Chapter XXIII: 1-8 (3)

[Hebrew: ki] is, by some interpreters, here supposed to mean "but;" so much, only, however, is correct that "but" might _also_ have been put; _for_ is here quite in its place. The words: "Not as the covenant," &c., in the preceding verse, are here vindicated, and expanded by a positive definition of the nature and substance of the New Covenant. It is just because it is of such a nature, that it is not like the former covenant. [Hebrew: hhM] does not, by any means, as is erroneously supposed by _Venema_ and _Hitzig_, refer to the days mentioned in ver. 31, in which the New Covenant was to be made. "These days," on the contrary, are a designation of the Present; "after these days," equivalent to [Hebrew: bahrit himiM] "at the end of days." The Prophet so repeatedly and emphatically points to the Future, because unbelief and weak faith imagined that, with the Present, the history of the covenant-people was finished, and that no Future was in store for them. _Calvin_ pertinently remarks: "It is just as if the Prophet had said, that the grace of which he was prophesying could not be apprehended, unless they, believers, kept their minds composed, and patiently waited until the [Pg 437] time of the promised salvation had come." As regards the following enumeration of the blessings, in and by the bestowal of which the new covenant-relation is to be established, _Venema_ very correctly remarks: "The blessings are distinguished into radical or causal ones, and subsequent or derived ones." The second [Hebrew: ki], in ver. 34: "_For_ I will forgive their sin," proves the correctness of this division, which is also pointed out by the _Athnach_.--[Hebrew: tvrh] is, by many interpreters, here understood to signify "doctrine." Thus _Buddeus_: "By the word [Hebrew: tvrh], the whole New Testament doctrine is to be understood." This interpretation, however, is objectionable, and destructive of the sense, [Hebrew: tvrh] never means "doctrine," but always "law;" and the fact that it is only _the_ law of God, the eternal expression of His nature, and common, therefore, to both the Old and New Covenants, which can be here spoken of, and not a new constitution for the latter, is seen from the reference in which the giving in the inward parts and the writing on the heart (the tables of the heart, 2 Cor. iii. 3), stands to the outward communication and the writing on the tables of stone on Sinai. The law is the same; the relation only is different in which God places it to man, ("_lex cum homine conciliatur quasi_," _Michaelis_.) One might easily infer from the passage before us a confirmation of the error, that the law under the Old Covenant was _only_ an outward dead letter. Against this error _Buddeus_ already contended, who, S. 117, acknowledges that it is a relative difference and contrast only, which are here spoken of He says: "This, of course, was the case with the Old Testament believers also; here, however, God promises a richer fulness and higher degree of this blessing." _Calvin_ declares the opinion that, under the Old Testament dispensation, there did not exist any regeneration, to be absurd, and says: "we know that, under the Law, the grace of God was rare and dark; but that, under the Gospel, the gifts of the Spirit were _poured_ out, and that God dealt much more liberally with His Church." The idea of a purely outward giving of the Law is indeed one which is quite inconceivable. God would, in that case, have done nothing else towards Israel than He did to the traitor Judas, in whose conscience He proclaimed His holy Law, without communicating to him strength for repentance. But such a proceeding can be conceived of, only where there is a subjective impossibility [Pg 438] of [Greek: anakainizein eis metanoian]. Every outward manifestation of God _must_, according to the constitution of human nature, be accompanied by the inward manifestation, since it is inconceivable that He who knows our nature, should mock us by the semblance of a blessing. As soon as we know the outward fact of the deliverance from Egypt, we know, at the same time, that God has then powerfully touched the heart of Israel. As soon as it is established that the Law on Sinai was written on tables of stone by the finger of God, it is also established that He, at the same time, wrote it on the tables of Israel's heart. But that which is thus implied in the matter itself, is confirmed by the testimony of history. In the Law itself, circumcision is designated as the pledge and