For this is the covenant that I will make with the house
of
Israel
That is, this is the sum and substance of the covenant, which God
promised to make with, or to make manifest and known to his
chosen people, the true Israelites, under the Gospel
dispensation; or the following are the several articles of that
covenant, he proposed to consummate or finish, as before:
after those days, saith the Lord;
after the times of the Old Testament, when the Messiah shall be
come, and the Gospel day shall take place. So the Jews
F9 apply these days, when they
represent the Israelites saying to Moses, O that he (God) would
reveal (himself or will) to us a second time! O that he would
kiss us with the kisses of his mouth, and that the doctrine of
the law was fixed in our hearts; when he (Moses) said to them,
this is not to be done now, but (abl dytel) , in the time to come, (i.e. in the times
of the Messiah,) as it is said, ( Jeremiah
31:33 ) .
I will put my law
and so F11 they are elsewhere applied to the
same times. And the first article in it is,
I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their
hearts;
by the laws of God are meant not the precepts of the ceremonial
law, which were now abrogated, but either the moral law, and its
commands; which is a transcript of the divine nature, was
inscribed on Adam's heart in innocence, and some remains of it
are even in the Gentiles, but greatly obliterated through the sin
of man; and there is in men naturally a contrary disposition to
it; in regeneration it is reinscribed by the Spirit of God; and
great respect is had to it by regenerate persons, in which lies
one part of their conformity to Christ: or else, since the word
"law" signifies sometimes no other than a doctrine, an
instruction, the doctrines of grace, of repentance towards God,
of faith in Christ, and love to him, and every other doctrine may
be intended; and the tables where, according to the tenor of this
covenant, these are put and written, are two tables, as before,
the "mind" and "heart"; but not two tables of stone, on which the
law of Moses was written, partly that it might not be lost,
through defect of memory, and partly to denote the firmness and
stability of it, as also to point at the hardness of man's heart;
but the fleshly tables of the heart; not that part of our flesh
that is called the heart; but the souls of men, such hearts as
are regenerated and sanctified by the Spirit of God, and such
minds as are renewed by him: and the "putting" of them into the
mind, designs the knowledge of them, which God gives; as of the
moral law, of its spirituality and perfection, showing that there
is no life and righteousness by it, that it is fulfilled by
Christ, and is a rule of conversation to the saints; and of all
other laws, ordinances, and doctrines of Christ: and the
"writing" them in, or on the heart, intends a filling the soul
with love and affection to them, so that it regards them singly
and heartily; and a powerful inclination of the heart to be
subject to them, through the efficacious grace of God; and which
is done not with the ink of nature's power, but with the Spirit
of the living God, ( 2
Corinthians 3:3 ) .
And I will be to them a God;
not in such sense as he is the God of all mankind, or as he was
the God of Israel in a distinguishing manner, but as he is the
God of Christ, and of all the elect in him; and he is their God,
not merely as the God of nature and providence, but as the God of
all grace; he is so in a covenant way, and as in Christ, and by
virtue of electing grace, and which is made manifest in the
effectual calling; and as such, he has set his heart on them, and
set them apart for himself; he saves them by his Son, adopts and
regenerates them, justifies and sanctifies them, provides for
them, protects and preserves them; and happy are they that are
interested in this blessing of the covenant, which is preferable
to everything else; they have everything, and can want no good
thing; they need fear no enemy; all things work together for
their good; and God continues to be their God in life and in
death; so that they may depend on his love, be secure of his
power, expect every needful supply of grace, and to be carried
through every duty and trial, and to share in the first
resurrection, and to enjoy eternal happiness:
and they shall be to me a people;
not in such sense as all mankind are, or the Jews were in a more
peculiar respect, but as all God's elect are, whether Jews or
Gentiles; and who are such whom God has loved with a special
love, has chose in Christ, and given to him, and with whom he has
made a covenant in him; whom Christ saves from their sins by his
blood, and calls them by his grace and Spirit, and who give up
themselves to him; these are a distinct and peculiar people, a
people near unto the Lord, and who are all righteous in Christ,
and are made willing in the day of his power on their souls.