Imatges de pàgina
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whom refer it simply to his deliverance from his temporal distresses, maintaining that it has no allusion whatever to a future state; while others understand it in the contrary sense, and consider it a noble confession of faith in the Redeemer. The latter opinion has been ably advocated by Pfeiffer, the elder Schultens, Michaelis, Velthusen, Dr. Good, and the Rev. Drs. Hales and J. P. Smith, and is now generally received. The following is Dr. Hales' version of this sublime passage of Job.

I know that my REDEEMER [is] living,

And that at the last [day]

He will arise [in judgment] upon dust [mankind]:
And after my skin be mangled thus,

Yet ever from my flesh shall I see God:

Whom I shall see for me [on my side],

And mine eyes shall behold him not estranged;

[Though] my reins be [now] consumed within me.

But ye should say, "Why persecute we him [further]."

Since the strength of the argument is found in me,

Fear ye for yourselves, from the face of the sword;

For [divine] wrath [punisheth] iniquities [with] the sword;
That ye may know that there is a judgment.1

Nor was the morality of Job less excellent than his theology. He thus expresses his undeviating obedience to the laws of God, and his delight therein,

xxiii. 11. My foot hath held His steps,

His way have I kept and not declined:

12. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips.
I have esteemed the words of His mouth,
More than my necessary food.

From this and other passages, Dr. Hales with great probability thinks it evident, that there was some collection of certain precepts, or rules of religion and morality, in use among the patriarchs ;—such were the precepts of the Noachidæ or sons of Noah: and there is great reason to believe, that the substance at least of the decalogue, given at Sinai, was of primitive institution. Compare Gen. ix. 1-6. How well the venerable patriarch observed the duties of morality, will be manifest to every one who will take the trouble of perusing chap. xxix. 11-17. and xxxi. 6—22.

There is a remarkable reference in the book of Job, to the former destruction of the world by water, and to its final dissolution by fire; which was prophesied by Enoch before the deluge, whence it must have been known to Noah; and no doubt, transmitted by him to his family; and so might be communicated to Job and his friends. It occurs in the last speech of Eliphaz, the most intelligent of the three. xxii. 15. Dost [not] thou keep the old way,

Which wicked men have trodden?

1 Dr. Hales's Analysis, vol. ii. pp. 83-86. For the very elaborate notes with which he has supported and vindicated his translation, we must refer the reader to his work. Besides the translations of Dr. Good, already referred to, there are some excellent observations on the doctrines of the patriarchal age, in Dr. Taylor's Scheme of Scripture Divinity, chap. xxiv. (vol. i. pp. 98-104. of Bp. Watson's Collection of Tracts). See also Pfeiffer's Dubia Vexata Scripturæ, Centuria III No. 39. Op. tom. i. pp. 269–272. See also Dr. Smith's Scripture Testimony to the Messiah, vol. i. pp. 199-211.

16. Who were cut off, before their time,
The flood overthrew their foundation :
17. Who said unto GoD, Depart from us :'

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And, What can THE ALMIGHTY do for us ?'

18. Yet He filleth their houses with good,

Though the counsel of the wicked was far from Him, 19. The righteous saw, and were glad,

And the innocent [Noah] derided them :

20. Is not their substance cut down?

And the fire shall consume the remnant of them!'

As if Noah had said, though this judgment by water, however universal, may not so thoroughly purge the earth, as that iniquity shall not spring up again, and wicked men abound: yet know that a final judgment by fire will utterly consume the remnant of such sinners as shall then be found alive, along with the earth itself.1

SECTION II.

ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

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L General title of this Book.II. Structure of the Psalms. - III. Their Canonical Authority.—IV. Authors to whom they are ascribed,- 1. Moses. 2. David. 3. Asaph. -4. The sons of Korah.-5. Heman and Ethan.-6. Solomon.-7. Anonymous Psalms. Chronological arrangement of the Psalms by Calmet.-V. Collection of the Psalms into a volume.-VI. The inscriptions or titles prefixed to the different Psalms. — VII. Probable meaning of the word Selah. VIII. Scope of the book of Psalms. IX. Rules for better understanding them.-X. A table of the Psalms classed according to their several subjects.

I. THIS book is entitled in the Hebrew (SPHER TERIL/IM), that is, the Book of Hymns or Praises; because the praises of God constitute their chief subject matter; and as they were set, not only to be sung with the voice, but also to be accompanied with musical instruments, the Septuagint version designates them BIBAOE YAAMON the Book of Psalms, by which name they are cited in Luke xx. 42.; and this appellation is retained in our Bibles. In the Alexandrian manuscript of the Septuagint, this book is entitled YAATHPION, the Psalter, from the psaltery, one of the musical instruments in use when the psalms were sung: but in the Vatican manuscript it is simply called YAAMOI, the Psalms. The Syriac version denominates it the Book of Psalms of David, King and Prophet; and the Arabic version, the Book of Psalms of David the Prophet, King of the sons of Israel.

