Abury

DESCRIBED.

Would it be probable that the divine historian Moses would have been so careful to commemorate an era so disagreeable? Or for what purpose would he do so, even before he had mentioned any public form of true religion? The very wording of that verse signifies something very remarkable which he was going to declare: "And to Seth, to him also there was born a son, and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord original: "Jehovah"."

In understanding this verse correctly, we must certainly affirm that Moses intended by this to assert the practice of public religion. This necessarily includes two things: the origin of temples and the observance of the Sabbath. In all public actions, time and place are equally necessary. In the generation or days of Enos, the grandson of Adam, when mankind had multiplied into distinct families, the public worship of God was introduced in places set apart for that purpose and on Sabbath days, in addition to private and family devotion. Public worship necessarily implies all of this.

Many great authorities confirm this understanding of the text, as does the reason of the matter itself. These include the Targum an ancient Aramaic translation or paraphrase of the Hebrew Bible of Onkelos, Aquila's translation, Rabbi Elieser in Maase Bereschit XXII, Rabbi Solomon Jarchi, the Chaldee paraphrast, Vossius in his commentary on Maimonides regarding idolatry original: "de idolatria", and very many more who would be tedious to list.

If we test this passage against other similar expressions in Scripture, we find it amounts to the same thing. Genesis 12:8 says, "Abraham built an altar unto the Lord original: "Jehovah", and called upon the name of the Lord." This is how it ought to be translated. This was the second altar he built in Canaan, being the second place he settled at, near Bethel. In the preceding verse, we have an account of his first settling at Sichem, and of the Lord appearing to him personally and conversing with him, and of his building an altar to that Lord who appeared to him. I think there is so little difficulty in this that it is unnecessary to multiply authorities or arguments, yet its importance demanded this much explanation.

Here, three things appear most evidently:
1. Jehovah was that person—the deity—who appeared visibly and spoke with the patriarchs, rather than the invisible Supreme Being.
2. Abraham erected an altar to this divine person, Jehovah, worshipped him, and called upon his name. Whom did he invoke? He prayed to the Supreme Being in the name, virtue, effect, and merit of Jehovah, the mediatorial deity a deity acting as an intermediary or mediator.
3. The "NAME" in these passages of Scripture refers to the mediatorial Jehovah by name: The God who Manifested original: 'Ο Θεοσ Επίφανης; translated as "The God who appeared personally" to the patriarchs. He was the king of the Mosaic dispensation the religious system established through Moses and of the Jewish people, called the Anointed or Messiah (1 Samuel 2:10, 35). He was the captain of the Israelites who conducted them from Egypt to Canaan (Exodus 23:20); the royal angel, the king, the emperor. He is the Angel of His Presence (Isaiah 63:9), the Angel of the Covenant (Malachi 3:1), and the Angelic King original: "Melech Jehovah" (Zechariah 3:1, 2, 3, 4).

He is truly God, for the Supreme Being says in the previously quoted passage in Exodus: "Behold, I send an angel before you (it ought to be read as the angel) to keep you in the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him and obey his voice; do not provoke him, for he will not pardon your transgressions; for my NAME is in him." Joshua uses this same way of speaking in Joshua 24:19: "You cannot serve the Lord; for he is a holy deity, he is a jealous God, he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins." The Jews confess this doctrine to be correct. Rabbi Hadarsan, commenting on the passage in Zephaniah 3:9 about calling upon the name of the Lord, says that this Lord is no other than the Messiah.