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God than a mere resemblance of a king sitting in CHAP. state, which was at that time visibly represented before him. For we must take notice of one thing, which is of some moment, that is, that when he saith, I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left, &c. the most learned Jews conceive that he saw the Shekinah with the angels of his attendance, and that this vision of Micaiah is the same which was shewed to Isaiah, chap. vi. and to some other prophets.

In the prophetical books of Isaiah and Ezekiel, there are two appearances of God, or of the Shekinah in his temple, which we are obliged to give some account of. And of these, as I shall shew, we have no reason to doubt, but that it was the Word that appeared to those prophets according to the sense of the ancient Jewish Church.

First for that in Isai. vi. 1, &c. the prophet saith, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high, and lifted up, and his train filled the temple; above it stood the cherubims, &c. crying one to another, and saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of thy glory.-And the house was filled with smoke. That this house was the temple is expressly said at the end of the first verse.

And

the smoke was the token of the Shekinah of God, with which the temple was filled now, as it was at his first entrance into it, 1 Kings viii. 10, 11. So that here, the Lord sitting upon his throne, was no other than God sitting upon his mercy-seat over the ark; that is, he was the Word of the Lord, according to the opinion of the ancient Jewish Church, as has been abundantly proved before in this chapter. Of which there are also some remains in their paraphrase; for whereas the prophet speaking still of the Lord whom he saw sitting on his throne, ver. 1. saith, ver. 8. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? the Targum

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CHAP. thus renders it, I heard the voice of the Word of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? We Christians need not thank them for this, being fully assured, as we are by what the Apostle saith, John xii. 41. that this was no other than our Lord Jesus Christ. For there the Apostle having quoted the words that Isaiah heard from the Lord that spoke to him, Isai. vi. 9, 10. tells us, These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory, and spoke of him. That the Apostle here speaks of the Word made flesh, it is clear See Plac. enough from the text. But besides, it has been proved by our writers beyond all contradiction.

lib. ii. Dis

put. 1.

In like manner that which the prophet Ezekiel saw, was an appearance of God, represented to him as a man sitting on a throne of glory, Ezek. i. 26, 27, 28. x. 1. which throne was then upon wheels, after the manner of a sella curulis. These were living wheels, animated and supported by cherubims, i. 21. each of which had four faces, i. 6. such as were carved on the walls of the temple, xli. 19. In short, that which Ezekiel saw, though he was then in Chaldea, was nothing else but the appearance of God as yet dwelling in his temple at Jerusalem; but quite weary of it, and now about to remove, and to leave his dwelling-place to be destroyed by the Chaldeans. To shew that this was the meaning of it, he saw this glorious appearance of God, first, in his place, iii. 12. i. e. on the mercy-seat, in the temple, ix. 3. Next, he saw him gone from his place, to the threshold of the house. Judges use to give judgment in the gate; so there over the threshold of his house God gave sentence against his rebellious people, ver. 5, 6, 7. Afterwards, from the threshold of the house, x. 4. the prophet saw the glory departed yet farther, and mounted up from the earth over the midst of the city, x. 18, 19. And lastly, he saw it go from thence, and stand upon the mountain on the east side of the city, xi. 23. that is, on mount Olivet, which is before Jerusalem on

XV.

the east, Zech. xiv. 4. and so the Targum has it on CHAP. this place. After this departure of the Divine presence, Ezekiel saw his forsaken temple and city destroyed, and his people carried away into captivity, xxxiii. 21, &c. After this he saw no more appearance of God, till his people's return from his captivity; and then, the temple being rebuilt according to the measures given from God, xl. xli. xlii. the prophet could not but expect that God would return to it as of old. So he saw it come to pass in his vision, xliii. 2. Behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, (where the prophet saw it last, at mount Olivet.) So again, ver. 4. The glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. And ver. 5. Behold the glory of the Lord filled the house. So again, xliv. 4. It filled the house now, as it had done in Solomon's time, 1 Kings viii. 11. All along in this prophecy of Ezekiel, there was but one person that appeared, from the beginning to the end. In the beginning of this prophecy, it was God that appeared in his temple over the cherubims; and there we find him again at the end of this prophecy. But that it was no other but the Word that so appeared in the temple, according to the sense of the ancient Jewish Church, has been proved so fully out of their Targums elsewhere, that we need not trouble ourselves about that any farther, though we cannot find it in the Targum on this book.

