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(4) Thence will I bring them down:

(5) And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel,(6) I will search, and take them out thence;

(7) And though they be hid from My sight in the bottom of the sea,

(8) Thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them."

These lines are, as it were, one grand continued parallel, each part of it consisting of four divisions; man's supposed attempts to flee from the power and justice of God, exhibited under different forms in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th lines, and the manner in which God will defeat their various devices set forth in the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th lines.

These illustrations are sufficient to show the ordinary forms of Hebrew versification; and an attentive study of them will be a great assistance to the understanding and appreciation of the features of all the rest.

(To be continued.)

ON AIA HKH AND ITS COGNATES.

Διαθήκη TRANSLATED

"COVENANT.”

(1.) Luke i. 72, 73: To remember His holy Covenant, The oath which He sware to... . Abraham.

(2.) Acts iii. 25: Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made (covenanted) with our fathers.

(3.)

Christ, aliens... and strangers from the covenants of promise.

(10.) Heb. viii. 6: He is the Mediator of a better covenant... on better promises.

(11.) -verse 8: When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

...

(12.) verse 9: Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers they continued not in My covenant. (13.) verse 10: This is the covenant that I will make . . covenants, and the I will put My laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts.

vii. 8: And He gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. (4.) Rom. ix. 4: Israelites, to whom pertaineth the giving of the law, &c.

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(5.) - xi. 27: For this is My covenant with them when I shall take away their sins.

(6.) Gal. iii. 15: Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto. (7.) verse 17: The covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ. (8.) - iv. 24: For there are the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai. (For the other, see v. 28.)

(9.) Ephes. ii. 12: Ye were without

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IT will be observed here that the same word is translated in the A. V. by "covenant," eighteen times, and by "testament," eight times. As to the first series,

On No. I we remark that "covenant" and "oath" are in apposition-they signify, in part, the same thing, viz. the oath confirming or completing the covenant. This oath was interposing, mediating, or placing Himself (éμeσítevo). This is the same as "swearing by Himself." A testament, in the sense of a will, requires no oath from the testator. The thought of a will in this connexion, is outrageous. If the term "covenant" is right here, then all reference to it must retain the term. This, and some one other besides, are called "the covenants of promise;" that other is found in Jer. xxxi. 31-34, and repeated in Heb. viii. This covenant, said Jehovah, will be "when I take away their sin."

No. 2. "Children of the testament" would have no meaning, hence " covenant" is right here. Children of a testator would be intelligible; children of a covenant would mean those reckoned so through that covenant.

No. 3. Circumcision is spoken of as a covenant: this we know was "a token of the covenant" (Gen. xvii, 11).

No. 4. Here are "covenants" spoken of, what are they? In Nos. 11. and 12 they are clearly stated. The latter of these two is also spoken of in No. 7.

No. 5. This, though differing in degree and development

from that which is specially designated "the Gospel of the grace of God," is truly a covenant of grace.

No. 6. If "testament " had been put here, there would have been no incongruousness; the same thing asserted of a covenant in this place is true of a will.

No. 7. This confirmation may be seen in Gen. xv., God's oath.

No. 8. How oddly testament would sound here need not be pointed out—a will from Sinai!

No. 9. The Ephesians as idolaters were without "the covenants of promise "-the one to the Israelites as such in Heb. viii., the other to all as many as believe in the Saviour Jesus Christ.

No. 10. The "better promises" must be so as compared with some other. What are they? Were there any promises under the law? and are they meant? Or was the promise made to Abraham contrasted here-the first covenant of promise with the second?

We are distinctly told that the law could not disannul the promise which was given four hundred and thirty years before. The sole promise of the law was, "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land" (Isa. i. 19). The promise to Abraham was earthly possessions, a numerous seed, and to be a blessing to all nations. We are told that this seed was Christ, Gal. iii. 16; that is, as we must suppose it to mean, Christ is the most eminent accomplishment of the promise. Surely the manifest meaning of the promise of a vast natural posterity is not eliminated by this comment (see Gal. iii. 29), or it would look like a mere quibble. It is something like Heb. viii., "Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum” (xeþáλaιov) : that is, the sum total; but the whole is not really here, only the most prominent feature of it.

