er. 7, does not allow
us to doubt of the identity of him who appeared on these two occasions.
But such an idea cannot be entertained for a moment; for in chap.
xxviii. 13, Jehovah is contrasted with the angels ascending and
descending on the ladder.

[Pg 125]

In Gen. xlviii. 15, 16, we read of Jacob: "_And he blessed Joseph, and
said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, and
the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which
redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads._"

In this passage, God first appears, twice in the indefiniteness of His
nature, and then, specially, as the Angel concerned for Jacob and his
posterity.

By the Angel, we cannot here understand a divine emanation and
messenger, because no permanent character belongs to such; while here
the whole sum of the preservations of Jacob, and of the blessings upon
Ephraim and Manasseh, is derived from the Angel. And just as little can
we thereby understand a created angel, according to the view of
_Hofmann_, who, in S. 87, says: "Jacob here makes mention of God, not
thrice, but twice only; first as the God of his fathers, and then as
the God of his own experience, but in such a way that in ver. 16 he
names, instead of God, the Angel who watched over him; and he does so
for the purpose of denoting the special providence of which he had been
the object."

The analogy of the threefold blessing of Aaron in Num. vi. 24-26 would
lead us to expect that the name of God should be three times mentioned.
No created angel could in this manner be placed by the side of God, or
be introduced as being independent of, and co-ordinate with, Him. Such
an angel can only be meant as is connected with God by oneness of
nature, and whose activity is implied in that of God. The singular
[Hebrew: ibrK] is here of very special significance. It indicates that
the Angel is joined to God by an inseparable oneness, and that his
territory is just as wide as that of Elohim.[1] If by the angel we
understand some created one, we cannot then avoid the startling
inference, that God is, in all His manifestations, bound [Pg 126]
absolutely to the mediation of the lower angels. In the history upon
which Jacob looks back, the inferior angels do not appear at all as
taking any part in all the preservations of Jacob. Twice only are they
mentioned in his whole history,--in chap. xxviii. 12, and xxxii. 2.
_Lastly_,--The angel cannot well be a collective noun;