Ver. 16. "And it cometh to pass, when ye be multiplied and fruitful in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more: The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord! And it will not come into the heart, neither shall they remember it, nor miss it, nor shall it be made again."
First, we shall explain some particulars. The words: "When ye be," &c. refer to Gen. i. 28, As it is God's general providence which brings about the fruitfulness of all creatures, so it is His special providence which brings about the increase of His Church whose ranks have been thinned by His judgments; and it is thus that His promise to the patriarchs is carried on towards its fulfilment; compare remarks on Hos, ii. 1. God's future activity in this respect, has an analogy in His former activity in Egypt, Exod. i. 12. The words: "The Ark of the Covenant" must be viewed as an exclamation, in which an ellipsis, in consequence of the emotion, must be supposed, q.d. it is the aim of all our desires, the object of all our longings. The mere mention of the object with which the whole heart is filled, is sufficient for the lively emotion. Venema's exposition; Arca fœderis Jehovae sc. est, and that of De Wette: "They shall no more speak of the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah," are both feeble and un philological. How were it possible that אמר with the Accusative should mean "to speak of something?"--עלה על־לב is, in a similar context, just as it is here, connected with זכר in Is. lxv. 17: "For behold I create a new heaven and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into the heart," comp. also Jer. li. 50, vii. 31; 1 Cor. ii. 9. זכר with ב does not simply stand instead of the usual connection with the Accusative; it signifies a remembering connected with affection, a recollection joined with ardent longings. פקד is, by many interpreters, understood in the sense of "to visit," but the signification "to miss" (Is. xxxiv. 16; 1 Sam. xx. 6-18, xxv. 15; 1 Kings xx. 39) is recommended by the connection with the following clause: "Nor shall it be made again." This supposes that there shall come a time when the Ark of the Covenant shall no more exist, the time of the destruction of the temple, which was so frequently and emphatically announced by the prophets.[3] God, however, will grant so rich a compensation for that which is lost, that men will neither long for it, nor, urged on by this longing, make any attempt at again procuring it for themselves by their own efforts. The main question now arises:--In what respect does the Ark of the Covenant here come into consideration? The answer is suggested by ver. 17. The Ark of the Covenant is no more remembered, because Jerusalem has now, in a perfect sense, become the throne of God. The Ark of the Covenant comes into consideration, therefore, as the throne of God, in an imperfect sense. It can easily be proved that it was so, although there have been disputes as to the manner in which it was so. The current view was this, that God, as the Covenant God, had constantly manifested himself above the Cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant, in a visible symbol, in a cloud. The first important opposition to this view proceeded from Vitringa who, in the Obs. sac. t. i. p. 169, advances, among other arguments, the following: "It is not by any means necessary to maintain that, in the holy of holies, in the tabernacle or the temple of Solomon, there was constantly a cloud over the Ark; but it may be sufficient to say, that the Ark was the symbol of the divine habitation, and it was for this reason said that God was present in the place between the Cherubim, because from thence proceeded the revelation of His will, and He thus proved to the Jews that He was present." But this view of Vitringa, that it was merely in an invisible manner that God was present over the Ark of the Covenant, met with strong opposition; and a note to the second edition shows, that he himself afterwards entertained doubts regarding it. By Thalemann, a pupil of Ernesti, it was afterwards advanced far more decidedly, and evidently with the intention of carrying it through, whether it was true or not, in the Dissertatio de nube super arcam foederis (Leipzig, 1756). He, too, declared, however, that he did not deny the matter, but only disputed the sign. He found a learned opponent in John Eberhard Rau, Professor at Herborn (Ravius, de nube super arcam foederis, Utrecht, 1760; it is a whole book, in which Thalemann's Treatise is reprinted). The matter is, indeed, very simple; both parties are right and wrong, and the truth lies between the two. From the principal passage, in Lev. xvi. 