Continuing the exploration of the introduction that Forbes writes (see previous posts), maybe I should read the whole 300 pages so I can better understand his 20 page introduction.
But whatever may be thought of the original purport of these Psalms, when we look at the place which has been assigned them in the Psalter as now constituted (arranged certainly in its present form a considerable time before the Septuagint version), and to the order and connection in which they stand, it becomes impossible with any fairness to deny that they were intended to excite in the Jewish worshippers an expectation of the Messiah, and must have been the means for hundreds of years of preparing them for the coming of that great seed of David in whom all the promises made to him were to be fulfilled.
Our author assumes his desired conclusion and then states it again without justification. So continuing, he wishes to buttress his assertion. But maybe we should read the 300 pages first... because I think he is summarizing his argument in the introduction.
In order to judge aright of their significance in this respect, two things must be kept in mind: 1st, The very fact that after the extinction of the kingdom Psalms respecting the king in Israel were retained in the Devotional Manual of the Jewish Church, is inexplicable except on the ground of an unshaken expectation, still continuing, of a greater king yet to come than either a David or a Solomon ; and 2nd, The remarkable and prominent position assigned to these Psalms shows the high significance attached to them.
With bated breath, we await his argument...
In Book I. (after an introductory Psalm) the keynote of the first three books, not to say of the whole Psalter, is immediately struck by a Psalm (ii.) setting forth the inauguration of a king whom Jehovah styles His son, and sets on His holy hill of Zion. The language of the Psalm, by whomsoever composed, could not have been meant for David, since the words, " Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee " (ver. 7), are evidently borrowed from the great promise made to David (in 2 Sam. vii. 12-16) with reference, not to himself, but to a " seed " to be set upon his throne when he should " sleep with his fathers," and of whom the Lord says, " I will be his Father, and he shall be my son" (ver. 1-4), Neither could the Psalm be meant for Solomon (the Peaceful), since the king designed is evidently to be a man of war, against whom " the nations and peoples rage, and their kings and rulers take counsel together "—whom he shall " break with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." The Psalm, if we will take its words in their plain, obvious meaning, can apply to none but the Messiah ; for to what king else can the promise of Jehovah be referred without hyperbole, " Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession " (ver. 8) ? The king here invested with so universal dominion, the reflecting Israelite would naturally identify with the seed of Abraham, in whom " all the nations of the earth were to bless themselves."
Mr. Forbes, DD, LDD, you cannot answer me back, so I must answer for you. Difficult, since between us is a great gulf fixed, the gulf of time and culture and assumption. Solomon was not peaceful. He began his reign with more than one political murder. And you will say, Yes, but his name signifies wholeness even if he did not achieve it in himself.
But the Messianic character of the book was still further signalized, to those familiarly acquainted with the principles of parallelistic [sic] arrangement, by the trilogy of Psalms (xx., xxi., xxii.) placed in the middle of the book (with nineteen on either side) to mark the central thought around which the whole book revolves. The three Psalms set forth the great conflict in which the king is to be engaged in behalf of his people, nay, of the whole world. Ps. xx. is the people's prayer for the successful issue of the contest, in which their interests are closely involved : " We will triumph in thy salvation" (ver. 5). Ps. xxi. expresses their thanksgiving for the anticipated victory, and the priceless boon which the king attains for himself and his people. " He asked life of Thee, Thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever " (ver. 4). Ps. xxii. sums up both the preceding Psalms. The first two strophes of ten verses each (linked together by an interjaculatory [sic] prayer in ver. 11) describe the suffering and conflict in which the king, compassed about by fierce enemies on all sides, is " brought down into the dust of death," and, in the last extremity only, is " saved out of the lion's mouth" (ver. 21). In the final strophe of ten verses (vers. 22-31) "all the seed of Israel" is first called upon (in five verses) to " glorify the Lord " for the salvation obtained, and to come and partake of the sacrificial feast which the rescued sufferer institutes in remembrance of his deliverance, that they may "eat and be satisfied " (ver. 26), and their " heart live for ever." Nay, so universal and far-reaching is the victory achieved, that (in the remaining five verses) it is declared " all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord " (ver. 27) ; and such shall be the life-restoring and satisfying virtue of the feast prepared, that all, rich and poor alike, " the fat ones of the earth " as well as " they that go down to the dust," and " he that cannot keep his soul alive," " shall eat and worship "—each successive " generation declaring unto a people that shall be born that He hath done it" (vers. 29-31). Unto whom else can such mighty results be meant to be ascribed, but to that " seed " of the woman who was to undo the curse of death brought on man, by bruising the serpent's head ?
Wow! who can compete with such language and such a summary! It is a curiosity that 41 = 19+3+19 but a little more work is required to show that the centre is deliberate. And as for parallelistic - that stretches the notion of parallel for me.
There's a lot riding on that word "seed". Must move on or I'll never finish this ...
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