The Psalter (Forbes 1888) #3

Following on from the prior posts in this series, Forbes, our author from 1888, determined not to use the New Testament as a conclusion, rapidly appeals to his prejudged authoritative source, the New Testament!

I also know the NT and much of the noise that is spread abroad from it and because of it, and I appreciate what has been reported that Jesus accomplished in himself and through many of his disciples. But - what is Messiah, what is the Son, and what is this humanity that I am a part of? Shall I prejudge the answer? I too am time-bound, a slave of the positive direction of time. Apart from interest and the probabilities of market forces, I cannot enlarge or diminish a moment that is past or its impact. I look back vaguely on the past and backwards into the future I walk, like anyone else. Here is the next bit of the intro. (It is slow to read in the pdf, so I am putting it out a piece at a time not wanting to misjudge his argument. Yet it is a wall to me, built up of hundreds of years of accumulated tradition.)

To illustrate this in a point that has been much contested:

—What is the teaching, if any, of the Psalter with regard to the coming and office of a Messiah ? 

All those Psalms which in the New Testament are quoted as prophetical of Christ have been, and, so long as we regard each Psalm as an isolated composition, may with some plausibility be, explained as referring solely to the existing king of the author's time, as, e.g. Psalms ii. and xxii. to David, Psalms xlv. and lxxii. to Solomon, Psalm lxxxix. to Rehoboam or Jehoiachin, The presumption, nevertheless, we cannot but think, even looking at each Psalm singly, is on the opposite side, if we keep in mind the two revelations made to David from the very first with regard to his royal seed: 1. (2 Sam. vii. 12-16) that his " throne should be established for ever ; " and 2. (Ps. cx.) that the royal seed should culminate in One who was not only to be a king, but " a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek," and to be so highly exalted above every human being that David styles him " my lord," and Jehovah seats him on His own right hand on His throne.

Now hold on a minute. Yes, David is in the inscription of Psalms 110. What will we say that this does for the words? I never thought to apply them to David or even to consider them as imitative 'of David'. I am too busy trying to figure out their enigmas. Is David a priest according to the word of Melchizedek? We know this psalm is applied to Jesus in the NT - but we are not supposed to be doing this! 

Just what is meant by forever (lyolm, by the way, this is different from yd which for want of English words I have sometimes rendered for ever - two words)? In 2 Samuel 7:13 the words are yd-yolm, which I render for evermore. (yd is really just a preposition maybe signifying something as simple as 'to' but it has its application temporally. Like every preposition, it gets a multiplicity of treatments. You can see their variations here.) In the passage in 2 Samuel, the word pair is repeated 3 times.

We had better have a closer look. Which of these verses will we apply to Jesus as Messiah and king? Surely this is the wrong question, but Forbes is inviting it. His proof-texting is picking and choosing as if the answers are obvious to a reader of Tanach. When the voice said to me - How can you speak of my roles when you do not read in my language, I paid attention. I did not come to this job of my own whim. Now I have to see if I can indeed read or say anything.

Here's the raw data for 2 Samuel.

2 Samuel 7:12-16

Syllables: 160. Words: 64. Roots: 39. Root Recurrence: 63%. Average per verse: 8.

