Whatever impression or inference may result from this usage to the English
reader, or to the Israelite who reads the original under the same views
which influenced the translation, it is by no means probable that either
of them would infer, or be struck with the impression, that _Adonai_ was a
distinctive and familiar title of the delegated One, the Messiah, of
correlative and equivalent significance as a Divine designation with those
with which it is indifferently and interchangeably employed. For the
further illustration of this point, therefore, the following passages are
cited:
In Gen. xviii., we read that Jehovah appeared visibly to Abraham in the
likeness of man, _i. e._, in the delegated official Person, Messiah. In
what is related in the narrative as having been said or done by him,
while visibly present, he is called Jehovah, while Abraham, in speaking
to him, uniformly calls him Adonai, prays to him as having power to save
the righteous in Sodom, and addresses him as Judge of all the earth. It
is therefore manifest that the two designations, Jehovah and Adonai,
identify the same Person; that Abraham speaks to him as visibly present;
and that his visible presence in the likeness of man determines him to
have been the delegated One. At the close of their interview, "Jehovah
went his way, and Abraham returned to his place."
When the personal WORD came to Abram, Gen. xv., saying, Fear not, I am thy
shield, &c., Abram, replying, verse 2, calls him Adonai Jehovah, and also
in verse 8; while in verses 4, 6, 7, and 18, he calls him Jehovah.
Instances like that in chap. xviii., and others, would seem to indicate
that in cases of local visible manifestation of the personal Word,
designations specially appropriate to his official character and agency
were suggested to the minds of the beholders. Thus Moses, Exod, iv. 10,
"said unto Jehovah, O Adonai." The Person whom he addressed was the
Messenger Jehovah, who had appeared to him. Again, verse 13, he says: "O
Adonai." In other parts of that chapter, the same Person is called
Jehovah, Elohim, and Elohe. In Moses' song, chap. xv. 17, Jehovah (that
is, the Messenger) and the Adonai are addressed as the same Person: "Thou
shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance;
in the place, O Jehovah, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in; in the
sanctuary, O Adonai, which thy hands have established." So, chap. xxxiv.,
when Jehovah (the Messenger) descended and manifested the glory of his
Person to Moses, and proclaimed himself Jehovah as he passed by, Moses
bowed and worshipped; and he said: "If now I have found grace in thy
sight, O Adonai, let Adonai, I pray thee, go among us." In like manner,
Deut. iii. 23, 24, Moses, praying to Jehovah, addresses the Adonai: "And I
besought Jehovah at that time, saying, O Adonai Jehovah.... I pray thee
let me go over and see the good land." Also, chap. ix. 26: "I prayed
therefore unto Jehovah, and said, O Adonai Jehovah, destroy not thy
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