ous to his hypothesis, Kimchi wrests it, in defiance of both letter and spirit, from THE SON to THE SUPREME LORD, in the foregoing clause of the sentence: thus misinterpreting it: "Blessed are all," &c.—“ As I (David) am blessed this day: because I "trusted in HIM, and have been saved by "his help," &c.

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The spirit of this conclusion, is perhaps best explained in the conclusion of John's Gospel ;

"These are written, that vE MIGHT BELIEVE "That JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF Gop: "And that believing, YE MAY HAVE LIFE,

"THROUGH HIS NAME,"

DISSERTATION VIII.

ON PSALM CX.

THIS HIS Prophetic Psalm forms an additional link to that chain, characteristic of the MESSIAH, furnished by the foregoing prophecies of Nathan, Ethan, and David *; in which the Royal Psalmist proceeds (in continuation, as it were, of the Second Psalm) tó describe the stability and permanence of the MESSIAH's delegated dominion; the voluntary adoration of his subjects, " in the 'day of his power;" his primæval birth; his royal and perpetual priesthood; the exemplary vengeance to be inflicted on the heads of his foes," in the day of his wrath;" and his personal sufferings, as the source of his transcendent exaltation.

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Its exclusive application to the MESSIAH was the unequivocal doctrine of the Primitive Jewish Church:-1. The Pharisees confessed

* 2 Sam. vii.-Ps. lxxxix.-Ps. ii.

it, when they were silenced by our Lord applying the Psalm to himself; Matt. xxii. 44. 2. Peter appealed thereto, as incontrovertible evidence, in his Discourse, on the day of Pentecost, which wrought the conversion of 3000 souls, Acts ii. 34, and 3. Paul, in his Address to the Jewish Converts, Heb. i. 13, and x. 13; and also to the Gentiles, 1 Cor. xv. 25. And 4, instead of the present reading of the Chaldee Paraphrase, "THE LORD said in his Oracle," (*), Galatinus cites," to his Oracle,” (170′10h) conformably to the Original, "to the Re'gent" ("), which it well explains ; and the emendation is supported by respectable Jewish evidence; the author of Kabotsim, reading also, s. 5. The Midrash Tillim on Ps. ii. 7, saith," the affairs of THE "MESSIAH are set forth in the Hagiographa, "in these words, Ps. cx. THE LORD said, "&c." And on Ps. xviii. 36, further saith, "R. Joden, in the name of R. Chama, said, "that in the time to come, GoD shall set

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King MESSIAH at his right hand;" as it is written, Ps. cx. "The Lord said unto my Lord, &c." And 6. R. Obadiah Gaon

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not only saith, "the Psalmist composed the Psalm of THE MESSIAH;" but adds, that GOD further said, "Sit thou at my right "hand, and the ministering angels at my

left." And 7. R. Saadias Gaon, on Dan. vii. 13, saith, This is THE MESSIAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, as it is written

Ps. cx. The Lord said to my Lord, &c.

But the later Rabbins

Etas parentum pejor avis, tulit
Istos nequiores→→

endeavouring to evade its force, have re-
course to their grand fastness, the double
sense; and variously apply it to Abraham
likewise, as R. Joden, Solomon Jarchi, and
Lipmann; or to Moses, as Arama; or to
David himself, as David Kimchi, and Aben
Ezra; or to Hezekiah; or to Zorobabel; or
to the people of Israel; according to Justin
Martyr, Chrysostom, &c.-All "tossed to
"and fro"
"in their expositions, like
"drunken men," (ws oi μebuovтes) as Chrysos-

tom remarks.

PSALM

PSALM CX.

A PSALM FOR THE BELOVED.

1. THE LORD spake unto THE REGENTS "Sit thou at my right hand,

“Until I make thine enemies, a stool for thy feet."

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2. THE LORD shall send forth the sceptre of thy might from Sion :

Rule thou in the midst of thine Enemies.

3. In the day of thy power, shall thy people [offer]

Free-will offerings, in the beauties of holiness:

From the womb, before the morningstar, [was] the dew of thy birth.

4. THE LORD sware, and He will not repent ;

"Thou art Priest for ever, according "to the order of Melchisedek.”

5. THE LORD on thy right hand, in the day of his wrath,

6. Shall