The Messiah in Moses and the Prophets — Story, Setting & Ideas

The Angel of the Lord as a Test Case

Lord devotes considerable attention to the Hebrew phrase Melach Jehovah, which he argues is a clear designation of the Messiah as the official Legate of the Father. He contends that the Masoretic punctuation was deliberately adjusted to obscure this meaning, forcing the translation “an angel of the Lord” rather than “the Messenger of Jehovah.” He cites the Septuagint and Vulgate as witnesses to an earlier reading that recognized the phrase as referring to a divine person, not a created angel.

He points out that in every instance except Malachi 3, English translators rendered Melach as “angel,” a personal designation, rather than “messenger,” a name of office. This, he argues, leads the English reader to assume the reference is to one of many created angels, when the original context shows the figure speaking as Jehovah and receiving worship. Lord uses this as a key example of how translation choices can conceal the messianic identity he believes is present in the Hebrew text.

Rabbinical Interpretation and Textual Alteration

Lord engages directly with Jewish interpretive traditions, particularly the school represented by Kimchi, which regarded the Melach in the formula as “nothing more than one of the many angels” governing the lower world. He argues that this interpretation was a response to Christian claims and was reinforced by the Masoretic punctuation. He further alleges that rabbis “erased out several whole periods from the Septuagint translation” that foretold a crucified God-man, quoting a source (sect. 71) that lists these erased passages.

He traces a history of concealment: from Sadducean and Pharisaic infidelity at the time of the advent, through the stimulus of conversions to Christianity, to Mohammedan and pseudo-Christian persecution. Lord claims that the Masoretic text itself was altered to remove traces of Christian doctrine, and that English translators followed these alterations rather than the original sense. This argument is central to his case that the Hebrew Scriptures, properly understood, testify to the Messiah’s divinity and incarnation.

The Messiah as Jehovah and Redeemer of Israel

Lord cites specific passages to show that the one who led Israel out of Egypt is identified as Jehovah, and that the same figure later proclaims through Jeremiah: “Behold the days come, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, Jehovah liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, Jehovah liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north.” He reads this as a direct claim that the Messiah, as Jehovah, will gather Israel again.

He also lists the titles applied to the Christ in the Old Testament: God, Lord, Lord of Hosts, King, King of Israel, King of Glory, Angel or Messenger, Man, Captain of the Host. This catalog is drawn from his argument that the Hebrew oracles designate the same person under multiple names. Lord’s method is to accumulate such evidence from the text itself, rather than relying on later Christian doctrine, in order to persuade Jewish readers that their own Scriptures point to Jesus as the Messiah.

Lord’s work is a sustained argument from the Hebrew text itself, not a summary of Christian theology. Readers should attend to his detailed philological claims about the Masoretic punctuation and the rendering of Melach Jehovah, as these are the hinges of his case. The book is best approached as a nineteenth-century attempt to recover what Lord believed was the original messianic meaning of the Old Testament, one that challenges both Jewish interpretive traditions and the English translation tradition that followed them.

For years, I’ve kept Eleazar Lord’s 1853 volume close, marveling at how it traces the divine thread through every prophet—a quiet, stubborn consistency. It reminds me of another old friend, Sermons on the Scriptural Principles of our Protestant Church — Story, Setting & Ideas, which rests beside it. Together they whisper of roots, of ancient truths still gently holding their shape.