43. This whole psalm, then, is a prophecy of the Messiah, and absolutely of no other, as may further be evidenced from sundry passages in the psalm itself: for, first, It treats of one in whom the welfare of the whole church was concerned; they are, therefore, all
SECT. 42-45.] THE ONLY TRUE AND PROMISED MESSIAH. 403
of them invited to praise the Lord on his account, and for the event and success of his sufferings, which they had the benefit of, verses 22, 23. Secondly, It. is he by whom “the meek shall be satisfied,” and obtain life eternal, verse 26. Thirdly, Upon his sufferings, as the event and success of them, the Gentiles are to be gathered in unto God: Verse 27, “ All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lorp, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.” And this, by the confession of the Jews, is the proper work of the Messiah, to be effected in his days, and by him alone. Fourthly, The preaching of the truth and righteousness and faithfulness of God in his promise unto all nations, that is, of the gospel, ensues on the sufferings described, verse 31; which they also acknowledge to belong unto his days. So that it is the Messiah, and he alone, who is absolutely and ultimately intended in this psalm.
44. Now, the whole of what is here prophesied was so exactly fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, in all the instances of it, that it ap- pears to be spoken directly of him, and no other. The manner of his suffering is scarcely more clearly expressed in the story of it by the evangelists than it is here foretold by David in prophecy; and therefore many passages out of this psalm are expressed by them in their records. He it was who, pressed with a sense of God’s dere- liction, cried out, “ My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” he it was that was accounted a worm and no man, and reviled and reproached accordingly; at him did men wag their heads, and re- proach him with his trust in God; his bones were drawn out of joint by the manner of his sufferings; his hands and feet were pierced; and upon his vestures lots were cast; upon his suffering were the truth and promises of God declared and preached unto all the world: so that it is his suffering alone which is beforehand de- scribed in this psalm.
45. But the Jews except against our application of this psalm unto the Lord Jesus, as they imagine, from our own principles, and greatly triumph in their supposed advantage,—indeed in their own blindness and ignorance. “Jesus,” they tell us, “in the opinion of Christians, was God; and how can these things be spoken of God? How could God ery out, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ how could men pierce the hands and feet of God?” And sundry of the like queries are made by Kimchi on the several pas- sages of this psalm. But we know of how slender importance these things are. He who suffered was God, but he suffered not as God, nor in that wherein he was God; for he was man also, and as man, and in that wherein he was man, did he suffer. But their ignorance of the union of the divine and human natures in the person of Christ, each nature preserving its distinct properties and operations, is a thing which they would by no means be persuaded to part withal,
404 JESUS OF NAZARETH [EXERC. XVII.
because it stands them, as they suppose, in great stead, as furnish- ing them with those weak and pitiful objections that they use to make against the gospel.
46. We have yet another signal testimony unto the same pur- pose, Isa. lili; As the outward manner of the sufferings of the Messiah, with their actings who were instrumental therein, is prin- cipally considered in Ps. xxii., so the inward nature, end, and effect of them, are declared in this prophecy. There are also sundry pas- sages relating unto the covenant between the Lord Christ and his Father, for the carrying on of the work of redemption by this way of suffering; which the ancient Jews, not understanding his personal subsistence before his incarnation, referred unto his soul, which they imagined to have been created at the beginning of the world. Nor is there any prophecy that fills the present rabbins with more per- plexities, or drives them to more absurdities and contradictions. It is not our present business to explicate the particular passages of this prophecy, or to make application of them unto the Messiah. It hath been done already by sundry learned men; and we also have cast our mite into this treasury on another occasion, That which we insist on is obvious to all,—namely, that dreadful suffer- ings in soul and body, and that from the will and good pleasure of God, for ends expressed in it, are here foretold and declared. Our inquiry is only after the person spoken of; for whoever he be, the Jews will not deny but that he was to suffer all sorts of calamities. That it is the Messiah, and none other, we have not only the evidence of the text and context, and nature of the subject-matter treated of, with the utter impossibility of applying the things spoken of unto any other person, without the overthrow of the whole faith of the ancient church, but also all the advantage from the confession of the Jews that can be expected or need to be desired from adversaries, For,—