Shepherd," that is, the good Shepherd, of whom Isaiah speaks, chap. xl. and John, chap. x. Again; the same prophet says, "I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince amongst them," but the Acts tells us, it is Christ who is exalted to be that Prince and Saviour. So Isaiah, who lived about three hundred years after the death of David, says, "I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David," but it is in Christ that the promises of God are yea and amen, and in Him that are unlocked those sure mercies. They are sure, because no man can pluck his sheep out of his hand, and none that cometh to Him will He ever cast out. "Behold," says Isaiah, "I have given him (that is, David) for a witness:" yet we are elsewhere told that Christ is the true and faithful Witness, and "a Teacher and Commander to the people." Who is this but Christ, the Captain of our salvation? Numerous other instances may be found by the reader at his leisure: it is needless here to multiply them. These sufficiently prove that David is a name given to the Messiah, in the prophetic part of Scripture, of which the Psalms are a principal part. As, then, we find this name at the head of the Psalms, it is wise to inquire in which of the two senses it is used there,—whether typically or antitypically. If we find that very many Psalms headed A Poem for the Beloved, are in the New Testament applied to Christ, we, by parity of reason, apply others, in which the same designation is marked by a similar title. That these Psalms must be so applied, is obvious, because the particle rendered by our translation of, cannot be so rendered, but must be to or for; and when so rendered, the psalm interpreted as to David could not apply. To instance, for example, the eighth psalm; the title in English runs, " To the chief Musician* upon Gittith, a Psalm of David."t The English reader will be surprised to learn, that the word musician is absolutely coined by the translators, without the least hint from the original; as, indeed, it always is, whenever it The Hebrew word ny, LAMNATZAIACH, is very properly translated chief conqueror or victor. It comes from the root nya, NATZACH, he overcame. But the word musician, which uniformly follows this in our translation, is not warranted by the slightest trace in the original. + Sacy translates upon Gittith, " pour les pressoirs." He adds, "Ce pseaume, selon le sentiment des plus savans interprêtes, appuyé par l'Ecriture, regarde principalement la personne de JésusChrist ressuscité. occurs; strange as the device appears, to represent a sovereign dedicating his compositions to the precentor of his band. The word translated chief, is in the original conquest. The word GITTITH, left untranslated, means a press, or oil-press; being the same word as Gethsemane in the New Testament. The true translation to the title then reads, To the Conqueror on Gethsemane,* or the oilpress. A Psalm to the Beloved. Accordingly, it begins with an ascription of deity to the beloved, wholly incompatible with the character of the literal David: O Lord, our Redeemer, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, &c. It then goes on, speaking of Christ, in the same manner as the first verse of Genesis, and third of the first chapter of John, and beginning of Hebrews, as the Creator of the universe; and speaks of Him as the Caller-in of the Gentiles, purchased by his conquest in treading the wine-press. See Isaiah Ixiii. which Gethsemane, from w na, GETH SHEMEN, means literally an oil-press. †The Chaldee paraphrase considers the word Gittith as denoting musical instruments brought by David from Gath. Their words .or Super cithara quam attulit er Geth ,על כגרא דאיתי מן גת ,are Duguet gives this title: In finem pro torcularibus. Psalmus belongs to the same subject; and which repre. sents the celestial hosts as welcoming the same Conqueror in his ascent from Edom,* 78, ADAM, or the earth, (as the root may be read, differently pointed,) and with dyed garments from Bozrah-one of the cities of refuge, which, being on the frontier, afforded an equally near asylum to Jews and Gentiles. This Psalm is expressly applied by St. Paul to Christ; we have shown it obviously cannot apply to any other David. Again; in the ninth psalm, they have, as usual, brought in their ideal musician; and left the words Muth-labben, "death to the Son," untranslated, as though the name of a place: so that what the English reader is told is, To the chief Musician upon Muth-labben, a Psalm of David, he should read, "To the Conqueror upon the Death of the Son, a Psalm for the Beloved." We need only request the reader to read the * The word Edom, red, and Adam, the ground, or man, are in Hebrew the same word, only differently pointed. †These words are thus given by Sacy, Pour la mort du fils. The Douay version of the Vulgate, reading the title after the Septuagint, have put, For the hidden things of the son, as though the original had been a aby by, Pro occultis filii; making by the root, whereas, in fact, by are two words, signifying upon death." psalm in this view, to be satisfied as to the interpretation. Again; the sixteenth psalm, which St. Peter quotes as speaking of the important points of Christ's resurrection and death, is headed in the English version, Michtam of David. It should be, "For a deep-graven Memorial for the Beloved."* The eighteenth psalm, which may be termed the psalm of triumph on the resurrection, is represented in English as entitled, "To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake unto the Lord the words of this song, in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hands of all his enemies, and from the hands of Saul: and he said." It really is, "To the Conqueror. For the Beloved, the Servant of Jehovah, who spake unto Jehovah the words of this song, in the day that Jehovah delivered Him from the hands * Sacy's translation of this title is, Inscription gravée sur une colonne pour David. He adds: “ Ce pseaume a été composé dans la vue de Jésus-Christ, et il le regarde directement, et selon la lettre. C'est donc Jésus-Christ, Fils de David, qui parle par la bouche de David, et qui déclare que Dieu son Père le ressuscitera par sa vertu toute-puissante. Mais il ne faut pas séparer les membres d'avec le chef, c'est-à-dire, tous les fidèles qui ont part à cette résurrection." The Douay version is, "The inscription of the title of David to himself." |