ruth 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