seal of the bestowal, not merely of outward blessings, but of the circumcision of the heart, of the removal of sin attaching to every one by birth; so that man can love God with all his heart, all his sold, and all his powers, Deut. xxx. 6. This circumcision of the heart which, in the outward circumcision, was at the same time _required_ and promised by God (comp. Deut. l. c. with x. 16), is not substantially different from the writing of the Law on the heart. _Farther_--If the Law of the Lord had, for Israel, been a mere outward letter, how could the animated praise of it in the Holy Scriptures, _e.g._, in Ps. xix., be accounted for? Surely, a bridge must already have been formed between the Law and him who can speak of it as rejoicing the heart, as enlightening the eyes, as converting the soul, as sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. That is no more the Law in its isolation which worketh wrath, but it is the Law in its connection with the Spirit, whose commandments are not grievous; comp. my commentary on Ps. xix. 8 ff. A _new_ heart was created under the Old Testament also, Ps. li. 12; and not to know the nature of this creation was, for a teacher in Israel, the highest disgrace, John iii. 10. Yea, that which is here promised for the Future, a pious member of the Old Covenant expresses, in Ps. xl. 9, _in the same form_, as being already granted to him as his present spiritual condition: "I delight to do thy will, O my God, and thy Law is in the midst of my bowels,"--words which imply the same contrast to the Law as outward letter, as being written on tables of stone, comp. Prov. iii. 1-3: "My son, [Pg 439] forget not my law, and let thine heart keep my commandments ... bind them about thy neck, write them upon the table of thine heart;" compare my commentary on Psalms, Vol. iii. p. lxvii.--But how is it to be explained that the contrariety which, in itself, is relative, appears here under the form of the absolute contrariety,--the difference in degree, as a difference in kind? Evidently in the same manner as the same phenomenon must be explained elsewhere also, _e.g._ John i. 17, where it is said that the Law was given by Moses, but mercy and truth by Christ. By overlooking this fact, so many errors have been called forth. The blessings of the Old Covenant which, when considered in themselves, are so important and rich, appear, when compared with the much fuller and more important blessings of the New Covenant, to be so trifling that they vanish entirely out of sight. It is quite similar when, in chap. iii. 16, the Prophet represents the highest sanctuary of the Old Covenant, the Ark of the Covenant, as sinking into entire oblivion in future; when, in chap. xxiii. 7, 8, he describes the deliverance from Egypt as no longer worthy of being mentioned. Parallel to the passage under consideration is the promise of Joel of the pouring out of the Spirit, chap. iii. 1, 2 (ii. 28, 29); so that that which we remarked on that passage, is applicable here also. But, in that passage, the relative nature of the promise appears more clearly than it does here, just because, in general, under the New Covenant, in its relation to the Old, there is nowhere an absolutely new beginning, but always a completion only (just in the same manner as, on the other hand, under the New Covenant itself, it is in the relation of the _regnum gloriae_ to the _regnum gratiae_). Joel, in reference to the communication of the Spirit, puts the abundance in the place of the scarcity; the many in the place of the few. Compare, moreover, chap. xxiv. 7: "And I give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God;" xxxii. 39: "And I give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them and of their children after them;" but especially Ezek. xi. 19, 20, xxxvi. 26, 27.--The remarks of Jewish interpreters on the passage under consideration, in which they cannot avoid seeing that, in it, a purely moral revelation is prophesied, [Pg 440] in contrast to a mere external one, clearly show how strongly the Old Testament is opposed to that carnal Jewish delusion of the condition of the Messianic Kingdom (as it is most glaringly expressed in the Talmudic passage _Massechet Sanhedrim_, fol. 119: "There is no other difference between the days of the Messiah and the present state of things, excepting only that the kingdoms shall be our slaves),"--a delusion which is quite analogous to the expectations which are entertained by revolutionists concerning the Future, and which flow from the same source. Thus Rabbi _Bechai_ (see _Frischmuth_) remarks: "This means that every evil concupiscence shall be taken away, and every desire to covet any thing;" _Moses Nachmanides_ (_ibid._ S. 861): "And this is nothing else than that every evil concupiscence shall be taken away, so that the heart, by an internal impulse, does what is right.