clamation of the gospel was now as free from all national or ecclesiasti- cal restrictions, as the instructions shed down upon all people by the heavens under which they dwell. Paul of course is not to be understood as quoting the psalmist as though the ancient prophet was speaking 5f the preaching of the gospel. He simply uses scriptural language to express his own ideas, as is done involuntarily almost by every preacher in every sermon.
It will be perceived that the apostle says, " Their sound has gone," &c. ; whereas in the 19th psalm it is, " Their line is gone." Paul fol- lows the Septuagint, which, instead of giving the literal sense of the Hebrew word, gives correctly its figurative meaning. The word signi- fies a line, then a musical chord, and then, metonymically, sound,
(19) But I say. Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I wih provoke you to jealousy, &c. Another passage difficult from its concise- ness. The difficulty is to ascertain what the question refers to. Did not Israel know what? The gospeH or the calling of the Gentiles and their own rejection ? The latter seems, for two reasons, the decidedly preferable interpretation. 1. The question is most naturally understood as referring to the main subject under discussion, which is, as frequently remarked, the calling of the Gentiles and rejection of the Jews. 2. The question is explained by the quotations which follow. ' Does not Israel know what Moses and Isaiah so plainly teach V viz. that a people who were no people should be preferred to Israel ; while the latter were to be regarded as disobedient and gainsaying.
First Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, &c. The word Jirst seems evidently to be used in reference to Isaiah, who is quoted afterward. 'First Moses, and then Isaiah, says,' &c. The passage quoted from Moses is Deut. 32: 21. In that chapter the sacred writer recounts the mercies of God, and the ingratitude and rebellion of the people. In v. 21 he warns them that, as they had pro- voked him to jealousy by that which is not God, he would provoke them to jealousy by them that are no people. That is, as they forsook him and made choice of another God, so he would reject them and make choice of another people. The passage, therefore, plainly enough inti- mates that the Jews were in no such sense the people of God as to inter- fere with their being cast off" and others called.
(20, 21) But Esaias is very hold, and saith, &c. That is, according to a very common Hebrew construction, in which one verb qualifies an- other adverbially, saith very plainly, or openly. Plain as the passage in Deuteronomy is, it is not so clear and pointed as that now referred to, Isa. 65: 1, 2.
Paul follows the Septuagint version of the passage, merely transpos- ing the clauses. The sense is accurately expressed. ' I am sought of them that asked not for me, I am found of them that sought me not,' is the literal version of the Hebrew, as given in our translation. The apos- tle quotes and applies the passage in the sense in which it is to be inter-