messianic prophecies, the same extent is given to his dominion. Compare Isa. 2: 2. Micah 4: 1. Zech. 9:10.

V. 12. They are pronounced blessed who trust in this king; but the Old Testament pronounces those accursed who trust in any man, or in any being but God or the divine Messiah. So says the prophet Jeremiah (17: 5, 7) Cursed be the man that trusteth in man. Blessed is the man that trusteth in Jehovah. Compare also Micah 7: 5. Ps. 118: 9. 156:13.

The attempt of Rosenmüller to make the pronoun in this verse refer back to Jehovah in v. 11, instead of the Son, which is its immediate antecedent, is entirely unsuccessful. It does open violence to the grammatical structure of the sentence; there is nothing in the context to justify it; and it is, in every respect, purely arbitrary.

In verse 7, the phrase, this day have I begotten thee, is referred by Paul to the day of the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 13: 33); inasmuch as the resurrection was the event which proved, beyond all contradiction, the messiahship, the sonship of Jesus. To the same idea Paul recurs in Rom. 1: 3, 4, the sense of which may be given thus: Jesus Christ our Lord, who was a descendant of David as to his human nature; but as to his spiritual, divine nature, was, by the resurrection from the dead, powerfully demonstrated to be the Son of God. The verb begotten, therefore, is used, in the place quoted, in the declarative sense so frequent in Hebrew; as may be illustrated by such examples as the following: Ezek. 43: 3. "The vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city." Ezekiel never came to destroy the city, but to prophesy, to declare its destruction. See 9: 4, 5. Also Jer. 1: 10, God says to the prophet: "See! I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant." Jeremiah never either rooted out or planted nations or kingdoms, but he was appointed to prophesy, to declare these things. Again, Lev. 13: 3, 8, 13, 17, are instances of the same use of the verbs

II. STRUCTURE OF THE PSALM.

In this psalm, as in most of the prophetic writings of the Bible, the prophet is not told by the Holy Spirit, in words, what events are to take place, nor does he write an account of them in the way of narrative; but in prophetic ecstasy he beholds the events actually occurring before his eyes, he sees the multitudes tumultuously assembling, he hears what they say, he sees God quietly seated on his throne, he hears him speak; and he writes down the whole scene, precisely as it met his eye and ear, without circumlocution or explanatory remarks. The psalm, therefore, in its form and spirit, is strictly dramatic; and it has

all the peculiar liveliness, vigor, and conciseness of expression, which belong to this species of composition. The persons who speak, are, 1st, the psalmist, vs. 1, 2; 2d, the rebels, v. 3; 3d, the psalmist, vs. 4, 5; 4th, Jehovah, v. 6; 5th, Messiah, vs. 7-9; 6th, the psalmist, vs. 10

12.

When these dramatic psalms were sung in the temple-worship, the different persons were easily represented by different parts of the choir, responding to each other. For information respecting the method of chanting in responsive choirs, see the following passages; Exod. 15: 20, 21. 1 Sam. 18: 7. Ezra 3: 11. Neh. 12: 24, 31, 38, 40. Compare also Lowth's Lectures on Hebrew poetry, Andover edition, p. 156 ff. and 390 f.

p.

Ps. cxxxvi. is an instance in point, where the choir of priests chanted the first line of each verse, and the whole congregation responded in the constantly recurring chorus, on is, for to eternity is his

mercy.

In the 2d psalm, the whole choir might chant the part of the psalmist; a particular portion of it that of the rebels; a single voice, in one place, the part of Jehovah; a single voice, in another place, that of the Messiah; and then the whole choir, that of the psalmist again. Let this be borne in mind while reading the following

III. TRANSLATION.

The Psalmist.

(He sees the nations tumultuously assembling.)

1 Why do the heathen rage,

And the people imagine vanity,

2 The kings of the earth stand up,

And the rulers set themselves

Against Jehovah and against his Messiah?

The Rebels.

(The Psalmist hears them speak.)

3 Let us burst asunder their bands,

And cast away from us their cords.

The Psalmist.

(He sees God quietly seated on his throne in the heavens, with looks af derision at these rebellious and imbecile movements.)

4 He that sitteth in the heavens doth laugh,

The Lord doth deride them;

5 Then doth he speak to them in his wrath,

And in his burning wrath doth he confound them.

Jehovah.

(The psalmist hears him say)

6 Yet have I anointed my king

On Zion the mount of my holiness.

The Messiah.

(The Psalmist hears him say)

7 I will publish the decree,

Jehovah hath said to me: My Son art thou,

I thi sday have begotten thee.

8 Ask of me,

And I will give thee the nations thine inheritance,
And thy possession the ends of the earth.

9 Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron,

As a potter's vessel shalt thou break them in pieces.

The Psalmist.

10 And now ye kings be wise,

Be instructed, ye judges of the earth;

11 Serve Jehovah with fear,

And rejoice with trembling,

12 Do homage to the Son lest he be angry,
And ye perish on the way,

For his wrath is suddenly kindled.
Blessed are all they who trust in him.

