ed upon us." Is. lxiii. 19: "We are those over whom Thou hast not
reigned from eternity, and upon whom Thy name has not been called." As
regards the use of these words in reference to the temple, compare,
further, Jer. vii. 10, 11: "And ye come and stand before Me in this
house, upon which My name is called. Is, perhaps, this house upon which
My name is called, a den of robbers in your eyes?" The exceeding
greatness of their wickedness is denounced in these words; and the
ground why it is so great, is not by any means the fact, that the
temple, as was indeed the case with that at Bethel, bore the name of
the house of God only by the caprice of the people, but that it really
was the house of God, and that God, in His gracious condescension, was
there _really_ present, as a type of His dwelling in Christ; compare
Deut. xii. 5: "The place which [Pg 394] the Lord your God shall choose
out of all your tribes, to put His name there." _Finally_, These words
are used in reference to single individuals, whom God, in a special
sense, has made His own, His representatives, the bearers of His word,
the mediators of His revelations, in Jer. xv. 16: "I found Thy words
and I did eat them, and Thy words became unto me the joy and rejoicing
of my heart: for Thy name was called upon me, Jehovah, God of hosts,"
etc., equivalent to, "For I was the messenger and representative of
Thee, the Almighty God."--_Hitzig_, _Hofmann_, and _Baur_ explain the
expression, "Upon whom My name is called," by, "Upon all the nations
who once, at the time of David, were in subjection to the people of
God." The use of the Preterite has been urged in favour of this
explanation; but it is certainly very rash to assert, on the ground of
this, that "this view alone is admissible according to the rules of
grammar." The statement of _Ewald_, Sec. 135 _a_, is exactly applicable to
this case: "The _Perfectum_, when used with reference to some future
event, either mentioned or conceived of, may as well indicate the past
which _then_ has taken place." The sense might thus be: "All the
heathen upon whom then My name will be called." In the same sense, the
Preterite is used in another passage, quoted by _Hofmann_ for a
different purpose--viz., 2 Sam. xii. 28: "In order that I may not take
([Hebrew: alkd]) the city, and my name be called ([Hebrew: nqra]) upon
it." It militates, however, against their view, that the name of the
Lord being called upon any one, has, according