ing thrown over him he thus expressed himself, “I have at length found forgiveness, and will never henceforth transgress as before." The Arabic historians use the phrase of being taken under the garment as equivalent to being taken under protection. Achmed speaks of certain persons who were the cloke, that is, the defenders, of Islamism. Din, with the preposition beth, following, is put in the form of regimen. This is often done in other places, when it is designed, by means of the construction, to connect a noun closely with another that follows it.

those passing עברי בעמק .7 .Thus Psalm lxxxiv

through the valley; Isaiah xxxiii. 6. I am, wisdom and knowledge. In this last example the first noun is put in the form of regimen, although the particle vau intervenes between it and the second. Many other instances will be found by consulting Schroeder's Institutes on the Syntax of Nouns; Storr's Observations, and Gessenius's Lectures.

PSALM XVI.

THE SUBJECT.

In this Psalm, the poet, placed in circumstances of extreme difficulty, and in danger of his life, addresses to Jehovah fervent prayers for preservation and deliverance from the dangers with which he was threatened. Along with his petitions he expresses the consolation he felt from having placed his confidence in Jehovah; whom he professes he worshipped as the only true God; whom, and whose service, he esteemed his chief good. He professes, at the same time, his utter abhorrence of the worship offered to false gods; and congratulates himself that Jehovah is the benefactor, the portion of his people. He confidently hopes to be heard and delivered. Animated by this hope, and, as if he were already freed from all his dangers, he celebrates, with joy of heart, the divine benignity displayed in conferring upon him the prolonged enjoyment of a happy life. In the songs of this writer, this train of thoughts and feelings may frequently be discovered.

The inscription assigns this song to David, and we find nothing to prevent us from giving our assent. With regard to the time at which it was written, and the purpose intended to be served by it, we are likely to come to the safest conclusion by attending to simi..

lar Psalms, the time of which is pointed out by more certain marks. Of this description of Psalms, we find three, the lvi. lvii. and lix, the inscriptions of which,-confirmed by internal evidence,-refer them to the period of David's exile, when he fled, to escape from the machinations of Saul. With these Psalms, the Psalm before us harmonises so much in style, sentiment, and feeling, that we have no hesitation in referring it to the same period. But as David, in avoiding the snares that Saul laid for him, spent a considerable time moving, as an outcast, from place to place, it may be asked, in what place, particularly, was this Psalm composed? In the opinion of Knappe, with which, upon the whole, Hezel concurs, this Psalm was composed by David while he abode at Ziklag, the town assigned him by Achish, king of the Philistines, as a place of accommodation for himself and his followers.2 Here the Philistines,-as they suppose, having no confidence in him while he continued to worship the God of his fathers, endeavoured to allure him to the worship of their deities; which was the reason why he affirms, with so much seriousness, that he abhorred the worship of false gods, and would serve only Jehovah, from whom he had received so many benefits. But of this, we have to remark,- -we find no corroboration in the historical account. David was in safety in regard to the king

1 All these Psalms are entitled, as the Psalm before us, , for the signification of which, see General Intro

T:

du ction, sub voce.

See 1 Sam. xxviii. xxix,

of the Philistines: he could have no apprehensions of danger from the people; and neither Saul, nor any of his adherents dared to give him annoyance. I am, therefore, inclined to think that this Psalm was composed at the same time as the lvi.-when David, being certainly informed by Jonathan of Saul's implacable enmity, fled, for the first time, to the king of the Philistines. Being recognised by the servants of Achish, he was denounced by them as a bitter enemy to their country. On this account he was afraid of the king; and, indeed, though he feigned derangement of mind, yet he escaped with difficulty. For his deliverance, on that occasion, he gave thanks to Jehovah, Psalm xxxiv: it is probable that the Psalm under consideration was composed not long before.

In the four last verses of this song, the Apostles Peter and Paul5 believed that David gave a representation of the resurrection from the dead, of Jesus the Messiah. Their authority so far prevailed for a long time, as to lead the greater number of Christian interpreters to view the whole Psalm as spoken by the Messiah. He, they thought, declared, first his

3 See 1 Sam. xxi. 11-16.

4 See Acts ii. 25, seqq.

5 Acts xiii. 34, seqq. Not a few theologians of our age, among whom Eckermann may be named, in particular, hold that the Apostles applied this passage to Jesus, by way of accommodation, turning aside from its true and proper meaning, what the author says of David. The Apostles, on the contrary, were most firmly persuaded that the passage related to Jesus truly and solely: this is evident from the arguments they use to shew that it could not possibly be understood as relating to David.

confidence, notwithstanding the afflictions that encompassed him, in the divine benignity: then, (verses 4 and 5,) professed himself a priest of Jehovah: and in fine, expressed his assurance that God would recall him from the state of the dead, and would not permit his body to become subject to corruption. "This interpretation," as Rupert very justly remarks, "is not only abhorrent from the genius and nature of poetical, and especially of Hebrew poetical composition, but does not correspond to the idea of the Messiah, which the Jews, in every period of their history, entertained. The Messiah whom they looked for, was a hero; a victorious and all-powerful king; not a priest, nor a man contending with adverse fortune, and suffering under multiplied calamities."

Much less are those interpreters to be approved of, who explain this Psalm, and many other Psalms also, as if in their literal, plain, and historical meaning they referred to David; while, in a mystical, allego

6 Maimondes, in a Dissertation, written in Arabic, and in

,פרק חלק

a Commentary prefixed to the Talmudic Tract in which he treats of the fundamental points of the Jewish religion, makes it plain that the Jews never looked for the resurrection of the Messiah. We render his words :-" Morietur autem Messias, regnabuntque post illum filius et nepotes. Moriturum enim ipsum indicat Deus [vaticinio Iesaiae xlii. 4.] Non caligabit, nec frangetur, donec ponat in terra judicium," &c.

But the Messiah shall die, and his son and grand-children shall reign after him. That he shall die himself, God informs us by the prophet Isaiah, chap. xlii. 4: " He shall not be darkened, nor broken, till he have set judgment in the earth."