2, it is evident that, at the annual entry of the High Priest into the holy of holies, the invisible presence of God embodied itself in a cloud, as formerly it also did, on extraordinary occasions, during the journey through the wilderness, and at the dedication of the tabernacle and temple. In that passage, Aaron is exhorted not to enter the holy of holies at all times, for that would prove a want of reverence, but only once a year, "for in the cloud I shall appear over the lid of expiation," (this is the right explanation of כַּפּרֶת compare Genuineness of the Pentateuch, p. 525 f.) The place where God manifests himself in so visible a manner when the High Priest enters into it, cannot fail to be a most holy place to him. It is true that Vitringa (S. 171), and still more Thalemann (S. 39 in Rau), have endeavoured to remove this objection by their interpretation; but with so plain a violation of all the laws of interpretation, that it is scarcely worth while to enter farther upon this exposition, (compare the refutation in Rau, S. 40 ff.), although J. D. Michaelis, Vater, Rosenmüller, and Bähr, (Symbol. des Mos. Cultus, i. S. 395), have approved of it.[4] On the other hand, there is nothing to favour the supposition of an ordinary and constant presence of the cloud in the holy of holies. With such a view, questions at once arise, such as: Whether it came also to the Philistines? All that Rau advances in favour of it, merely proves the invisible presence of God, which surely cannot be considered and called a merely imaginary thing, as is done by him, p. 35. For what, in that case, would be the Lord's presence in the hearts of believers, and in the Lord's supper? It is true that Ezekiel, in chap. xi. 22, beholds the glory of the Lord over the cherubim as being lifted up, and forsaking the temple before its destruction; but how can we draw any reference, as to the actual state of things, from visions which, according to their nature, surround with a body all that is invisible? Still, as we already remarked, this whole controversy has reference to the manner only, and not to the fact of God's presence over the Ark of the Covenant; and the Ark of the Covenant stands here in a wider sense, and comprehends the cherubim, and "the glory of the Lord dwelling over them." From a vast number of passages, it can be proved that this glory of the Lord was constantly and really present over the Ark of the Covenant, although it was in extraordinary cases only that it manifested itself in an outward, visible form; compare, besides Lev. xvi. 2, Lev. ix. 24, where, after Aaron's consecration to the priesthood, the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole people in confirmation of his office. To these passages belong all those in which God is designated as dwelling over the cherubim, such as 1 Chron. xiii. 6; Ps. lxxx. 2; 1 Sam. iv. 4. To it refers the designation of the ark of the covenant, in a narrower sense, as the footstool of God; comp. 1 Chron. xxviii. 2, where David says: "I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God;" Ps. xcix. 5, cxxxii. 7; Lam. ii. 1. From this circumstance the fact is explained, that the prayer in distress, as well as the thanks for deliverance, were offered up before, or towards the Ark of the Covenant. After the defeat before Ai (Josh. vii. 5 ff.), Joshua "rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face, before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads, and Joshua said: Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan?" After the Lord had appeared to Solomon at Gibeah, and had given him the promise, he went before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings, and thank-offerings, 1 Kings iii. 15. In 2 Sam. xv. 32, we are told that David went up the Mount of Olives very sorrowfully, and when he was come to the place, where people were accustomed to worship God, Hushai met him. According to that passage, it was the custom of the people, when on the top of the Mount of Olives, they gained, for the first or last time, a view of the sanctuary, to prostrate themselves before the God of Israel who dwelt there. To the Ark of the Covenant, all those passages refer in which it is said that God dwelleth in the midst of Israel; that He dwelleth in the temple; that He dwelleth at Zion or Jerusalem, compare e.g., the promise in Exodus xxix. 45: "I dwell in the midst of the children of Israel,"
