Vers. 1-17.-The glories of the eternal King. This psalm is one of those which set forth in glowing terms the glory and majesty of the King of kings, the .Anointed One, _who should come into the world. "It is a psalm of the theocratic kingdom., the marriage song of the King." 1 It is a song of the highest order, which, according to its title, was for the chief musician; set to "Shoshannim," a word which, we are told in the margin (Revised Version), means "lilies." This, however, does not throw much light on the matter. Fiirst 2 is more helpful when he tells us that Shoshannim is a proper name, and denotes one of the twenty-four music-choirs left by David, so called from a master named Shushan. The introduction to the psalm, which is found in its first verse, is much more striking than would appear from the translation in either the Authorized Version or the Revised Version. It may be rendered," My heart is boiling over• with a goodly theme: I speak: my work is for a King: may my tongue be as the pen of a ready writer I "' Here we have a striking illustration of the words of the Apostle Peter, "Holy men of God spake aa they were moved by the Holy Ghost;" this fervour of spirit, urging on the worker as by a power beyond himself to write of "the King," is one of the ways in which the sacred writers were "moved." .And there is no reason for refusing to acknowledge the far-reachingness of this psalm, as setting forth beforehand, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the grandeur of our victorious Lord To no one, indeed, but Jesus, can we apply the epithets which are herein used. '!'hat a King "higher than the kings of the earth" is foretold in Scripture is certain (see 2 Sam. vii 12-16; xxiii. 2-5; Pss. ii., lxxii., b:xix., ex.). So that it is no wonder to find that such is the case in this psalm. 6 The main difficulty in the psalm-in fact, the only serious one to believing critics-is the fact that the entire passage vers. 10-15 is based on a custom which in the psalmist's time was not only familiar to Orientals, but was even honourable in their eyes, though it would not be deemed so in ours. It would be a coveted honour among maidens to be among the well-beloved ones of an honourable king; for though the queen-consort was the principal wife, yet she was by no means the only one on whom the king bestowed his affection. Even David had six wives. He was not thought the worse of for this. The Law of God did not sanction it, but society did. Hence, though this psalm shoots far ahead to a beauty, 11 12:lory, and a majesty beyond the sons of men, yet the ground-plan of its symbolism is found in the usages of Oriental courts at their best. 6 lf it was then deemed a high honour for maidens to be among the beloved of a king, how much greater would be the honour of those who should be brought in the far-off times to place their whole selves, body, soul and spirit 0 at the absolute disposal of him who would be "King of kings, and Lord of lords " ! We may gather up under four heads the main r~atures of this 1 Bishop Westcott,• Commentary• on Heb. i. 7.
' Bee Lexicon, sub 'llerb. • The word ein:,, "to boil," is used but once. But the ordinary word for a prophet, tt'=?l, is from 11~~ which means "to bubble up," "to stream forth" (see Dr. Payne Smith'• 'Bampton Lectures for 1869,' lect. iL). • S,-e Revised Version margin, and the version of Dr. Louie Begond. ' Whether or no the immediate occasion of the writing of this pso.lm was any 11peciflo royal wedding, is an intereating question, but by no means an important one praotical_ly._ • For this reason it would not be appropriate to press every phrase to a Mess1a1UC1 application (see Calvin and Perowne hereon). l'B, XLV, 1-17.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 355