Ps 118. With this psalm as with Ps 8, Jesus assumed a certain familiarity on the part of His audience (Mt 21*^ < jy^A ye never read ?'). His use of it strongly suggests, though perhaps it hardly compels, the belief that He regarded it as Mes- sianic. With the words, ' Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord' (Ps 118-^), He was acclaimed by the multitudes as He entered Jerusalem (Mt 2F- i5 = Mk 113'- = Lk 1938 = Jn 12^^), and in the same words He ends His lament over Jerusalem (Mt 2339). The saying that ' the stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner' (Ps IIS"^), is also understood to find its fulfilment in Him (Mt 21*2 = Mk 12iof- = Lk 20"; cf. Ac 4", 1 P 2'*- ''). In the psalm, the reference appears to be to Israel, despised yet victorious ; but as the career of Jesus is the most perfect illus- tration of the principle pictorially expressed in the saying, the citation is thoroughly in keeping with the spirit of the psalm, though it cannot be re- gai'ded as a prediction. Similarly, ' Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,' is more strikingly appropriate to Jesus than even to the original subject of the psalm.
6. In conclusion, it may be said that the exe- getical methods and the Messianic outlook of the early Church rendered it very natural that they shoirld find in the Psalter, as in other parts of the OT, predictions of incidents in the life of Christ, or that psalms descriptive, on the one hand, of malig- nant persecution and agonized sutt'ering, or em- bodying, on the other hand, a large outlook upon a universal dominion, should be claimed for Him. Usually there is an appropriateness, sometimes very striking, in the application to Him of pas- sages in the Psalter which, for various reasons, can seldom, if ever, be with any plausibility re- garded as predictions of Him. Often, as Ave have seen, a psalm can be regarded as Messianic onlj' by ignoring its historical background (Ps 69), or by selecting and emphasizing certain verses while ignoring others that suggest an inadequate or un- worthy view of the Messiah (Ps 2). There are undoubtedly in the Psalter many true foreshadow- ings of Christ ; but, speaking broadly, it is in its general spirit rather than in its isolated expres-
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siuiis tliiit we may tind Him. Of courtje, it has been lommonly urged that a psalm may be typi- cally Messianic though it is not prophetic; but it may be questioned wiiether it is worth while to interpret litemture in this fashion. Clirist's own use of tlie I'salter is strikingly diherent from the occasional use of it, e.g., in the Book of the Acts. He (lid not commend His Messiahship after the fashion in which His Apostles sometimes do. Profouml as is tlie insight with whicli they often cite and apply the Psalter, very much more than the Master do the disciples emphasize the letter, sometimes even the letter of an inadequate trans- lation. From His use of it we learn to laid in the Psalter a support of the devotional life rather than a mainstay of Messianic argument.
IjiiKRATiuK. — Binnie, Tlie Psalms, their Uistorij, Teaching, and Cxe, pp. l.'i.'j-217 ; Alexander, Witness of the Psalms to Christ and Christianity (BL, 1876); .Jenninjjs and Lowe, The Psalms, witli Introductions and Critical Notes, vol. i. ch. iv. ; Kirkpatrick, The Psalms (Cambridge Bible), Introduction, cli. viii. ; Cheyne, The Christian Use of the Psalms ; A. B. Davidson, biblical and Literary Essays, pp. 139-193 ; Brigjjs, ' The Psalms,' 2 vols. {ICC) 190(i-7, esp. Introd. p. ci ff. Allusions to the Psalter in NT are collected in Ale.xander's Witness of the Psalms, pp. 257-264 ; but they can be most profitably studied in Toy, Quotations in the XT ; Hiihn, Die messianischen Weissa- gunijcn, 2 Theil, 'Die Alttestanientlichen Citate und Reminisc- enzen ini NT ; Dittmar, Vetus Te.stamentum in JS'ovo.
John E. M'Fadyen.
PUBLICAN (Gr. TeXtij/T/s).— The Roman practice of selling to the highest bidder the task of collect- ing the taxes and dues of a province or district for a detinite period is well known. The persons thus engaged were called />«(WifaHi, and usually belonged to the wealthy equestrian order. They, in tiieir turn, employed local agents to get in the revenues, who were also called publicani. This lower class are proljabiy the men referred to in the Gospels, wiierever they belong to Judsea (or Samaria), e.xcept possibly in the case of Zacchceus, who was apx^Te\iLv7)s of Jericho (Lk 19^), and may have farmed the revenues of that important commercial centre on Ills own account (but see Ramsay as cited below).
In Cialilee the publicans had to collect, not for the Imperial treasury (as in Judfea), but for Herod Antijias the tetrarch. Such an official was St. Mattliew (Levi), who was called to be an Apostle from the place of toll (Te\uviov) on the shores of the Lake of Galilee at Capernaum (Mt g", Mk 2l^ Lk 5-'). And in his house afterwards our Lord met many other publicans of the tetrarchy at a grejit entertainment.
Whetlier in the service of the hated Roman Emperor or of Herod Antipas, Mho was in com- plete subservience to him, the tax-gatherer was most unpopular with the Jews ; for, apart from tlie obvious liability of the method to abuse, the mere fact of the money being thus raised for an alien power Avas detestable in their eyes. And no doubt the publicans were often drawn from the lowest ranks in consequence. Hence common talk associated them not only with the Gentiles (Mt 18"), but witii harlots (Mt 2\^^-^-) and sinners in general (Mt 9'"- '' IP", Mk 2'^^- '«, Lk 53" V^ W).