THE

SIXTY-EIGHTH PSALM

AS PROPHETIC

OF

THE MESSIAH AND HIS CHURCH.

A TRANSLATION FROM THE HEBREW

WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES

BY A SEPTUAGENARIAN.

"SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES, FOR IN THEM YE THINK YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE;
AND THEY ARE THEY WHICH TESTIFY OF ME."-John v. 39.

"AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, THESE ARE THE WORDS WHICH I SPAKE UNTO YOU,
WHILE I WAS YET WITH YOU, THAT ALL THINGS MUST BE FULFILLED, WHICH
WERE WRITTEN IN THE LAW OF MOSES, AND IN THE PROPHETS, AND IN
THE PSALMS CONCERNING ME."-Luke XXIV. 44.

LONDON:

SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS,

15, PATERNOSTER ROW.

TO THE READER.

THOUGH the view here taken of the Sixty-eighth Psalm may perhaps cause at first some little surprise, it will soon be seen that there is nothing brought forward which is not now well known, by the aid of Gospel light.

Every Prophecy of the Promised Saviour, was, when first given, wisely hidden under a mystic veil. St. Paul tells us that this veil is now done away "by the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest." Rom. xvi. 25. In the history of our Blessed Lord, as related by the Evangelists, the veil of mystery is withdrawn. The firm outline of the shadowy form, or prophetic figure

still remains. Perhaps as a standing memorial by which the Promised Saviour, in all ages, might be known. While the simple facts recorded in the Gospels, of his Life on earth, his sufferings,-his Death upon the Cross,-his Resurrection,-and his Ascension into Heaven,-all bear testimony to the Truth of what the Prophets had spoken.

Thus, in the fulfilment of the Written Word the veil of mystery melts away, and no longer hides the full import of expressive figures, which shine forth into realities under the bright beams of Light and. Truth revealed in the Gospel.

PREFACE.

THE obscurity which hangs over many parts of this beautiful Psalm, together with its acknowledged prophetic character, has drawn the attention of the writer towards it, in the hope of obtaining, through a search into the meaning of the Hebrew names (which are always very significant), and also a comparison of the Psalm itself with other parts of Scripture bearing upon the same subject, a clearer view of its connection with the everlasting truths of the Gospel.

We find, on referring to Numbers x. 35, that it was used, in part at least, by the Israelites in their journeyings through the wilderness to the promised land. It was also a Psalm which St. Paul cited in his Epistle to the Ephesians (as prophetic of the Messiah), in