and farther, Ps. ix. 12, cxxxii. 13, 14; 1 Kings vi. 12, 13, where God promises to Solomon that if he should only walk in His commandments, and execute His judgments, then would He dwell among the children of Israel; and afterwards fulfils this promise by solemnly entering into his temple. Indissolubly connected with this, was the deep reverence in which the Ark of the Covenant was held in Israel. It was considered as the most precious jewel of the people, as the centre of their whole existence. Being the place where the glory of God dwelt (Ps. xxvi. 8), where He manifested himself in His most glorious revelation, it was called the glory of Israel, compare 1 Sam. iv. 21, 22; Ps. lxxviii. 61. The High Priest Eli patiently and quietly heard all the other melancholy tidings--the defeat of Israel, and the death of his sons. But when he who had escaped added: "And the Ark of God is taken," he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck brake, and he died. When his daughter-in-law heard the tidings that the Ark of the Covenant was taken, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death, the women that stood by her said unto her: Fear not, for thou hast borne a son. But she answered not, neither did she take it to heart, and she named the child Ichabod, and said. The glory is departed from Israel, because the Ark of the Covenant was taken, and said again: "The glory is departed from Israel, for the Ark of God is taken." But in what manner may this dwelling of God over the Ark of the Covenant be conceived of? Should the Most High God, whom all the heavens, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain (1 Kings viii. 27), whose throne is the heaven, and whose footstool is the earth (Is. lxvi. 1), dwell in a temple made by the hands of men? (Acts vii. 48, ff.) Evidently not in the manner in which men dwell in a place, who are in it only, not out of it. Nor in such a manner as the carnally minded suppose, who, to the warnings of the prophets, opposed their word: "Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us" (Micah iii. 11), or: "Here is the temple of the Lord, here is the temple of the Lord, here is the temple of the Lord" (Jer. vii. 4), imagining that God could not forsake the place which he had chosen, could not take away the free gift of His grace. The matter rather stands thus: That which constitutes the substance and centre of the whole relation of Israel to God, is, that the God of the heavens and the earth became the God of Israel; that the Creator of heaven and earth became the Covenant-God, that His general providence in blessing and punishing became a special one. In order to make the relation familiar to the people, and thus to make it the object of their love and fear, God gave them a praesens numen in His sanctuary, as a prefiguration, and, at the same time, a prelude of the condescension with which He whom the whole universe cannot contain, rested in the womb of Mary. And in so doing, He gave them not a symbolical representation merely, but an embodiment of the idea, so that they who wished to seek Him as the God of Israel, could find Him in the temple, and over the Ark of the Covenant only. The circumstance that it was just there that He took His seat, shows the difference between this truly praesens numen, and that merely imaginery one of the Gentiles. There was in this no partial favour for Israel, nothing from which careless sinners could derive any comfort, God's dwelling among Israel rested on His holy Law. According as the Covenant is kept or not, and the Law is observed or not, it manifests itself by increased blessing, or by severer punishment. If the Covenant be entirely broken, the consequence is that God leaves His dwelling, and it is only the curse which remains, and which is greater than the curse inflicted upon those among whom He never dwelt, and which, by its greatness, indicates the greatness of the former grace.--Now, if this be the case with the Ark of the Covenant; if it be the substance and centre of the whole former dispensation, what, and how much would not fall along with it, if it fell; and how infinitely great must the compensation be which was to be granted for it, if, in consequence of it, no desire and longing after it was to rise at all, if it was to be regarded as belonging to the πτωχὰ στοιχεῖα, and was to be forgotten as a mere image and shadow! The fact that the Ark of the Covenant was made before any thing else, sufficiently shows that every thing sacred under the Old Testament dispensation depended upon it. Witsius Misc. t. i. p. 439, very pertinently remarks: "The Ark of the Covenant being, as it were, the heart of the whole Israelitish religion, was made first of all." Without Ark of the Covenant--no temple; for it became a sanctuary by the Ark of the Covenant only; for holy, so Solomon says in 2 Chron. viii. 11, is the place whereunto the Ark of the Covenant hath come. Without Ark of the Covenant, no