s 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 chos