verlooking
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 mean