--In the days of Messiah there will not exist any evil desire, but, from the impulse of his nature, man will do what is right. And there will, therefore, not be innocence and guilt, inasmuch as these depend upon concupiscence." But if once bent upon it, pre-conceived opinions will overcome every, even the strongest, contradiction offered by the matter itself This may be seen from the example of _Grotius_, who here explains: "I will cause that all of them keep my Law in memory,--in the first instance, by the multitude of synagogues which, at that time, were built, and in which the Law was taught thrice a-week." Thrice a-week! Surely that will produce first-rate men, viz., such as are described in Isa. lviii. 2. It is not without meaning, that the words: "And I will be their God," &c., follow upon: "And I give my Law in their inward parts," &c. The Law is the expression of God's nature; it is only by the Law being written in the heart that man can become a partaker of God's nature; that His name can be sanctified in him. And it is this participation in the nature of God, this sanctification of God's name, which forms the foundation of: "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Without this, the relation cannot exist at all, as truly as God is not an idol, but the True and Holy One. These words express, as _Buddeus_, S. 94, rightly remarks: "That He will impart himself altogether to them." But how were it possible that God, with His blessings and gifts, should [Pg 441] impart himself entirely and unconditionally to them who are not of His nature? Of all unnatural things, this would be the most unnatural. Here, however, likewise the relative character of the promise most clearly appears. As early as to Abraham, God had promised that He would be a God to _him_, and to his seed after him; and this promise he had afterwards repeated to the whole people, Lev. xxvi. 12, comp. Exod. xxix. 45: "And I dwell in the midst of the children of Israel and will be their God." In the consciousness that this promise was fulfilled in the time then present, David exclaims in Ps. xxxiii. 12: "Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the generation whom He hath chosen for His inheritance." Hence, here too, there is nothing absolutely new. If such were the subject of discourse, then the whole Kingdom of God under the Old Testament dispensation would be changed into a mere semblance and illusion. But the small measure of the condition--with which even God himself cannot dispense, but of which He may vouchsafe a larger measure, viz., the writing of the Law in the heart, whereby man becomes a copy of God, the personal Law--was necessarily accompanied by the small measure of the consequence, The perfect fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham and Israel, to which the prophet here alludes, could, therefore, be expected from the future only.

Ver. 34. "_And they shall teach no more a man his neighbour, and a man his brother, saying: Know the Lord; for they all shall know me, small and great, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more._"

Even from ancient times, the first hemistich of the verse has created great embarrassment to interpreters, from which very few of them, not excepting even _Calvin_, manage to extricate themselves skilfully. The declaration that, because all will be taught by God, human instruction in things divine is to cease, has, at first sight, something fanatical in it, and, indeed, was made use of by Anabaptists and other enthusiasts in vindication of their delusion.