Again, chap. xvii. 1: "Jehovah _appeared_ to Abram, and said unto him, I am El-Shadai; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And Abram fell on his face; and Elohim talked with him, saying," &c. After changing his name to Abraham, and that of his wife to Sarah, announcing a covenant with him, hearing his prayer for Ishmael, and giving sundry promises and directions, "Elohim left off talking with him, and _went up_ from Abraham." The language, and all the circumstances and details of this interview, imply a local, personal, visible presence of Jehovah. The next instance, chap. xviii., is that in which "Jehovah _appeared_ to Abraham in the plains of Mamre," in the likeness of man; was entertained by him, walked and conversed with, and heard his requests in behalf of the righteous in Sodom: which undoubtedly was a local, visible, personal appearance of Jehovah the Word. In the 26th chapter we read that Isaac went to Gerar, "And Jehovah _appeared_ unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt," &c. Afterwards he removed to Beersheba, "And Jehovah _appeared_ unto him, and said, I am the Elohe of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee," &c. "And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of Jehovah, and pitched his tent there." At these interviews the same promises substantially respecting his descendants were made to him, that had been made to Abraham, with the same introductory formula concerning the appearance of the Divine speaker; and considering that Isaac built an altar and fixed his residence at Beersheba, worshipped, doubtless presenting typical offerings on the altar, and consecrating that as the place of his future worship in the confidence of its being thereafter a place of Divine manifestation, there seems to be very ample ground to conclude that these were local, personal, and visible appearances, similar in their form, as they were in their object, to those vouchsafed to Abraham. The first instance to be noticed in the history of Jacob, is referred to in chap. xlviii. 3: "And Jacob said unto Joseph, El-Shadai _appeared_ unto me at Luz, and blessed me," &c. The occasion was that of his vision of a ladder: "And Jehovah stood above it and said, I am Jehovah Elohe of Abraham;" see chap. xxviii. Subsequently, chap. xxxv., he was directed to return and reside at that place. "Elohim said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and make there an altar unto El, that _appeared_ unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-Beth-El; because there (the) Elohim _appeared_ unto him, when he fled," &c. The repetition of the word _appeared_ in these passages, its implied significance as a reason for building an altar, the occasion referred to, and the object of speaking of it to Joseph, indicate a memorable personal, visible appearance at the place specified.