The Targum wholly applies the psalm to the Messiah; which is a somewhat better evidence of the conception of the ancient Jews than the private opinion of any later writer can give us. And the title of the psalm in that paraphrase would make it a prophecy given out in the days of Moses for the use of the Sanhedrin; which mani- fests what account it had of old in their creed concerning the Mes- _ siah,
Some Christian interpreters have so far assented unto the later rabbins as to grant that Solomon was primarily intended in this
psalm, as a type of Christ, and that the whole was an epithalamium
or marriage-song, composed upon his nuptials with the daughter of Pharaoh.’ But there want not important reasons against this opi- nion: for,—
1. It isnot probable that the Holy Ghost should so celebrate that marriage, which as it was antecedently forbidden by God, so it was never consequently blessed by him, she being among the number of those “strange women” which turned his heart from God, and was
throughout the Septuagint; ¢. g., Ps. iii 7, iv. 1, v. 10, vii. 1, et passim... . . Where is God ever said to be the throne of his creatures? and what could be the sense of such an expression ?— Stuart. All the ancient versions of the original passage in the Psalms agree in supporting the common construction, so far as their respective idioms permit a positive conclusion.—Pye Smith. The at- tempt of Gesenius to sustain another translation of the Hebrew, “ The throne of God,” that is, “thy divine throne,” is truly surprising; as he must have known, that in such a case, the second of the two nouns, and not, as here, the first, would-have had the suffix by common usage of the language.—Tur- ner.
TRANSLATIONS.—Ilpog de roy Yidv, But respecting the Son.— Stuart, De Wette. Concerning.—Boothroyd.—Ep.
180 AN EXPOSITION OF THE ~ f[onar. 1
cursed with barrenness; the first foreign breach that came upon his family and all his magnificence being also from Egypt, where his transgression began.
2. There is scarce any thing in the psalm that can with propriety of speech be applied unto Solomon. ‘T'wo things are especially in- sisted on in the former part of the psalm,—first, the righteousness of the person spoken of in all his ways and administrations, and then the perpetuity of his kingdom. How the first of these can be attri- buted unto him whose transgressions and sins were so public and notorious, or the latter to him who reigned but forty years, and then left his kingdom broken and divided to a wicked, foolish son, is hard to conceive.
As all, then, grant that the Messiah is principally, so there is no cogent reason to prove that he is not solely, intended in this psalm. I will not contend but that sundry things treated of in it might be obscurely typified in the kingdom and magnificence of Solomon; yet it is certain that most of the things mentioned, and expressions of them, doso immediately and directly belong unto the Lord Christ as that they can in no sense be applied unto the person of Solomon; and such are the words insisted on in this place by our apostle, as will be made evident in the ensuing explication of them.
We wust, then, in the next place, consider what it is that the apostle intends to prove and confirm by this testimony, whereby we shall discover its suitableness unto his design. Now, this is not, as some have supposed, the deity of Christ; nor doth he make use of that directly in this place, though he doth in the next verse, as a medium to prove his pre-eminence above the angels, although the testimonies which he producetk do eminently mention his divine nature. But that which he designs to evince is this only, that he whom they saw for a time made “ lower than the angels,” chap. ii. 9, was yet in his whole person, and as he discharged the office com- mitted unto him, so far above them as that he had power to alter and change those institutions which were given out by the ministry of angels. And this he doth undeniably by the testimonies alleged, as they are compared together: for whereas the Scripture testifies concerning angels that they are all servants, and that their chiefest glory consists in the discharge of their duty as servants, unto him a throne, rule, and everlasting dominion, administered with glory, power, righteousness, and equity, are ascribed ; whence it is evident that he is exceedingly exalted above them, as is a king on his throne above the servants that attend him and do his pleasure.
And this is sufficient to manifest the design of the apostle, as also the evidence of his argument from this testimony. The exposition of the words belongs properly to the place from whence they are taken. But yet, that we may not leave the reader unsatisfied as to
VER. 8, 9.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 181
any particular difficulty that may seem to occur in them, this expo- sition shall be here also attended to.
The first thing to be attended to in them is the compellation of the person spoken unto, “O God:” “Thy throne, O God.”
Some would have Elohim (4 @<é;) to be a name common to God with others, namely, angels and judges; and in that large accepta- tion to be here ascribed to the Lord Christ; so that though he be expressly called Elohim, and 6 @¢és, yet that proves him not to be God by nature, but only to be so termed in respect of his office, dignity, and authority. And this is contended for by the Socinians. But this gloss is contrary to the perpetual use of the Scripture; for no one place can be instanced in, where the name Elohim is used absolutely, and restrained unto any one person, wherein it doth not undeniably denote the true and only God. Magistrates are, indeed, said to be elohim in respect of their office, but no one magistrate was ever so called; nor can a man say without blasphemy to any of them, “Thou art Elohim,” or “God.” Moses also is said to be elo- him, “a god,” but not absolutely, but “a god to Pharaoh,” and to “Aaron;” that is, in God’s stead, doing and performing in the name of God what he had commanded him. Which places Jarchi pro- duceth in his comment to countenance this sense, but in vain.