Ver. 19. "_And this is yet too little in Thy sight, Lord Jehovah; and
Thou speakest also to the house of Thy servant of things far distant;
and this is the law of man, Lord Jehovah._"

The word [Hebrew: tvrh] has only the signification of _law_. Gesenius,
in assigning to it the signification of _mos_, _consuetudo_, has no
other warrant for it than our passage. The law of any one is the law
which has been given for him, or which concerns him; compare Lev. vi. 2
(9): "This is the law of the burnt-offering;" Lev. xiii. 7: "This is
the law for her that hath born;" Lev. xiv. 2: "This shall be the law of
the leper," etc. Hence the law of man can only be the law regulating
the conduct of man. Man is commanded in the law: "Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself;" compare Mic. vi. 8: "He hath showed, O man, what
is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justice, and
to _love kindness_, and to walk humbly before thy God?" The fact that
God should, in His conduct towards poor mortals, follow the rule which
He hath given to men for their conduct towards one another, and that He
shows Himself to be full of mercy and love, cannot but fill him who
knows God and himself with adoring wonder. The words in Ps. xviii. 36
are parallel: "Thou givest me the shield of Thy salvation, and Thy
right hand holdeth me up, and Thy meekness (the parallel passage in 2
Sam. has: 'Thy being low') maketh me great." In the parallel passage in
Chronicles the words are these: "And Thou hast regarded me according to
the law of man (concerning [Hebrew: tvr] = [Hebrew: tvrh] compare
remarks on Song of Sol. i. 10), Thou height, Jehovah God." The
essential agreement of the sense of the parallel passage with that of
the fundamental passage, may be applied as a test to prove the
correctness of our exposition. "To regard some one" is used for "to
visit some one," "to have intercourse with some one;" compare 2 Sam.
iii. 13, xiii. 5, xiv. 24, 28; 2 Kings viii. 29. The words, "Thou
height" (God is represented as personified height in Ps. xcii. 9: "And
Thou art a height for evermore, O Lord"), bring out still more
prominently the contrast with human lowness, which was already implied
in the names of [Pg 145] God, Adonai Jehovah, and Jehovah Elohim, and
serves therefore to show still more distinctly the condescension of
God, whose revelation on this occasion was a prelude to [Greek: ho
logos sarx egeneto]. _Luther_ has introduced into the main text a