The Messiah in Moses and the Prophets

by Eleazar Lord

In the progress of this war, the Devil and his angels, the Prince of the power of the air, with the principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world under him, has, from policy if not from necessity, kept concealed behind his instruments. But the heads and leaders of his visible partisans among men, whether in the abominations of heathenism, the enormities of idolatry, the wars and butcheries of nations, the tyrannies of government, the horrors of anarchy, the immolation of human victims, the persecution and slaughter of prophets and martyrs, or in the no less fatal systems of heresy, false theology, and false philosophy, have never scrupled or been backward to do the utmost he could wish in furtherance of his object. Many of them, like the Cerinthians, Marcionites, Valentinians, and other prevalent sects in the first ages of Christianity, ascribed to him the works of creation and providence; and there were not wanting such as worshipped him by name, and others under the designation of the Serpent; and still others who paid the highest honors to Cain, Judas, and similar characters, as his most conspicuous representatives.

The popular notion of idolatry, under the name of polytheism, as if it involved the supposition of a plurality of supreme deities, owes its influence, at least among those who read the English version of the Scriptures, to the fact that the translators rendered the designations of the god of the idolatrous system as plural, though in the Hebrew they are written in the singular number. Knowing that there was but one true God, they uniformly rendered Elohim as well as Elohe, when employed with reference to that Being, in the singular number; but when employed with reference to the rival usurper, the false god, their rendering is plural, gods; as if the molten images and numberless idols in other forms, instead of being all representative of one supposed deity, or being regarded as mediators, or representatives of mediators between them and him, were themselves so many independent deities. Thus, in Laban’s remonstrance with Jacob: “Wherefore hast thou stolen my Elohe?” rendered gods, and in Jacob’s answer: “With whomsoever thou findest thy Elohe,” rendered gods, the meaning plainly is, (though there seems to have been more than one image, teraphim-images, v. 34,) that which represents my Elohe. Gen. xxxi. 30-32. Again, Exod. xx. 1-23: “And Elohim spake all these words: I am Jehovah thy Elohe; thou shall have no other Elohim before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Ye shall not make with me Elohe of silver;” an Elohe, a god, rendered gods. “Neither shall ye make unto you Elohe of gold;” an Elohe, a molten image representative of me, rendered gods. “Against the Elohe of Egypt I will execute judgment.” Exod. xii. 12, rendered, “against all the gods of Egypt,” &c. “Thou shalt not bow down to their Elohe,” (Eng. gods.) “Ye shall serve Jehovah your Elohe,” (Eng. God.) Exod. xxiii. 24, 25. “Aaron made it a molten calf: and they said, This is thy Elohe, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” Exod. xxxii. 4, rendered, “These be thy gods, O Israel.” Undoubtedly the meaning is: This molten image is a visible token or representative of Jehovah thy Elohe—a visible mediator or medium of intercourse with thy Elohe, in place of Moses. So Jeroboam, having made two such images, two calves of gold, said: “Behold thy Elohe, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” 2 Kings xii. 28: rendered, Behold thy gods, O Israel. This usage characterizes the translation.

Besides the absurdity of supposing that the Israelites, with the revelation of the one Supreme Being by which they were distinguished, or that the heathen should admit the notion of a plurality of such beings, it is apparent from the nature of the case that the counterfeit of the true system must originally, in order to its success, have been a counterfeit in this, the first and most essential of all its particulars. The very nature of the antagonism, and the false system of mediation by which idolatry was sustained and rendered practically successful, required this. Even when Astarte, as Queen of heaven, was associated with Baal, it was only in a subordinate relation, as mediatrix, the moon being her shekina, and her office being the prototype of that of the Popish Mary; while Baal arrogated the prerogatives of Jehovah, and the sun as his shekina.

