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worth. The true foundation of the throne are the two sovereign virtues of the Hebrew poets and seers: justice and compassion. And these remain the kingly virtues for all time.

§ 6. The one hundred and first Psalm: 'Misericordiam et judicium.'-The seventh Psalm (ci) of the group is 'a description of the ideal character of an Israelitish ruler, dramatically put into such a ruler's mouth.' Professor Cheyne maintains that this ruler is probably Jonathan or Simon the Maccabee. 'The early Maccabean rulers deemed themselves specially charged to expel from Jerusalem those Jews who were inclined to heathenism. In its strength and in its weakness the Psalm would fit in with a Maccabean origin. It is unnecessary to explain (for it is obvious) wherein that weakness and strength consist.

I will sing of lovingkindness and justice;
Unto thee, O Lord, will I make melody.
I will give heed to the perfect way;

O when wilt thou come unto me?

I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.

I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes:

I hate the work of them that turn aside;

It shall not cleave to me.

A froward heart shall depart from me:

I will not know wickedness.

Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: Him that hath an high look and a proud heart I will not suffer.

Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they

may dwell with me:

He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.

Every morning will I destroy all the wicked of the land; That I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord.

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§ 7. The second Psalm: Quare fremuerunt gentes?'-The eighth Psalm (ii) of the ten was famous in old Christian theology, but is religiously of small value; the controversies connected with it, as well as the arguments based upon it, have lost their worth and their importance. Here the king is undoubtedly either the Messiah, or the people of Israel who are to fulfil

'THOU ART MY SON'

575

Messianic functions. The language partly recalls the words of Nathan to David (Part I, p. 238). Both the Messiah and the people of Israel were sometimes spoken of as the special son of God; begotten this day' would be a poetic paraphrase for the day of installation into the kingdom. The Psalmist, like the prophets before him, expects that the great Messianic age will dawn speedily, but his anticipations of it are somewhat worldly and material. The date of the Psalm is uncertain; it was probably written at some period of commotion, but not of pressing calamity. Doubtless many moments in the Persian or Greek epochs were of such a character. The fifth line in the last stanza is corrupt, and, as it stands, untranslatable. Hence my dots. The Authorized Version translates Kiss the son'; but this is impossible, because the Hebrew words do not bear that sense. Moreover, the following verbs refer to God. Probably something like 'seek his face' or 'receive instruction' stood in the original. In the third stanza the 'son' is the speaker.

Why do the nations rage,

And the peoples imagine emptiness? The kings of the earth take counsel, And the rulers consult together,

Against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, 'Let us break their bands asunder,

And cast away their cords from us.'

He that sitteth in the heavens laugheth:
The Lord hath them in derision.

Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath,
And confound them in his sore displeasure:
'But I—I have appointed my king

Upon my holy hill of Zion.'

'I will declare the decree:

The Lord hath said unto me:

"Thou art my son;

This day have I begotten thee.

Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance,

And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;

Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.""

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Lest he be angry and ye perish, For his wrath is kindled easily;

Happy are all they that take refuge in him.

Of the two possible interpretations of this Psalm, the one which interprets the 'son' to be the Messiah (i. e. the future King of the Davidic line) seems the more probable. It is adopted by both Professor Wellhausen and Professor Cheyne. The former says: The Messiah is the speaker, and the whole Psalm is composed in his name. It is not merely the hopes concerning the future to which he gives expression; it is the claims to world-wide dominion already cherished by the Jewish Theocracy. All the heathen are destined to obey the Jews; if they fail to do so, they are rebels. The Messiah is the incarnation of Israel's universal rule. He and Israel are almost identical, and it matters little whether we say that Israel has or is the Messiah. On the day when Jehovah founded the Theocracy, he gave it the right to unlimited earthly dominion. This right is involved in the very idea of the Theocracy. Zion, as being the seat of the divine rule, is ipso facto the seat of universal rule."

Professor Cheyne translates the last few lines thus

'Serve the Lord with fear,

And do homage with trembling,

Lest he be angry and your course end in ruin.'

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The words found in the Authorized Version, 'Kiss the son,' are, he says, 'due to a misunderstanding. Kiss," i.e. homage," should certainly be substituted for "Rejoice" (see the Authorized Version) in the preceding line; "the son" is a supposed translation of what is really a fragment of the word rendered "with trembling" (Jewish Religious Life after the Exile, p. 112).

§ 8. The one hundred and tenth Psalm.-The next Psalm (cx) had, like its predecessor, an importance in olden days which has now vanished away. Religiously its worth, like that of Psalm ii, is small. The king is either the Messiah, or a Maccabean prince, possibly Simon, whose triumphs led the Psalmist to believe that he was to be the Messianic monarch prophesied of old. The Psalm ends abruptly; it is apparently a mere fragment.

MELCHIZEDEK THE PRIEST

577

The Lord said unto my lord,

'Sit thou at my right hand,

Until I make thine enemies thy footstool.'

The Lord will stretch forth thy mighty sceptre out of Zion: 'Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.'

Thy people are full willing on the day of thy muster on the holy mountains:

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The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent,

"Thou art a priest for ever after the manner of Melchizedek.' (?)

The Lord at thy right hand

Shattereth kings in the day of his wrath. He judgeth among the nations,

He filleth the wide land with

corpses;

He shattereth the heads of...
He drinketh of the brook in the way;

Therefore will he lift up the head. (?)

In the last four lines the subject is apparently the king. If the text be sound, the words at the opening of the second stanza, translated, 'Thou art a priest for ever after the manner of Melchizedek,' refer to a story about Abraham which I have not included in Part I. A king of Salem (i. e. Jerusalem) is there called Melchizedek (king of righteousness), and he is also described as a priest of 'El Elyon,' 'God most high.' The ruler in the Psalm is to be both priest and prince, as was indeed the case with Simon the Maccabee. The story about Abraham runs as follows:

'And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, that Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea. Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in the plain of Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is east of the wilderness. they returned, and came to En-mishpat, which is Kadesh, and Then smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar.

PP

'Then there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim; namely, with Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against five. And the vale of Siddim was full of springs of naphtha; and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them; and they that remained fled to the mountain. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. And they took Lot, Abraham's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

'And there came one that had escaped, and told Abraham the Hebrew; for he dwelt by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abraham. And when Abraham heard that Lot was taken captive, he mustered his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued unto Dan. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is north of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his nephew Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

And after he had smitten Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him and was returning, the king of Sodom went out to meet him into the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale. 'And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was a priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abraham of the most high God, creator of heaven and earth: and blessed be the most high God, who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And Abraham gave him tithes of all.

Abraham, Give me the
And Abraham said to

'And the king of Sodom said unto persons, but keep the goods to thyself. the king of Sodom, I lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the creator of heaven and earth, that not a thread or a shoelatchet, even anything that is thine, will I take, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham rich: save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.'

$9. The forty-fifth Psalm.-The last Psalm of this group is the forty-fifth. It is a grand song of congratulation to a king upon his marriage shortly after his accession to the throne.

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