"Now Samuel did not yet know Jehovah, neither was _Dabar_ Jehovah yet revealed unto him." 1 Sam. iii. 7. No manifestation of the Personal Word had been made to him. "And Jehovah _appeared_ again in Shiloh: for Jehovah revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by _Dabar_ Jehovah." Ibid. v. 21. "Then came _Dabar_ Jehovah to Samuel, saying, It repenteth me, &c." Ibid. xv. 10. "It was charged me by _Dabar_ Jehovah.... It was said to me by _Dabar_ Jehovah." 1 Kings xiii. 9, 17. "And Elijah came to a cave and lodged there; and behold, _Dabar_ Jehovah came to him, and _he_ said unto him, What dost thou here, Elijah?... And _he_ said, Go forth and stand upon the mount _before_ Jehovah. And behold, Jehovah _passed_ by." 1 Kings xix. 9, 11. "_Dabar_ Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying, Before I formed thee, I knew thee.... Then said I, Ah, Adonai Jehovah! behold I cannot speak.... Then Jehovah put forth _his hand_ and touched my mouth.... Moreover, _Dabar_ Jehovah _came_ unto me, saying, [or, and said,] What seest thou?... And _Dabar_ Jehovah came unto me the second time," &c. Jer. i. Such are some of the instances in which this term appears to be employed as a personal designation. The meaning and reference of such use of it appear to have been familiar both to the earlier and later Jews. See the chapters relating to the Chaldee Paraphrases. CHAPTER III. Reasons for rendering the formula, "Melach Jehovah," the Messenger (who is) Jehovah; and not _the_ Angel, or _an_ Angel _of_ the Lord. An examination of the numerous passages in which the denominative _Melach_ is coupled with the name Jehovah, or Elohim, or used interchangeably with those names, renders it conclusively manifest that in each and every instance the reference is to one and the same official Person. This, however, is not entirely obvious from our common version, owing to the circumstance that the translators rendered the formula, Melach Jehovah, _the_ angel, or sometimes _an_ angel _of_ the Lord. The word Jehovah, in the original, never has the article; nor the word Melach, when coupled with Jehovah, though when employed alone to designate the same official Person, the article is sometimes prefixed, as in Gen. xlviii. 16: "_The_ Melach, which redeemed me." The word Elohim often has the article, and retains it in most of the instances in which the formula Melach Elohim occurs, requiring it to be read, Melach _the_, or who is _the_, Elohim. See some twelve instances in the book of Ezra, and more than twenty in Nehemiah, where there was a special occasion to distinguish the true from the false God. In the formula, Melach Jehovah, there is nothing in the original to forbid the two words being considered as in apposition, and the rendering consequently _the Messenger Jehovah_, or the Messenger who is Jehovah. And that such should be the rendering, instead of the angel or messenger _of_ Jehovah, is apparent from the following considerations: