(2 Sam. viii. 18); much more the king himself. If the preceding verses had referred to the erection of the temple, one could understand such an oracle in v. 4 as, 'Thou shalt continue my priest for ever;' it is just such a context which introduces the prayer of Tiglath-Pileser I., that Anu and Rammân 'would establish his priesthood for the future like the mountains faithfully.' There would in this case be a reason for the use of the title 'priest,' which is wanting on the hypothesis that David is the hero of the psalm. But no one, I fear, claims the psalm for Solomon. We must next examine the second view, viz., that Ps. cx. was written in the age of Zerubbabel with reference to the Messiah regarded as priest and king in one. The view is based upon Zech. vi. 9-13. We are there told that three Babylonian Jews had come with a present of silver and gold to the struggling community at Jerusalem. This appeared to Zechariah like a first fulfilment of anticipations such as those of Haggai (ii. 7) that 'the desirable things of all nations should come.' A prophetic impulse stirred him to receive it, and make it into crowns, and to place these (according to the received text) on the head of Joshua the high priest, in order, as St. Cyril long ago explained, to typify Him who as God was king, and as man was high priest. This interpretation is retained even by Delitzsch,3 except with regard to the divinity of the Messiah, which Zechariah cannot be supposed to have held. Yet, though, following Riehm, I once held this view in a modified form, I must admit that it is critically untenable. The concluding words of Zech. vi. 13, 'and there shall be a priest upon his throne [or, as the Septuagint has, at his right hand'], and the counsel of peace shall be between them both,' prove that in the original form of the prophecy two persons were mentioned, each of whom was to be crowned, viz., Joshua with the silver, and Zerubbabel with the gold crown. As Ewald has shown, there can be no doubt that in v. II we should read, 'upon the head of Zerubbabel and upon the head of Joshua,' and W 1 Prism-inscription, col. viii., lines 32-38 (Winckler, in Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, i. 45). 2 In Aggaum, 638 a. Messianic Prophecy (1880), p. 98. with this correction the only proof-passage for the idea of a Messiah-Priest in the Old Testament falls away. Consequently Ps. cx. does not belong to the age of the prophet Zechariah. (Observe in passing that in Zerubbabel's time it was a perfect Davidic king who was looked for the prophets even thought of Zerubbabel himself; in the Maccabæan times, a trustworthy prophet. In the reign of Hyrcanus, when the Pharisees became unfriendly to the Asmonæan house, it is intelligible enough that the hope of the Davidic Messiah should have revived.3) The third view places this strange psalm in the Maccabæan times, which the writer regards as germinally Messianic. The hope of the Messiah may have flourished most in Egypt," but it had not died out (how could it have done so, while the Scriptures were studied?) even in Palestine. The Asmonæan family will, as the psalmist believes, furnish a line of Messianic princes, whose victories will become more and more splendid till they correspond to the grand description in Ps. ii. The accession of one of these had in fact just then awakened all the writer's latent enthusiasm. It seemed as if the 'sure lovingkindnesses of David' (Isa. lv. 3 aa) were about to be fulfilled in no scanty measure. Can we be surprised at this, or call it a wild idea that in Judas and his heroic brethren the darling of Israel's songs' (2 Sam. xxiii. I ?) had come to life again? It has indeed been asserted by a Jewish historian that the leaders of Israel during this period were sober-minded and put a severe restraint on their imagination. He cannnot deny that in the story of the liberation reference is often made to hymns of praise, but supposes that none but old hymns rose to the freedmen's lips! In spite of historical analogies we are asked to believe that there were no Maccabæan psalmists! I do not stand alone in characterizing this view as untenable in the face of the 118th psalm. And even though some parts of this song may seem to favour the Jewish critic's view, yet we have a right to expect that other works will not only in part but altogether point in an opposite direction, and give unqualified witness to a lofty and unmixed enthusiasm. I See I Macc. iv. 46, xiv. 41. 2 Jos., Ant. xiii. 10, 5; cf. Targ. Deut. xxxiii. 11. 9 See Book of Enoch. Listen, then, to an Israelite who 'has consented to sing in a strange land one of the songs of Zion.'1 our reaction against 'Teste David cum Sibyllâ,' be too severe upon him for assuming the character of a Sibyl. He does but express his belief in that spirit of prophecy which is not confined to the people of Israel, but which cannot anywhere express hopes or ideas at variance with those of God's firstborn son. He is no 'fanatic,' but an 'earnest and courageous missionary.' bb Καὶ τότ' ἀπ' ηελίοιο ο Θεός πέμψει βασιλῆα, *Ος πᾶσαν γαῖαν παύσει πολέμοιο κακοῖο, ee Οὓς μὲν ἄρα κτείνας, οἷς δ ̓ ὅρκια πιστὰ τελέσσας.dd Tov ayabov λýlovora.