A strong One laid; out of the folk I rais'd a chosen One; 20 Ev'n David, I have found him out A servant unto me; And with my holy oil my King Anointed him to be. 21 With whom my hand shall stablish'd be; 22 On him the foe shall not exact, 23 I will beat down before his face I will them greatly plague who do 24 My mercy and my faithfulness And in my name his horn and pow'r Men shall exalted see. 25 His hand and power shall reach afar, I'll set it in the sea; or placing help upon, or in one who is mighty, looks evidently to a greater than David. His sufferings in human nature preceded his exaltation to an eternal throne of unbounded dominion; for his kingdom is to rule over all in the most perfect sense. Psal ciii. 19.-That Messiah is called David. as ver 20, 21. to whom alone such things properly and ultimately belong, may be seen, Ezek. xxxiv. 23. xxxvi. 25. for he is eminently e elect servant of Jehovah, the head elect, in whom all others are eleted, the beloved and only begotten Son of God. Isa. xlii. 1. Ps.. xlv. 7. Acts x 38 or bein that i bre In verse 22, we are told that the enemy shall not exact upon him, or deceive him, nor the son of wickedness, Satan and his instruments, affect, Ged promises to beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. We know in what sense he did so to David,. e whole nation to submit to his authority; and will he do less for Christ? His faithfulness shall be with him to fulfil all his promises, and his mercy to relieve all his miserable subjects; whence in the Faer's name shall his horn be exalted, as an universal King, who is crer all. God blessed for ever. Rom. ix. 5. These things were fulfilled to David in type; 2 Sam xxii. 1; and in what a full, perfect. and divine sense they has be verified to Messiah, the day will declare. On ver. 25. Dr. Horne observes- The dominions of David and his And his right hand established Shall in the rivers be. 26 Thou art my Father, he shall cry, And he shall say, Thou art the Rock 27 I'll make him my first-born, more high 28 My love I'll ever keep for him, My cov'nant fast shall stand. 29 His seed I by my pow'r will make For ever to endure; And, as the days of heav'n, his throne Shall stable be and sure. sen Solomon extended from the Mediterranean sea to the rivers Eu phrates, &c. the empire of Christ is universal, over Jews and Gentiles,. throughout all the earth.' He refers to Ps. lxxii. 8. &c. in proof, as he might also do to Psal. xxii. 27. lxxxii. 8. and lxxxvi. 9. The sea is well known to intend in prophecy. the wicked world, or that part of mankind that are not included in the visible church; and to set Messiah's hand in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers, is to give him full possession of all. that are intended by these figurative terms, or of the whole world. The two next verses were fulfilled in David, only as a type of his Son and Lord, in whom alone, they receive their full completion. To make or constitute him God's first-born, is to invest him as Mediator with the full sovereignty of all the dominions of Jehovah, which the right of primogeniture includes. To make him higher than the kings of the earth, is not only to vest him with a more dignified official character, and a dominion that extends over them all, but also to bring them all into a state of willing subjection to him, as in Ps cxxxviii. 4, 5. Col. i 15. In verses 28, 29. God promises to keep his mercy for, or to the true David and his seed for evermore. Reading the clause without the supplement, His seed also will I make forever, and it denotes that he will continue to renovate his seed throughout the age, as in verse 2. when he will make all things new. As his throne is to be as the days of heaven in duration, so must it be also in extent of authority and influence. The days of the Church of the first-born, that heaven, are finally to be extended to the earth, or the rest of mankind; whence Messiah shall become the light of the world, and the light of the moon will become like that of the sun. As mercy is a relative term which respects misery, so Messiah who needs no mercy for himself, will keep or reserve it for more than ever for his miserable brethren; whence his throne will become finally as the days. of heaven, whether natural or mystical, and so extend its blessed influences to all, as the beams of day to the earth, 30 But if his children shall forsake And in my judgments shall not walk, 31 If they my laws break, and do not 32 I'll visit then their faults with rods, 33 Yet I'll not take my love from him, 34 My cov'nant I'll not break, nor change 35 Once by my holiness I sware, 36 His seed and throne shall, as