heinous than all others; for the guilt
of the latter is diminished by the circumstance of their having been
committed against the hidden God only, while the former have been
committed against the God who has manifested Himself, and who is living
among His people. For so much is evident, that the main cause of the
hatred of all the neighbouring nations against Israel was, that Israel
was the people of God. For where can an instance be found of a hatred
betwixt any [Pg 359] two of them, so inextinguishable, and continuing
through centuries? How entirely different is, _e.g._, the position of
Edom against Moab, from that of Edom against Israel? Three reasons
confirm the correctness of our assertion as to the purely theocratic
nature of the judgment. 1. The general announcement of the judgment.
"Jehovah roareth from Zion, and from Jerusalem He giveth His voice."
The very use of the name Jehovah here deserves attention. A judgment of
a general kind upon the heathen would belong to God as Elohim. It is
Elohim who is the God of the heathen,--the Creator, Preserver, and
Governor of the world, from whom blessings, as well as judgments upon
it, proceed. Now it might be said that Jehovah is used in the case of
the heathen also, for the sake of uniformity, because to Him belongeth
the judgment upon Judah and Israel. But that this is not the case, is
seen from the addition: "From Zion,--from Jerusalem." Every general
judgment proceeds from heaven; it is only as a theocratic God, that God
reigns in Zion and Jerusalem. This argument admits of no exception; all
that God does from Zion is theocratic deliverance, or theocratic
judgment.--2. The nature of the crimes themselves, which are cited by
way of example. It can certainly not be merely accidental, that they
are all such as were committed against the Covenant-people. There is
one only which forms an apparent exception, viz., that of the Moabites,
who are, in chap. ii. 1, charged with having burned into lime the bones
of the king of Edom. But, with the consent of the greater number of
interpreters, _Jerome_ remarks on this: "In order that God might show
that He is the Lord of all, and that every soul is subject to Him who
formed it. He punishes the iniquity committed against the king of
Edom." But in this remark of Jerome, the relation in which Idumea stood
to the Covenant-people is altogether lost sight of. It is only as a
vassal of their kings that the king of Edom here comes into vi