BY PROF. R. D. WILSON, PRINCETON.
IN closing,* it may be well to call the reader’s attention to the bearing of the evidence collected upon the interpretation of one or two of the Psalms whose Davidic authorship has been questioned. Take, for example, Psalm cx. According to Kennicott and De Rossi, all the Hebrew manuscripts assign it to David as author. So do all the manuscripts of Jerome’s version from the Hebrew; all the editions of the Aramaic Targum, the Syriac of the polyglots, and all the Greek Septuagint Uncials of Swete, and all the Greek manuscripts in Holmes and Parsons (except, perhaps, seven, all apparently late or defective), and the Coptic, Syriac, Latin, Ethiopic, and Armenian versions of the Greek. The only versions which omit the direct ascription to David are some copies of the Syriac primary version and the Arabic version of the Septuagint; but in these cases, all of the Psalms are attributed to David in the heading of the Psalter as a whole. In considering the evidence of the Oriental versions and manuscripts, it must be kept in mind that, as stated above, the scholars of Oriental Churches believe that David wrote all of the Psalms. Hence the omission of the name of David from the heading of a particular Psalm does not mean that they thought that David did not write it. Thus the Syriac texts frequently use: “It was prophesied,” or some similar phrase, meaning us to supply “by David”; and the Arabic version often uses “He said it” meaning David said it. Keeping these facts in mind, we may conclude that the testimony of the ancient manuscripts and versions as practically unanimous that David wrote Psalm cx. and Psalm cxxxix.
* This extract is taken from the last of two scholarly articles by the eminent Semitic scholar, Prof. Dick Wilson, on “The Headings of the Psalms,” which appeared in the January and July numbers of “The Princeton Theological Review.” In connection with the above quotation it will be remembered that the Higher Critics reject the Davidic authorship of Psalm cx., notwithstanding Christ’s clear testimony.—Editor.
Further, in four places in the New Testament this Psalm is said to have been composed by David; (Matt. xxii. 43 f.; Mk. xii. 35 f.; Luke xx. 41 f.; Acts ii. 34). From the passage in the Synoptics it is evident that Jesus was sure that the Jews with whom He was speaking believed that David wrote the Psalm, that he wrote “in the Holy Spirit,” and that he referred to the Messiah. It was the acceptance of these facts which made the conclusion inescapable that the Messiah is the Son of God. It was probably because he recalled how Jesus had used this argument that Peter appealed to this Psalm on the day of Pentecost. The facts to which Jesus appealed are just as firmly established by the evidence to-day as they were then; and the argument for the deity of Christ can be based upon them as confidently as ever. For the Christian the fact that Jesus used this argument should be sufficient; but it gives added ground of confidence that the facts to which He appeals have been unshaken by the assaults of criticism.
Theoderet, in his great commentary, gives a long and able argument for the deity of Christ based upon this heading and the use made of it in the New Testament. It is only in these late times that Christian scholars have arisen to assert that the Jews did not know who wrote it, that Peter did not know, and that Jesus did not know. They used to appeal to the presence of the word Melchizedek as proving that David could not have written it. But now that the Tel-el-Amarna letters have confirmed the testimony of the Book of Joshua to the existence of Jerusalem and of kings of Jerusalem long before the time of David, it is impossible to make out from the use of this word even a plausible cause in support of the theory that David could not have written the Psalm. The only reason for believing that David did not write it is to be found in the mind of those who do not believe in predictive prophecy, or who are convinced that they know more than Peter, than the Jewish scholars of the first century, than the Lord of Glory Himself.—Princeton Theological Review (July).
The stars which have least circuit are nearest the pole; and men whose hearts are least entangled with the world are always nearest to God, and to the assurance of His favour. Worldly Christians, remember this. You and the world must part, or else assurance and your souls will never meet.—Brooks.