To this evil being, among others, the following designations are applied in the Hebrew Scriptures: Serpent, as in Gen. iii.: “Jehovah Elohim said unto the serpent, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.” Thee, the “tempter,” “the dragon, that old serpent which is the Devil and Satan.” Rev. xx. “The great dragon, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.” Rev. xii. The apostle expresses his fear “lest by any means” the false teachers should corrupt his converts, “as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety.” 2 Cor. xi. The original word, when not employed as a personal designation, is often rendered “enchantment, divination,” &c. Satan is commonly rendered adversary; but frequently Satan, as a personal designation of the Evil One, where his local agency is particularly mentioned, as Job i, and ii.; 1 Chron. xxi. 1; Zech. iii. 1, 2.

“By collecting all the passages where Satan or the Devil is mentioned, it may be observed that he fell from heaven, with all his company; that God cast him down from thence for the punishment of his pride; that by his envy and malice, sin, death, and all other evils came into the world; that by the permission of God he exercises a sort of government in the world over his subordinates, over apostate angels like himself; that God makes use of him to prove good men and chastise bad ones; that he is a lying spirit in the mouth of false prophets, seducers, and heretics; that it is he or some of his that torment or possess men; that inspire them with evil designs, as he did David, when he suggested to him to number his people; to Judas, to betray his Lord and Master, and to Ananias and Sapphira, to conceal the price of their field. That he roves full of rage, like a roaring lion, to tempt, to betray, to destroy us, and to involve us in guilt and wickedness. That his power and malice are restrained within certain limits, and controlled by the will of God. In a word, that he is an enemy to God and man, and uses his utmost endeavors to rob God of his glory and men of their souls.” “Devil—a most wicked angel, the implacable enemy and tempter of the human race. He is called Abaddon in Hebrew, Apollyon in Greek; that is, destroyer, Rev. ix. 11. Angel of the bottomless pit, Prince of the world, John xii. 31. Prince of darkness, Ephes. vi. 12. A roaring lion and an adversary, 1 Pet. v. 8. A sinner from the beginning, 1 John iii. 8. Beelzebub, Matt. xii. 24. Accuser, Rev. xii. 10. Belial, 2 Cor. vi. 15. Deceiver, Rev. xx. 10. Dragon, Rev. xii. 3. Liar, John viii. 44. Leviathan, Isa. xxvii. 7. Lucifer, Isa. xiv. 12. Murderer, John viii. 44. Serpent, Isa. xxvii. 1. Satan, Job ii. 6. Tormentor, Matt. xviii. 34. The god of this world, 2 Cor. iv. 4. He is compared to a dog, Ps. xxii. 16. Fowls, Matt. xiii. 4. A fowler, Ps. xci, 3. Lightning, Luke x. 18. Locusts, Rev. v. 3. A wolf, John x. 12. An adder, Ps. xci. 13. These names are given to the Prince of devils. Devil is put for, [1] Idols, Ps. cvi. 37; 2 Chron. xi. 15. [2] A wicked man, John vi. 70. [3] Persecutor, Rev. ii. 10.” Cruden’s Concordance, Art. “Satan and Devil.”

This fallen being was expressly worshipped in or through the form of the serpent, by the ancient Persians, under the name Ahriman; by the Egyptians, under that of Typhon; by the Greeks, under that of Python; and by the Syrians, Hindoos, Mexicans, and other nations, under different designations.

In Leviticus xvii. 7, Satan and his angels appear to be referred to under the word devils, where the children of Israel are commanded “to sprinkle the blood of animals slain by them on the altar of Jehovah, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and to burn the fat for a sweet savor unto Jehovah.” “And,” it is added as a reason of the command, “they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring.” Probably the images before which they thus offered sacrifices were those of goats, as the same word is often rendered goats. Again, 2 Chron. ii. 15, it is said of Jeroboam that “He ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made.” This may with propriety be rendered, “and for the devils, even for the calves,” the representatives of Satan which he had made. A different original word is rendered devils, Deut. xxxii. 17, where it is said that Israel “forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy, &c. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to Elohim whom they knew not.” The word here translated devils is often rendered spoiler, destroyer, destruction, &c. Doubtless the reference is to an intelligence beyond any visible image. The same word occurs, Ps. cvi. 36, 37: “They served their idols, which were a snare unto them; yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils.”

