Acts vii. 53. that the Israelites received the law by the disposition of angels, EIS DIATAGAS ANGELON. Grotius observes, that EIS here signifies amidst, and that DIATAGAS, denotes troops, ranged in military order: that the meaning is, the law was given in a magnificent manner, amidst many troops of angels, and that there was a reference to Deut. xxxiii. 2. These things are not improper. But others would rather take DIA TAGE, for a command, ordinance, and sanction: as Rom. xiii. 2. And they render EIS, at: in which sense the Son is said to act at the pleasure of the Father. Ludovicus de Dieu has learnedly expressed that meaning; and as his words tend to explain several passages, we shall not scruple to insert them as follows. "Ste phen had said, ver. 38. that the angel spoke with Moses in mount Sinai, even the same, who had appeared to him in the bush, ver. 35. who, though he was in himself God, yet is here œconomically considered as the angel of God, and the Captain of the other angels. He gave the law to Moses, from the midst of the angels, who surrounded him on all hands. Of which there was a figurative representation in the sanctuary, where God sitting between the cherubim, delivered his oracles. Hence Psal. Ixviii. 17. when he had said, The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels, the Lord is among them; he adds, Sinai is in the sanctuary: to teach us, that as God, when formerly surrounded on Sinai with myriads of angels, and riding on them, as on chariots, gave forth the law, so the sanctuary resembles mount Sinai, where God rides on a chariot of cherubims. Seeing therefore the law came forth from an assembly of angels, whose president * Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth TE DIATAGE, the ordinance of God. was the supreme angel Jehovah, the apostle justly said, that it was pronounced and ordained by angels; Stephen, that it was received by the people by the disposition of angels. DIATAGE ANGELON is here the same thing, as the decree of the watchers, and the word of the holy Ones, Dan. iv. 17. The decree and mandate of the angelic senate is understood, over whom the Son of God presided as supreme; in regard of whom the same decree is called, ver. 24. the decree of the Most High." Thus far de Dieu. VII. But what kind of ministry did the angels perform to God at giving the law? 1. It is certain, that with their heavenly choirs they surrounded the mount, and added to the majestic pomp of the Lawgiver, and -were witnesses of all that was transacted. The consideration of this was capable of striking not only terror into the Israelites, but should also have inspired their minds with reverence, that the angels, in whose assembly the law was given, might not be witnesses of their perfidy. To this purpose is Deut. xxxiii. 2. Jehovah came from Sinai, he came with ten thousands of saints; from his right hand went a fiery law for them. 2. It is not improbable, that the sound of those words, in which the law was conceived, was formed in the air by the means of angels. For God properly uses not a voice this is a degree of imperfection: but yet it is called the voice of God, formed in the air in some extraordinary manner, to express the mind of God, for which purpose he uses the ministry of angels: namely, the law was given in thunder and lightning; the thunder indeed, which formed the matter of the voice, which proclaimed the words of the law, must certainly have - had an articulation superadded, which was framed by the means of angels. Philo, in enarratione decalogi, says, God spoke not by himself, but "filling a reason able mind with a distinct knowledge, which moulding and attenuating the air, and changing it to a flaming. fire, he gave forth an articulate sound; as breath docs through a trumpet." I know not, whether he intended the same thing that we do. We mean nothing, but what the apostle said, when he calls the law, the word spoken by angels, Heb. ii. 2. Not that it was any created angel, who said, I am Jehovah thy God. These are the words of God; but that the thunder, in which God spoke, was produced by the means of angels, and articulated into words intelligible to man. They who understand by angels only their presence and attendance, as 2 Tim. ii. 2. among many witnesses, too much lessen the force of the apostle's comparison, by which he prefers the gospel to the law on this account, that this last was promulgated by the ministry of angels, the former published by the ministry of the Son of God manifested in the flesh. See Cameron and Mestresat on. the place. 3. It is probable, that the tables of testimony, on which the law was written by the finger of God, were delivered to Moses by the intervention of angels and to this I refer Gal. iii. 19. The law was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. : VIII. Moses was the other minister of God at the giving of the law. Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob,. Deut. xxxiii. 4. The law was given by Moses, John i. 17. And Moses is that mediator, in whose hands, as we have just learned from Paul, the law was ordained by angels. We can by no means agree with a certain learned author, who denies, that Moses was the mediator of the moral law, and maintains, that by the law we are to understand the ceremonial only; and he thinks, the history of the promulgation of the ten words. or commandments removes Moses to such a distance. from the office of a mediator, that it places him in the same rank and order with the people, Exod. xix. 25. So Moses went down unto the people, &c. and Exod. xx. . 1. And God spake, &c. But, if I mistake not, the very learned person mistakes the case. Moses indeed went down from the mount, to put the people on their guard, not to break through the boundary, by coming up to Jehovah and having executed that commission, he, together with Aaron his brother, went up again, at the command of God, some little way at least, Exod.. xix. 24. and stood nearer when God promulgated the laws. Which done, he again spoke with the Israelites. Very many considerations sway with us, us, thus to range these matters. Let us, first, consider ver. 9. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. From this it appears, that, from among the whole assembly, God called Moses by name, and recommended him to the people, as the messenger of God, when he promulgated this law. And Moses himself declares this, Deut. v. 4, 5, 6. Jehovah talked with you face to face in the mount, out of the midst of the fire (I stood between Jehovah and you at that time, to shew you the word of Jehovah: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount) saying, I am Jehovah thy God, &c. And what is plainer than that of Stephen? That Moses was in the wilderness with the angel, which "spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received LOGIA ZONTA, the lively oracles, to give unto us, Acts vii. 38. Where Beza says, "It is not to be doubted, but Luke calls LOGIA, oracles, what the Hebrew calls the words, and has an eye to God himself, who is said to have pronounced, and delivered them to Moses, written with his own finger." And what appearance of truth is there, that by LOGIA ZONTA, lively oracles, we are only to understand the ceremonial laws, and not those precepts of the moral law, which whoever does, shall live in them? And this very learned author himself has elsewhere observed, that the words, law, statutes, and judgments are often synonymous: but whenever they are thus joined together, they are distinguished from each other by a peculiar signification; and that by roRAH, is understood the moral law; by CHUKKIM, the ceremonial, and by MISHPHATIM, the forensic law. But now these three are so joined, as that each of them is ascribed to Moses, Mal. iv. 4. Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. You see, that the law equally with the statutes and judgments are ascribed to Moses. In like manner, Lev. xxvi. 46. These are the statutes, and judgments, and laws, which Jehovah made between him and the children of Israel, in mount Sinai, by the hand of Moses. Moses therefore was even the mediator of the moral law, and his institutions are erroneously restricted to the ceremonies. IX. The time of the publication of the law is supposed to be the fiftieth day from the departure of the people out of Egypt, and from the celebration of the passover. How to find out this number of days, see Rivet on Exod. xix. 1. And thus the Israelites were taught, that they were not then to be at their own disposal, when they were delivered from Egyptian bondage by a bountiful hand, so as for the future to live at their own discretion; but to enter into the service of God, and to apply themselves to it with the greater earnestness, the more they were set at liberty from the bondage of others as Zacharias also prophesies, Luke i. 74, 75. That being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we 1 |