er
of the old dispensation only, and views the great changes to be
effected by Him, mainly as external ones. The embarrassment arising
from this, is very clearly expressed in the following words of
_Abarbanel_: "This promise is, then, bad, and uproots the whole Law.
How is it then that Scripture mentions it as good?" Rabbi _Arama_, in
his commentary on the Pentateuch, fol. 101, says, in reference to this
prophecy, [Hebrew: nbvkv kl hmprwiM] "all interpreters have been
perplexed by it." The interpretations by means of which they endeavour
to rid themselves of this embarrassment (see the collection of them in
_Frischmuth's_ dissertation on this passage, Jena; reprinted in the
_Thes. Ant._) are only calculated plainly to manifest it. _Kimchi_
gives this explanation: "Although ye shall increase and be multiplied
on the earth, yet the nations shall not envy you, nor wage war against
you; and it shall no more be necessary for you to go to war with the
Ark of the Covenant, as was usual in former times, when they took the
Ark of the Covenant out to war. In that time, there will be no
necessity for so doing, as they shall not have any war." The weak
points of this explanation are at once obvious. That which, in the
verse under consideration, is, in a general way, said of the Ark of the
Covenant, is, by it, referred to an altogether special use of it, a
regard to which is excluded by the evident antithesis in ver. 17.
_Abarbanel_ rejects this explanation. He says: "For there is, in the
text, no mention at all of war; and therefore I cannot approve of this
exposition, although _Jonathan_, too, inclines towards it." He himself
brings out this sense: The Ark of the Covenant would then, indeed,
still continue to exist, and be the seat of the Lord; but no more the
exclusive one, no longer the sole sanctuary. "The whole of Jerusalem
shall, as regards holiness and glory, equal the Ark of the Covenant.
For there shall cease with them every evil thing, and every evil
imagination; and there shall be such holiness in the land, that in the
same manner as formerly the Ark was the holiest of all things, so at
that time, Jerusalem shall be [Pg 392] the throne of the Lord." But, by
this explanation, justice is not done to the text. For it is an entire
doing away with the Ark of the Covenant which is spoken of in it, not a
mere diminution of its dignity, produced by the circumstance, that that
which formerly was low shall be exalted. This is parti