Vs. 1 and 2.

IV. NOTES ON THE TRANSLATION.

These verses make one stanza of five lines, namely, two pairs of paralells, and a fifth line which belongs equally to all the four, and may be repeated after each one of them, thus;

Why do the heathens rage

Against Jehovah and against his Messiah,
And the people imagine vanity

Against Jehovah and against his Messiah,

The kings of the earth stand up

Against Jehovah and against his Messiah,
And the rulers take counsel together

Against Jehovah and against his Messiah?'

I can see no good reason for punctuating the first verse as an interrogative, and not the second. together in the same stanza, and is clearly interrogative.

The two are most intimately blended form, in fact, but one sentence, which

V. 6. The verb , in this verse, is not the word usually employed in Hebrew to signify anoint, and Hengstenberg, no mean authority, translates it in this place by the German word bilden; but Gesenius, De Wette, Ewald, and others, agree with our common English ⚫ translation, which I have retained.

V. 7. Literally, I will speak to the sense, just like our common English idiom, I will speak to that point, etc. The time this day has before been shown, on the authority of the New Testament, to be the day of Christ's resurrection, that being the crowning proof of his sonship, and the verb being here used in the declarative sense, so common in Hebrew.

V. 12. Literally, kiss the son, the kiss being the sign of homage. The Septuagint and Vulgate give a peculiar translation of the first line of this verse, thus:

"Take hold on instruction, lest the Lord be angry,
And ye perish from the righteous way."

The similarity of the Greek words nais, son (in the accusative, naida), and naidɛía, instruction, some critics have supposed may have led to this translation; but as the Chaldee gives the same rendering, it is more probable that they understood the Hebrew word to mean instruction. Ewald gives the word a similar meaning; but the learned notes of Rosenmüller and Hengstenberg on this verse, together with the authority of Gesenius, De Wette, Winer, and Hitzig, sufficiently refute him.

V. FULFILMENT OF THE PROPHECY.

In regard to the time when the prophecies of this psalm are to be fulfilled, the whole psalm evidently belongs to that class of predictions, of which lord Bacon speaks as "having a latitude agreeable and familiar with divine prophecies, which, being of the nature of their Author, with whom a thousand years are as one day, are not fulfilled punctually at once, but have springing and germinant accomplishment throughout many ages, though the height or fulness of them may refer to some one age." (Advancement of Learning, Bk. II.)

The first two verses, the whole company of the apostles refer to the period when Herod and Pontius Pilate, the Jew and the Gentile, combined to put the Saviour to death; and the 7th verse the apostle Paul assigns to the resurrection. Acts 5:25-27. 13:33. The 8th, 9th, and 10th verses still remain unfulfilled.

But it is mainly whole classes of events, occurring through all time,

between the incarnation of Christ and the triumph of his religion over all mankind, and not particular historical circumstances, that take place at a definite point of time, which are indicated in this prophecy. It hath springing and germinant accomplishment throughout many ages, though the height or fulness of it may refer to some one age. It began to be accomplished when Herod and Pontius Pilate agreed together to destroy the Messiah; it received still further accomplishment when Julian the apostate waged war on the " Galilean ;” it had a 7λýgwσis when the Jewish legislature publicly renounced the Christian religion; it was again fulfilled when, in the days of rationalism, the literature of Europe was almost all employed to undermine the divine authority of the Bible, -whenever, and wherever, and however, men combine against Christ and his religion, this prophecy is in part accomplished; and will continue to be thus gradually fulfilled, till He whose right it is, shall come and reign on the earth. When that age comes, when the last great battle is fought (Rev. 20: 7, 10), then the height or fulness of this prophecy will be accomplished.

Very many of the Biblical prophecies are of the same character, and the attempt to limit the predictions, each one to some one particular historical occurrence, at a definite point of time, has been a fruitful source of perplexity and error in the interpretation of prophecy. Prophecy generally is not history anticipated, in the dry and literal sense; but rather a series of magnificent hieroglyphics, each one infolding and giving expression to a whole class of ideas. The whole book of Revelation is filled with prophecies of this kind; and the perverse endeavors to limit its far-reaching symbols to individual occurrences, has led to endless mistakes and blunders. The Book gives neither the civil nor the ecclesiastical history of particular countries or periods, but rather the philosophy of history for the whole world, through all time; the philosophy of history considered with reference to its religious influences. The 2d Psalm is a fair and remarkably plain specimen of the prophecies of this sort, and may give much assistance in the interpretation of others more recondite, complex, and ornate.

VI. PRACTICAL USES OF THIS PROPHECY.

1. This prophecy shows what is the kind of encouragement, and hope, and comfort, which the enlightened Christian may derive from prophecy generally.

It is the object of the Bible to establish certain great principles in religion and morals. These principles it enforces and illustrates in the most graphic and striking manner, and by a great variety of methods: