EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS (3)

Verse 4.—“Ride prosperously, because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness.” The literal translation would be, “Ride on the word of truth, and the meekness of righteousness,” and so the Syriac has it. If this rendering be adopted, the meaning will then be, that the great object of Christ’s gospel was to vindicate the cause of truth and righteousness in the world. Christ is said to ride on the word of truth, because the knowledge of the truth depends on the word—it is by the word that truth is made known. He is said to ride on the meekness or humility of righteousness, because meekness or humility is its distinguishing characteristic. The former relates to what man is to believe, the latter to how he is to live.—George Harpur.

Verse 4.—“Thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.” This expression seems only used to imply, either that by his power he should be enabled to do terrible things, because teaching enables men to do what they are taught, or that by his almighty power he should experimentally see what great and terrible things should be done by him.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 5.—“Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies.” In a still bolder metaphor the arrows which are discharged from the bow of Christ are the preachers of the gospel, especially the apostles and evangelists. “His sagittis” says S. Jerome, “totus orbis vulneratus et captus est.” Paul, the apostle, was an arrow of the Lord, discharged from his bow from Jerusalem to Illyricum, and from Illyricum to Spain, flying from east to west, and subduing Christ’s enemies beneath his feet.—Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 5.—While beseeching the Redeemer to ride forth prosperously, and predicting his success, he seems suddenly to have seen his prayers answered and his predictions fulfilled. He saw his all-conquering Prince gird on his resistless sword, array himself in glory and majesty, ascend the chariot of his gospel, display the banner of his cross, and ride forth, as on the wings of the wind, while the tremendous voice of a herald proclaimed before him: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” exalt the valleys, and level the hills; make the crooked ways straight, and the rough places plain; for, behold, the Lord God comes; he comes with a strong hand, his reward is with him, and his work before him. From the bright and fiery cloud which enveloped his chariot, and concealed it from mortal eyes, he saw sharp arrows of conviction shot forth on every side, deeply wounding the obdurate hearts of sinners, and prostrating them in crowds around his path, while his right hand extended raised them again, and healed the wounds which his arrows had made; and his omnipotent voice spoke peace to their despairing souls, and bade them follow in his train, and witness and share in his triumph. From the same bright cloud he saw the vengeful lightnings flashing thick and dreadful, to blast and consume everything that opposed his progress; he saw sin, and death, and hell, with all its legions, baffled, defeated, and flying in trembling consternation before him; he saw them overtaken, bound, and chained to his triumphant chariot wheels; while enraptured voices were heard from heaven exclaiming, “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of God, and the power of his Christ.” Such was the scene which seems to have burst upon the ravished sight of the entranced prophet. Transported with the view, he exclaims, “Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.”—Edward Payson.

Verse 5.—“The king’s enemies,” is not simply an expression for “Thy enemies,” as some think, but rather implies that Christ’s kingship is the ground of their enmity; just as in the second Psalm their cry was, “Let us break their bands asunder.”—George Harpur.

Verse 6.—“Thy throne, O God.” The original word, is probably vocative, both in the Greek and in the Hebrew; and is so taken by modern Unitarians, who seek their refuge by explaining away θεός.—Henry Alford, D.D., on Heb. i. 8.

Verse 7.—“Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness.” Many a one loves righteousness, but would not be its champion; such a love is not Christ’s love. Many a one hates iniquity, not for its own sake, but for the sake of its consequences; such a hate is not Christ’s hate. To be like Christ we must love righteousness as he loved, and hate wickedness as he hated. To love and hate as he loves and hates is to be perfect as he is perfect. The perfection of this love and hate is moral perfection.—George Harpur.

Verse 7.—“Therefore.” Observe how usual it is to impute Christ’s exaltation to his merits. God blessed him for ever, as in the second verse of this Psalm (if such be the sense of that verse), because he was fairer than the children of men, and grace was poured into his lips. And so the apostle. God highly exalted him and gave him a name above every name, because he had humbled himself, and become obedient unto death. And here God anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows, because he loved righteousness and hated iniquity.—George Harpur.

