Dr. Addison Alexander in his comment on Ps. 68, 18, remarks, ‘To receive gifts on the one hand and bestow gifts on the other are correlative ideas and expressions, so that Paul, in applying this description of a theo- cratic triumph to the conquests of our Saviour, substi- tutes one of these expressions for the other.” This is perhaps the most natural solution. The divine writers of the New Testament, filled with the same Spirit, which moved the ancient prophets, are not tied to the mere form, but frequently give the general sense of the passages which they quote. A conqueror always dis- tributes the spoils he takes. He receives to give. And, therefore, in depicting the Messiah as a con- queror, it is perfectly immaterial whether it is said, He received gifts, or, He gave gifts. The sense is the same. He is a conqueror laden with spoils, and able to enrich his followers.
The second difficulty connected with this quotation is that Ps. 68 is not Messianic. It does not refer to the Messiah, but to the triumphs of God over his ene- mies. Yet the apostle not only applies it to Christ, but argues to prove that it must refer to him. This diffi- culty finds its solution in three principles which are applicable not only to this, but also to many similar passages. The first is the typical character of the old dispensation. It was a shadow of good things to come. There was not only a striking analogy between the ex- perience of the ancient people of God, in their descent into Egypt, their deliverance from the house of bond- age, their journey through the wilderness, and their