and the name, the faithless children (Deut. xxxii. 20), the souls which are cut off their nation, for having made the covenant of none effect, not only can, but must be destroyed by the judgments of God; but the whole nation can never be destroyed. For parallel passages relating to the immutability of Jehovah in general see Num. xxiii. 19, "God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent; hath he said and shall he not do? or hath he spoken, and shall he not execute?"-1 Sam. xv. 29, "also the Eternity of Israel lieth not, nor repenteth; for he is not a man, that he should repent;" and James i. 17, "with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."-Parallel passages relating to the indestructible character of Israel, as founded upon the immutability of Jehovah, we find in Jer. xxx. 11, "For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee; for I will make a full end of all the heathen, among whom I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full end of thee;" Lam. iii. 22, 23; and also Rom. xi. 29, where it is stated with reference to Israel, "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance." THE SECTION.-CHAP. III. 13-IV. 6. Ver. 13. "Ye force me with your words, saith the Lord, and ye say: What do we say, then, against thee?" חזק with; to be strong over a person, always in the sense of forcing, overpowering (compare, especially, Ex. xii. 33; Ezek. iii. 14; 2 Sam. xxiv. 4; and 2 Chr. xxvii. 5). The rendering to be heavy, hard, troublesome, which the commentators have generally adopted here, is not confirmed by the usages of the language. The use of the word in chap. ii. 17, which precisely corresponds, is sufficient to lead us to prefer the rendering "to force." In relation to his people God is merciful, gracious, long-suffering (Ex. xxxiv. 6). He restrains his wrath It is upon this passage that our own must be regarded as based; and in this we have, therefore, a proof of the correctness of the explanation we have given. (Is. xlviii. 9); but they carry their wickedness to such an extent, that at length they exhaust his patience. is expressed in Ezek. xxxiii. 30 by "they speak one to another, every one to his brother." That we are to think of conversations is obvious, not merely from the form of the word, which cannot mean directly "to say," but also from the words cited in the present verse, in vers. 14, 15 of this chapter, and also in chap. ii. 17. They do not speak to God, but they speak to one another about God. This is also apparent from the corresponding words of the godly, which are in the form of a conversation, as the expression "one to another" clearly shows. The reciprocal meaning of the Niphal is as easily explained as the reflective. In both cases the action alone is expressed. persons engaged must be supplied from the context. The Ver. 14. "Ye say: It is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we keep his keeping, and go about dirty before the Lord of Hosts." The words followed by a genitive—a construc tion which occurs with extraordinary frequency in the Pentateuch, and has also been borrowed from it by the later writers (see Ezra and Chronicles), who have used it very often, but which is very rarely met with in any book belonging to the intermediate period has been variously misinterpreted. The difficulty of deciding upon the correct interpretation, may be seen in the fact, that one rendering is adopted in one passage, and a different one in another, although in the case of so very singular a phrase nothing but the most cogent reasons can justify the conclusion that the expression is employed in different senses. Gesenius, De Wette, and Rödiger explain the word as signifying in most passages law, command, custom, and understand the whole phrase as meaning "to observe what ought to be observed towards any one." But Josh. xxii. 3 is quite sufficient to show the incorrectness of this ("and ye shall keep the keeping of the commandment of the Lord your God"). Compare also 1 Chr. xii. 29; Num. iii. 6; Ezek. xl. 45; Lev. i. 53, xviii. 3-5. The true explanation is undoubtedly the following. means observance, notice, care. See, for example, Num. xviii. 8, "Behold I give thee the observing of my heave offerings." "To observe the observance" of a person or thing, is to attend to the one or the other. This meaning may be applied in every instance. A few examples, taken from the different classes, will suffice to show this. In Gen. xxvi. 5 we read "because that Abraham hearkened to my voice and attended to me, to my commandments, to my ordinances, and to my laws;" (compare Lev. viii. 35, xviii. 30, xxii. 9; Num. ix. 19, 23; 2 Chr. xxiii. 6, "let all the people attend to the Lord," and from fear of Him abstain from forcing their way into the holy places), and 1 Kings ii. 3. In 1 Chr. xii. 29, "and hitherto the greater part of them had attended to the house of Saul" (compare Kaтavоeîv Heb. iii. 1). In Num. iii. 6-8, "bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him, and they shall attend to him and to the whole congregation before the tent of assembly, that they may do the service of the tabernacle, and they shall attend to all the furniture of the tent of assembly, and attend to the children of Israel." In Ezek. xliv. 8, "and ye have not attended to my holy things, but ye appointed persons to attend to my holy things." See also vers. 14, 15, chap. xl. 45, 46; 1 Chr. xxiii. 