The quotations from the Psalms are not without striking significance. The careful way in which the apostles selected parts of Psalms in their inspired epistles, sometimes stopping in the middle of a sentence, because of what followed being suited only to another dispensation, shows how they were guided in distinguishing between that which suited a heavenly people, the church of God, and that which belongs to the earthly people, the Jews. Nor is this mode of treating Old Testament scriptures limited to the Psalms. When our Lord stood up in the synagogue of Nazareth, and read from the prophet Isaiah, He concluded the quotation, and shut the book, in the middle of a sentence. We are told, “When he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and he closed the book and sat down.” (Luke 4:17-2017And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. (Luke 4:17‑20).) Now on turning to Isa. 61:22To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; (Isaiah 61:2) it will be found that our Lord stopped His reading in the middle of a sentence; and why? Because He was showing that the prophet spake of Him, and that he was there setting forth the character of His own present ministry, for he added, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” The next words, “and the day of vengeance of our God,” stand in contrast with “the acceptable year of the Lord,” and depended on the rejection of Messiah. It would, therefore, have been unsuitable to our Lord’s object to proceed further with the reading.
We may also refer to the apostle Paul’s quotation from Isa. 52:77How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! (Isaiah 52:7) in Rom. 10:1515And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! (Romans 10:15) for another example of a similar dealing with scripture. He says, “As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” and here the apostle abruptly ends his quotation. And why? Because the words that follow, though applicable to the people of Israel when Messiah reigns, are inapplicable to the church on earth during our Lord’s absence. When we are received to glory, and Israel is again taken up by God, and restored to their own land, under the blessing of Messiah’s rule, then the words of the prophet so carefully omitted will have their fall accomplishment, “That saith unto Zion, thy king reigneth.” (Isa. 52:77How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! (Isaiah 52:7).)
Nor is such distinction less carefully marked in the Psalms. When Peter, the apostle of the circumcision, is guided by the Spirit to quote from Psalm 34 to show how near God is to the righteous, and how much against evil-doers, he writes, “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” Here the apostle stops, before finishing the sentence, because the next words, “to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth” are wholly inapplicable to us, who are called to suffer for Christ’s sake, to be rejected with Him, and to lay down our lives for the brethren; whereas a Jew’s hope is connected with promised blessing in the earth—long life and prosperity in it; and these are to him the tokens of divine favor. (See Deut. 28:1-131And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. 3Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 5Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. 6Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 7The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. 8The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 9The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. 10And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 12The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. 13And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: (Deuteronomy 28:1‑13).)
Let us now turn to Psalm ex. Repeatedly in the Epistle to the Hebrews are the words quoted, “Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek”; but never with the words that follow—“The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.” The reason is obvious. Now Christ is our High Priest, not after the Aaronic order of change, but of the Melchizedek order of unchangeableness; and, though He now carries on for us the Aaronic functions, He is, and ever will be, our blessing Priest. But when Israel shall know Him as their Priest, he will be also reigning in kingly majesty and glory, and putting kings and all enemies under His feet. Then He shall bear “the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne” (Zech. 6:1313Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. (Zechariah 6:13).)
Again, we may notice a quotation from Psalm 44. When, in Rom. 8, the apostle writes on the present sufferings of saints, he quotes from the twenty-second verse of that psalm, “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter,” and in using it for us, he shows that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” But on looking at the context in the psalm 44 the sufferers there are in deep anxiety calling upon God to save them from their oppressors, and to redeem them out of their hands. They say, “Awake, why sleepest thou, Ο Jehovah? Arise! cast us not off forever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction, and our oppression?.... Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.” We need not say how unsuitable such language would be for us.
Look at another quotation. In Eph. 4, speaking of the ascended Christ having given gifts, the apostle quotes from Psalm 68, “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive; thou hast received gifts for men.” Here the quotation ends in the middle of a verse. The reason no doubt is, that in Ephesians the Spirit by the apostle speaks of gifts for the edification of the body of Christ coming from the ascended Head, to a people most of whom were Gentiles and not before in relationship to God. Whereas, when the psalmist speaks of gifts for men from the same triumphant Savior who “led captivity captive,” he adds, “yea, for the rebellious also [though they had been rebellious, they will then be restored Israel], that the Lord God might dwell among them.”
What the Psalms Teach.
From the above considerations, is it not plain, whatever may be the instruction to us, that the persons taken up in the Psalms are the people of Israel. And, this being the case, could it be possible that David, as a prophet, could omit to speak of the future godly remnant that will pass through the scene of unparalleled tribulation referred to by other prophets and also by our Lord? And could Israel either in her future sorrow, or subsequent blessing (when it will be said, “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord,”) be contemplated, without Messiah’s sufferings and His reign also being set forth? It is not therefore to be wondered at that Messiah is so often brought before us in various ways throughout the Psalms. Some of the lessons then to be gathered from this precious portion of divine truth are,
1. The government of God; for though they be His earthly people, yet His ways in government must always be agreeable to the perfections of His own nature.
2. The sympathy of Christ with His own people.
Even when suffering for their evil ways. His heart could enter into their distress, for “in all their afflictions he was afflicted.” Though personally free. He entered into this in perfect grace.
3. The Psalms present to us also the person of Christ, the Son, Messiah, Son of man; His perfect ways in a life of dependence, communion and faith; His sufferings from man for righteousness’ sake, from God in making atonement for our sins upon the cross, and His deep sorrow of heart on account of His people. His death, resurrection,, glorification, priesthood and reign are all brought before us in this marvelous book. Christ must be the subject of the inspired writings, for He said, “The scriptures testify of me.” It is possible to get truths apart from Him, but never the truth, for He is “the truth.”
4. We find here also deep lessons of practical piety, and the ways of faith, full of instruction to us, and true of the faithful in every dispensation.
5. The way in which God deals with, and restores His people—the path of sorrow, self-judgment, and humiliation into which He leads them, before they are brought into those blessings His mercy has purposed for them.
No doubt there are many more precious lessons to be gathered from this blessed book, for, like every other part of God’s word, its depth and range cannot but be infinite. May we meditate on it, with unfeigned dependence on the Holy Ghost!