priesthood; for what is the use of servants when there is no Lord present? Without temple and priesthood, no sacrifice. We have thus before us the announcement of the entire destruction of the previous form of the Kingdom of God, but such a destruction of the form as brings about, at the same time, the highest completion of the substance,--a perishing like that of the seed-corn, which dies only, in order to bring forth much fruit; like that of the body, which is sown in corruption, in order to be raised in incorruption. Dahler remarks: "Because a more sublime religion, a more glorious state of things will take the place of the Mosaic dispensation, there will be no cause for regretting the loss of the symbol of the preceding dispensation, and people will no more remember it."--It is quite natural that the prophecy should give great offence, and prove a stumbling-block to Jewish interpreters. Its subject, its high dignity, just consists in the announcement that, at some future period, the shadow should give way to the substance; but it is just the confounding of the shadow with the substance, the rigid adherence to the former, which characterises Judaism, which considers even the Messiah as a minister of the old dispensation only, and views the great changes to be effected by Him, mainly as external ones. The embarrassment arising from this, is very clearly expressed in the following words of Abarbanel: "This promise is, then, bad, and uproots the whole Law. How is it then that Scripture mentions it as good?" Rabbi Arama, in his commentary on the Pentateuch, fol. 101, says, in reference to this prophecy, נבוכו כל המפרשים "all interpreters have been perplexed by it." The interpretations by means of which they endeavour to rid themselves of this embarrassment (see the collection of them in Frischmuth's dissertation on this passage, Jena; reprinted in the Thes. Ant.) are only calculated plainly to manifest it. Kimchi gives this explanation: "Although ye shall increase and be multiplied on the earth, yet the nations shall not envy you, nor wage war against you; and it shall no more be necessary for you to go to war with the Ark of the Covenant, as was usual in former times, when they took the Ark of the Covenant out to war. In that time, there will be no necessity for so doing, as they shall not have any war." The weak points of this explanation are at once obvious. That which, in the verse under consideration, is, in a general way, said of the Ark of the Covenant, is, by it, referred to an altogether special use of it, a regard to which is excluded by the evident antithesis in ver. 17. Abarbanel rejects this explanation. He says: "For there is, in the text, no mention at all of war; and therefore I cannot approve of this exposition, although Jonathan, too, inclines towards it." He himself brings out this sense: The Ark of the Covenant would then, indeed, still continue to exist, and be the seat of the Lord; but no more the exclusive one, no longer the sole sanctuary. "The whole of Jerusalem shall, as regards holiness and glory, equal the Ark of the Covenant. For there shall cease with them every evil thing, and every evil imagination; and there shall be such holiness in the land, that in the same manner as formerly the Ark was the holiest of all things, so at that time, Jerusalem shall be the throne of the Lord." But, by this explanation, justice is not done to the text. For it is an entire doing away with the Ark of the Covenant which is spoken of in it, not a mere diminution of its dignity, produced by the circumstance, that that which formerly was low shall be exalted. This is particularly evident from the words: "They will not miss it, neither shall it be made again." To this argument we may still add that, by this exposition, not even the object is gained for the sake of which it was advanced. The nature and substance of the Ark of the Covenant is destroyed, as soon as it is put on a level with anything else. It is then no more the throne of the Lord; and for this reason, the previous form can no longer continue to exist, and, along with it, the temple and priesthood too must fall. If every place in Jerusalem, if every inhabitant of it, be equally holy, how then can institutions still continue, which are based on the difference between holy and unholy?