28. Hence he became in a general sense a wedirns, a mediator be- tween God and men, in the giving of the law, Gal. iii, 19. What- ever, therefore, was done by Moses in this whole affair of the dedi- cation of the covenant, on the part of God or of the people, was firm and unalterable, he being a public person authorized unto this work. And,— Obs. I. There can be no covenant between God and men but in the hand or by virtue of a mediator. The first covenant, in the state of innocency, was immediately between God and man. But
Tro Mwiiotws.
356 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. IX.
since the entrance of sin it can be so no more. Jor, (1.) Man hath neither meetness nor confidence to treat immediately with God. Nor, (2.) Any credit or reputation with him, so as to be admitted as an undertaker in his own person.. Nor, (8.) Any ability to perform the conditions of any covenant with God.
Obs. II. A mediator may be either only an internuncius, a mes- senger, a daysman; or also a surety and an undertaker. Of the first sort was the mediator of the old covenant; of the latter, that of the new.
Obs. III. None can interpose between God and a people in any sacred office, unless he be called of God and approved of the people, as was Moses.
2. That which Moses did in this affair was first in way of prepa-
ration. And there are three things in the account of it: (1.) What he did precisely. (2.) With respect unto whom. (8.) According to what rule or order he did it:—
(1.) He “spake every precept.” Vulg. Lat., “lecto omni man-
Aarnésion, ato,” “having read every command;” which is the yap dons tv- Sense intended. AawArdefong is as much in this place as eaAite “recited.” So it is rendered by most translators, “cum recitasset;” that is, when he had read in the book. For his first
speaking unto the people, Exod. xxiv. 3, is not here intended, but —
his reading in the audience of the people, verse 7. He spake what he read,—that is, audibly; so it is in the story, “ He read it in the audience of the people,” so as that they might hear and understand. It is added by the apostle, that he thus read, spake, recited “every precept” or ‘‘command.” “He took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people,” saith the text; that is, the whole book, and all that was contained in it, or “every precept.” And the whole is reduced by the apostle unto precepts. It was vézog évroddy, Eph, i. 15; “a law, a system of precepts.” And it is so called to intimate the nature of that covenant. It consisted princi- pally in precepts or commandments of obedience, promising no assistance for the performance of them. The new covenant is of another nature; it isa “covenant of promises.” And although it hath precepts also requiring obedience, yet is it wholly founded in the promise, whereby strength and assistance for the performance of that obedience are given unto us. And the apostle doth well observe that Moses read “every precept unto all the people;” for all the good things they were to receive by virtue of that covenant depended on the observation of every precept. For a curse was
denounced against every one that continued not “in all things writ-_
ten in the book of the law to do them,” Deut. xxvii, 26; Gal. iii. 10, And we may observe,— Obs. IV. A covenant that consisted in mere precepts, without an
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exhibition of spiritual strength to enable unto obedience, could never save sinners.—The insufficiency of this covenant unto that end is that which the apostle designs to prove in all this discourse. But thereon a double inquiry may be made: [1.] Why God gave this covenant, which was so insufficient unto this great end? This question is proposed and answered by the apostle, Gal. iii, 19. [2.] How then did any of the people yield obedience unto God, if the covenant exhibited no aid or assistance unto it? The apostle answereth in the same place, that they received it by faith in the promise, which was given before, and not disannulled by this cove- nant.
Obs. V. In all our dealings with God respect must be had unto every one of his precepts——And the reason hereof is given by the apostle James, namely, that the authority of God is the same in every one of them, and so may be despised in the neglect of the least as weil as of the greatest, James ii. 10, 11.
(2.) To whom did Moses thus read every precept? It was, saith the apostle, “to all the people”’ In the story it is said indefinitely, “In the audience of the people;” as after- wards, “He sprinkled the people.” The apostle adds the note of universality in both places; “all the people.” For whereas these things were transacted with the representatives of the people, (for it was naturally impossible that the one-half of the individuals of them should hear Moses reading,) they were all equally concerned in what was said and done. Yet I do believe, that after Moses first “told the people, ’—that is, the elders of them,—“ all the words of the Lorp,” Exod. xxiv. 3, there were means used by the elders and officers to communicate the things, yea, to repeat the words unto all the people, that they might be enabled to give their rational consent unto them. And we may observe,—