Verse 7.—“Therefore.” He says not, “Wherefore he anointed thee in order to thy being God, or King, or Son, or Word;” for so he was before, and is for ever, as has been shown; but rather, “Since thou art God and King, therefore thou wast anointed, since none but thou couldst unite man to the Holy Ghost, thou the image of the Father, in which we were made in the beginning: for thine is even the Spirit.”—Athanasius.

Verse 7.—“Therefore God, thy God.” God was the God of Christ in covenant, that he might be our God in covenant; for in his transactions, whole Christ, Head and members, are to be considered (Gal. iii. 16; 1 Cor. xii. 12), the covenant being first transacted with the Head (who is given for a covenant to us, Isa. xlii. 6), and then with the members, with him in reference to us and for us. As God did not fail our surety, but supported him in his great conflict, when out of the depths he called unto him; so neither will he fail us in time of need. Heb. iv. 16; xiii. 5, 6.—William Troughton.

Verse 7.—“Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows;” i.e., enriched and filled thee in a singular and peculiar manner with the fulness of the Spirit, whereby thou art consecrated to thy office; and by reason whereof thou out-shinest and excellest all the saints who are thy “fellows,” or co-partners in these graces. So that in these words you have two parts, namely first, the saints’ dignity; and, secondly, Christ’s pre-eminency. First. The saints’ dignity, which consists in this, that they are Christ’s “fellows.” The Hebrew word מֵחֲבֵרֶךָ, is very full and copious, and is translated consorts, companions, co-partners, partakers; or, as ours reads it, “fellows;” i.e., such as are partakers with him in the anointing of the Spirit, who do in their measure receive the same Spirit, every Christian being anointed, modo sibi proportionato, with the same grace and dignified with the same titles. 1 John ii. 27; Rev. i. 6. Christ and the saints are in common one with another. Doth the Spirit of holiness dwell in him? So he doth in them too. Is Christ King and Priest? Why, so are they, too, by the grace of union with him. He hath made us kings and priests to God and his Father. This is the saints’ dignity, to be Christ’s fellows, consorts, or co-partners; so that look whatever grace or excellency is in Christ, it is not impropriated to himself, but they do share with him; for indeed he was filled with the fulness of the Spirit for their sakes and use. As the sun is filled with light not to shine to itself, but to others, so is Christ with grace; and therefore some translate the text not præ consortibus, above thy fellows, but propter consortes, for thy fellows;[20] making Christ the first receptacle of all grace, who first and immediately is filled from the fountain of the Godhead, but it is for his people who receive and derive from him according to their proportion. This is a great truth; and the dignity of the saints lies chiefly in the partnership with Christ, though our translation, “above thy fellows,” suits best both with the importance of the word and scope of the place. Secondly. But then, whatever dignity is ascribed herein to the saints, there is, and still must be, a pre-eminency acknowledged and ascribed to Christ: if they are anointed with the spirit of grace, much more abundantly is Christ: “God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”—John Flavel.

Verse 7.—“Oil of gladness.” For sweet-smelling oils were also used to beautify the face upon occasions of feasting and mirth. Ps. xxiii. 5; civ. 15; Isa. lxi. 3. And likewise this oil of consecration and infusion of the gifts of the Holy Ghost hath been the cause and foundation of Christ’s human nature’s obtaining of the everlasting joys and glory. Phil. ii. 9; Heb. xii. 2.—John Diodati.

