- Afterwards Jeremiah thus prophesies; Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute justice and judgment in the earth—And this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our righteousness. xxiii. 5.

Zechariah, who prophesied after the return from the captivity, taught the people to expect a great person, The servant of God, the Branch, that is, the Branch of Jesse, the man whose name was the Branch, who should build the temple and be a king and a priest upon the throne. vi. 12.

Many other prophecies there are concurring in this, that a person should arise, who should be the son of David, and a great and illustrious prince: and he is called David by Hosea, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, &c.-Afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, Hosea iii. 4, 5. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them, Jeremiah xxx. 9. And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David: he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them, I the Lord have spoken it, Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24.

The most probable reason why the Messias is called David, is that David was a type of him, and said many things seemingly of himself, which by the Spirit of God were intended of the Messias. Either these prophecies were accomplished in Christ, or they never have been accomplished at all; but with Christ they correspond exactly.

2. The person mentioned in this Psalm was to be greater than David. This is too plain to want any

farther

farther proof: The Lord said unto my Lord. And this was accomplished in Christ, if he was, as we learn from the Gospel, the Son of God in a sense most peculiar and high.

3. He was to be a king. Sit thou at my right hand: Rule thou in the midst. This also is evident; and it was accomplished in Christ, who hath been acknowledged for a king by all his numerous subjects from his resurrection to the present time. To sit at the right hand of God cannot mean less than to be next in honour and dignity to God, and therefore to be exalted not only above all men, but above all creatures. This dignity was never conferred upon any man, except Christ, who, as the writers of the New Testament affirm, was received up into heaven, and was seen of Stephen appearing at the right hand of God.

But, farther, it may be inferred from this Psalm that he was to be an everlasting king. It is said that he should be king and priest, and an everlasting priest, and consequently an everlasting king also. It is likewise said, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool, which was never accomplished in any of David's posterity except in Christ, in whom so much of the prediction hath been fulfilled, as to be a sufficient earnest for the completion of the whole promise. Hence St Paul proves Christ's everlasting kingdom: Christ must reign, says he, till all things, and all enemies are subdued and put under his feet. This is not yet accomplished, nor will be till the end of the world; for he hath and he will have his enemies who will not be subject to him; and besides, as he hath promised to overcome death, and to confer everlasting life upon his servants, and as death still reigns and will reign over them here below, during

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.

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 γατρὸς πρὸ ἑωσφόρα ἐγέννησά σε. If 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 solemnity,

* 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 bot 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 intimae admissionis, ut diximus ad 2 Sam. viii. 18. 1 Reg. iv. 5. Sed de Rege proprie dicto nusquain occurrit. Ideoque Lxx Intt. où lepeus eis Tèv aiŵra. Quod Jesu Christo soli convenit. &c. Clericus.

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

nity, and confirmed with an oath, and it is of a singular 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.

8. 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. A. 511.

Ως ὁ μὲν ἔνθ' ἀπόλωλεν, ἐπεὶ πίεν ἀλμυρὸν ὕδωρ. Ovid. Epist. vii. 62.

Neu bibat cequoreas 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. Luke xx. 42. 1 Cor. xv. 25. Hebr. i. 13. v. 6. vii. 17.

The

Acts ii. 34