The tendency to find in the Psalter predictive references to Jesus must have set in very early. In Mt 1335, e.g., the para- bolic method of teaching adopted by Jesus is said to be in fulfilment of the prophecy (attributed in one MS to Isaiah), ' I will open my mouth in parable.t, I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.' In point of fact these words simply form the introduction to one of the longer historical psalms (782), and in them the Psalmist simply declares his intention to draw instruction from the ancient history of Israel. There is here no conceivable allusion to the parabolic teaching of Jesus. This interpretation would hardly even have been possible but for the LXX, which happens to render the Hebrew Vi^'C? by iv Tapx^oXx',; — another good illustration of the control that the LXX exercised over Messianic interpreta- tion. This tendency to ' messianize,' wherever possible, natur- ally is operative also outside of the NT. There is no warrant in its pages, e.(j., for referring the latter part of Ps 24 to Christ ; but the Fathers applied it to His ascension, and the Te Deum addresses Christ as the King of Glory. Sometimes psalms which are commonly regarded as Messianic contain sentiments which are un-Christian, and which therefore render the Messianic interpretation, in any sense worth defending, untenable. Some exegetes have even held that Ps 18 is Me.ssianic, in spite of such a verse as ** (42). Ps 2, whose claims are much more generally allowed, contains sentiments (cf. v.S') which could not legiti- mately be reconciled with the spirit of Him who was the Prince of peace.
5. AVe shall now examine the psalms which are most commonly regarded as Messianic — for con- venience' sake in the order in which they occur in the P.salter.
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PSALMS
PSALMS
Ps 2. A study of the NT allusions to this psalm is peculiarly instructive, as, thouoh there is a general agreement that it is Messianic, there is considerable variety in its interpretation. One passage, indeed, does not seem even to regard the psalm as Messianic, at least in the narrower sense : in Kev 2-' the promise of Ps 2" that the king would ' break' (LXX and NT read 7rot^tace?(s), ' shepherd,' 'rule,' pointing D^in instead of d^^P) the nations with a rod of iron, as the vessels of ithe potter are broken, is applied, in the message addressed to Thyatira, to the Christian who overcomes and keeps the works of Christ to the end.
This application of the passage shows that, even in verj' earl>' times, the Messianic interpretation of such psahns was felt to be not the only possible one. It is just possible, however, that the words of the psalm were chosen simply because they were an apposite description of triumph. This becomes the more probable when we remember that elsewhere in this same book — Rev 125 1915 — the passage is applied Messianically.
The first two verses of the psalm — ' Why do the heathen rage ? ' etc. — are applied in Ac 4^^*" to the combination of Herod, Pilate, the Romans, and the Jews, against ' thy holy servant Jesus,' who is clearly tlierefore regarded as the king celebrated in the psalm. The verse which the NT most fre- quently lays under contribution is v.' ' Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.' This verse, or the first j^art of it, underlies Nathanael's con- fession (Jn 1^9), Peter's confession (Mt W^), the high priest's question ;Mt26''^), and the voice which is said to have been heard on the occasion of the Baptism (Mt3" = Mk ln = Lk 3'^-) and the Trans- figuration (Mt 17^=Mk 9'' = Lk 9=*^). According to the Codex Beza? in Mt 3", the words heard on the occasion of the baptism were, ' Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.' This attests the belief in some quarters that the Divine sonship of Jesus, which the psalm is supjjosed to foresliadow, dated from the day of His baptism. But in Ac 13^ St. Paul regards the Psalmist's utterance as fulfilled not in the baptism, but in the resun-ection of Jesus ; and this view appears to underlie the Apostle's statement in Ro l"* that it Avas by the resurrection that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power. The verse is further applied in He P (cf. 5^) as a proof of the superiority of Jesus to the angels. In the Hebrew OT, however, the term literally translated ' sons of God ' is applied to supernatural beings whether they be regarded as gods or angels ; cf. Job 1" 2\ where the LXX renders by oi dyye\oi rod dead. As, however, there are passages in which even the LXX speaks of these beings as ' sons of God ' (Ps 29^ 89"^), we must assume, if the writer has not forgotten them, that he is laying particular stress on the latter half of the verse, ' this day have I begotten thee.' Accord- ing to the Epistle, however, Jesus took part in the Creation, and was pre-existent before all eternity (l-^-i") ; consequently we must suppose that the ' begetting to-day ' refers to His eternal generation. See art. Begetting.
Here, then, are three different interpretations of the verse within the NT : the Divine sonship of the Messiah is variously connected with His baptism, His resurrection, or His eternal generation. These interesting fluctuations of 02:>inion are possible only because the historical interpretation of the psalm is ignored. The phrase ' son of God ' did not neces- sarily imply Divinity in the technical sense, for we find it applied even to the people (Ex 4^'^), and Ave have already seen how Jesus argues (Jn 10^^) from the acknowledged application of the term to human beings. In truth, the psahn seems to be addressed to some actual king of Judah, and to express the assurance of his victory and dominion, possibly on the occasion of his coronation. The day on which he was begotten as a son of God is the day on which he was installed in liis regal dignity as the