1Ch 21:15 | KD | STEP | ליר מלאך האלהים ויּשׁלח, “And God sent an angel towards Jerusalem,” gives no suitable sense. Not because of the improbability that God sent the angel with the commission to destroy Jerusalem, and at the same moment gives the contrary command, “Stay now,” etc. (Berth.); for the reason of this change is given in the intermediate clause, “and at the time of the destroying the Lord repented it,” and command and prohibition are not given “at the same moment;” but the difficulty lies in the indefinite מלאך (without the article). For since the angel of Jahve is mentioned in as the bringer of the pestilence, in our verse, if it treats of the sending of this angel to execute the judgment spoken of, המּלאך must necessarily be used, or המּלאך את המּלא, as in ; the indefinite מלאך can by no means be used for it. In we read, instead of the words in question, יר המּלאך ידו ויּשׁלח, “and the angel stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem;” and Bertheau thinks that the reading האלהים (in the Chron.) has arisen out of that, by the letters ידו ה being exchanged for יהוה, and אלהים being substituted for this divine name, as is often the case in the Chronicle; while Movers, S. 91, on the contrary, considers the reading of the Chronicle to be original, and would read יהוה ישׁלח in Samuel. But in that way Movers leaves the omission of the article before מלאך in the Chronicle unexplained; and Bertheau’s conjecture is opposed by the improbability of such a misunderstanding of a phrase so frequent and so unmistakeable as ידו ישׁלח, as would lead to the exchange supposed, ever occurring. But besides that, in Samuel the simple המּלאך is strange, for the angel has not been spoken of there at all before, and the lxx have consequently explained the somewhat obscure המּלאך by ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ Θεοῦ. This explanation suggests the way in which the reading of our text arose. The author of the Chronicle, although he had already made mention of the יהוה מלאך in , wrote in האלהים מלאך האלהי ויּשׁלח, “the angel of God stretched (his hand) out towards Jerusalem,” using האלהים instead of יהוה, - as, for example, in Jdg 6:20, Jdg 6:22; Jdg 13:6, Jdg 13:9, and Jdg 13:13, Jdg 13:15, Jdg 13:17. האלהים מלאך alternates with יהוה מלאך, and omitting ידו with ישׁלח, as is often done, e.g., ; , etc. By a copyist מלאך and האלהים have been transposed, and מלאך was then taken by the Masoretes for an accusative, and pointed accordingly. The expression is made clearer by וּכהשׁחית, “And as he destroyed, Jahve saw, and it repented Him of the evil.” The idea is: Just as the angel had begun to destroy Jerusalem, it repented God. רב, adverb, “enough,” as in 1Ki 19:4, etc., with a dativ commodi , , etc. Bertheau has incorrectly denied this meaning of the word, connecting רב with בּעם in , and desiring to alter our text to make it conform to that. In 2nd Samuel also רב is an adverb, as Thenius also acknowledges.

‏ 1 Chronicles 21:15

1Ch 21:15 ליר מלאך האלהים ויּשׁלח, “And God sent an angel towards Jerusalem,” gives no suitable sense. Not because of the improbability that God sent the angel with the commission to destroy Jerusalem, and at the same moment gives the contrary command, “Stay now,” etc. (Berth.); for the reason of this change is given in the intermediate clause, “and at the time of the destroying the Lord repented it,” and command and prohibition are not given “at the same moment;” but the difficulty lies in the indefinite מלאך (without the article). For since the angel of Jahve is mentioned in 1Ch 21:12 as the bringer of the pestilence, in our verse, if it treats of the sending of this angel to execute the judgment spoken of, המּלאך must necessarily be used, or המּלאך את המּלא, as in 1Ch 21:16; the indefinite מלאך can by no means be used for it. In 2Sa 24:16 we read, instead of the words in question, יר המּלאך ידו ויּשׁלח, “and the angel stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem;” and Bertheau thinks that the reading האלהים (in the Chron.) has arisen out of that, by the letters ידו ה being exchanged for יהוה, and אלהים being substituted for this divine name, as is often the case in the Chronicle; while Movers, S. 91, on the contrary, considers the reading of the Chronicle to be original, and would read יהוה ישׁלח in Samuel. But in that way Movers leaves the omission of the article before מלאך in the Chronicle unexplained; and Bertheau’s conjecture is opposed by the improbability of such a misunderstanding of a phrase so frequent and so unmistakeable as ידו ישׁלח, as would lead to the exchange supposed, ever occurring. But besides that, in Samuel the simple המּלאך is strange, for the angel has not been spoken of there at all before, and the lxx have consequently explained the somewhat obscure המּלאך by ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ Θεοῦ. This explanation suggests the way in which the reading of our text arose. The author of the Chronicle, although he had already made mention of the יהוה מלאך in 1Ch 21:12, wrote in 1Ch 21:15 האלהים מלאך האלהי ויּשׁלח, “the angel of God stretched (his hand) out towards Jerusalem,” using האלהים instead of יהוה, - as, for example, in Jdg 6:20, Jdg 6:22; Jdg 13:6, Jdg 13:9, and Jdg 13:13, Jdg 13:15, Jdg 13:17. האלהים מלאך alternates with יהוה מלאך, and omitting ידו with ישׁלח, as is often done, e.g., 2Sa 6:6; Psa 18:17, etc. By a copyist מלאך and האלהים have been transposed, and מלאך was then taken by the Masoretes for an accusative, and pointed accordingly. The expression is made clearer by וּכהשׁחית, “And as he destroyed, Jahve saw, and it repented Him of the evil.” The idea is: Just as the angel had begun to destroy Jerusalem, it repented God. רב, adverb, “enough,” as in 1Ki 19:4, etc., with a dativ commodi, Deu 1:6, etc. Bertheau has incorrectly denied this meaning of the word, connecting רב with בּעם in 2Sa 24:16, and desiring to alter our text to make it conform to that. In 2nd Samuel also רב is an adverb, as Thenius also acknowledges.