must have been in that respect inferior to his father, and it seemed unnatural that David should pay homage to his own child. This difficulty our Saviour proposed to the Jews: they could not solve it, and he would not; but his design was to intimate to them that the Messias was a greater person than they apprehended, and that though he was inferior to David, as he was the son of David, he was superior to him, as he was the Son of God.

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word.

Besides, what relation could there be of Lord and servant between David and the Messias, when David was dead, or before the Messias was born, unless the Messias existed before his appearance upon earth, and were the Lord not only of the living, but of the dead ; that is, of those who, though dead to men, yet lived to him and were his servants?

David therefore is to be thus understood: The Lord Jehovah hath said to my Lord the Messias, Thou shalt sit at my right hand, invested with divine power, and next in dignity to me.

In this Psalm there are some expressions which are ambiguous and obscure; but setting aside grammatical and critical difficulties, and attending to those parts of it which are plain, we find it foretold here that a person should arise, who should be greater than David, who should be a king, who should rule in the

midst

midst of his enemies, who should be an everlasting priest, and who by the assistance of God should overthrow kings and armies that opposed him. These predictions were evidently accomplished in Christ.

By comparing this Psalm with other prophecies, we may observe that the person here mentioned was to be the son of David. It hath been universally agreed upon by Jews and Christians that the Messias should be the son of David, for these reasons.

God promised to David, not only that he should have a son to reign after him, but that the kingdom should be continued to his family. Thus in the first Book of Samuel, vii. 12. I will set up my seed after thee-Thy house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever. In Psalm lxxxix. I have found David my servant―My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him his seed will I make to endure for ever. In the cxxxii Psalm it is also declared: I will make the horn of David to bud, I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. Horn means a king, and the expression of budding is taken from trees, which shoot forth branches

Isaiah says, I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. That is, I will fulfil what I promised to David, Iv. 3. And again; In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious, xi. 10. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, &c. xi. 1. This was said long after the death of David, so that the promised person was not yet come, but was to appear in future. times.

Afterwards

this state of things, his dominion will not be complete, till death is no more, and his servants are raised up by him at the last day to live with him for ever, 1 Cor. XV.

If

4. It is said, in the third verse, of this person,-from the* womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth; which words are obscure. The reading of the LXX is very different and remarkable; Before the morning star I begat thee, Ἐκ γαςρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρα ἐγέννησά σε. Ι this be right †, which I take not upon me to determine, it contains an intimation that this great person was the Son of God before the creation, and in an high and peculiar sense, and not like other good men; and in the second Psalm, it is said, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

5. In the fourth verse, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek, might also be rendered, Thou art a priest for ever, because thou art a just king.

But what interpretation soever be followed here, it is plain that he was to be an everlasting priest. The Lord sware, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever. This promise is introduced with a great solem

nity,

* A friend of mine says, I render the words thus: From the womb, from that which was thy morning, thy youth was a dew, i. e as agreeable and refreshing as dew is in hot countries. This a literal version, and is sense.

+ See Critical Notes on some passages of Scripture, p. 54.

Sacerdos, aut minister. Grotius. Vox Choben significat quidem interdum principem, eumque intimæ admissionis, ut diximus ad 2 Sam. viii. 18. 1 Reg. iv. 5. Sed de Rege proprie dicto nusquam occurrit. Ideoque Lxx Intt. où itpeus eis Tor aidra. Quod Jesu Christo soli convenit. &c. Clericus.

| See Critical Notes, &c. Noster textus Hebræus habet, Secundum meam constitutionem, o Rex mi juste. Grotius.

nity, and confirmed with an oath, and it is of a singu lar kind, since no such promise is made in the Old Testament to any other person. According to the system of the gospel, it was accomplished in Christ, who is our everlasting Redeemer and Intercessor.

The consequences of this promise were, that the Messias must live for ever, and not be subject to the dominion of death, else he could not be an everlasting priest; and that he could have no successor in the priesthood, since it would never be vacant; and that the Jewish priesthood, and the ceremonial law must be abolished, and give place to another institution and covenant, and that the priesthood must be changed, and pass from the family of Aaron and the tribe of Levi to the family of David, and to the tribe of Judah, whence this Messias was to spring.

6. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

When the gospel of Christ, first preached at Jerusalem, and thence spreading itself through the world, had been received by a multitude of Jews and Gentiles, this prediction began to be accomplished, and it was farther fulfilled when Christianity was established in the Roman empire.

7. In this Psalm it is plainly and expressly foretold that the Messias should be a victorious king, that he should have kings and rulers for his enemies, and that they should be overthrown and perish. This, as we have shewed, was remarkably fulfilled in Christ.

S. In the sixth verse, He shall wound the heads over many countries, may be translated, he shall crush the head (that ruled) over many countries. Confodiet caput

quod multis terris præerat.

Clericus.

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9. In

9. In the seventh verse, He shall drink of the brook n the way; therefore shall he lift up his head. That is,

ays Le Clerc, He (who was head over many countries) shall drink of the brook in the way; therefore he (the conqueror) shall lift up his head; Maxentius and his host shall be drowned in the Tiber, and lay his head there, and Constantine shall lift up his head, and triumph over him. This Le Clerc proposes, but modestly and with diffidence. The thought is ingenious; and to drink of the brook may mean to be drowned, as in Homer, Odyss. 4. 511.

Ὣς ὁ μὲν ἔνθ ̓ ἀπόλωλεν, ἐπεὶ πίεν άλμυρὸν ὕδωρ. Ovid. Epist. vii. 62.

Nea bibat æquoreas naufragus hostis aquas.

But perhaps it would be more natural to understand it thus of the same person: As a pursuing conqueror takes a hasty draught at the first fountain in the way, and loses no time in refreshing himself, so God, or the Messias, shall speedily subdue his enemies, and lift up his victorious head. Soon after Diocletian began to persecute, the divine vengeance began to attack him and his wicked colleagues, and swept them off from the earth one after another.

We have shewed the completion of these predictions in the establishment of Christianity, and in the destruction of those tyrants who rose up against it, and who became as the dung of the earth. It is no wonder that our Saviour and his apostles * insisted so much on this Psalm, as on a prophecy, direct, and plain, which, when it was accomplished, was so strong a proof of their divine mission, and of the authority both of the Old Testament and of the New.

* Matt. xxii. 44. Mark xii. 36. 1 Cor. xv. 25. Hebr. i. 13. v.

The

Luke xx. 42. Acts ii. 34.

6. vii. 17.