--Here a question still arises. There was no Ark of the Covenant in the second temple. In what relation to the prophecy under consideration stands this absence of the Ark of the Covenant, the restoration of which the Jews expect at the end of the days? There cannot be any doubt that it was really wanting. Every proof of its existence is wanting. Josephus, in enumerating the catalogue of the spolia Judaica, borne before in the triumph, does not mention it. He says expressly (de Bell. Jud. v. 5, § 5), that the holy of holies had been altogether empty. Some of the Jewish writers assert that it had been carried away to Babylon; while most of them, following the account given in 2 Maccabees, tell us that Josiah or Jeremiah had concealed it; compare the Treatise by Calmet, Th. 6, S. 224-258, Mosh. In asking why such was the case, other analogous phenomena, the absence of the Urim and Thummim, the cessation of prophetism soon after the return from the captivity, must not be lost sight of. Every thing was intended to impress upon the people the conviction that their condition was provisional only. It was necessary that the Theocracy should sink beneath its former glory, in order that the future glory, which was far to outshine it, should so much the more be longed for. After having thus determined why it was that the Ark of the Covenant was wanting, at the second temple, it is easy to determine the relation of this absence to the prophecy under consideration. It was the beginning of its fulfilment. In the Kingdom of God, nothing perishes, without something new arising out of this decay. The extinction of the old was the guarantee, that something new was approaching. On the other hand, the absence of the Ark of the Covenant was, it is true, at the same time, a matter-of-fact prophecy of a sad character. To those who clung to the form, without having in a living manner laid hold of the substance, and who, therefore, were not able to partake in the more glorious display of the substance,--to these it announced that the time was approaching when the form, to which they had attached themselves with their whole existence, was to be broken. Since already one of the great privileges of the covenant-people, the δόξα (Rom. ix. 4), had disappeared, surely all that might and would soon share the same fate, which existed only for the sake of it, and in it only had its significance. In this respect, the non-restoration of the Ark of the Covenant showed that the Chaldean destruction and that by the Romans were connected as commencement and completion; while, in the other aspect, it declared that, with the return from the captivity, the realization of God's great plan of salvation was being prepared. Inasmuch as the most complete fuga vacui is peculiar to the Covenant-God, the emptiness in that place where formerly the glory of God dwelt, proclaimed aloud the future fulness.--Finally, we have still to determine the special reference of our verse to Israel, i.e., the former kingdom of the ten tribes. This reference is, by most interpreters, entirely lost sight of, and is very superficially and erroneously determined by those who, like Calvin, pay attention to it. In the preceding verse, it had been promised to Israel, that those blessings should again be bestowed upon them, which they had forfeited by their rebellion against the Davidic house, and that they should be restored to them with abundant interest. For David's house is to attain to its completion in its righteous Sprout. This Shepherd, who is, in the fullest sense, what His ancestor had only imperfectly been--a man according to the heart of God--shall feed them with knowledge and understanding. Here, a compensation is promised for the second, infinitely greater loss, which had, at all times, been acknowledged as such by the faithful in the kingdom of the ten tribes. The revelation of the Lord over the Ark of the Covenant was the magnet which constantly drew them to Jerusalem. Many sacrificed all their earthly possessions, and took up their abode in Judea. Others went on a pilgrimage from their natural to their spiritual home, to the "throne of the glory exalted from the beginning," Jer. xvii. 12. In vain was every thing which the kings of Israel did in order to stifle their indestructible longing. Every new event by which "the glory of Israel" manifested itself as such, kindled their ardour anew. But here also the great blessing and privilege, which the believers missed with sorrow, the unbelievers without it, is to the returning ones given back, not in its previous form, but in a glorious completion. The whole people have now received eyes to recognise the value of the matter in its previous form; and yet this previous form is now looked upon by them as nothing, because the new, infinitely more glorious form of the same matter occupied their attention.
Ver. 17. "At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered into it, because the name of the Lord is at Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the wickedness of their evil heart."
