1. The Gentiles and the purpose of God. — When we speak of God's revealing Himself, we mean His opening man's eyes to such a sight of His nature and will as meets a universal want of man's spirit. We believe that, since man's history began, there has never been an age or a country in which ' the Father of spirits ' has not entered into close relation with His spiritual children. We agree with Justin ]Martyr when he says that the wise heathen lived in company Avith 'The Word,' and that all that they have truly said is part of Christianity {Apol. i. 46, ii. 13). The revelation which most concerns us is the special one contained in the Holy Scrip- tures. In the OT, it disclosed certain fundamental principles which, when we study them in the light of Christianity, we jjerceive to have been also promises of a purpose of mercy for the whole world. One is the Unity of God. This implied that God should be the one object of worship to the whole human race. Another is His entering into succes- sive covenants with men of various periods. This pointed to a progressive purpose M'hich should finally be realized in His drawing all men unto Himself. Further, the announcement of His design of blessing all the families of the earth through that family which He chose to be the special de- positary of His revealed will, was virtually His calling Abraham and his descendants to be fellow- workers with Himself in bringing all nations to love and obey Him. Those principles and promises, understood now in the light of the gospel, convey to us the assurance that the cause of the salvation of the Gentiles is to be found ' in the bosom and counsel of God.'
2. The OT and the Gentiles. — When we turn our attention to the OT on its liuman side, we meet with a confusing variety of opinions respecting the Gentiles. There is no consistency of view, no authoritative standard of judgment whereby con- flicting utterances may be reconciled ; and the etiect of this is often depressing to those readers who do not bear in mind that ' we have the treasure in earthen vessels,' or that the instruments whom God employed in revealing His will were imperfect men. OT writers often speak of the Gentiles in the language of reprobation. In Ps 9^'' the goytm are synonymous with the r'shaim, 'the wicked' (cf. Dt 9^) ; they are the 'am-ndbhcil, ' the foolish people,' in Ps 74^^ (cf. Sir 50'^^) ; they are the b^ne- nekhdr, ' the strangers ' (in a hostile sense), ' whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood,' in Ps 144^ (ct. Zeph 3^8). Israel is strictly prohibited from ' walking in their statutes,' or following their idolatrous practices (hukkdth hag-goyim [Lv 18^ 20", 2 K 17«]).
The virtues of individual Gentiles, it is true, are often referred to with approval. The native chiefs of Canaan treat Abraham with respect ; the Pharaoh who makes Joseph lord of his house calls him ' a man in whom the spirit of God is ' ; the daughter of the Pharaoh of the oppression is moved with compassion at the sight of the child Moses, and brings him up as her son ; Jethro receives Moses when an exile into his family, guides him in the desert, and instructs him in the art of governing ; Rahab and Ruth ' take refuge under the wings of the God of Israel,' and their names are in the regal genealogy ; Ittai the Gittite cleaves to David, when almost all have forsaken him ; the Queen of Sheba comes to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; the Tyrian Hiram supjjlies him with materials when building tlie Temple, having been ' ever a lover of David ' ; the widow of Zarepiiath, nearly destitute herself, feeds the famishing Elijah ; and Naaman, the Syrian general, confesses his faith in the God of Eiisha as the one true God ; Ebed-nielech, an Ethiopian slave, rescues Jeremiah from death, and is rewarded with a promise of personal immunity from danger ; Job, an Arabian shaikh, is tlie lofty teacher of how ' to sutler and be strong ' ; Cyrus tlie Persian is the Lord's anointed, and the deliverer of His people.
Nor is the fundamental principle of the unity of the human race (Gn 1-11), or of God's having ' made of one every nation of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth' (Ac 17""), ever lost sight of by OT writers. He who brought up Israel from Egypt, Amos says (9''), is the same God who brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir. But neither in this saying nor in the later one about ' all the nations over Avhom my name has been called' (cf. Driver on Am 9^-) does the prophet voice the belief that He who made all ' loveth all,' or Avill admit all into the covenant of His grace.
Very little is taught by the pre-Exilic prophets as to the Avorld being Israel's mission-field, but much is said about God's chastising the nations. In the great post-Exilic book of national consolation the proof of Jahweh's Godhead is followed by the proclamation of salvation to all mankind : ' Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ' (Is 45^^). When we read those words, and ' the Servant of the Lord Songs,' with their bright out- look on the Gentile world, the expectation is raised that the missionary calling of Israel is about to be fulfilled. It is true that a beginning was made, but only by the Jews of the Dispersion. The home- Jews, led by Nehemiah, took the course of setting up an impenetrable fence between them and their nearest neighbours. E. G. Hirsch .says that the necessities of the situation justified the narrower policy in this case {JE v. 616*). But we cannot