The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 16

r~alm I with which the Dook of Psalms commence~, and which appears to be, a1 Jerome s1tys, "the preface of the Holy Spirit" to thoa whole book, represents the mnn <in whom God pronounces blessings as one whose "delight is in the la,v of Jehovah nn<l in his lnw doth be meditate dny and night." In other psalms the writers describe the Torah-the word being varied by nearly equivalent expressions, rendered II com- rnandments," 11 stntntes," "judgmcnts," "testimonfos," nnd the like, in our English version-as the source of all righteousness, truth, and peace. We are so accustomed to read the Psalms in the light of our own Christian knowledge, thnt we nre npt to forget that, to the pious Israelite, tho law meant that which hnd been revealed through Moses nnd was contained in the Pentateuch. It is of this also thnt the Apostle Paul is speaking when he says I that "tbo la,v is holy, nnd the com- mandment holy, and just, and good;" nnd a!iain (in almost the very words of the Psalmist), "I delight in tl1e law of God l\ftcr the inward mnn." s 3. That in this view of "the law," as the revelntion to mnn of the mind of God, t.hcre is no difference between the Christian and the Israelite, except that the former possesses a key to its interpretation which the other had not, ie sufficiently evident from Christ's own teaching. The forct> of our Lord's words in the Sermon on the Mount 4 is hardly appreciated ns it ought to be in much of the popular theology of the present day. "Think not," he says, "that I am come to dee troy the law, and the prophets ; I am not come to destr-0y, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you; Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle" (as we might say" one dotting of an i or crossing of a t ·') " shall in no wise pass from the law, until all be fulfilled." 0 Thnt the meaning of this cannot be merely, as some suppose, that Christ came to fulfil the law in bis own person by hie life and death; and that he was not speaking, as others erroneously imagine, only of the moral law of the ten commandments, but that the words comprehend all that is included in the Torah, and that the fulfil- ment of the law ie a :fulflment in the kingdom of Christ, and by his disciples, as well as by our Lord himself, is evident from the words that follow: "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments" (such as may seem, in comparison with "the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith," 6 but as iwra 'iv q ,,,a 11:Epaia) "and shall teach men so, lie shall be called least 7 in the king- dom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Our Lord clearly indicates by this language that there would be a danger in his Church of Christians neglecting, and teaching others to neglect, the secondary and subordinate -parts of thP. law. It is of course certain, from his own exposition of the law, that this fulfilment is not, as scribes and PhariMees supposed, in the letter, the punctilious observance of which, even in the <l..ispenntion in which that letter was law, often indicated an ignorance of the real substance of the lilw. The ex:tct fulfilment required must be one in spirit and in truth, such as sometimes under the law, and much more under the gospel, would supersede 8 the letter. But these words of our Divine Master, so solemnly and em- phatically enunciated at the commencement of hie ministry, undoubtedly ought to warn us all, and especially those whose office it i8 to "teach" in the kingdom of 1 Ps. i. 2. 2 Rom. vii. 12. 1 Jbi,d. ver. 22. 4 Matt. v. 17-19. • The words ,.,, .;,, wavra yi,,,1ra, are strictly parallel to the previous clause, lw~ av ,ra 9,;...ep i, oupa,,o~ r:ai ,j yii, and have the same meaning; but the age which terminates in heaven and earth i,assing a.way is also that in which all things written in the law shall be t.11.filled, as is imp ied by the English version. 6 Matt. xxiii. 23. Observe, as illustrating Christ's words in the S,a·mon on the Mollllt L],,, (;ODcludiug words of this verse : ,-ailra llu w91ij<1a1 icaic,i'.va µ.;) a,p,,va,. , Hardly the least, as ill the Engli~b version ; rather oJJe in the class of the least s Matt. xii. 1-7.  INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH. iii