Perhaps we may safely conclude that "the better promises are those in Jeremiah, for they contain pledges of security in obedience, which the former to Abraham did not. God said to Abraham, “This is my covenant which ye shall keep, between me and you, and thy seed after thee" (Gen. xvii. 10). This was not a promise of security, but a duty enjoined, and a promise provisionally.

Nos. II, 12, 13, have all reference to the same covenants-the old which was "ready to vanish away," and "the everlasting covenant." This last has a dual character, viz., as it will be exhibited to the earthly people, and as it has already been developed in the heavenly people.

No. 14. The meaning given to the word here must rest entirely on the congruity of an "ark" and "tables," viz. of commandments with the nature of a will, or of a covenant.

No. 16. What would the blood of a will mean? So also in No. 18.

No. 17. See below.

We now consider the second series of Scriptures.

Nos. 1 and 2. Here again arises the inquiry-what can blood of the new will mean? Or new will in My blood?

No. 3. What would ministers of the new will mean? The only minister is the one who administers, and such is not a minister or servant (διάκονος).

No. 4. By "the Old Testament" is meant either the whole of the Scriptures given to the people of Israel, or the Pentateuch only. Surely this is a covenant containing His will.

Nos. 5 and 6 may be compared with Nos. 10 and 16 of the first series. Why, it may be asked, should the same Greek word be rendered by two very different English words when the circumstances are precisely the same? Some exception may be taken to the passage containing the word "surety," as constituting a dissimilarity. The Greek is eyyvos, occurring only this once, not at all in the LXX., but once in 2 Maccabees x. 28. Hesychius explains it by ȧvádoxos, one who accepts for another. Perhaps the two together, μeoirns and eyyvos, illustrate the whole of the condition; the first the position only, the latter its object-one between God and who pledges Himself for all dues to be rendered, God to man, man to God.

"A better testament." This must mean better than some other. Our translators have, with singular inconsistency, called the old Scriptures "a covenant" eight times, and a "testament" three times. In one passage (1st Series, No. 14) they have translated "ark of the covenant," and in another (2nd Series, No. 10) "ark of His testament." Unless the different words are synonymous this cannot be right.

But Christ is called "the Mediator of a better covenant—or, new-or, everlasting." Here then arises the inquiry, Are we, the subjects of a new dispensation, subjects also of a covenant distinct from the foregoing? The answer must be, No, if Christ was the Mediator of the one which God made with Abraham. This is stated in No. 7: "The covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ." But there may be many distinct enactments in a covenant. There seem to be two in this:-First. To Abraham and his seed according to the flesh. Second. To those who form "the Bride, the Lamb's wife," destined to reign with Him.

There is nothing of the nature of a will in all this. A will requires no mediator, no surety. A will is only the record of the purpose and intention of the testator, to be carried out after his death. To establish its validity witnesses are required, not mediators or sureties.

Nos. 9 and 10 may be referred to Nos. 1 and 14 of the Ist Series.

We have now to consider Nos. 7 and 8, which, from the amount of controversy that has taken place, are by far the most eminent of the two series. A new rendering is here proposed, with the preceding verse.

Heb. ix. 15. And for this cause He is the Mediator of the New Covenant, to the end that-as there was (literally, there being) death for the redemption of transgressions under the first Covenant-they who are called might receive the promise of an eternal inheritance.

Verse 16. For where a covenant is, there is necessity that death be endured by the mediator.

Verse 17.

For a covenant is of force (confirmed) after the death of mediators, otherwise it is of no strength at all while the mediator liveth.

A will requires the death of him who devises. He devises what he himself has acquired either by his own efforts or by another's will. The transaction now under consideration is the conveyance of an estate-of" an eternal inheritance." Is that by will or covenant-the both parties still existing?

It may be said that a covenant is commonly meant, but that in these verses it is clearly a testament that is meant. To many

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