32; Lev. i. 53, xviii. 4, 5; Num. xviii. 3-5. , dirty, refers to the outward appearance while fasting. It relates not merely to the clothing, but also to the face (compare the commentary on Ps. xxxv. 14). The expression employed in the Pentateuch to denote fasting is way, to chastise the soul; with its derivatives is never found in the Pentateuch. By self-humiliation and self-inflicted sufferings, a practical confession was made of the consciousness of sin and the desert of every kind of punishment. In this instance reference is especially made to voluntary fastings, whether on the part of the whole nation or of individuals, in which the notion of merit was uppermost. Allusion is made to voluntary suffering even in the Mosaic law (Num. xxx. 14), in which the only fast expressly commanded is the one associated with the day of atonement (Lev. xvi. 29—31), though voluntary fasting is also indirectly enjoined. For since it requires penitence for every sin, and fasting was at that time so universally the form in which penitence was embodied, that it was scarcely possible to think of the thing signified without the sign, the latter was virtually included in the law which enjoined the former. cannot be used as a simple equivalent for Fasting is represented as proceeding from the face of the Lord, because it is undertaken for his sake, and for that very reason the people regard it as unjust, that they reap no benefit from it. So far as the meaning of the whole verse is concerned, we must not look for the indication of a wicked disposition in the words, "what profit have we ?" The demand for that species of resignation, which is superior to all the alternations of joy and sorrow, may do very well for modern philosophers, to whom God is absolutely restricted to the world to come, but is not in accordance with the Scriptures, which merely teach us to expect the manifestation of the omnipotence, the justice, and the love of God in the future, because they are already manifested here. "Godliness," says the apostle in 1 Tim. iv. 8, " is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." And where this promise is apparently not fulfilled, where the state of things which meets the eye appears at variance with it, we frequently hear sounds of complaint even from true believers, which outwardly resemble the expression cited here, though they do not partake of the same sinful character. Compare, for example, Ps. lxxiii. 13, "verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency." The sinfulness of the whole appears to have consisted in the delusion, that the merely outward service, which was bad enough in itself, judging from the prophet's previous reproaches, was true worship, and that their fasting was true fasting, though it was nothing but an empty form, a body without a soul. "They fancy that their life is conformed to all the precepts, and yet they have not observed a thousandth part. This is no com mon thing in connection with the worship of God, to lay aside all pride and give up all vain confidence, and walk humbly before Him. But hypocrites copy like monkeys the things which God requires and approves. The change of heart, however, is entirely overlooked." (Calvin). That we are correct in the observations we have made, is evident from a comparison of Is. lviii., which the prophet certainly had in his mind, as we may gather from the allusions apparent in other passages also. If this fact be once admitted, the opinion that the prophet was writing of those who were truly godly,—an opinion which there are many other reasons for rejecting,-is at once overthrown. The reproaches of Isaiah are generally directed against the one leading form of apostasy, which prevailed in his day, namely idolatry; but in this instance he attacks the other form, which was afterwards formally organised in Pharisaism, and in this shape gained entirely the upper hand. Even their fasting was the outward work, on which the greatest reliance was placed, and by which the consciousness of the emptiness within was most completely extinguished. This was perfectly natural; for of all outward works fasting was the most painful, and therefore, assuming the absence of any confession of sin and the want of any correct idea of the holiness of God, which is closely related to it, it is with this that the false notion of merit is most readily associated. Malachi leaves the pretenders for the most part to their own consciences, which he endeavours to awake from their slumbers by announcing the judgment of God; but Isaiah fully exposes the folly of this delusion, "cry with the throat, spare not, show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. And they enquire of me daily, and desire to know my ways (my acts which appear to them incomprehensible), as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of its God; they ask of me judgments of righteousness, (compare chap. ii. 17), ' where is the God of justice ?' they -chap. iii. 1), a draw אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם חֲפֵצִים compare יֶחְפָצוּ) desire ing near on the part of God (compare chap. iii. 5, 'and I draw the rendering 'ye carry on your business' is not only at variance Ver. 15. "And now, we call the proud happy, they that work wickedness are built up, they tempt God and yet escape." The allusion to ver. 12 has already been pointed out; and this allusion is a sufficient proof that by the we are to under |