The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 69

contrast between the Law and the gospel presents & new aspect. Moses had veiled his face, "that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished." 'l'he veil concealed the evanescence of the brightness and was symbolic of that judicial blindness which fell upon Israel. "Their minds were blinded," or hardened, so:that their perceptions were not in accordance with facts; impressibility was lost, feeling was callous. "Until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the readin" of the Old Testament." The punishment continued. W'hat were the old Scriptures b~t a scaled book to most ot the Jews in the apostle's day? and now, after eighteen centuries, bow palpable to us the confirmation of his words in the ignorance and the delusions of the Jews touching the spiritual import of their sacred books I "Until this day" has a meaning for us it could not have had to St. Paul's contemporaries. Time has done nothing or next to nothing to remove the darkness enveloping Jewish mind. Shrewd intelligent, sagacious, in everything else; distinguished on nearly every arena of corn~ mercial and professional life; often foremost among men in matters as widely separated as music and statesmanship ;-they yet present the strangest of contrarieties in adhesion to prejudices almost two thousand years old, and that too while evincing an adaptiveness to every form of civilization and to all the modifications ii;oing on in the current activities of the age. Find them where you may, they are pliant to circumstances. .!'ilot a national mould can be mentioned in which their external character cannot be cast, and yet, while this plasticity is such that we have Russian, Italian, German, Spanish, French, English, Ame1ican, Jews, and withal the individual nationality apparent, there is the same religious blindness of which St. Paul wrote long ago. Their laud, homes, insti- tutions, the objects that come before us when we think of Judiea. and Galilee, have passed from their grasp; but they hold fast to the shreds of their ancient beliefs, nor can any power relax their hold. Now, surely, this is inexplicable on the ordinary grounds of human experience. No law of the mind, no law of society, can explain the phe- nomenon. Such a spectacle as the Jews.present of retaining their attachment and devotion ,to a skeleton religion, from which the soul has departed, is unique in the world's history. St. Paul solves the enigma; it is providential; it is punitive; "until this d,ay the veil is untaken away." 'l'wo statements follow: (1) the "veil is done away in Christ;" (2) but, though done away in Christ, "even unto this day, when Moses [his writings] is read, the veil is upon their heart." Only in and through Christ have we the power to see Christ in the Old Testament. Only in Christ risen and glorified, only in him as sending the Holy Ghost, can we understand the relations of Moses to the gospeL "Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scrip- tures "-a post-resurrection matter altogether and coincident with the preliminary gift of the Holy Ghost during the forty days. Yet, while asserting that Moses has been unveiled, and that his testimony to Christ, as the end of the Law to every believer, has been made clear and simple, nevertheless, the veil remains. The idea would seem to be, "The veil remains not taken away in the reading of the old covenant, it not beini: unveiled to them that it (the old covenant) is dono away in Christ" (note in Lange's 'Commentary'). But was there not room for hope? Already, in thousands ol cases, the veil had been removed. A. blinder and more rabid Pharisee than St. Paul lived not in Jerusalem, and he had had the veil taken away. The work was going on. One dny it would be complete<l and Israel would know her Messiah. "When it shall turn to tho Lord, the veil shall betaken away." We, in the present day, read this third chapter of the Second Corinthians in a fuller light than even our immediate ancestors. The events of the nineteenth century have shown us how near the Jews are to the heart of Providence. Taken as a body of people, they are advancing in wealth, in culture, in certain elements of social power, at a rate beyond the average progress of races. Christian thinkers cannot look at these facts without seeing much more than material prosperity. Providence is the historic antecedent of the Spirit. 'l'he prophets of God in our age are not Elijahs and Elishas, but events that revolutionize thought and silently change the hearts of nations. But this turning to the Lord (ver. 16) must be explained as to its Divine Agent, and the nature, thoroughness, and growing excellence of the work be set forth. Its Divine .A.gent. He is the Holy Ghost. :!sot only did Christ teach that he dependod on the lloly Spirit for hie anointing as the :Messiah, and that the unction proceeding thence was the strength and inspiration of his earihly work (" The Spirit of the Lord is v_pon me"); not only did he refer everything to the fulness of the Spirit in him (" I do on. m, 1-18,] THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS, 61