might or power of man; but by the sovereign grace of God, and by his strength, exerted often in man's extremest weakness. The patriarchs, who first received the promises, were made to feel this in their own private walk with God: "Out of weakness they were made strong," against hope they believed in hope," and found that "nothing" was " too hard for God." Their enemies, who seemed to be too mighty for them, were subdued beneath those, whom they despised, and whose religion they derided. The language of the part of the song which next follows is much to be remarked. The general subject which it embraces is, the exaltation to eternal glory, in defiance of the opposition of man, by the direct interference of divine power, of a very poor abject man, and of a depressed people. The late bishop Horsley has remarked, on the last verse of the fifth psalm: "The Psalmist, speaking with the highest assurance of the final deliverance and happy condition of the good, is driven, as it were, by the Spirit that inspired him, to a choice of words; fixing the blessing to a single person, to him who is blessed over all, and the cause of blessing." Similar observations may be applied to the remarkable passage which follows. Speaking of the low and miserable situation, in this world, of the objects of future exaltation, the prophetess is driven, as it were, by the Spirit that inspired her, to a choice of words, fixing the predicted humiliation and wretchedness to a single person, to him who, by his humiliation, hath exalted us; and by his suffering, has become the cause of happiness to his people : 8. He raiseth up from the dust a poor exhausted' one,'1 He exalteth from the ashes one' most destitute; 2 That he may be seated with 'his' princes, Ay, a glorious throne he causeth them to inherit! The throne referred to, in this place, is the Eastern divan"; the royal seat, not only of the monarch, but also of his most eminent princes, who may be strictly said, "to sit down with him on his throne." For the pillars of the earth are Jehovah's, 9. He keepeth the feet of his beloved, And the wicked are silent in darkness. them: Some critics have exceedingly perplexed themselves, to account for the word I have rendered "his beloved," being found in the singular. In the interpretation here offered, the reason is plain. Perhaps no word of equal importance has been often so inadequately translated; it is sometimes rendered saint, sometimes "merciful one;" though the word from which it is derived is very properly rendered "loving-kindness," and tender affection. In the form in which it is used in the passage before us, as I have elsewhere observed, it "ought to signify the object of the tenderest affection; of an affection naturally or spontaneously flowing from its agent, such as parents feel for their children." It is here, and in many passages of Scripture, an epithet of the "well beloved," the "dearly beloved of the Father;" and in Deuteronomy, the thirty 1 57, à 557, exhaustus est, et minutus, extenuatus est, specialiter viribus et opibus. 2 max, egenus, pauper, miser, oppressus, aliena ope indigens. SIMON. third chapter, verse the eighth, it is remarkably applied to the object of Israel's worship. To proceed : 10. For, not by strength can man prevail; They that contend with Jehovah are broken to pieces: He thundereth over them in the heavens; Jehovah judgeth the utmost parts of the earth. And he giveth strength to his king, And erecteth the horn of his anointed. We have, evidently, here a contest displayed between God and rebellious man, which is terminated by the interference of the Deity, who cometh to judge the utmost parts of the earth. The issue is the exaltation of the anointed King. This passage is remarkable, as being the first that contains the term "anointed," or " Messiah," the famous epithet of the Redeemer; under which term the Jews so long expected, and still expect, their Saviour. It has been often, and rightly, explained to refer to the custom of inaugurating prophets and priests, and kings, into their office, by pouring oil upon their heads; denoting that the gift of the Spirit was bestowed upon them to discharge their important functions among mankind. The term Messiah, though principally, perhaps, applied to the Redeemer in his regal character, denoted also that he should unite in his royal person the characters of prophet and priest also, since the truth of every type, and of every shadow, must meet in him. In reviewing the contents of this divine song, I conceive we shall feel little hesitation in referring, generally, the contest here described between the Almighty and the insulting foes of the church, and terminated, at length, by his own thundering right hand, to that " hos tility" which was to rage between the "mystic woman and HER SEED," and "the serpent and his seed:" the same contest, as to its termination at least, which Enoch saw finally concluded by "the Lord," who came "with his holy myriads" to judge an "ungodly" race; that final conflict with the apostate idolaters described in "the song of remembrance," taught to Israel by Moses; and, we may add, that in which the destroyers from Chittim, in Balaam's prophecies, perish for ever, by the hand that had before brought Ashur and Heber low.* But what is most remarkable in this prophecy of Hannah, and which breaks upon us as a new fact revealed to the church by the Holy Spirit, or if not altogether new, now more plainly revealed,-is, the great humiliation and deep depression of the Saviour of men, at some period of his career, before the final victory is vouchsafed. It is not only represented, that the objects of his deliverance are a weak, oppressed, and afflicted people; but that he who appears at their head, the future king who sits in the midst of his princes, after that they are exalted from their low estate, and are avenged upon their injurious enemies, that even he, "the seed," spoken of as one, "He to whom the promises are made," He himself is described as " a poor, exhausted" person, " raised from the dust;" one "most destitute" or "wretched," raised from the mourner's ashes, that the King, the Messiah, to be exalted in the last day, "the woman's seed," that should" bruise the serpent's head," should be one, who, in some respects, "out of weakness was made strong!" This might certainly have been understood as throwing some light * Jude, 14; Job, xix. 23, &c.; Deut. xxii. 40, &c.; Numb. xxiv. 24. upon the symbol of "the bruising" of " his heel," in the primeval promise, and, perhaps, of the victim slain in sacrifice. But, although in the subsequent prophecies it appears a theme very frequently blended with the predictions of a conquering and almighty Deliverer; yet, as we know from the New Testament, this was ever a stumbling-block, a "stone of offence," to Israel. Not only did it seem contrary to their ideas of national honour and worldly greatness, who expected only a temporal, carnal Saviour; but the disciples of our Lord, when they had seen him in the character of a suffering man, could not endure the thought that he must suffer the extremes of human misery and wretchedness. So slow of heart were they to believe all that the prophets had spoken, that the Christ ought to suffer these things, and 'then' " to enter into his glory." But after their understandings are opened to understand the Scripture, we may almost say, they refer to the passage before us, as one of the testimonies to a suffering Saviour that they should have understood before: " Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days." One question more may well arise from what we read in this song: Are "the holy myriads" that " come with the Lord," at the last day, not angelic beings merely, but those princes of the King Messiah, that are, like him, exalted from a low and afflicted state among mankind, suffering with him, and afterwards reigning with him when his glory is revealed? Of this I am confidently persuaded they are the "Abraham and his seed," to whom the promise is made, that " He shall be the heir of * Acts, iii. 24. |
