 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.

The connection between the face of the Lord in xxxiii. 14, 15, and the
Angel in whom is the name of the Lord, in xxiii., becomes still more
evident by Is. lxiii. 8, 9: "And He (Jehovah) became their Saviour. In
all their affliction (they were) not afflicted, and the Angel of His
face saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them, and He
bore and carried them all the days of old." The Angel of the face, in
this text, is an expression which, by its very darkness, points back to
some fundamental passage--a passage, too, in the Pentateuch--as facts
are alluded to, of which the authentic report is given in that book.
The expression, "Angel of the face," arose from a combination of Exod.
xxiii. 20--from which the "Angel" is taken--and Exod. xxxiii. 14,
whence he took the "face." To explain "Angel of the face" by "the angel
who sees His face," as several have done, would give an inadequate
meaning; for by the whole context, an expression is demanded which
would elevate the angel to the height of God. Now, as in Exod. xxxiii.
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
appeal's personally, in contrast with inferior created angels. The
Angel of the face is the Angel in whom is the name of the Lord.

* * * * *

When Joshua was standing with the army before Jericho, in a state of
despondency at the sight of the strongly fortified city, a man appeared
to him, with his sword drawn; and when he was asked by Joshua, "Art
thou for us or for our adversaries?" he answers, in chap. v. 14, "Nay,
for I am the Captain of the host of Jehovah, [Hebrew: wr cba ihvh], now
I have come." This Captain claims for himself divine honour, in ver.
15, precisely in the same manner as the Angel of Jehovah in Exod. iii.,
by commanding [Pg 129] Joshua to put off his shoes, b