es as well as in the commandments. We cite only
one instance which is especially fitted to serve as a parallel to the
case before us. There is no doubt, and prejudice alone could have
denied, that in the Pentateuch, by _friend_ and _brother_ the Israelite
is to be understood throughout; it is in the New Testament that the
command of Christian brotherly love is given. After having commended
truthfulness, Paul adds: "Because ye are members of one another"--a
reason which can refer to those only who have Christ as their common
head. From this limitation, can anything be inferred to the prejudice
of love towards the whole human race, or of the duties towards all
without any distinction? Just the reverse. It is just because the
Israelite is bound to love the Israelite, and the Christian the
Christian, that he should embrace all men in love. If the special
relation to God as the common Redeemer afford the foundation for the
_special_ love, then the _general_ relation to God as the Creator and
Preserver must also afford the foundation of _universal_ love; just as
from the command to honour father and mother, it necessarily follows
that we must also [Pg 224] honour uncle and aunt, king and magistrate.
This is the only correct view of the laws and prophecies; and if it be
consistently followed out, it will make water to flow out of the rock,
and will create streams in the wilderness.

Ver. 2. "_And the children of Judah and the children of Israel assemble
themselves together, and set over themselves one head, and go up out of
the land; for great is the day of Jezreel._"

The words, "They appoint themselves a king," appear strange at first
sight. For it is not, in general, the union of Judah and Israel which
the prophet expects from better times;--a _perverse_ union of both,
one, it may be, in which the house of Judah shall also give up Jehovah
his God, and David his King, only in order to be able to live on a
right brotherly footing with Israel, would have been anything but a
progress and a blessing;--but such a union as has for its foundation
the return of Israel to the true God, and to the Davidic dynasty. This
appears clearly from iii. 5. The difficulty is removed by a comparison
with the passage of the Pentateuch to which the prophet seems to
allude: "Thou shalt set over thee a king, whom the Lord thy God shall
choose," Deut. xvii. 15. The prophet seems to have these words before
his eyes, as it appears elsewhere also, wher