The question wliether certain psalms are rather to be considered directly or indirectly Messianic is one for the exegete. It may, however, be ad- mitted that the number of direct prophecies is, at most, very small, and it may well be that the Psalter contains hardly a single instance. For, though p.salmists and prophets had much in common, there were important dilferences between them. The very attitude of tlie psalmist makes it unlikely that he will look directly into the future. The 2nd and 110th psalms are those which partake most of this character, and the 2nd psalm in almost anj' case, the 110th if the theocratic king ia not the speaker but the person addressed, can be most easily understood as only typically Messianic. But the monarch of Israel was a real type, and could seldom or never be considered as the psalmist considered him, without reference to the substance of which he was but the shadow. Take the idea of 'sonship,' for example. The promise was mode in 2 S 7 that the king should be a ' son ' of God: which of them came near to realizing this ? And the inspired bard of the Old Covenant uses words concerning the filial character and
Pti.VL.MS, LUUK UF
rSALMS, UUUK UF
IGl
promised triuinplis of the cliosen nation with their king at their head, which were never actually acioniplislied till He who was Son indeed was declared to be such by the resurrection from the dead, when it was said to Him, ' This day have I begotten thee.' This is no mere historical parallel, for the parallel ia not obvious, but it is the full development of the plant which the psalmist spoke of ill Its germ and early growth. And such a psalm is truly Messianic.
But the name must not be confined to psalms in which there is specific mention of a coming personal king. This particular feature of the ' age to come ' is not prominent in the Psalter, as it is in the Psalms of Solomon. The Messianic ideas of the OT are many. The kingdom is often spoken of, when there is no mention of the king. The Theo- phany or manifestation of the glory of J" upon the earth is another form which the hope of Israel wore ; and the good time coming is sometimes described as a new and better Covenant which was to take the place of the old. Sometimes this golden age of the future is described in its etlecl ujion nature, the lields and streams and fruits of the earth ; sometimes upon the nations, which either willingly or unwiUingly, in submissive alliance or as conquered enemies, are to help to swell tlie triimiph of Israel. Though in all this there may be no mention of a personal Redeemer or Ruler, such language is in a real, perhaps the best sense of the word, * Messianic' Tlie psalms which tell of the coming of J" to earth in oeneficent judgment (9G- 98) are most truly a part of the Messianic prophecy. Christ Himself showed how unexpected lessons might be learned regarding His Person and work from the passage Ps 118-, and it is needless to adduce the frequent quotations of the 2nd, 16th, and 110th psalms which are found in the sermons and letters of the apostles. Doubtless the psalmists, like the prophets, were able but feebly to under- stand how their high vaticinations were to be accomiilished. Often they had little idea tliat 'not unto tliumselves but unto us they did minister,' in their rapt lli'-lits of joyful liopc. But not the less did they aid in throwing subtle but signilicant chains of spiritual connexion across from the earlier days to the later, from the Old Covenant to the New ; they aided in the growth of that mar- vellous spiritual organism, the development of that kingdom of God, the lull glory of which has not dawned upon the eartli even yet : and it is not ditlicult for the devout Christian, with such thoughts in his mind, to be convinced tliat he cannot fully understand tlie Psalter, unless he hears the voice of one who explains ' how that all things must needs be fiillilled wliich are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning Mb.'
The Paftlmfl have somettmefl been daaslfled according to their ■ubjeijt-maiur, but any »uch arran(;eincnt is oi>fn to ob\ious oljjL-cliunu. Tiio Bubdiviaiona ncce-isiirily overhip, and many pralmH refuse to be clos-sified. IhipfelVi in his I ntriMlurAinn dtalg with tliia subject, and Bleek (0th ed. by Wellhausen, p. 467), also Driver, LOT* p. 3tJ8 (. The analysifl might run BOine- what as follows : I. Songs of I'raiso to Jehovah ; (a) aji Uwi of nature, I's 8. 10' ». 29. 66. 104 ; (^b) in relation to man, a£ God of Providence, 103. 107. 113. 14.'i. ii. Didactic Psalms, on the moral Itovemmcnl of the world, etc., Ps 1. 84. 37. 49. 73. 77 : and of a more directly ethical characttr, 15. 241* 82. 40. 60. lil. National Paalinii, inclu'lin^ (<l) prayers in disaat«r, e.g. 44. 60. 74. 70. 80, etc., and (6) thaiikM;;ivini;M for deliverance, e.g. 4B. 47. 43. 66. 68. 70, etc. Iv. Purely historiuil Psalms, 78. 81. 105. 106. 114. v. Royal Psalmi, 2. 18. 20. 21. 45. 72. 101, etc. vi. The more ilirectly per- sonal I'Balms are of very various character : sometimes (a) they contain prayers for fnri.'ivene»8 or recovery from sickness, 3. 4. 0. 7. 22 ; sometimes ('*) thanks(;ivinfr predominates, as in 30. 40. 116; or (>*) the prevailing; strain is one of faith or resignation, f.g. 16. 23. 27. 42. 121. 130; or the law is praised, as in 1. lO'H 111), or the bouse of flod, as in si. 122. 132. Such a cKissillcation, however, can hardily be considered to be of use, except in a very l^neral and superficial way.