In the books of Chronicles there is nothing remarkable of this kind, but what has been considered already, in the account that we have given of the Divine appearances in the books of Kings. And there is no mention made of any such appearance in any of the other books that were written after the Babylonian captivity, except in the books of Daniel and Zechariah. Of Daniel the Jews have not given us any Targum, therefore we have nothing to say of that book. They have given us a Targum, such as

CHAP. it is, of the book of Zechariah, which is the last we have to consider.

XV.

In this book of Zechariah we read of three angels that appeared to the prophet. The first appeared to him as a man, i. 8, 10. but is called an angel, ver. 9. in Zechary's words, the angel that talked with me: by which title he is often distinguished from all others in the same book, i. 13, 14, 19. ii. 3. v. 5, 6. vi. 4. A second angel appeared to him also as a man with a measuring line in his hand, ii. 1. But whosoever compares this text with Ezek. xl. 3, 4, 5, &c. will find that this, who appeared as a man, was truly an angel of God. Next, the first angel going forth from the place where he appeared, ii. 3. another angel comes to meet him, and bids him, Run, speak to this young man, (whether to the angel surveyor, or whether to Zechary himself,) and tell him, Jerusalem shall be inhabited, &c. ii. 4. He that commands another should be his superior. And yet this superior owns himself sent from God. But he owned it in such terms as shewed that he was God himself. This the reader will see more than once in his speech, which is continued from ver. 4. to the end of the chapter. It appears especially in ver. 8, 9, 11. of this chapter. First, in ver. 5. having declared what God would do for Jerusalem, in these words, according to the Targum, The Lord hath said, My Word shall be a wall of fire about her, and After the my glory will I place in the midst of her; he goes Shekinah on to ver. 8. and there he delivers a message from being re- God to his people, in these words; Thus saith the the temple, Lord of hosts, After the glory * hath he sent me to when that the nations that spoiled you, &c. Here the sense is they should ambiguous; for it seems strange that the Lord of soon after hosts should say, another hath sent me. But so it itself taken, is again, and much clearer expressed, în ver. 9. where and spoiled he saith, Behold, I will shake hand my upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants. This none but God could say: but he addeth in the next

glory of his

turned into

was rebuilt,

see Babylon

by their ancient ser

vants the Persians.

XV.

words, And ye shall know that the Lord of hosts CHAP. hath sent me; which words plainly shew that, though he styled himself God, yet he came as a messenger from God. This is plainer yet, ver. 11. where he saith, Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, (thee, O Zion, ver. Thee, 10.) This again none but God could say: and yet Thee, are it followeth, Thou (O Zion) shalt know that the all femiLord of hosts hath sent me to thee, (O Zion.) the He Here are plainly two persons called by the name brew, and of Jehovah; namely, one that sends, and another all three that is sent; so that this second Person is God, and refer to yet he is also the messenger of God.

Thou,

nines in

therefore

Zion.

So likewise in the next chapter, ver. 1. the angel that used to talk with the prophet shewed him Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing over against Joshua as his adversary. And ver. 2. the prophet hears the Lord say unto Satan twice over, The Lord rebuke thee, for being so maliciously bent against Joshua, that was come out of the captivity as a brand plucked out of the fire. He that was called the Angel, ver. 1. is here called the Lord, ver. 2. and this Lord intercedes with the Lord for his protecting Joshua against Satan. That which gave the Devil advantage against Joshua was his sins; which, as the Targum saith, were the marriages of his sons to strange wives. His sins, whatsoever they were, are here called filthy garments; and Joshua standing in these before the angel, ver. 3, 4. the angel commands them that stood about him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. Here again, by commanding the angels, he sheweth himself their superior. Afterwards, when the filthy garments were taken off, this Angel saith to Joshua, Behold, I ↑ have caused thy iniquity to pass from thee; words, which, if a man had said them to another, the Jews would have accounted it blasphemy, Matt. ix. 2, 3.