25. There is mention likewise made of him in the Targum on Ps. Ixxx. 16, “ The vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, > NAYS ayn 7 and on the branch thou hast made strong for thy- self:” so our translation. But all old translations, as the LXX., Vulgar Latin, and Syriac, interpret /2 not in analogy unto the preceding alle- gory of the vine, but from D373, verse 18, and render it, ’Ea/ vide évdprov,— Super filium hominis,’—“ And upon the Son of man, ‘whom thou madest strong for thyself.” Targum, xmwn sadn dn 36 xnbns,—“ And for the King Messiah, whom thou hast strength- ened” (or “fortified”) “for thyself” And we know how signally in the gospel he calls himself “The Son of man;” and among other names ascribed unto him, the Talmudists say he is called “Jinnon,” from }\ , “son.” And verse 18 he is expressly called D]87/3, “The Son of man, whom thou madest strong for thyself.” And hereunto doth Aben Ezra refer the {2 in the foregoing verse. And for that expression, T?70A 72> MSY, “Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand,” he observes, *x025 nya winx) 7° 53,—“ Whenever Jad, the hand,’”—
200 PROMISES OF THE [EXERC. IX.
that is, the hand of God,—“hath Beth following it, it 1s for re- proach or punishment unto them whom it respects;” as Exod. ix. 3, Pra mn Aimy 73n,—« Behold, the hand of the LoRD is upon thy cattle,” that is, for their destruction, And, n2v> 8° N'23 7s DN), —‘“Tf Beth follow not, it is for praise, or help;” as Ps. exix. 178, ‘MY? TT In,—« Let thine hand help me,” or “be for my help.” So that the words are a prayer for the Son of man; and as our Lord Christ was the Son of man, so he was the true vine, whereof the Father is the husbandman, and his disciples the branches, John xy. 1-5. And he himself also was “called out of Egypt,” Matt. 11. 15, as was the vine spoken of in this psalm; so that he who is afflicted in all the afflictions of his people is principally intended in this prophet- ical psalm. Aben Ezra would have the “Son of man” to be Israel; but not seeing well how it can be accommodated unto them, he adds, “The words may respect Messiah Ben Ephraim,” —an idol of their own setting up. But the Targum acknowledgeth the true Messiah here, for whose sake the church is blessed, and by whom it is delivered. 26. Ps. cx. is a signal prophecy of him, describing his person, kingdom, priesthood, and the work of redemption wrought by him. But whereas sundry things in this psalm are interpreted and ap- plied unto the Lord Christ by our apostle in his Epistle unto the Hebrews, where they fall directly under our consideration, I shall here only briefly reflect on some of their own confessions, although it be a signal declaration of the faith of the church of old, scarcely to be paralleled in any other place. The later masters, indeed, observ- ing how directly and openly this psalm is applied unto the Lord Christ in the New Testament, and how plainly all the passages of it are accommodated unto the faith of Christians concerning the Mes- siah, his office and work, do endeavour their utmost to wrest it unto any other, as shall elsewhere be manifested; yea, the Targum itself is here silent of the Messiah, for the very same reason, and perverts the whole psalm to apply it unto David; and yet is forced on verse 4 to refer the things spoken of unto the “world to come,” or days of the Messiah. And the most of their masters, when they mention this psalm occasionally, and mind not the controversy they have about it with Christians, do apply it unto him. So doth the Midrash Tehillim on Ps. i, 7, and also on this psalm, verse 1, though there be an endeavour therein foolishly to wrest it unto Abraham; Rab. Saadias Gaon on Dan. vii. 13, whose words are reported by Solo- mon Jarchi on Gen. xxxv. 8; Rab. Arama on Gen. xv., as he is at large cited by Munster on this psalm; Moses Haddarshan on Gen. xvill. 1; Rab. Obodiah on the place; all whose words it would be tedious here to report. It is sufficiently manifest that they have an open conviction that this psalm contains a prophecy concerning the Messiah; and what’ excellent things are revealed therein touching
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his person and offices, we shall have occasion to declare in the expo- sition of the Epistle itself, wherein the most material passages of it are applied unto our Lord Jesus Christ.
27. In the Targum on the Canticles there is frequent mention also of the Messiah; as chap. i. 8, iv. 5, vii. 14, viii. 1-4. But be- cause the Jews are utterly ignorant of the true spiritual sense of that divine song, and the Targum of it is a confused miscellany of things sufficiently heterogeneous, being a much later endeavour than the most of those on the other books, I shall not particularly insist on the places cited, but content myself with directing the reader unto them. The like also may be said of Eccles, i. 11, vii. 25; where, without any occasion from the text, the mention of him is impor- tunely inculcated by the Targumists.