Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/45

 prophet does not address this angel as Adonai, " my Lord " a Divine title addressed to the Angel of Jehovah, as, for instance, in Gen. xviii. 3 but adoni, " my lord," which may be addressed to man, or any created being.

(2) This angel promises to show or explain to the prophet the meaning of the vision. Now, in the next verse the explanation is given by the Angel of Jehovah, therefore it is urged by some that they are the same. But the word arekka, translated " I will show thee," literally means, " I will make thee see," that is, " give thee an under standing heart and mind to understand the visions and explanations which follow." Indeed, the very designation of this Angel as the One " that talked in me " seems meant, as Pusey well points out, to convey the thought of an inward speaking, " whereby the words should be borne directly into the soul without the intervention of the ordinary outward organs." An example as to how the interpreting Angel prepared the heart and mind of the prophet to behold and to understand the visions, we have in chap. iv. I, namely, by waking him out of his ordinary condition into a spiritually ecstatic one, and preparing his heart and mind subjectively for the objects presented to him in the visions, and for the explanations which should be given.

(3) In ver. 1 2 the Malakh Yehovah offers a supplication to God on behalf of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and in the next verse the answer is given to the interpreting angel; therefore, it is argued, they must be the same. But to this it may be replied that the answer is addressed to this angel because the Angel of Jehovah asked the question, " How long? " not for himself, but that the consolation contained in the answer may through the interpreting angel be communicated to the prophet, and through the prophet to the people.