are
Judah and Israel. These had, in the preceding verses, likewise been, in
substance, the subject of discourse; for the election and rejection of
the tribe of Levi, and of the house of David, had been treated of in so
far only, as they stood in relation to the election or rejection of the
people; so that here only the same thing is repeated in a different
form, in consideration of the fact, that weak faith and despair are so
slow to hear. The words: "He hath now rejected them," were, in a
certain sense, true; but not in the sense of the speakers. They, on the
contrary, maintained, in opposition to the election, a rejection for
ever, which was tantamount to: Jehovah, the eternal and unchangeable
One, is no more Jehovah; He is a man that He lieth, and a son of man
that He repenteth. As surely as God is Jehovah, so surely also [Greek:
ametameleta ta charismata kai he klesis tou theou], Rom. xi. 29. The
expression "_my_ people," directs attention to how God is now despised
in Israel. On the contrast between "_my_ people" and "a people,"
compare remarks on chap. xxxi. 36.

Ver. 25. "_Thus saith the Lord: If not my covenant daily_ [Pg 474] _and
nightly, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and
earth_;"--

Compare ver. 20. The covenant daily and nightly, _i.e._, the covenant
which refers to the constant and regular alternation of day and night.
The ordinances of heaven and earth denote the whole course of
nature,--especially the relations of sun, moon, and stars, to the
earth, comp. chap. xxxi. 35--in so far as it is regulated by God's
ordinance, and is, therefore, a lasting one.

Ver. 26. "_So will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David, my
servant, that I do not take farther from his seed rulers over the seed
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will turn to their captivity, and
have mercy upon them._"

The casting away of the seed of Jacob, and that of the seed of David,
are inseparably connected. For since, by the promise to David, the
kingdom had been for ever bound together with his race, Israel was no
more the people of God, and no more a people at all, if David was no
more the servant of God. The Plural [Hebrew: mwliM] is easily accounted
for, from the circumstance that it was not the number, but only the
_fact_ that was here concerned (comp. remarks on chap. xxiii. 4, and,
at the same time, those on ver. 18); but it is beyond any doubt, that
the Prophet has here in view the revival of the do