STRENGTH or ISRAEL. 347 STRENGTH of ISRAEL. THIS Title, STRENGTH of Ifrael, which occurs in I Sam. xv. 29. fignifies, not mere paffive Strength, but Energy, or Strength carried out into A& or Effeft ; and therefore fome Tranflations have rendered it, the Victory, the rriumpber, the Conqueror, of Ifrael. It feems to point out that a&ive and con- tinual Strength of Grace, which Chr, as the Covenant - Head, exerts for and in his People ; and it includes alfo an Idea of the fame Strength, triumphant over all Oppofition, and enduring throughout Eternity. * Ap- plied to this divine Perfon, it denotes his almighty, viao- nous, and everlatting Power; and therefore it is faid in the Context, that the STRENGTH of Ifrael will not lie (or deceive). nor repent (or change), for He is NOT A MAN that he fhould repent. Man had no fooner fallen from GOD, and loft his moral Righteoufnefs and original Strength, than a Mediator was promifed, who was CO combat with the Enemy of his Soul and obtain a Victory for him, For this Reafon, an ingenious Writer would rather conftrup this Title of Chrifl,TheETERNAL ONE of 'Jived; but, with De- ference, the Root includes the idea ofprevailingStrength orPower. It would be no Force upon the Word, in this Place, to conlirue it, paraphraftically, The eternal and ,viflorious MIGHTY ON i: of Ifrael. See JoNEs's Anfwer to Egg on Spirit, p. 195, ad. Edit. Hence,
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