Many interpreters, proceeding upon the supposition that the emphasis rests upon Jerusalem, have been led to give an altogether erroneous explanation. It is no more the Ark of the Covenant which will then be the throne of the Lord, but all Jerusalem. Thus, e.g., after the example of Jarchi and Abarbanel, Manasseh ben Israel, Conciliator, p. 196: "If we keep in mind that, in the tabernacle or temple, the Ark was the place where the Lord dwelt (hence Ex. xxv. 22: 'I will speak with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim'), we shall find that the Lord here says, that the Ark indeed had formerly been the dwelling-place of the Godhead, but that, at the time of Messiah, not some one part of the temple only would be filled with the Godhead, but that this glory should be given to all Jerusalem; so that whosoever would be in her would have the prophetic spirit." If it had been the intention of the Prophet to convey this meaning, the word all could not have been omitted. The throne of the Lord, Jerusalem had been even formerly, in so far as she possessed in her midst the Ark of the Covenant, and hence was the residence of Jehovah, the city of the great King, Ps. xlviii. 3. The words in the parallel member: "Because the name of the Lord is at Jerusalem," show that Jerusalem is called the throne of the Lord, because there is now in her the true throne of the Lord, just as, formerly, the Ark of the Covenant. The antithesis to what precedes leads us to expect a gradation, not in point of quantity, but of quality. The emphasis rests rather on: "The throne of the Lord;" and these words receive from the antithesis the more definite qualification: the true throne of the Lord. Quite similarly, those who boasted that over the Cherubim was the throne of God, and that the Ark of the Covenant was His footstool, are told in Is. lxvi. 1: "The heaven is my (true) throne, and the earth my (true) footstool;" comp. the passages according to which the Ark of the Covenant is designated as the footstool of God, and, hence, the place over the Cherubim of the Ark of the Covenant as the throne of the Lord, p. 387; and farther, Is. lx. 13; Ezra i. 26.--The highest prerogative of the covenant-people, their highest privilege over the world, is to have God in the midst of them; and this prerogative, this privilege, is now to be bestowed upon them in the most perfect manner; so that idea and reality shall coincide. Perfectly parallel in substance are such passages as Ezek. xliii., in which the Shechinah which, at the destruction of the temple had withdrawn, returns to the new temple, the Kingdom of God in its new and more glorious form. Ver. 2. "And behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the East; and its voice was like the voice of great waters, and the earth shone with its splendour." Ver. 7. "And He said unto me, son of man, behold the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy place." Zech. ii. 14 (10): "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for, lo, I come and dwell in the midst of thee," with an allusion to Exod. xxix. 45: "And I dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God." The Prophet declares that the full realization of this promise is reserved for the future; but it could not be so, unless it had already been realised, throughout all past history, in God's dwelling over the Ark of the Covenant; compare Zech. viii. 3: "Thus saith the Lord, I return unto Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem."--If we enquire after the fulfilment, we are at once met by the words in John i. 14: καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός; and that so much the more that these words contain an evident allusion to the former dwelling of God in the temple, of which the incarnation of the Logos is looked upon as the highest consummation. It is true that the dwelling of God among His people by means of the πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ must not be separated from the personal manifestation of God in Christ, in whom dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily, σωματικῶς. The former stands to the latter in the same relation, as does the river to the fountain; it is the river of living water flowing forth from the body of Christ. Both together form the true tabernacle of God among men, the new true Ark of the Covenant; for the old things are the σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων, τὸ δὲ σῶμα Χριστοῦ, Col. ii. 17; comp. Rev. xxi. 22: καὶ ναὸν οὐκ εἶδον ἐν αὐτῇ· ὁ γὰρ Κύριος, ὁ Θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ ναὸς αὐτῆς ἐστι, καὶ τὸ ἀρνίον. The typical import of the Ark of the Covenant is expressly declared in Heb. ix. 4, 5, and that which was typified thereby is intimated in chap. iv. 16: προσερχώμεθα δὲ μετὰ παῤῥησίας τῷ θρόνῳ τῆς χάριτος, where Christ is designated as the true mercy-seat, as the true Ark of the Covenant. Just as, formerly, God could be found over the Ark of the Covenant only, by those from among his people who