Page images
PDF
EPUB

all power was given unto him in heaven and in earth, he not only gave gifts unto men, but likewise received gifts from them;* which was a usual ceremony at the inauguration of kings amongst the Eastern nations to which the following words refer, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness." And. this was in some measure completed by the Magi, or wise men, who came to Jerusalem in quest of him that was born King of the Jews: "And, when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary', his mother, and fell down and worshipped him; and, when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.‡" But then was it truly fulfilled, when, upon the apostles preaching Jesus and his resurrection, the people offered themselves a free-will offering unto the Lord, and presented their hearts and bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. For we read, that, at Peter's first sermon on the day of Pentecost, They that gladly received the word were baptised, and: the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." And the number of believers, which were daily added unto the Lord in a very short space of time, and have been continually increasing to this very period, fully justifies the beautiful comparison in the next words; which, though obscured by our translations and variously inter-i preted by commentators, with a very small amendment of the original, will give us this plain and easy sense; "Thine offspring shall be as the

66

[ocr errors]

• "In Hebræa lingua non est insuetum, et in vicina Arabum dialecto frequentissimum, upam eandemque vocem intellectibus plane contrariis gaudere. Quam significatuum varietatem et olim apud Hebræos habuisse verbum пp mih plusquam probabile videtur ex hoc loco, ubi Syrus, interpres valde antiquus, habet, dedisti, &c." Pocock, &e. "In Hebræo est ellipsis, quia `accipiens ponitur pro accipiens dedit." Vossius, &c.

+n. Tempore illo quo exercitum tuum, h. e. apostolos aliosque evangelii præcones, in orbem terrarum emittes, ut mundum subigant, &c." Piscator, &c.

Gifts, &c.

"Ex more Persarum et omnium Orientalium, (qui regem non adibant sine mu-ˆ nere,) aurum ut regi, Thus, ut Deo colendo, quia Thure Deo adoletur, myrrham ut homini morituro; mortuorum enim corpora in Oriente myrrhâ condiebantur." Grotius, Schmidius, &c.

dew

.

dew out of the womb of the morning.* And, if we consider the infinite number of pearly drops which bespangle every herb and trec, before the sun is risen, this will give us a most lively idea of the increase and purity of Christ's kingdom; especially if we look forward to that glorious period, when "all 'kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall do him service." Ps. lxxii. 11.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

And now the prophet David, by a very sudden transition, passes on from the regal to the sacerdotal office of the Messiah; and, as there was something very wonderful and mysterious in the priestly character of Christ, he ushers it in in a most solemn, sublime, manner; "The Lord sware and will not repent, thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek.", And, as the spirit of God is the best interpreter of scriptural prophecy, we must go to St Paul, who spake as the spirit gave him utterance, for the explication of this dark and obscure prediction; which, though of the most interesting nature to the Jews as well as the Gentiles, was and is to this day totally mistaken by the former, notwithstanding the apostle, in his epistle immediately addressed to the Hebrews on this very subject, has explained it in such a manner as to leave them without excuse. For he assigns two especial reasons why Christ was to be called after the order of Melchisedek, and

For the various interpretations of this passage, see Poole's Synopsis, and the several learned critics mentioned in my Notes on the Psalms, published in the year 1791. I shall only observe here, that, as one hundred and seventy MSS. read m71, one omits, and another reads Swɔ, I propose this reading:

עמך נדבות יביאו ביום חילך בהררי קדש

מרחם השחר כטל לרתך:

"Thy people shall bring free-will offerings, in the day of thy power, to the mountains of holiness; thine offspring (shall be) as the dew out of the womb of the morning." See Exod. xxxv. 29, for ; and Isai. xxvi 19, for b.

[ocr errors]

All nations, &c. "Hoc impletam in Messia, hon in Salamore." Muis.