[4] Many interpreters attempt an evasion, [Pg 442] by referring the words to the future life; thus _Theodoret_, _Augustine_, (_de Spirit. et lit._ c. 24) and _Este_, who, in a manner almost _naïve_, remarks: "This difficulty, it seems, is very simply avoided by those who refer this promise to the future world, where, no doubt, all care about teaching will cease." But the matter is, indeed, not at all difficult. All that is necessary is to keep in mind that human instruction is here excluded, in so far only as it is opposed to divine instruction concerning God himself; that hence, that which is here spoken of, is _mere_ human instruction, by which men are trained and drilled in religion, just as in every other branch of common knowledge,--a result of which is, that they may learn for ever without ever coming to the knowledge of the truth. Such an instruction may be productive of historical faith, of belief in human authority; but it is just by this, that the nature of religion will be altogether destroyed. Even the true God becomes an idol when He is not known through himself, when He himself does not prepare the heart as a place to dwell in. He is, and remains a mere idea that can impart no strength in the struggle against sin which is a real power, and no comfort in affliction. Now, such a condition was very frequent under the Old Testament dispensation. The mass of the people possessed only a knowledge of God, which was chiefly, although not exclusively, obtained through human instrumentality. By the New Covenant, richer gifts of the Spirit were to be bestowed, and along with them, the number of those was to be increased who were to partake in them, just as Isaiah, in chap. vii. 16, represents believers under the Old Testament as being taught by the Lord, while in chap. liv. 13, in reference to the Messianic time, he announces: "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord." Under the New Covenant, the antithesis of teaching by God, and teaching by man, is to cease. The teachers do not teach in their own strength, but as servants and instruments of the Lord. It is not they who speak, Init the Holy Spirit in them. Those who are taught by them hear the word that comes to them through men, not as man's word, but as God's word; and they receive it, not because it satisfies their limited human reason, but because the Spirit testifies that the Spirit is truth. How this antithesis is done away with, and reconciled in a higher unity, is, among other passages, [Pg 443] shown by 2 Cor. iii. 3: "You are an epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God." They are [Greek: theodidaktoi], but through the ministry of the Apostle who, in so far as he performs this service, is not different from God, but only a conductor of His power, a channel through which the oil of the Holy Spirit flows to the Church of God; compare remarks on Zech. iv. The same is taught in 1 John ii. 20: [Greek: Kai humeis chrisma echete apo tou hagiou, kai oidate panta. Ouk egrapsa humin, hoti ouk oidate tên alêtheian, all'hoti oidate autên.] Ver. 27: [Greek: Kai humeis to chrisma, ho elabete ap'autou, en humin, menei kai ou chreian echete, hina tis didaskê humas, all'hos to auto chrisma didaskei humas peri pantôn k. t. l.] The [Greek: didaskein] here signifies the human teaching in contrast to that which is divine, such an one as undertakes by its own power to work knowledge in him who is taught. Such a teaching cannot take place under the new covenant. A fundamental knowledge is already imparted to all its members; the [Greek: paraklêtos], the Holy Ghost, alone teaches them, John xiv. 26; He leads them into all truth, John xvi. 13. But, just because this is the case, the teaching by means of those whom God has given, in His Church, as apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers (Eph. iv. 11), to whom He has communicated His [Greek: charismata], is quite in its place. The apostle writes just _because_ they know the truth. If it were otherwise, his efforts would be altogether in vain. Of what use is it to give instruction about colours to him who is blind? In things divine, the truth becomes truth to the single individual, only because his knowledge of God is founded on his being in God; and that can be accomplished only by his being connected to God through God. Being, life, and hence, also, real living knowledge, can proceed only from the fountain of all being and life. But in the case of those who are in God, who possess the fundamental knowledge, this knowledge must be developed, carried on, and brought to full consciousness through the instrumentality of those to whom God has granted the gifts for it. A glance into the deep meaning of our passage was obtained by the author of the book _Jelammedenu_, which is quoted by _Abarbanel_ (in _Frischmuth_, S. 863); he says: "Under the present dispensation, Israel learns the Law from mortal men, and therefore forgets it; for as flesh and blood pass away (comp. [Pg 444] Matt. xvi. 17, where the antithesis existing between a knowledge of divine things which rests on human ground, and that which rests on divine