Paul cites in support of his present purpose. Tiiey are in part descrip- tive of what had occurred in the times of the prophet, and in part of what should occur in aftertimes, and are, therefore, quoted in reference to the character and conduct of the Jews in the days of Christ (see Matt. 13 : 14). The import of such citations frequently is, that what was fulfilled in the days of the prophet was more completely accomplished at the time referred to by the New Testament writer. So, in this case, it was m.ore fully accomplished at this period of the Jewish history than at any other, that the people were blinded, hardened, and reprobated. And this the ancient prophets had frequently predicted should be the case. These quotations also serve to show that this hardening-, and consequent rejec- tion of the Jews, was an event which, with regard to multitudes, had frequently occurred before, and, therefore, demonstrated that their being cast away militated with none of the divine promises.
God hath given to them. In the Hebrew and Greek of the Old Tes- tament, Isa. 29 : 10, it is, "The Lord hath poured upon you." The sense remaining the same. Something more in this connexion is proba- bly intended by this expression than that God permitted them to become hardened and insensible to divine truth. Here, as in ch. 9 : 18, the idea probably is, that God judicially abandoned them, withdrawing and withholding the influences of his Spirit, and giving them up to a repro- bate mind. The words even unto this day may, as by our translators, be connected with the last words of the preceding verse, 'The rest were blinded even unto this day.' Or they may be considered as a part of the quotation, as they occur in the passage in Deut. 29 : 4.
(9, 10) And David saith. Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, &c. &c. This quotation is from Ps. 69 : 22, 23. There is nothing in the psalm which forbids its being considered as a prophetic lamentation of the Messiah over his afflictions, and a denunciation of God's judgments upon his enemies. Verse 9, " The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up," and V. 21, "They gave me vinegar to drink," are elsewhere quoted and applied to Christ. Viewed in this light, the psalm is directly applica- ble to the apostle's object, as it contains a prediction of the judgments which should befall the enemies of Christ. Let their table be is only an- other and a more forcible way of saying, their table shall be, Isa. 47 : 5, " Sit thou silent and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chalde- ans," for ' Thou shalt sit,' &c. And so in a multitude of cases in the prophetic writings. In the psalm indeed, the future form in the Hebrew is used, though it is correctly rendered by the Septuagint, and in our version as the imperative, in these passages. The judgments here denounced are expressed in figurative language. The sense is, their blessings shall become a curse, blindness and weakness, hardness of heart and misery shall come upon them. This last idea is forcibly ex- pressed by a reference to the dimness of vision, and decrepitude of old age ; as the vigour and activity of youth are the common figure for expressing the results of God's favour