"Juramentum Dei præsupponit rem ratam et incredibilem, magnique momenti. Cum insolitum esset sacerdotem fieri, qui non esset de tribu Levi, sed ex Juda, &c. ideo Deus jurat. Vide Gen. xxii. 16, Jerem. xxii. 5. Christus sacerdos dicitur secundum ordinem Melchisedec, 1o. Quod uterque fuit rer et sacerdos. 2°. Quod Melchisedec fuit sacerdos præstantioris legis quam Aaron, &c. 3°. Quod sacerdos æternus est, successione carens, nec initium nec finem dierum habens, &c. Vide Heb. v. et vii." Gejerus, &c.

not

.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

not after the order of Aaron. First, because his priesthood was of a peculiar and superior nature to the Levitical, for it was wholly confined to his own person, who might on that account be said to be "without father and without mother;" and blessed Abraham, the progenitor of Levi, And, without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better.*" And in this respect we may justly say of the high priest of our profession, in the words of the prophet, "Who shall declare his generation?". "For it is evident," as the apostle tells us, " that our "Lord sprang out of Judah." And this circumstance points out to us the second reason why Christ was called after the order of Melchisedek, for he hereby united the two different characters of priest and king, and was not so much by interpretation, as in strict propriety of speech, King of Righteousness and King of Peace. Which union of the regal and priestly character was predicted and pointed out in those remarkable words of the prophet Zechariah, c. vi. 12; "Behold the man whose name is the Branch, and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a Priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both," i. e. between the regal and sacerdotal office. And it may not be altogether unworthy of remark, that our word king is probably borrowed from the original word, (, Cohen,) here rendered, priest.

up

And now the holy psalmist, by the discerning spirit of prophecy, looking up to Jesus, who, as a faithful High Priest, offered himself to God, and, having spoiled principalities and powers, triumphed over them on the cross, celebrates this glorious victory over Sin and Satan, in expressions which most probably allude to the conquest of the Israelites over the Egyptians: "The Lord, at thy right hand, shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath." These words are manifestly,

Is blessed of the better, Heb. vii. 7. "Intellige benedictione, non vulgari, quo modo benedicunt æquales requalibus, et minores majoribus, &c. sed solenni, sive ex officio, vel ritu sacerdotali, ut supra, v. 2. Vide Num. vi. 23, &c." Estius.

as

as Gejerus observes, an apostrophe to God, the Father, and are spoken of God, the Son, as is evident from v. 1; and seem plainly to allude to the entire overthrow of Pharaoh and all his host, as the following words may more fully shew; "He shall judge among the Heathen or rather, as Rivetus, He shall judge, ie, condemn, the nations. "He shall fill (the places) with the dead bodies.

[graphic]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

deficiency in the original, to supply which the Chaldee, reads NYN, " he shall fill the earth with the dead bodies;" which certainly affords a very good sense. But I think that bishop Hare's reading is the most probable; for, instead of supposing, with Buxtorf, &c. that is written for N, or that it has the same signification of valleys, he proposes to supply 8, which gives this sense, "IIe shall fill the valleys with the dead bodies.” And could we possibly have a more beautiful description of the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, as recorded, Exod. xiv. 21 30? And if, instead of rendering the next words, "He shall wound the heads over many countries, we translate them, more literally," He shall wound the head over the great country," i. e. Egypt, we shall have a manifest reference to another passage of the psalmist, cxxxv. 9, where, speaking of this subject, he delivers himself in nearly the same words: "Who sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his servants." For, that the overthrow of the devil and his angels was typified and pre

[ocr errors]

"

And, if we read with one antient MS. 8 m, it will be still more striking, and the defect of the metre will be supplied, "O Jehovah, the Lord, &c."

"Supra Christum ut it regem et sacerdotem descripserat; hic et v. 6, 7, ut fortem ducem depingit; cujus tamen victoriæ sunt spirituales, &c." Muis..