ground, is brought before us in its strictest form), so also its instruction passes away. But a time shall come when a man shall not learn from the mouth of a man, but from the mouth of the blessed God, for it is written: 'All thy children shall be taught by God.'In these words, it is implied that hitherto the knowledge of the Law was an artificial one obtained by mortal men. But for that reason, it cannot stand long, for the effect stands in proportion to its cause. At the time of the deliverance, however, the knowledge of the Law will be obtained in a miraculous manner." It is, however, quite obvious that this promise, too, must be understood relatively only. All the pious men of the Old Covenant were [Greek: theodidaktoi]; and under the New Covenant, the number of those is infinitely great who, through their own guilt, stand to truth in a relation which is entirely or preeminently mediate.--Instead of the "small," by way of individualization, servants and handmaids are mentioned in Joel iii. 2 (ii. 29); compare remarks on Rev. xi. 18.--We have already seen that in the last words of the verse, the fundamental blessing is promised. But whether [Hebrew: ki] be referred only to that which immediately precedes, or to every thing which goes before (_Venema_: _vocala_ [Hebrew: ki] _non ad proxime praecedentia referenda, sed ad totam pericopam, qua bona foederis recensita sunt, extenda_), amounts to nearly the same thing; for that which immediately precedes includes all the rest. We have before us nothing but designations of the same thing from various aspects; everything depends upon the richer bestowal of the gifts of the Spirit. This has the forgiveness of sins for its necessary foundation; for, before God can give, He must first take. The sins which separate the people and their God from one another, must first be taken away; it is then only that the inward means can be bestowed, so that the people may become truly God's people, and God's name may be sanctified in them. It is obvious that, here too, a relative difference only between the Old and New Covenant can be spoken of A covenant-people without forgiveness of sins is no covenant-people; a God with whom there is not forgiveness, in order that He may be feared, who does not heal the bones [Pg 445] which He has broken, who in this respect gives promises for the Future only, is no God, and no blessing. For if He does not grant this, He cannot grant any thing else, inasmuch as every thing else implies this, and is of no value without it. Forgiveness of sins is the essence of the Passover as the feast of the covenant. On the Ark of the Covenant, it was represented by the _Capporeth_ (see _Genuineness of the Pentateuch_, Vol. ii., p. 525 f.). Without it the sin-offerings appointed by God are a lie; without it, all that is untrue which God says of himself as the covenant-God, that He is gracious and merciful, Exod. xxxiv. 6. The holy Psalmists often acknowledge with praise and thanks that God _has_ forgiven sins; comp. _e.g._ Ps. lxxxv. 3: "Thou hast taken away the iniquities of thy people, thou hast covered all their sins." In the same manner they are loud in praising the high blessing bestowed upon the individual by the forgiveness of sins; comp. Ps. xxxii. 51. The consciousness that their sins are forgiven, forms the foundation of the disposition of heart which we perceive in the Psalmists; see Commentary on the Psalms, Vol. iii. p. lxv. f. "What a [Greek: plêrophoria]"--so _Buddeus_ remarks, p. 109--"what a confidence, what a joy of a tranquil and quiet conscience shines forth in the psalms and prayers of David!" We have thus before us merely a difference in degree. To the believers of that time, the sin of the covenant-people appeared to be too great to admit of its being forgiven. Driven away from the face of the Lord, so they imagined, it would close its miserable existence in the land of Nod; never would the [Greek: kairoi anapsuxeôs] return. But, in opposition to such fears, the Prophet declares, in the name of the Lord, that they would not only return, but come, for the first time, in the true and full sense; that where they imagined to behold the end to the forgiveness of sins, there would be its real beginning; that where sin abounded, the grace of God should there so much the more abound. Only, they should not despair, and thus place a barrier in the way of God's mercy. Your God is not a mere hard task-master; He himself will sow and then reap, as surely as He is God, the gracious and merciful One.

