The king of any country is the “public” person, or representative of all his own subjects. And God the king of Israel was the “Holy One” of Israel. The nation which is subject to one earthly sovereign, is the nation of that sovereign, that is, of the public person. So the Jews, who were God’s nation, were called ( Exod. 19:6) “a holy nation.” For by “holy,” is always understood either God himself, or that which is God’s in propriety; as by public is always meant, either the person of the commonwealth itself, or something that is so the commonwealth’s, as no private person can claim any propriety therein.