כִּ֣י ׀ יִמְלְא֣וּ יָמֶ֗יךָ וְשָֽׁכַבְתָּ֙ אֶת־אֲבֹתֶ֔יךָ וַהֲקִימֹתִ֤י אֶֽת־זַרְעֲךָ֙ אַחֲרֶ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר יֵצֵ֖א מִמֵּעֶ֑יךָ וַהֲכִינֹתִ֖י אֶת־מַמְלַכְתּֽוֹ		12 ♪B When full are your days, and you lie down with your ancestors, then I will raise up your seed after you, that goes out from your inner parts, and I will establish his kingdom.
ib ci imlau imiç vwcbt at-abotiç vhqimoti at-zryç akriç awr iixa mmyiç vhcinoti at-mmlcto	37 9	ci i/mla\v im\ic v/wcb\t at ab\tic vh/qim\ti at zry\c akr\ic awr ixa m/my\ic vh/cin\ti at m/mlc\tv
ה֥וּא יִבְנֶה־בַּ֖יִת לִשְׁמִ֑י וְכֹנַנְתִּ֛י אֶת־כִּסֵּ֥א מַמְלַכְתּ֖וֹ עַד־עוֹלָֽם		13 ♪f He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for evermore.
ig hua ibnh-bit lwmi vconnti at-cisa mmlcto yd-yolm	7 13	hva i/bnh bit l/wm\i v/cn\nti at csa m/mlc\tv yd yvlm
אֲנִי֙ אֶהְיֶה־לּ֣וֹ לְאָ֔ב וְה֖וּא יִהְיֶה־לִּ֣י לְבֵ֑ן אֲשֶׁר֙ בְּהַ֣עֲוֺת֔וֹ וְהֹֽכַחְתִּיו֙ בְּשֵׁ֣בֶט אֲנָשִׁ֔ים וּבְנִגְעֵ֖י בְּנֵ֥י אָדָֽם		14 Myself, I will be to him father, and he, he will be to me son, that in his perversity, I will be his referee with the sceptre of men, and with the contagion of the children of humanity.
id ani ahih-lo lab vhua ihih-li lbn awr bhyvoto vhocktiv bwb't anwim ubngyi bni adm	14 24	ani a/hih l\v l/ab v/hva i/hih l\i l/bn awr bh/yv\tv vh/ck\tiv b/wb't anw\im vb/ngy\i bn\i adm
וְחַסְדִּ֖י לֹא־יָס֣וּר מִמֶּ֑נּוּ כַּאֲשֶׁ֤ר הֲסִרֹ֙תִי֙ מֵעִ֣ם שָׁא֔וּל אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֲסִרֹ֖תִי מִלְּפָנֶֽיךָ		15 But my kindness will not turn aside from him, as I have turned aside from Saul, whom I turned aside from your presence.
'tv vksdi la-isur mmnu cawr hsiroti mym waul awr hsiroti mlpniç	8 21	v/ksd\i la i/svr m/mn\v c/awr h/sr\ti m/ym wavl awr h/sr\ti ml/pn\ic
וְנֶאְמַ֨ן בֵּיתְךָ֧ וּמַֽמְלַכְתְּךָ֛ עַד־עוֹלָ֖ם לְפָנֶ֑יךָ כִּֽסְאֲךָ֔ יִהְיֶ֥ה נָכ֖וֹן עַד־עוֹלָֽם		16 And dependable is your house, and your kingdom, for evermore. In your presence your throne will be established for evermore.
'tz vnamn bitç ummlctç yd-yolm lpniç cisaç ihih ncon yd-yolm	17 10	vn/amn bit\c vm/mlc\tc yd yvlm l/pn\ic csa\c i/hih n/cvn yd yvlm

There is a circular structure here. It surrounds verses 14 and 15. A sort of "no matter how bad things get, I will not withdraw my kindness". Remarkable given how much hurt is available to us to inflict on others. This is God's answer to Job - I will be the referee. But we note that the rather perverse Solomon is the one who builds the 'house'.

Word / Gloss																Vs	Stem
והכינתי and I will establish				▒												12	כון
וכננתי and I will establish				▒												13	כון
כסא the throne of								▒								13	כסא
עולם evermore										▒						13	עלם
עולם evermore										▒						16	עלם
כסאך your throne								▒								16	כסא
נכון established				▒												16	כון
עולם evermore										▒						16	עלם

And we should not ignore the music.

2 Samuel 7:12-16

You will perhaps cavil that I should not translate bhyvoto as in his perversity. But I am not out of line - you can see lots of the 100s of translations here. My uniqueness is to connect this imagined son with Job through that word we have already seen, i-c-k, referee. You can see all my choices for this word at the link. So I too am building a wall and leaning that wall against the wall of tradition. The Son? - there are no capital letters in the Hebrew Bible, so capitalizing son, as some do, is imposing on the text rather than revealing it. This is an ordinary child of an extraordinary promise. Do the psalms remember the promise? Yes, they do. But they also do not prejudge it. The psalms reveal the character of God. They are gospel through and through as I have noted on this blog repeatedly. They invite the human child to become 'likest God', as Shakespeare also teaches us, and to exercise 'the quality of mercy' (ksd). We do not need to force them into a given Christology.

Psalms 110 is a whole different kettle of fish. We could certainly write a whole book on these 7 verses. The psalm is the first of the sequence of psalms to 117 that I based my oratorio on. It is a chorale. Perhaps I will post it in full as a relief from this metaphysical wall of 1888.