whioh St. Pnnl describes in Rom. xi., when ' again enter into oovenant union with the the brnnches that hnd been broken from the Almighty, and would bo enriched with all ol i,e tree shall be again grafted into it, nnd the blessings of his favour (of. oh. xxviii. 11, Rll Isrnel shall he se.ved nfter the fnlncss of 63); only, however, on the indispenso.blo the Gentiles shall oo brough I in. To Moses, condition of their hearkening to the voice and inde<:'d to all the Old Testament pro- of God 11nd being obediout to bis Law. phets and saints, the Israel of G,,d presented Vers. 11-H.-The fulfilment of this oon• itself ns n nation dwelling in a lnnd girnn to dition wns not impossible or oven difficult; it by God; but ns the national Israel wns the for God had doue everything to render it type of the spiritnnl Isrncl, nnd as Cannrm easy for them. The commandment of God was the type of the spiritunl kingdom of was not hidden from them; literally, tr.as not God, the full import of what is snid concern- wonderful to them; i.o. hard to be understood ini:: the former is only to be perceived when or to perform (see the use of tho He brew i( is viewed as realized in the latter. Certain word in Ps. cu:xi. l; Prov. xxx. 18); nor it is Urnt it was on this principle that the was it far off; it wns not in heaven-i.e. aposlles interpreted the fulfilment of the though heavenly in its source, it ho.d not Old Testitment declarations concerning ls- remained there, but ho.d been revealed-so rnel, of which the cxplanntion gi..en by St. that there wns no need for any one to SCIY, James of Amos ix. 11, 12 may be noted as Who will asoend to heaven, and bring it down an instructirn example (Acts xv. 15-17). to us, that we may hear it, and do it 1 The If the rebuilding of the ruined tabernacle of idea is not, as Keil suggests, that of '' an De.,id is to be effected by" the residue of inaccessible height" which none could scale; men" being brought to "seek after the nor is it, as suggested by Knobel, that of Lord. and all the Gentiles upon whom his something "incomprehensible, impractic- Name is called," we need not shrink from able, and superhuman;" it is simply a state- interpreting this prophecy of Moses as ment of fact that the Law had not been referring to the restorntion of Israel by the retained in heaven, but bad been revealed bringing in of Jew and Gentile into the one to men. Nor was this revelation made in fol,l under the one Shepherd, tl.Je Shepherd some for distant p!ace across the sea, so that of farad (Joi.Jn ix. 16). any need say, Who will go over the sea for Yer. G.-The Lord will circumcise thine us, and bring it unto ns, that we may hear it, heart; "when thou wilt become better, God and do it t On the contrary, it was very near will help thereto ( cf. eh. x. 16)" (Herx- to them, bad been disclosed in words so heimer). When Israel should return to that they could utter it with their own the Lord, he would take away from them the mouth, converse over it, and ponder it in evil heart of unbelief, and give them the their hearts (cf. Isa. xiv. 19; Jer. xxiii. 28: new heart and the right spirit. "Qui pravis Rom. x. 6). In the allusion to the sea, the alfoctibus renunciat is circumcisus corde representation is not that of depth (Targum dicitur" (Rosenmiiller. Cf. Jer. xxxi. 33; Jon.), but that of distance. xxxii. 39; Ezek. xi. 19, etc.; x.x.xvi 26; Vers. 15-20.-Moses concludes by so- Rom. ii. 20; Col. ii. 11). lemnly adjuring the people, as he had set Vers. 8, 9.-Thon she.It return and obey; before them, in his proclamation of the Law i.e. thou sl.Jalt ego.in hearken (see ver. 9, and in his preaching, good and evil, life and where the same expression is thus rendered). death, to choose the former and eschew the These tu-o verses are closely connected, the latter, to Jove and serve the Lord whioh is former expressing the condition on which life, and to shuI? apostaoy and disobedience the aspeet expressed in the latter depends. which are death (cf. eh. xi. 26, 27). Tl,ey should he rendered accordingly, U Ver. 17.-(Cf. eh. iv. 19.) thou shalt return . . . then the Lord thy Ver. 19.-(Cf. eh. iv. 26.) God, etc. ( comp. Gen. xlii. 38; Exod. iv. 23, Ver. 20.-For he is thy life; rather, for where a similar construction occurs). this is thy life ; to love the Lord is really Ver. 10.-Israel would then be restored to live the true, the higher life (of. oh. iv. 40: the full enjoyment of privilege, would x.xxii. 47).
HOMILETICS.
Vera. 1-10.-Dispersion not rejection. It is very cornf?rting to ~ass ~ro~ so gloomy a chapter as the twenty-eighth to such a paragraph as this. In this th1rt1et~ che.pte~, the onlook and outlook of Moses are much more extended than before. So distantly 1s bis eye cast now, that he actually looks to the further side of the gloomy scene he had so recently sketched, and sees in the horizon a belt of glory bounding his view (ver. 9). So that, although the present darkness and distress into which the scattered ou, xxx.1-20.) THE BOOK OF DEUTE!1ONOMY, 465