But how would this accord with what follows in the Psalm: "But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed. Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown, by casting it to the ground. Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin. All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbours. Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice. Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle. Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground.”*—To what can this apply? Is it spoken of that throne of God on which Christ is now sitting? Surely not: when or how was that throne cast down to the ground? The very asking of such a question seems to involve a contradiction; and yet to this incongruity of statement should we be brought, were we to apply the glory of the throne of David to that on which Christ is now seated. These things are spoken of the same throne; and the verses which speak of the desolation, are an expostulation to God respecting the apparent non-fulfilment of the previously mentioned promises.

* Psalm lxxxix. 38-44.

Let us further observe, that during the period of this desolation, the Messiah is to be an object of the adversaries' reproach. The latter part of the Psalm is an expostulation with the Lord respecting the fulfilment of the promises before recited: "LORD, where are thy former loving kindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth? Remember, LORD, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people; wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed."*. "The heels of thy Messiah."+ These last words are remarkable, for they seem definitively to connect that portion of the Psalm in which they occur with the present time, during which Christ

Ps. lxxxix. 49-51.

I am aware that some commentators on the Psalms have taken a different view of this passage. Thus Bishop Horne: "The last argument urged by the church, in her expostulation with God for a speedy redemption, is, the continual reproach to which she was subject, on account of the promise being delayed. The 'mighty people,' or heathen nations...... blasphemed the God who was said to have made such promises, and reproached the footsteps, or mocked at the tardy advent of his Messiah: 'Exprobaverunt vestigia Christi tui: tarditatem vestigiorum Christi tui.' I would not Chald. (Horne's Commentary, pp. 381, 382.) therefore attach an undue importance to the argument drawn from the rendering adopted in the text; it is however remarkable, that the root of the Hebrew word used py (gnakebb) is literally 'heel,' and is so translated in several Psalms.-See Ps. Ps. xlix. 5.'

xli.

9;

is at the Father's right hand. The bruised heels of the seed of the woman are made the object of reproach; this must, of course, be after the time of their being actually bruised, that is, after Christ has actually suffered. And it must be before his coming again; because then the promise made in Eden will be accomplished in both its parts: not only the heel of the seed of the woman will have been bruised; but likewise the serpent, who has already been the bruiser, will have his head bruised, and thus will be triumphed over by Christ. But now the cross of Christ is "to them that perish foolishness;" while, on the other hand, we, who through the grace of God have believed in Christ, know that his bruised heels tell of the love of God in giving his Son to die. The Lord Jesus Christ is rejected from the earth, but we know that He is exalted in Heaven. Though his title be really denied upon earth, yet it is but for a time; and He is meanwhile glorified in heaven, according to what we read in another Psalm, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool."*

Heaven has thus become the place where He is now received. And this is not in contradiction to the promises of blessing to Israel in connection

* Ps. cx. 1.

with the throne of David, but introductory to their accomplishment. The present time is that in which the Spirit of God quickens the souls of sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, to trust in Him who is at the right hand of God: so that Jesus being there, has much to do with some of God's counsels, which are to be accomplished before the earthly promises to the house of David are manifested in fulfilment."* His being at the right hand for "a set time," does not contradict the promise of the earthly throne, seeing that he is only waiting there for a time. The promise of that throne was secured in the resurrection of its King.† And when the time arrives, that his enemies are to be made his footstool, then will He take up the earthly relations in which he stands, and as the King sitting on the throne of David, will dispense his blessing to his own city Jerusalem, and through her to the nations of the earth who acknowledge her dominion! Then shall be fulfilled the as yet unaccomplished prediction of Jeremiah : "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice upon the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel

* See a Tract entitled "The Throne of David." See Ps. xvi. compared with Acts ii. 29, 30.

shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."* Yes, it is for the Messiah that the throne of David is waiting! How gloriously does Isaiah sing of the birth of Him who is to occupy its vacancy. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."+ And how does the angel Gabriel, when addressing the virgin concerning the birth of the Lord, re-echo the sounds of the prophetic lyre of the son of Amoz, when he says, "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."

upon

2. His people.—They are called "Israel" in the

* Jer. xxiii. 5, 6.

† Is. ix. 6, 7.

Luke i. 32, 33.