ion, a special reason
for thinking here of the Angel of the Lord. This is afforded to us by
the ninth chapter of Ezekiel, which must be considered, throughout, as
a further expansion of the verse under consideration, and as the oldest
and most trustworthy commentary upon it. In that chapter, there appear
(at the command of the Lord who is about to avenge the apostasy of His
people) the servants of His justice--six in number--and in the midst of
them, "a man clothed with linen;"--the former, with instruments of
destruction; the latter, with writing materials. They step (the scene
is in the temple) by the side of the brazen altar. Thither there comes
to them out of the holy of holies, to the threshold of the temple, the
glory of the Lord, and gives to Him who is clothed with linen the
commission to preserve the faithful, while the others receive a
commission to destroy the ungodly, without mercy. But now, Who is the
man clothed in linen? None other than the Angel of the Lord. This
appears from Daniel x. 5, xii. 6, 7, where Michael = the Angel of the
Lord (compare _Dissertations on the Genuineness of Daniel_, p. 135 ff.)
is designated in the same way,--a remarkable coincidence in these two
contemporary prophets, to which we omitted to direct attention in our
work on Daniel. It is _further_ evident from the subject itself. The
dress is that of the earthly high priest (_Theodoret_ remarks: "The
dress of the seventh is that of the high priest, for he was not
one of the destroyers, but the redeemer of those who were worthy of
salvation"); compare Lev. xvi. 4, 23. It is especially from the former
of these passages that the plural [Hebrew: bdiM] is to be accounted
for. According to it, the various parts [Pg 365] of the high priest's
dress are of linen. But the heavenly Mediator, High Priest, and
Intercessor, is the Angel of the Lord; compare, _e.g._, Zech. i. 12,
where He makes intercession for the Covenant-people, and the Lord
answers Him with good and comfortable words. Concerning the earthly
high priest as a type of Christ, and hence a type of the Angel of the
Lord, compare the remarks on Zech. iii. But we must not imagine that He
who is clothed with linen is commissioned solely for the work of
delivering the godly, and hence stands contrasted with the six
ministers of justice. On the contrary, these are rather to be
considered as being subordinate to Him, as carrying out the work of
destruction only by His command and authori