he duties of a husband on His part, and then, the
inward communication of strength to her for the fulfilment of her
obligations; and that we are neither at liberty to refer, as do some
interpreters, everything to one of the two parties, nor to assume, as
others do, that everything refers to both at the same time--is proved
not only by the intervening repetition of "I betroth thee to Me," but
also by the internal nature of the gift's mentioned. [Hebrew: rHmiM],
"mercy," cannot be spoken of in the relation of the wife to God, nor
knowledge of God, in the relation of God to the wife. The four
manifestations of God which are mentioned here form [Pg 271] a double
pair,--righteousness and judgment, loving-kindness and mercy. The two
are frequently connected in a similar way; _e.g._, Is. i. 27: "Zion
shall be redeemed in judgment, and her inhabitants in righteousness."
They are distinguished thus:--the former, [Hebrew: cdq], designates the
_being just_, as a subjective attribute, with the dispositions and
actions flowing from it; the latter, [Hebrew: mwpT], denotes the
_objective right_.[1] A man can give to another his right or judgment,
and yet not be righteous; but God's righteousness, and His doing right
in reference to the Congregation, consists in this:--that He faithfully
performs the obligations which He took upon Himself when He entered
into covenant with her. This, however, is not sufficient. The
obligations entered into are reciprocal. If, then, the covenant be
violated on the part of the Congregation, what hope is left for her? In
order the more to relieve and comfort the wife, who, from former
experience, knew full well what she might expect from righteousness and
judgment alone, the Lord adds a second pair,--loving-kindness and
mercy, the former being the root of the latter, and the latter being
the form in which the former manifests itself, in the relation of an
omnipotent and holy God to weak and sinful man. [Hebrew: Hsd], properly
"love," man may also entertain towards God; although even this
word is very rarely used in reference to man, because God's love
infinitely exceeds human love; but God only can have [Hebrew: rHmiM],
"mercy," upon man. But still a distressing thought might, and must be
entertained by the wife. God's mercy and love have their limits; they
extend only to the one case which dissolves even human marriage--the
type of the heavenly marriage, the great mystery which the Apostle
refers to Chris