Ver. 35. "_Thus saith the Lord, giving the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for_ [Pg 446] _a light by night, agitating the sea, and the waves thereof roar, the Lord of hosts is His name._"

Ver. 36. "_If these ordinances will cease before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever._"

Interpreters commonly assume that, already in ver. 35, the discourse is of the firm and immutable divine laws which every thing must obey. But opposed to this view are the words: "Agitating the sea, and the waves thereof roar," in which no definite perceptible rule, no uninterrupted return takes place. To this argument may be added the comparison of the fundamental passage, Isa. li. 15, in which the omnipotence only of God is to be brought out: "And I am the Lord thy God, who agitates the sea, and its waves roar, the Lord of hosts is His name;" comp. also Amos. ix. 5, 6. It thus appears that, in ver. 35, God's omnipotence only is spoken of, which establishes that He is God and not man; and this forms the foundation for the declaration set forth in ver. 36, which is so full of comfort for the despairing covenant-people,--the proposition, namely, that, while all men are liars, He does not lie; that He can never repent of His covenant and promises. The "ordinances" (moon and stars are, in their regular return, themselves, as it were, embodied ordinances), are mentioned already in ver. 35, because just the circumstance that, according to eternal and inviolable laws, sun and moon must appear every day at a fixed time, and have done so for thousands and thousands of years, testifies more strongly for His omnipotence and absolute power, never liable to any foreign influence or interference, than if they at one time appeared, and, at another, failed to appear. God's omnipotence, as it is testified by a look to nature (_Calvin_: "The Prophet contents himself with pointing out what even boys knew, viz., that the sun makes his daily circuit round the whole earth, that the moon does the same, and that the stars in their turn succeed, so that, as it were, the moon with the stars exercises dominion by night, and, afterwards, the sun reigns by day"), results from the fact that He is the pure, absolute, being (Jehovah His name, comp. remarks on Mal. iii. 6); and it is just because He is this, that His counsels, which He declared without any condition attached to them, must be [Pg 447] unchangeable. To believe that He has for ever rejected Israel, is to degrade Him, to make Him an idol, a creature.--In ver. 36, the immutability of God's counsel of grace is put on a level with the immutability of God's order of nature; but this is done with a view to the weakness of the people, who receive, for a pledge of their election, that which is most firm among visible things; so that every rising of the sun and moon is to them a guarantee of it; compare Ps. lxxxix. 37, 38. But considered in itself, the counsels of God's grace are _much firmer_ than the order of nature. The heavens wax old as a garment, and as a vesture He changes them and they are changed (Ps. cii. 27-29); heaven and earth shall pass away, but the word of God shall not pass away.--From chap. xxxiii. 24: "They despise my people ([Hebrew: emi]) that they should be still a nation ([Hebrew: gvi]) before them" it appears why it is that [Hebrew: gvi] is here used, and not [Hebrew: eM]. The covenant-people in their despair imagined that their national existence, which, in the Present, was destroyed, was gone for ever. If only their national existence was sure, then also was their existence as a covenant-people. For, just as their national existence had ceased, because they had ceased to be the covenant-people, so they could again obtain a national existence as the covenant-people only.

Ver. 37. "_Thus saith the Lord: If the heavens above be measured, and the foundations of the earth beneath be searched out, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the Lord._"

It is not without meaning that the Prophet so frequently repeats: Thus saith the Lord. This formed the [Greek: A] and [Greek: Ô]; His word was the _sole_ ground of hope for Israel. Apart from it, despair was as reasonable, as now it was unreasonable. The measuring of heaven, and the searching out of the innermost parts of the earth, come here into consideration as things impossible. The words: "All the seed of Israel," take from the hypocrites that consolation which they might be disposed to draw from these promises. It is as much in opposition to the nature of God that He should permit all the seed of Israel, the faithful with the unbelievers, to perish, as that He should save all the seed of Israel, unbelievers as well as believers. The promise, as well as the threatening, always leaves a remnant. All that the covenant grants is, that the whole cannot [Pg 448] perish (the discourse is here, of course, of definite rejection); but it gives no security to the individual sinner. The words: "For all that they have done," are added intentionally, because the greatness of the sins of the people was the _punctum saliens_ in the believers'despair of the mercy of God. _Calvin_ says: "The Prophet here intentionally brings forward the sins of the people, in order that we may know that the grace of God is greater still, and that the multitude of so many wicked men would not be an obstacle to God's granting pardon."

Ver. 38. "_Behold, days, saith the Lord, and the city is built to the Lord from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner._ Ver. 39. _And the measuring line goeth yet farther over against it, over the hill Gareb_ (the leper), _and turneth towards Goah_ (place of execution). Ver. 40. _And the whole valley of the carcasses and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, and from thence unto the horsegate, towards the East,_ (all this is) _holiness unto the Lord. No more shall it be destroyed, nor shall it be laid waste for ever._"