M4 THE GLOAT OF CHRIST AS GOD-MAN. place ? And why should it be expressed that he fled from the presence of the Lord, unless God had manifested some visible :presence to him ? Yet on the other hand when I read : Micah i. 1. 00 The word ofthe Lord which came to Micah, which he saw concerning .Samaria and Jerusalem;" and when I read also ; Amos i. 1. " The words of Amos which he saw concerning Israel ;" I sin a little inclined to think that this expression in Jonah might be an Hebrew idiom of speech among the prophets, attributing a sort of visible presence metaphorically to the word or words of God which came to them by inward inspiration, or perhaps by a voice : or it may be, the things themselves which they fore- told, were represented to their imagination, and on this ac- count the word or words of God may be represented as visible. But I leave this matter as a point of difficulty not sufficientlyde- termined. Zech. i. 7. "In the second year of Darius came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, saying ; verse 8. I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood amongst the myrtle trees, and behind himwere red horses speckled and white. Verse 9. Then said I, O my Lord, what are these ? And the angel that talkedwith me said, I will spew thee what these be. Verse 10. Andthe man' that stood among the myrtle trees said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to `walk to and fro through the earth. Verse 11. And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold all the earth sitteth-still, and is at rest. Verse 12. Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thounot have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years ? Verse 13. And the Lord, that is Jehovah, answered the angel thattalked.witl} me with good words and comfortable words. Verse 14. So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I am jealous for Jerusalem, &c. Hereobserve this angel of the Lord which stood among the myrtle trees had the form of a man, ver. 8. and is not called Jehovah i He seems to be our blessed Sa- viour interceding for Jerusalem ; for we do not find common angels introduced as intercessors in scripture ; there is but one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And the Lord, or Jehovah, answered him comfortably. Perhapsthis answer of the Lord, or Jehovah, was a voice without any figure or appearance. But after all, it is difficult precisely to represent this whole scene, and to adjust every part of these transactions: There seems to us to be some confusion in it, for want of know- ing the various ways and methods of God's discovery-of himself and Lis mind to the prophets.
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