ill go to the heart only where the divine paternity is known, of which
all earthly paternity is only an image. [Pg 212] In Deut. iv. 5-8,
Israel's happiness is praised, in that they alone, among all the
nations, are in possession of God's laws and commandments. Those
privileges of Israel are, by the Servant of God, to be extended to the
Gentiles who, because they are destitute of right, are, in Deut. xxxii.
21, called a foolish nation. In Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20, it is said: "He
showeth His word unto Jacob, His statutes and laws unto Israel. He has
not dealt so with any nation, and law they do not know." This passage
touches very closely upon that before us; like it, it denies right to
the Gentiles in general. "The Gentiles, being without God in the world,
do not know any right at all. For that which they call so, is only the
shadow of that which really deserves this name, is only a dark mixture
of right and wrong." As regards the first table of the Ten
Commandments, they grope entirely in the dark; and with respect to the
second table, it is only here and there that they see a faint glimpse
of light.--A consequence of the bringing forth of right to the Gentiles
is the ceasing of war, as it is described in chap. ii. 4. When right
has obtained dominion, it cannot tolerate war beside it; where there is
true right, there is also peace. The benefit which, in the first
instance, is conferred upon the Gentiles, is enjoyed by Israel also:
The intention of comforting and encouraging Israel clearly appears in
the parallel passage, chap. li. 4. For the right which obtains dominion
among the Gentiles, is Israel's pride and ornament, so that, along with
their God and His right, they obtain also the dominion over the Gentile
world, by which they were hitherto kept in bondage; and whensoever and
wheresoever the divine right obtains dominion, the violent oppression
must cease, under which the people of God had been groaning up to that
time. The Servant of God, however, who brings forth right to the
Gentiles, forms the contrast to the worldly conqueror, of whom it was
said in chap. xli. 25: "He cometh upon princes as mortar, and, just as
the potter treadeth the clay."--The words: "He shall bring forth
right," purposely return again in ver. 3; and equally intentionally,
the words: "He shall found right on the earth," in ver. 4, refer to
them. "We have thus"--_Stier_ pertinently remarks--"in ver. 1, the sum
and substance, even to its aim. But i