II. The book of Psalms presents every possible variety of Hebrew poetry. They may all, indeed, be termed poems of the lyric kind, that is, adapted to music, but with great variety in the style of sition. Thus some are simply odes. "An ode is a dignified sort of song, narrative of the facts, either of public history, or of private life, in

1 Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii. book i. pp. 111, 112.

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a highly adorned and figured style. But the figure in the Psalms is that, which is peculiar to the Hebrew language, in which the figure gives its meaning with as much perspicuity as the plainest speech."1 Others, again, are ethic or didactic, "delivering grave maxims of life, or the precepts of religion, in solemn, but for the most part simple strains." To this class we may refer the hundred and nineteenth, and the other alphabetical psalms, which are so called because the initial letters of each line or stanza follow the order of the alphabet. Nearly one-seventh part of the psalms are elegiac, or pathetic compositions on mournful subjects. Some are enigmatic, delivering the doctrines of religion in enigmata, sentences contrived to strike the imagination forcibly, and yet easy to be understood; while a few may be referred to the class of idyls, or short pastoral poems. But the greater part, according to Bishop Horsley, is a sort of dramatic ode, consisting of dialogues between certain persons sustaining certain characters. "In these dialogue-psalms the persons are frequently the psalmist himself, or the chorus of priests and Levites, or the leader of the Levitical band, opening the ode with a proem declarative of the subject, and very often closing the whole with a solemn admonition drawn from what the other persons say. The other persons are, Jehovah, sometimes as one, sometimes as another of the three persons: Christ in his incarnate state, sometimes before, sometimes after his resurrection; the human soul of Christ, as distinguished from the divine essence. Christ, in his incarnate state, is personated sometimes as a priest, sometimes as a king, sometimes as a conqueror; and, in those psalms in which he is introduced as a conqueror, the resemblance is very remarkable between this conqueror in the book of Psalms, and the warrior on the white horse in the book of Revelations, who goes forth with a crown on his head and a bow in his hand, conquering and to conquer. And the conquest in the Psalms is followed, like the conquest in the Revelations, by the marriage of the conqueror. These are circumstances of similitude, which, to any one versed in the prophetic style, prove beyond a doubt that the mystical conqueror is the same personage in both."3

III. The right of the book of Psalms to a place in the sacred canon has never been disputed: they are frequently alluded to in the Old Testament, and are often cited by our Lord and his apostles as the work of the Holy Spirit. They are generally termed the Psalms of David, that Hebrew monarch being their chief author. Origen, Chrysostom, Augustine, Ambrose, Euthymius and others of the antient fathers, indeed, were of opinion that he was their sole au

1 Bishop Horsley's Translation of the Psalms, vol. i. p. xv.

2 The alphabetical psalms are xxv. xxxiv. xxxvii. cxì. cxii. cxix. and cxlv. On the peculiar structure of the Hebrew alphabetical poems, see Vol. II. Part I. Chap. X. pp. 471, 472. supra.

3 Bishop Horsley's Psalms, vol. i. p. xvi.

4 Chrysostom in Psal. i. Ambros. Præfat. in Psal. i. Augustin. de Civitate Dei, lib. xvii. c. 14. Theodoret, Pref. in Psal. Cassiodorus, Proleg. in Psal. Euthymius, Præf. in Psal. Philastrius, Hæres. 129. Huet, Dem. Ev. tom. i. prop. iv. p.

thor: but they were opposed by Hilary and Athanasius,1 (or the author of the synopsis attributed to him), Jerome, Eusebius, and other fathers of equal eminence. And indeed this notion is manifestly erroneous, for an attentive examination of the Psalms will immediately prove them to be the compositions of various authors, in various ages, some much more antient than the time of David, some of a much later age; and others were evidently composed during the Babylonish captivity. Some modern commentators have even referred a few to the time of the Maccabees: but for this opinion, as we shall show in a subsequent page, there does not appear to be any foundation. Altogether they embrace a period of about nine hundred years.