-Orac. Sibyll. iii. 652-660. And now consider these two points. (1) It has been proved by Hilgenfeld that the quasi-prophetic description which precedes carries us down to the conquest of Greece and the destruction of Carthage by the Romans in 146 B.C., and the seizure of the Syrian throne by the usurper Tryphon in 142 B.C. (2) Just before the latter event Simon the Maccabee succeeded his brother Jonathan. A passage in I Macc. xiv., probably derived in part from an old song, shows us how the strange good fortune of his rule stirred the imagination of Judæan writers. Here are some verses from it : 'And they tilled their ground in peace, and the earth gave her increase, and the trees of the field their fruit. The elders sat in the broad places; they all communed of good things, and the young men put on glorious robes and warlike apparel. He furnished provisions for the cities, and equipped them with means of defence, so that his honourable name was renowned unto the end of the earth. He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy.. And Drummond, Philo Judæus, i. 170. 2 Comp. 1 Macc. xiv. 9, 43 (Simon's dress; cf. xi. 58). none was left in the land to fight against them, and the kings were crushed in those days' (vv. 8-11, 13). What more natural than that Egyptian-Jewish writers should follow suit, and that the Sibyl should regard this as the opening of a brief Messianic period, too soon to be followed by the worst troubles which could come upon the human race? It is unimportant to decide whether or no Simon himself is the king' referred to. If he is, the poetic exaggeration consists, not so much in the use of the title 'king (see on Pss. xx., xxi.) as in the world-wide influence ascribed to Simon, and it has a superficial resemblance to the idealizing language of Ps. cx. 5-7. If he is not, we may yet suppose, with Dr. Drummond, that the details of the Sibyl's description were suggested by the career of Simon. So that this Egyptian Jew is in any case a witness to the deep impression produced by the last great Maccabee.8% With still greater confidence, however, can we refer to Ps. cx., as in the fullest sense a glorification of Simon. The poet implies, but does not expressly state, that his hero is about to assume regal authority. Does not this fully correspond to the historical position of Simon? He did not, of course, claim the title of king; but he lacked nothing of the dignity but the name. Syria claimed no authority over him; without asking leave of his nominal overlord he struck coins, and collected armies, and from his accession the Jewish people dated the era of its independence.hh Who else can be meant but Simon? Alexander Jannæus was, no doubt, the first Asmonæan king recognized as such on the coins, but he was totally unworthy of a religious poet's encomium. More plausible is the claim (put forward in his first edition by De Wette) in favour of Simon's son, Johanan or John Hyrcanus (B.C. 135-105), who may be said to have consolidated the second Israelitish empire. How he struck his contemporaries may be seen from the Book of Enoch, which represents him symbolically as a 'great horn,' his predecessors being smaller horns (xc. 9). Three privileges, says Josephus, were divinely accorded to him, the government of his nation, the dignity of the high priesthood, and prophecy. Those See, however, on Pss. xx., xxi. (Lect. V.). Jos., Ant. xiii. 10, 7, War, i. 2, 8. ii who would reduce Ps. cx. to the rank of a party pamphlet, might plausibly ascribe it to some Sadducæan writer, who wished to contradict the taunts cast by the Pharisees at Hyrcanus,kk by giving a lyric form to one of his master's older prophecies. Against this view, however, it may be urged— (1) that this enmity of the Pharisees towards Hyrcanus arose in the latter part of his rule, whereas this psalm is evidently, like Ps. xlv., addressed to a ruler who has recently come to the throne; (2) that the first part of Hyrcanus's reign was not marked by success; and (3) that the predictions which are ascribed to him were doubtless, like that of Caiaphas (John xi. 51), official oracles, and presupposed the dignity which in Ps. cx. 4 is conferred upon the hero of the psalm. And so we are driven back to the view that the psalm is an encomium upon Simon, who, by the capture of the Acra and the expulsion of its garrison (May 142)," had completed the liberation of Jerusalem, and rendered it possible for a psalmist to say, 'All eagerness are thy people in the day of thy muster upon the sacred mountains' (Ps. cx. 3). It was a great turning-point of history-the surrender of the Syrian garrison in the Acra. Hitherto, the legend upon Simon's coins, 'Jerusalem the Holy,' had seemed only half-true (for 'holy,' as the corresponding legend on Tyrian coins mm proves, signifies 'sacrosanct, inviolable'). But now, the sacred precincts being no longer overlooked by the proud heathen, it seemed like an initial fulfilment of the great prophecy in Joel iii. 17. The prophetic order was still indeed painfully missed," but passing gleams of prophecy were not withheld, and the ancient oracles were manifestly receiving a most unthoughtof fulfilment (cf. Ecclus. xxxvi. 15, 16).00 Jehovah had arisen into his resting-place,' had 'clothed his priests with salvation,' and had, at least in a symbolic or typical sense, ‘made a horn to shoot forth unto David' (Ps. cxxxii. 8, 16, 17).PP Does any one object to my supposition of a symbolic or typical interpretation thus early? But, not to adduce other evidence,' did not the psalmist himself interpret Melchizedek' typologically, and without adopting such a principle how could the pattern Israelite have 'meditated on God's law day and See the Books of Daniel and Judith. |