After the glory hath he sent me. After glory (there is no article in the original), i.e. to win honour, hath Jehovah sent me—the superior angel who speaks. As the words, "thus saith the Lord," precede, we should have expected, "have I sent thee," but such change of persons, and indirect address, are common in Hebrew (comp.
Zechariah 14:5). The angel is sent to get glory over the heathen by taking vengeance on them (comp. Exodus 14:18). Such judgments are often represented to be inflicted by angelic agency (Genesis 19:13; 2 Kings 19:35; Ezekiel 9:1-11.
) The apple of his eye. The language is human. Israel is very precious to God; and they who vex and harass him are as they who hurt that which God prizes inestimably, and which a mere touch offends and injures.
The word rendered "apple" is usually considered in mean "aperture," or "gate," the pupil being the entrance to the visual organ; but Dr. Wright regards it rather as a natural word of endearment, like the Latin, pupa, pupilla, indicating "a doll," "little maiden of the eye."
Similar, though not identical, expressions occur in Deuteronomy 32:10; Proverbs 7:2; Psalms 17:8.