The earliest composer of sacred hymns unquestionably was Moses (Exod. xv.); the next, who are mentioned in the Scriptures, are Deborah (Judg. v.), and Hannah (1 Sam. ii.): but it was David himself, an admirable composer and performer in music, (1 Sam. xvi. 18. Amos vi. 5.) who gave a regular and noble form to the musical part of the Jewish service, and carried divine poetry and psalmody to perfection and therefore he is called the sweet psalmist of Israel. (2 Sam. xxiii. 1.) He, doubtless by divine authority, appointed the singing of psalms by a select company of skilful persons, in the solemn worship of the tabernacle (1 Chron. vi. 31. xvi. 4-8.); which Solomon continued in the first temple (2 Chron. v. 12, 13.), and it was re-established by Ezra, as soon as the foundation of the second temple was laid. (Ezra iii. 10, 11.) Hence the Jews became well acquainted with these songs of Sion; and, having committed them to memory, were celebrated for their melodious singing among the neighbouring countries. (Psal. cxxxvii. 3.) The continuance of this branch of divine worship is confirmed by the practice of our Lord, and the instructions of St. Paul (Matt. xxvi. 30. Mark xiv. 26. Eph. v. 19. Col. iii. 16. compared with Rev. v. 9. xiv. 1, 2, 3.); and the practice of divine psalmody has subsisted through every succeeding age to our own time, not more to the delight than to the edification of the church of Christ. "There are indeed at this time" (to use the words of a sensible writer)3" very few professing Christians who do not adopt these sacred hymns in their public and private devotions, either by reading them, composing them as anthems, or singing poetical translations and imitations of them. In this particular there ever has existed, and there still exists, a wonderful communion of saints. The language, in which Moses, and David, and Solomon, Heman, Asaph, and Jeduthun, worshipped God, is applicable to Christian beevers. They worship the same God through the same adorable Redeemer; they give thanks for similar mercies, and mourn under similar trials; they are looking for the same blessed hope of their calling,

1 Hilarii Proleg. in Psal. et Comment. in Psal. cxxxi. Athanasii Synopsis. Hieronymi Epist. ad Sophronium. Eusebii Cæsariensis Præf. in Psalmos, p. 7, 8. et in Inscrip. Psal. p. 2. et in Psal. xli. lx. lxii. Calmet, Pref. Générale sur les Pseaumes (Com. tom. iv. p. v. vi.) Huet, ut supra.

2 See p. 100. infra.

3 The editor of the 4to. Bible of 1810, with the notes of several of the venerable reformers.

even everlasting life and salvation, through the prevailing intercession of the Messiah. The antient believers, indeed, worshipped him as about to appear; we adore him as having actually appeared, and put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. They saw, as through a glass, darkly; but we face to face."

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IV. The Jewish writers ascribe the book of Psalms to ten different authors,1 viz. Adam, to whom they ascribe the ninety-second Psalm; Abraham, whom they call Ethan, and give to him the eighty-ninth Psalm; Moses, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and the three sons of Korah and they make David to be merely the collector of them into one volume or book. But this opinion is evidently fabulous: for, 1. The ninety-second psalm, which is ascribed to Adam, appears from its internal structure and style to be of a later date, though no author is mentioned in its title or inscription: besides, if Adam had left any sacred odes, it is more than probable that some notice would have been taken of them in the book of Genesis, which however is totally silent concerning any such compositions. 2. That the hundred and tenth psalm, which is attributed to Melchizedec, was certainly written by David, is evident, not only from the title which claims him for its author, but also from its style and manner, which correspond with the acknowledged productions of the royal prophet; and especially from the testimony of Jesus Christ and his apostle Peter. (Matt. xxii. 43—45. Mark xii. 36. Luke xx. 42. Acts ii. 34.) And, 3. It is most certain that David was the author of very many psalms, not merely of those which have his name in their respective titles, but likewise of several others, to which his name is not prefixed, especially of psalms ii. and xcv. as we are assured by the inspired apostles. (Acts iv. 25, 26. Heb. iv. 7.) To make David, therefore, merely the collector and editor of those divine compositions, is alike contradictory to the clearest evidence, derived from the book of Psalms itself, and from the testimony of the inspired writers of the New Testament, as well as contrary to the whole current of antiquity.

A careful investigation of these divine odes will enable us to form a better opinion concerning their respective authors, whom the modern Jews, and all modern commentators, understand to be Moses, David, Solomon, Asaph, Heman, Ethan, Jeduthun, and the three sons of Korah. Other authors have been conjectured by some eminent critics, whose hypotheses will presently be noticed.

1. To MOSES the Talmudical writers ascribe ten psalms, viz. from xc. to xcix. inclusive. The ninetieth psalm, in the Hebrew manuscripts, is inscribed with his name; and from its general coincidence in style and manner with his sacred hymns in Exod. xv. and Deut. xxxii. it is generally considered as the composition of the great lawgiver of the Jews. But there is reason to think that it was written in a later age, and consequently cannot be of that date which the title imports: because in the time of Moses, most of the persons mentioned in Scripture lived to an age far exceeding the standard of threescore years and ten or fourscore, which in the ninetieth psalm is as1 Francisci Junii Proleg. ad Librum Psalmorum, § 2.

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