representative of Jehovah, the King and Father of His people. It is, we must admit, by no means impossible, especially when we consider the soaring- language of the psalm, that its subject is not any reigning king, but some king yet to be ; this would be the case if the psalm belongs, as it may, to the post-exilic period, when the monarchy Avas no more. But in neither case can it be strictly regarded as referring to Jesus, partly because the establish- ment of the king upon the holy hill of Zion Avould have no relevance in His case ; partly because the conception of His function as dashing His enemies in pieces is un-Christian. Besides, as Ave have seen, the NT itself is not agreed as to the precise inci- dent Avhich the psalm is supposed to prefigure. But its solemn and emphatic predication of the Divine sonship of the king, possibly also its out- look upon a Avorld-Avide dominion, made it natural, and almost inevitable, under the conditions of early Christian interpretation, that it should be regarded as, in some sense, a prediction of Jesus.
Ps 8. It is interesting to compare the use made of this psalm by Jesus Avith that made elseAvhere in the NT. V.» (^l ' Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings,' etc., is quoted by Him against the chief priests (Mt 2V^), Avho murmur Avhen they hear the children cry ' Hosanna. ' The NT f oUoavs the LXX, Avhich reads ' jsraise ' instead of the Hebrew 'strength,' 'buhA'ark'; but the essential meaning of the psalm is finely brought out by the citation — the power, on the one hand, or the insight, on the other, of the children (cf. for a very similar thought, Mt IP^). In He 2*'-8, hoAvever (cf. I Co 15-"'-), 'Thou madest him a little (or 'for a little Avhile ') loAA'er than the angels,' — vv.^-® of the psalm are interpreted as referring to Jesus, because the supremacy Avhich, in the psalm, is asserted of the ' son of man ' is not, as a matter of fact, true of the human race, but it is true of Jesus. This is a noble application of the passage, full of poetic and spiritual insight ; but it does not justify us in sup- posing that the psalm was, in its original intention, Messianic. The Psalmist is undoubtedly thinking of the human race, he marvels at the love of the great God toAvards His apparently insignificant creature in making him lord of all. ' Thou hast put all things under his feet.' To the Psalmist this supremacy is a fact : he is content with man as he finds him, and he is not thinking of One in Avhom this lordship would be more perfectly realized.
Ps 16. In Ac 225-28 (cf 1335-37) St. Peter quotes four verses of the psalm (s*") in confirmation of the resurrection of Christ. The crucial verse is ^ ' Thou wilt not leave my soul unto Hades, neither wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption.' It is not quite certain Avhether the psalm is individual or collective. If it be collective, this verse implies no more than an assured faith in the future of Israel ; if, hoAvever, it be individual, the speaker is pro- bably expressing his oAvn faith in immortality, though a more meagre meaning has been put upon the Avords, as if he were simply expressing his con- fidence in his recovery from a severe illness, or perhaps in his immunity from the sudden death Avhich overtakes the Avicked. In any case ' thy holy one ' — an unfortunate translation — is undoubtedly the speaker himself. He is Jehovah's hdsid, that is, a bond of love subsists betAveen him and his God ; and, in virtue of this bond, he is sure that Sheol cannot be his ultimate fate, — he Avill over- leap it, and be received into glory (Ps 732*). -pj^g last Avord of 16^" nntj*, Avhich means 'pit,' Avas, hoAV- ever, unfortunately rendered by LXX dia<p6opd, ' corruption ' ; and part of St. Peter's argument, as of St. Paul's in Ac IS^^"^'', depends upon the mis- translation. The argument is that, as the Psalmist himself ' saAv corruption ' (Ac 13^^), he was really
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speaking, not of himself, but, prophetically, of Jesus, who saw no conuption. The psalm is tliere- fore regarded as a prophecy of tlie resuiTection of Christ, thougii it is, in reality, only a devout believer's confession of faitli in liis own immortality. But it is only fair to notice tliat, wiule tiie form of the argument in Acts is Jewisii, and rests, in part, upon a mistranslation, in substance tiie argument is sound. What the psalm es.sentially asserts is, that Avhere a bond of love subsists between God and a man, death has no power to destroy the man — a fortiori in the case of the Man. ' It was not possible tiiat He should be conquered by him'' (Ac 2-'') — such a one as Jesus by such an antagonist as death.
Ps 22. Nothing is more natural than that the early Christians sliould have interpreted this jjsalm Messianically, or that that interpretation should have persisted throughout the whol history of the Christian Church. It is not only that echoes of it .are heard in tiie Passion story oif tlie Gospels, — in the parting of His garments and the casting of the lot for His raiment (Mt 27^= Mk 15-^ = Lk 233\ Ps 22^^ C^'), the shaking of the heads of tlie passers-by (Mt 27^3 = Mk 15'-'-' = Lk 23^5^ Ps 228(')), the mocking cry, ' He trusted in God, let him deliver him' (Mt 27^^ Ps22»<8)),_but Jesus Himself upon the cross used at least the opening words of the psalm (Mt 27-** = Mk 15*^), and tiie parting of His garments is expressly said in Jn UJ^-* to iiave taken place that tire scripture might be fulfilled. It must be ad- mitted that tliere is often a very startling similarity between tiie details of the psalm and the narrative of tiie Gospels. Still, many of those details are not strictly applicable to the crucifixion. Alike in tiie sutt'erings, in tiie triumpliant issue from tiieni, and in tiie contemplated conversion of the world wliicii is to be produced by that triumi)ii ( v.-^ c^^t), tiiis psalm very powerfully recalls tiie Suffering Servant of Deutero-Isaiaii ; and tiie theme of both is doubt- less the same, that is, the people, or at least the pious kernel of Israel. More important, however, tiian tlie similarity of detail just alluded to, strik- ing as that is, is the large and profound insight of tiie psalm. It is all aglow with tiie consciousness tliat suffering means, in the end, not defeat, but victory, and that the Suffering Servant, so far from lieing crushed, will one day win the wiiole world to Himself. These truths, of course, find tiieir highest and truest exemplification in Jesus