The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 2 — Section 106

obligations which redemption impo~es on ns. 3. The condition of the fulfilment of 7>romise is that the people obey God's voice, and keep his covenant (ver. 5). On no other terms could God conRent to be thefr God, and on no other terms would he consent t<J ha,e them for his people. Grace precedes law, grace accompanieB law, grace passe11 beyond law; nevertheless, grace must COnBerve law (Rom. iii. 31). God can propose to man no terms of favour, which do not include the need for a.n obedient will. He does not do so under the Gospel any more than he did under the law (cf. Matt. vii. 21; Rom. ii. 6, 7; vi.; 1 Cor. vii. 19; 1 John ii. 4, etc.). "It is exclusively Christ's rig:hteouRness which is of grace imputed to us. Yet this has to be approprwted in an upright heart·· (Martensen). When God took Israel out of Egypt, it was implied and intended that the redeemed people should " obey his voice." The covenant but ma.de explicit an implicit obligation. 4. The promises themsefoes are of the grande8t pos- si,b/,e de8criptwn (vers. 5, 6). (1) Israel would be to God "a peculiar treasure." Out of all the nations of the earth-for all the earth was his-Jehovah had chosen this one, to reveal himself to it, to give it laws and judgments, and to dwell in its midst as its king, benefactor, and defender ( cf. Deut. iv. 33-37). What an honour was this I And yet how inferior to the spiritual privileges of believers in Christ, who enjoy a nearness to God, an interest in his love, a special place in his regard, of which, not the earth only, but the universe, affords no other example. (2) Israel would be to God "a kingdom of priests." There is implied in this, on the one hand, royalty, dignity, rule; on the other, special consecration to God's service, the privilege of acceptable approach t.o him, and an intercessory and mediatorial function in relation to other nations. This promise also, has its higher counterpart in the privileges of Christians, who are "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation., a peculiar people" (1 Pet. ii. 9). Grace in the soul is a kingly, a dignifying, an ennobling principle. It confers true royalty of character. And in the future form of his kingdom, God, we may be sure, has royal places for all his royal children (Luke xi.x. 17, 19; Rev. i. 6; ii. 26; iii. 21). And believers 11.re a "priesthood." Not, indeed, in the old sense of having to offer atoning sacrifices, but priests in virtue of special consecration, of right of near approach to God, and of their calling" to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. ii. 5), and to intercede for the world (1 'l'im. ii. 1). (3) Israel would be t.o God "an holy nation." This is involved in their calling to be priests. God being holy, those who are about him-who serve him-who worship him, or who stand in any near relation to him-must be holy also. "Be ye holy, for I am holy" (1 Pet. i. 16). This requirement of holiness is unchangeable. Believers have in them the principk of holiness, and are engaged in " perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. vii. 1). Holiness is that essential qualification, "without which no man shall see the Lord" (Heh. xii. 14). 5. The promise contains a hint of the catholicity of God:a design in the calling of Israel. "For all the earth is mine" (ver. 5). Israel was called with a view to the ultimate benefit of the world. It was but the "first-born" of many sons whom God would lead to glory. II. THE PEOPLE·s RESPONSE (vers. 7-10). They willingly took upon themselves !he oblio-ations indicated in the words, "Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice ;.,deed, and"keep my oovena.nt," etc. (verse 5). They said at once "all that the Lord hath spoken we will do." There is a certain nobleness in this reply-a temporary rising of these long-enslaved minds to something like the dignity of their high calling as son;; of God. Yet-1. It wa.s a reply given without mw;h knowkdge of the 'law. They apprehended but little of its breadth, and of the spirituality of its requirements, else they would not have engaged so readily to do all that it enjoined. One design in p!a.cing Israel under law wa.s just that they might grow in this knowledge of the lireadth of the oommandment, and so might have developed in them the consciousness of sin (Rom. vii. 7-25). 2. It wa.s a reply given witltout much knowledge of them- Bilves. The people do not seem to have doubted their a~ility to keep God's word: They thought, like many more, that they had but to try, ~ order to do. ;A-~rdmgly, a second design in p!a.cing them under law was to _oonvmce them o~ t~eJ.r mistake-~ discover to them their spiritual inability. There 1s no way of oonvmcmg men of their inability to keep the law of God like setting them to try (&m. vii.). 3. It was a reply given, as respects the mass of the people, without heart-converswn. It was the out- come of a burst of enthusiasm, of an excited state of feeling. There was not the  en. ux. 5.) THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 111