the side of mercy. Thus we are shown that the very core of holiness is love, and that justice is the handmaid of mercy and a stage on the way to love’s fulfillment. Two questions remain unanswered. Is there indeed evidence of a new law and a new logic revealed in the conflict of v. 8, the affirmations of v. 9, and the prophecies of vv. 10 and 11? I believe so, although both are as old as God himself. For human law and logic destruction is destruction, death is final, and ends are ends. Within such