the sun, 37 It, like the moon, shall ever be Establish'd stedfastly; And like to that which in the heav'n Doth witness faithfully. In verses 30-34. We see the provision of the everlasting covenant, that the rod as well as the word will be applied to restore his straying children, and will not be applied in vain. As God cannot utterly take his loving kindness from Christ, nor suffer his faithfulness to fail;—as he cannot break his covenant, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his mouth, his word and promises; so these will remain sure to all the seed, who will finally be brought to a wealthy place, though through fire and water. Are not the younger branches of a family as much the father's seed as the old son?-Let it be so in the present case, and let truth have its free The relation cannot cease to exist. course. In verses 35-37. We see all this confirmed by Jehovah's oath, which engages that Messiah's throne shall be like the Sun before him, not only in point of duration, but also of divine influences; whence nothing shall remain hidden from its transforming light and heat. The natural moon, instead of being destroyed, will be established; and so shall that part of Christ's seed that is characterized by the moon and the sea. In his days peace shall be so abundant, as in those of Solomon, so long as the moon endureth, or, as on margin. till there be no moon, Ps. lxxii. 7. Once a month the moon appears full orbed, and so presents a pledge of what the 38 But thou, displeased, hast cast off, Thou hast been very wroth. 40 Thou all his hedges hast broke down, 41 He to all passers-by a spoil, To neighbours is a scorn. 42 Thou hast set up his foes' right hand; 43 Turn'd his sword's edge, and him to stand 44 His glory thou hast made to cease, 45 Shorten'd his days of youth, and him With shame thou cover'd hast. mystical moon shall be at length. Does the moon continue a faithfu! witness in heaven, both in her increase, her full, and her wane? and shall not the mystical moon become a faithful witness for God in thevisible, inferior heaven of her own church? To this grand completion, what is recorded in verses 38, 39. will be no obstacle. God can cast off the abhorred, be wroth with his Anointed, or those who are so called after Christ; so far make void the covenant of his servant, or of royalty made with David, literal and mystical, as to profane his crown to the ground, by giving them a portion only in the new earth. But though the new earth will have no glory compared to that glory which excelleth in the highest heaven; yet righteousness shall dwell in it, when it becomes the habitation of restored men. While heaven is Messiah's throne, this earth will be his footstool, like the mercy seat in the temple; and the paradisical earth shall have its glory-I will make the place of my feet glorious, Isa. lx. 13. Verses 40-45. predict the calamities of the degenerate Jewish church, and also of mere formal Christians, and that not only here, but also, and chiefly beyond the grave. The whole is spoken in reference to Messiah; 46 How long, Lord, wilt thou hide thyself? For ever, in thine ire? And shall thine indignation 47 Remember, Lord, how short a time O wherefore is it so that thou Hast made all men in vain? 49 Thy former loving-kindnesses, 50 Mind, Lord, thy servant's sad reproach; The scornings of the people all, because even these constitute part, though the inferior part, of his mystical body. But the last clause, Thou hast covered him with shame, which, while it may refer to our Lord's personal debasement, also imports the degradation and repentance of the wicked. In verses 46-49. the Psalmist expostulates with God in behalf of that part of his people, who shall be subjected to these sufferings in their full import, or against whom his wrath shall burn like fire. The phraseall men, wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? in Heb. all the sons of Adam, that is, all those that are not actually interested in the true Adam by a living faith. An eminent commentator renders it-Remem Were these ber unto what vanity thou hast created all the sons of Adam. to remain under the endless dominion of death, they would be formed and appointed to vanity indeed; but the whole expostulation plainly implies the reverse. Though all these sons of Adam shall see, or experience death In its most awful import, and none of them can deliver his soul from the hand of the grave, or from the power of hell; yet Messiah can, and his eath to David, and the Father's covenant with the Son, imports that he Tertainly will in due time In verses 50, 51. the Church farther expostulates with God for the re |