When the law discriminates
between such sins as are covered by an offering and such sins as
relentlessly are visited with wrath, it makes a distinction very
remote from the antique; to Hebrew antiquity the wrath of God was
something quite incalculable, its causes were never known, much
less was it possible to enumerate beforehand those sins which
kindled it and those which did not. /1/
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1. When the wrath is regulated by the conditions of the "covenant,"
the original notion (which scorns the thought of adjustment) is
completely changed. What gave the thing its mysterious awfulness
was precisely this: that in no way was it possible to guard against
it, and that nothing could avail to counteract it. Under the pressure
of Jehovah's wrath not only was sacrifice abandoned, but even
the mention of His name was shunned so as to avoid attracting
His attention (Hos iii. 4, ix. 4; Amos vi. 10).
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An underlying reference of sacrifice to sin, speaking generally,
was entirely absent. The ancient offerings were wholly of a joyous
nature,--a merrymaking before Jehovah with music and song,
timbrels, flutes, and stringed instruments (Hos.
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