sought Him; so we have now, through Christ, boldness and access with confidence in God (Eph. iii. 12); and it is only when offered in His name, in living union with Him, that our prayers are acceptable, John xvi. 23. A consequence of that highest realization of the idea of the kingdom of God, and, at the same time, a sign that it has taken place, and a measure of the blessings which Israel has to expect from its re-union with the Church of God, is the gathering of the Gentiles into it, such as, by way of type and prelude, took place even at the lower manifestations of the presence of God among the people; compare, e.g., Josh. ix. 9: "And they (the Gibeonites) said unto him: From a very far country thy servants are come, because of the name (לשם) of Jehovah thy God, for we have heard the fame of Him, and all that He did in Egypt, and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites," &c. In a manner quite similar it is, in Zech. ii. 15 (11) also, connected with the Lord's dwelling in Jerusalem: "And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day; and they shall be my people; and I dwell in the midst of thee."--לשם יהוה לירושלים must be literally translated: "On account of the name of the Lord (belonging) to Jerusalem," for: because the name of the Lord belongs to Jerusalem--is there at home The name of the Lord is the Lord himself, in so far as He reveals His invisible nature, manifests himself In the name, His deeds are comprehended; and hence it forms a bridge betwixt existing and knowing. A God without a name is a θεὸς ἄγνωστος, Acts xviii. 23. There is an allusion to Deut. xii. 5: "But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, to dwell in it, unto it ye shall seek, and thither ye shall come." Formerly, when God put His name in an imperfect manner only, Israel only assembled themselves; but now, all the Gentiles.--The last words: "Neither shall they walk any more," &c., are not by any means to refer to the Gentiles, but to the members of the kingdom of Israel, or also to the whole of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to all the members of the Kingdom of God, including the subjects of the kingdom of Israel. This appears from a comparison of the fundamental passage of the Pentateuch, as well as of the parallel passages in Jeremiah. Wherever שרירות occurs, the covenant-people are spoken of; everywhere the walking after שרירות of the heart is opposed to the walking after the revealed law of Jehovah, which Israel alone possessed. שרירות, which properly means "firmness," is then used of hardness in sin, of wickedness.[5]
[ [1]] Vitringa very correctly remarks on this passage: "בעל, properly ὁ ἔχων, he who has any thing in his possession is, by an ellipsis, applied to the husband who, in Exod. xxi. 3, is rightly called בעל אשה one who has a wife."
[ [2]] Against the explanation of Maurer: "For I am your Lord;" and that of Ewald: "I take you under my protection," it is decisive that בעל never means "to be Lord," far less "to take under protection." בעל, which properly means "to possess," is very commonly used of marriage;--as early as in the Decalogue, the wife appears as the noblest possession of the husband--so that a priori this signification is suggested and demanded.
[ [3]] It is from the circumstance that modern Exegesis is unable to comprehend the prophetic anticipation of the Future, that the assertion has proceeded (Movers, Hitzig) that, even before the Chaldean destruction, the Ark "must have disappeared in a mysterious manner." In the view of the Chaldean destruction the Lord is, in Ps. xcix. 1 (comp. Ps. lxxx. 2), designated as He who sitteth over the Cherubim. In 2 Chron. xxxv. 3, we have a distinct historical witness for the existence of the Ark, so late as the 18th year of Josiah. The fable in 2 Maccab. ii. 4, ff., supposes that the Ark was at its ordinary place, down to the time of the breaking in of the Chaldean catastrophe. One might as well infer from chap. iii. 18, that, at the time when these words were spoken, Judah must already, "in a mysterious manner," have come into the land of the North.
[ [4]] Bähr advances the assertion, "In a (the) cloud" is equivalent to: "in darkness." But the parallel passages, Exod. xl. 34 ff., Numb. ix. 15, 16, quoted by J. H. Michaelis, are quite sufficient to overthrow this assertion. And these parallel passages are so much the more to the point, that by the article the cloud is designated as being already known; compare Hofmann, Schriftbeweis ii. 1, S. 36. The cloud in ver. 13 is not identical with that in ver. 2, but is its necessary parallel. The cloud in ver. 2 symbolises the truth that the Lord is a consuming fire (compare my remarks on Rev. i. 7); that in ver. 13 is an embodied Kyrie eleison, compare remarks on Rev. v. 8. Cloud with cloud,--that is a noble advice for the Church when she is threatened by the judgments of God. A thorough refutation of Bähr has been given by W. Neumann: Beiträge zur Symbolik des Mos. Cultus, Zeitschr. f. Luth. Theol., 1851, i.