As it is necessary in every state that there should be a central seat, a capital where the sovereign dwells, and from whence goes forth the law, so was it here. When the people had taken full possession of the land, Jehovah Himself selected the place where He would dwell, and where should be seen the symbol of His Presence. "I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God." Thus by His Presence the land was hallowed. It had been defiled by its heathen inhabitants, but henceforth it should be holy. "Defile not the land . . . wherein I dwell." As His land, it could not become the permanent possession of any other people; it could not be alienated from the end to which He had designed it. He might, indeed, as a punishment for their sins, scatter His people abroad among the nations, and even give up His own city and temple to overthrow: but His special relation to the land did not cease; it remained His; and no nation could set up in it a stable and prosperous government, or make it the permanent abode of its people. It must remain a land set apart till His purpose is fulfilled in it.

This relation of the Jews to their land, through Jehovah, was a most important element in their history. To be thrust out of it, and to be scattered among the nations, was the heaviest punishment that could be inflicted upon them, since it was inflicted by their King, and was the proof to all the world of their rebellion. Separated from the land, they were separated from Him who had chosen it for them, and who dwelt in it. His temple was there, and only in the temple could the appointed rites of worship be carried on. Nor could the law in many of its chief provisions be executed in any other land. Had it been possible to find another country, and to make it their own, this would not have

restored their relation to Jehovah as their King: this relation was inseparably connected with the land He had given them. They could not dwell elsewhere and be His people, and fulfill their calling.

CHAPTER IV.

PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE THEOCRACY.

The fact of a Theocracy on the earth, the Supreme God ruling a people as its King, is one of deepest interest and importance. We must carefully examine it, that we may understand its high place and scope in the Divine purpose of revelation and redemption.

That God should enter into special covenant relations with one among the peoples of the earth, and that without any merit on its part entitling it to such position, has often been objected to as unworthy of Him who is Ruler over all, and even as self-contradictory, and historically incredible. These objections it is not necessary for us here to consider. The simple statements of the Scriptures are, that God chose the Jews to be His people, not as intrinsically better than others, but because He had a purpose to effect by them. (Deut. ix. 4.) The election of some to be His in a special sense, that He may first reveal Himself to them, and through them reveal Himself to others, is an established mode of His actings in His dealings with men. From the first He has chosen, and prepared, and sent forth, individuals to be His messengers and servants. The peculiarity here is, that He chooses a nation, and sets it among the other nations as the mediator of His truth and grace.

Amongst the ends to be attained by God in this

choice of the Hebrew people, two are especially prominent: first, their education and preparation to be His instruments in a future stage of His work of redemption; second, the present revelation of Himself through them to all nations as the one God, and the Lord of all.

Regarding the Theocracy as primarily an institute for the religious education of the Hebrews, what were the great truths to be taught them, and how were they to be taught? These truths were the nature and character of Jehovah as separate from and above all heathen gods, His unity, His supreme authority, His holiness, His righteousness, His goodness, and His purpose in redemption through His Son; and, learning these. truths, they learned to know, also, their own moral character, their sinfulness, ignorance, and weakness, the nature of faith, the duty of obedience, and their place as His helpers in the redemptive work. These truths were to be taught them as a people through His immediate rule over them, and by a common law and ritual; the individual life deriving its form and spirit from the national life. The Hebrew people, in their low moral condition, surrounded by heathen tribes, and continually tempted into idolatry and immorality, must first of all be brought within the sphere of law. A strong barrier must be placed around them to protect them from hostile influences, and they be put under a system of positive prescriptions, embracing the minutest details of civil and religious life; and therefore God was pleased to place Himself to them in the special relation of their King, and to bring them as a people under His immediate authority.

We have here one chief ground of the election of a nation, as distinguished from individuals or families. The nation is pre-eminently the sphere of law. Here

can Jehovah reveal Himself as the Lawgiver, the Ruler. His will meets the citizen at every point, and demands submission. Under the Theocracy, therefore, could the Jews be taught the highest lessons of obedience. They were dealing with a living Person, not with abstract principles, nor with a statute-book; and thus a most vivid sense of Jehovah's personality was ineffaceably stamped upon them. And through His rule over them, His attributes-His righteousness, His goodness, His mercy were revealed in their daily practical application to human needs.

As a member of the Theocratic State, every Jew had in some degree the consciousness of the high national calling, and knowledge of the moral duties it involved. He knew that Jehovah had chosen and set apart His people to be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." He knew, also, that a glorious future was before them if they responded to the Divine purpose: thus a strong feeling of national unity was awakened and fostered in his heart. Not to a few individuals, nor to one tribe, but to the whole people, were the promises made; and here was the true counterpoise to tribal rivalries and discords. But, although the election was national, the individual was not swallowed up in the nation. He was reminded in many ways that he stood in a personal relation to Jehovah, and that the eye of his Holy King was ever upon him. The appointed sacrifices were individual as well as national. (Lev. i.-iv.) An ample provision was made that every man might “have a conscience void of offence both toward God and man."

As the purpose of God from the first looked onward to the incarnation of His Son and His atoning sacrifice, and as the Jews were chosen to be the people from whom He should spring, it needs no proof that the appointments of God by Moses had in many respects a