"To judicare hic generatim sumitur, pro regere, sive pro toto regno et gubernatione, (cujus duæ sunt partes, improbos punire, et bonos remunerari;) sicut Jud. iii. 10, et iv. 4. Sed mallem sumere pro una parte, nempe damnatione et pæna improborum, (ut Gen. xv. 14,) ut et præcedentia et sequentia suadent." Rivetus. And it is observable that that passage, Gen. xv. 14, relates to the destruction of Pharaoh; which was foretold by God, to Abraham, four hundred years before it happened, as the preceding verses shew.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Or, by the transposition of one letter, an for nan, "over the land of Rahab," i. e. Egypt, See the quotation following from Isai, li. 9; and, for many other significations of this passage, my Notes on the Psalms, &c.

[blocks in formation]

.

[ocr errors]

figured by the destruction of Pharoah and his host, will appear from a passage of the prophet Isaiah, c. li. 9, which is, as it were, a comment upon this under consideration: "Awake! awake! put on strength, O arm of the Lord! Awake! as in the antient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, i. e. Egypt, and wounded the dragon, i. e. Pharaoh ?"

Then the holy psalmist closes all by joining together the two opposite characters of a suffering and triumpliant Messiah; "He shall drink of the brook in the way, therefore shall he lift up the head ;*" or, as one very antient MS. and the Syr. with our reading-psalms, his head,. which the context requires: upon which words we cannot have a shorter or a better paraphrase than the two following passages; the one, of the prophet Isaiah, speaking of Christ to come, c. liii. 10:

tr "Yet it *Archbishop Secker gives up this verse as inexplicable, and the commentators put two oppo șite constructions upon the first sentence of it. "Descriptio est bellatòris alacris, qui, dum hostes persequitur, non quærit diversoria aut cauponas, ut vino se refoveat, sed aquâ contentus est, quam obiter et raptim sumit, ex quovis quem repperit, non fluio tantùm, sed et torrente; et rò bibere de torrente, potest proverbialiter victoriam exprimere, ut Esa. xxxvii. 25." Grotius, &c. "Sensus

A

est multas cruces et ætumnas in via (i, e, in vitæ curriculo) hausit Christus. Per torrentem, passionum Christi multitudo et acerbitas denotatur, simul tamen et brevitas. Exaltare caput alicujus est, tristem (qualis capite demisso incedit, Thren. ii. 10,) et præ dolore dejectum reddere lætum, ut Ps. ii. 4. Et hæc capitis exaltatio præsupponit demissionem, significatam bibitione torrentis in via; ut hic agnoscamus Messia exinanitionem et exaltationem." Glassius, &c. But, as Christ is foretold, in the Old Testament, under the threefold capacity of Prophet, Priest, and King, which he himself most probably alludes to in those emphatical words, Joh. xiv, 6, "I am the way," denoting his priestly office, and the truth," respecting his prophetical function," and the life,” marking out his regal character; and as he had been described, in the former part of the psalm, as a Priest and King; may not the words under consideration relate to his prophetical function, in allusion to what his great forerunner, Elijah the prophet, did, who, in a literal sense, drank of the brook Cherith, and afterwards went up by a whirlwind into heaven: and that, as Moses was a type of Christ, in a more especial manner, as a lawgiver, (see Episcopius, Limborch, Bishop Sherlock, &c.) Elijah was a type of Christ as a prophet, I think may be inferred from that singular transaction, our Lord's transfiguration, at which were present Móses and Elias, talking with him;' "Moses, legis promulgator, Elias, prophetarum nobilissimus; quos etiam in 40 dierum jejunio expresserat, in hoc adsunt, ut ostendant, quod Lucas indicat, perpessiones Christi, tum legis ritibus figuratas, tum prophetarum oraculis prædictas." And, as Brugensis observes farther, "Hoc colloquium est consensus legis et prophetarum cum Jesu et Evangelio, quo scirent non esse novam Jesu religionem."

pleased

« PreviousContinue »