6. the Lord--Jehovah: a name implying His immutable faithfulness in
fulfilling His promises: the covenant name of God to the Jews
(Ex 6:3),
called here "the sons of Jacob," in reference to God's covenant with
that patriarch.
I change not--Ye are mistaken in inferring that, because I have not
yet executed judgment on the wicked, I am changed from what I once was,
namely, a God of judgment.
therefore ye . . . are not consumed--Ye yourselves
being "not consumed," as ye have long ago deserved, are a signal proof
of My unchangeableness.
Ro 11:29:
compare the whole chapter, in which God's mercy in store for Israel is
made wholly to flow from God's unchanging faithfulness to His own
covenant of love. So here, as is implied by the phrase "sons of
Jacob"
(Ge 28:13; 35:12).
They are spared because I am JEHOVAH, and they
sons of Jacob; while I spare them, I will also punish them; and
while I punish them, I will not wholly consume them. The
unchangeableness of God is the sheet-anchor of the Church. The
perseverance of the saints is guaranteed, not by their unchangeable
love to God, but by His unchangeable love to them, and His eternal
purpose and promise in ChristJesus [MOORE]. He
upbraids their ingratitude that they turn His very long-suffering
(La 3:22)
into a ground for skeptical denial of His coming as a Judge at all
(Ps 50:1, 3, 4, 21;
Ec 8:11, 12;
Isa 57:11;
Ro 2:4-10).
JFB.
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