Verse 7.—Behold, O ye Arians, and acknowledge even hence the truth. The Psalmist speaks of us all as fellows or partakers of the Lord, but were he one of things which come out of nothing, and of things generate, he himself had been one of those who partake. But since he hymned him as the eternal God, saying, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever,” and has declared that all other things partake of him, what conclusion must we draw, but that he is distinct from generated things, and he only the Father’s veritable Word, Radiance, and Wisdom, which all things generate partake, being sanctified by him in Spirit? And, therefore, he is here “anointed,” not that he may become God, for he was so even before; nor that he may become king, for he had the kingdom eternally, existing as God’s image, as the sacred oracle shows; but in our behalf is this written, as before. For the Israelitish kings, upon their being anointed, then became kings, not being so before, as David, as Ezekias, as Josias, and the rest; but the Saviour, on the contrary, being God, and ever ruling in the Father’s kingdom, and being himself the dispenser of the Holy Ghost, nevertheless is here said to be anointed, that, as before, being said as man to be anointed with the Spirit, he might provide for us more, not only exaltation and resurrection, but the indwelling and intimacy of the Spirit.... And when he received the Spirit, we it was who, by him were made recipients of it. And, moreover, for this reason, not as Aaron, or David, or the rest, was he anointed with oil, but in another way, above all his fellows, “with the oil of gladness,” which he himself interprets to be the Spirit, saying by the prophet, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me;” as also the apostle has said, “How God anointed him with the Holy Ghost.”—Athanasius.

Verse 8.—“All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.” Although there is considerable obscurity overhanging these words, still the general idea of a supereminent fulness of anointing is quite apparent, combined, however, with the other idea that the anointing oil or ointment is of the most exquisite quality. Myrrh, and aloes, and cassia were celebrated for their peculiar fragrance, on which account they were used in compounding the choicest unguents. Myrrh and cassia are mentioned in Ex. xxx. 23, 24, as two of the spices of which the holy anointing oil was made up. All its ingredients were considered sacred. The Israelites were forbidden to pour it upon man’s flesh, or to attempt any imitation of it in their own perfumes. Ivory was in early times, as it still is, rare and costly, and it was highly esteemed as a material for household decoration, on which the finest workmanship and the most princely expenditure were displayed. In palaces of ivory, therefore, it was to be expected that, in correspondence with the magnificence of their structure that the costliness of their furniture, the ointment employed for anointing would be of the richest perfume, and in the greatest profusion. According to our version of the Psalm, the divine Saviour is thus represented as being anointed with oil of the very best kind, even oil taken from the ivory palaces; and also as receiving it in no ordinary measure. His anointing was not confined to a few ceremonial drops poured upon the head, but so abundant is it said to have been, that all his garments smelled of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia.

Bishop Horsley has proposed a change in the translation, by which means the idea of abundance is connected, not with the fragrance arising from the anointing, but with the anointing itself, which is a different and far more important thing. “Thy garments are all myrrh, aloes, and cassia, excelling the palaces of ivory, excelling those which delight thee.” This translation, which is strictly literal as well as poetical, is at the same time comparatively free from obscurity, and it visibly sets forth, under the most expressive imagery, the surpassing measure of that anointing which was conferred on our Lord above all his fellows. His garments are supposed not merely to have been all richly perfumed, or even thoroughly saturated with the oil of gladness, but to have consisted of the very articles which entered into the composition of the most precious and odoriferous unguent. “Thy garments are all myrrh, aloes, and cassia.” This is figurative language, but nothing could more emphatically exhibit how truly “the Spirit rested on Jesus, and abode with him” in all the plenitude of his heavenly gifts. That heavenly anointing constituted, as it were, his very dress, “excelling” in the quantity or measure of the anointing “the palaces of ivory;” because their furnitures, however highly scented, were not made of aromatic materials. The strength of the perfumes would evaporate, the fragrance would soon diminish; but permanent as well as plentiful fragrance is secured to him whose “garments are all myrrh, aloes, and cassia.” It is added, in the way of parallelism, “excelling those which delight in thee,” or those which make thee glad. To say that the persons here alluded to are the occupiers of the ivory palaces, might perhaps be objected to as fanciful; but palaces are the abodes of kings; and anointed kings, either literally, or typically, or spiritually, are the fellows of the Lord’s anointed One; and it does seem manifest that, as his anointing causes joy and gladness to all the parties concerned in it, so likewise there is an anointing of those who are honoured to be his fellows which causes joy and gladness to him. The persons who are in the one verse spoken of as giving delight to Christ, there is no reason to regard as any other than the persons spoken of in the former verse as his “fellows.” And if this is the case, then we have a comparison drawn betwixt the one and the other in the matter of their anointing, and to that of Christ a decided superiority is ascribed.—David Pitcairn, in “The Anointed Saviour,” 1846.