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C 160 )
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DR . J . P . SMITH ' S SCRIPTURE TESTIMONV TO THE MESSIAH .
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( Continued from p . 113 . ) Section xiv . Psalm xlv . 2—8 . The important words are in ver . 6 , c < Thy throne , O God , is for ever and ever !" The Psalm is considered as a prophetic address to the Messiah , who is therefore here called God , and the use made of the words in Hehrews i . 8 , ** But to the Son ( he saith ) , Thy throne , O God , is for ever and ever , " is regarded as estahlishing beyond all doubt the validity of this application . Some Unitarian expositors , as Mr . Belsham , adopt the translation , " God is
thy throne , " the support of thy throne , i . e . he will make thy dominion mighty and durable , which both the Hebrew of the Psalm and the Greek of the quotation in the E p istle will equally well bear , and which suits the connexion in both places : otners suppose the word God to be here employed in an inferior sense . The prevailing and most probable opinion is , that the 45 th Psalm was written on occasion of the marriage of Solomon with the daughter of the King of Egypt , and this opinion , as to its primary sense , is held by most of those who consider it as having a secondary reference to the Messiah and
his kingdom , that is , by the great majority of Christian commentators . Some interpreters , indeed , of great learning , and whose opinions deserve much respect , have affirmed that the Psalm must be considered as primarily addressed to the Messiah , and is not properly applicable to Solomon or to any other person ; but their chief arguments are drawn from the quotation in Heb . i . 8 , ( of which we shall speak presently , ) and from the assumption of the point in dispute , that ver . 6 is an address to some individual as the Supreme God , whilst their application of other parts of the Psalm is
figurative almost throughout , and in some instances extremely forced . The 9 th and following verses may be explained secondarily of the church as the bride of the Messiah , but their direct and sole application in that sense is what the sober judgment of no unprejudiced reader can admit . The argument from the everlasting duration ascribed to the kingdom of the person addressed is of no weight , being a common oriental idiom : thus , for example , in Nathan's prophecy to David respecting Solomon , 1 Chron . xvii . 11—14 : " I will raise up thy seed after thee , which shall be of thy sons ;
and I will stablish his kingdom . He shall build me an house , ( plainly shewing that Solomon is the person spoken of , ) and I will stablish his throne for ever . I will be his father , and he shall be my son ; and I will not take my mercy away from him , as I took it from him that was before thee : but I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever ; and his throne shall be established for evermore ?" It is universally acknowledged that this magnificent , prophetic language was intended , and , according to the notions of the age and country , was well adapted , to express the promise
of a long reiopi to Solomon , and of posterity to succeed him on his throne , but nothing more ; and we cannot but consider it as going far to justify the sense , " God is thy throne , for ever and ever , " in the passage under our consideration , by shewing how peculiarly God had promised to establish and support the throne of the prince to whom that passage , beyond all reasonable doubt , immediately referred ; but supposing the common translation to be preferable , the use of the word Gody in an inferior sense , is not unknown to Scripture , nor at variance with oriental idiom . It must be understood to mean ( as Bishop Young has translated it ) prince , and it is certain
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1831, page 160, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2595/page/16/
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