And the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel,.... "A man, a prophet" , as in the Hebrew text, not an angel, but a man; and this not Phinehas, as say some Jewish writers ; for it is not probable he should live so long as more than two hundred years; and had he been living, it is very much he should not have been heard of in the times of the preceding judges, and that he was not made use of before now to reprove the people for their sins; but who the prophet was we have no account now nor hereafter, here or elsewhere.
Abarbinel supposes he was raised up for a short time:which said unto them, thus saith the Lord God of Israel; he came in the name of the Lord, and using the form and manner of speech the prophets of Israel did, putting them in mind of the true God they had forgot, and who yet was their Lord and God:I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; reminding them of the benefits they received from God, and the obligations they lay under to serve him, who, when they were bond slaves in Egypt, he appeared for them, and brought them out of their miserable condition.
aybn vya "virum prophetam", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 20. p.