Since the existence of the fallen angels and of their prince and leader was known from the beginning; and that he was prince and leader also of the party of the human race which was at enmity with the true worshippers of Jehovah; and since they manifested their hostility chiefly in their false system of religion, it seems reasonable and even necessary to conclude that they followed and supported their leader in his rivalship, and regarded him, however represented by images, as the object of their worship, in opposition to Jehovah, the object, through sacrifices, of the homage of his worshippers. In this view of their conduct, it is easy to conceive that their serving and worshipping idols should provoke Jehovah to jealousy. They served and worshipped an antagonist, a rival.

Let the reader suppose himself to have been present as a disinterested spectator of the condition of the Hebrew Church in Egypt prior to the legation of Moses; to have witnessed their practice of the rites and forms of the patriarchal worship, in contrast with the idol worship of the Egyptians; to have witnessed instances, like that of Moses, of individuals “choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt;” to have heard their sighs and cries to God by reason of their bondage, and known that “God heard their groaning, and remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and looked upon the children of Israel, and had respect unto them;” and that the Messenger Jehovah said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people, and have heard their cry by reason of their task-masters; for I know their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians;” and further, to have known that they were familiar with the historical facts of the patriarchal history, and of the appearances of Jehovah in the form and under the designation of man to Abraham and to Jacob, and often visibly as the Messenger Jehovah; and that altars were erected, and sacrifices and prayers were offered to him in that form; and that he was customarily recognized and worshipped in that form, at places specially appropriated by him for that purpose, where he was to be invoked and acknowledged as Jehovah the Elohe of Abraham; and he will the more easily conceive, in some degree, of the enormity of the insult and provocation offered by the partisans of the rival counterfeit system, in erecting altars, offering sacrifices, and bowing themselves down before molten images as representatives of the great antagonist intelligence; or, as in the case of Aaron, Micah, Jeroboam and others, as representatives of Jehovah. If the reader suppose himself to have witnessed the appalling demonstrations against the false system, in the plagues of Egypt, at the Red Sea, at Mount Sinai, and in the wilderness, in connection with the visible presence, agency, and glory of the Messiah; or under a vivid impression of the reality and import of these scenes and wonders; to have been present at those periods and on those occasions when the defection of the Israelites to image and Baal worship was specially marked and signally punished, his impression of the nature of the antagonism, and the enormity of the provocation and insult, cannot fail to be heightened.

The apostle Paul, treating (Rom. i.) of the defection of men to idolatry, says, “they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things:” meaning, it is presumed, that they ascribed to the images of those creatures—which they made and served as representatives of the created intelligence whom they worshipped—the attributes, perfections, and prerogatives which he had conspicuously and gloriously manifested in his works of creation and providence. Whether the formation of such images was coëval with the earliest practice of idolatrous rites or not, may be a question. But in the selection of men, birds, and four-footed beasts as models of the forms of the images earliest employed in their idolatry, there is ground to presume that they copied or simulated the cherubic figures so familiar to the Israelites under the Levitical economy, and probably to the Church at all previous times, as a constituent of the instituted system of manifestation and instruction, from the appearance of the cherubim at the gate of Eden. That primeval appearance demonstrates that they were not borrowed from any institution or example of the idolaters; and in so capital a point as that of instituting representative images in their antagonist system, they would be sure to counterfeit, and to pervert from its office and meaning in the true system, whatever would serve the purpose of craft and deception. In respect to “creeping things,” they had in the serpent a prototype altogether their own, which, when the images previously mentioned had been adopted, and impiously consecrated to idolatry, might easily be brought into use.