may be understood.* And this rendering supposes it to be understood here. The second objection, though much relied on by Mr Merrick, appears to me of little weight. Since the verb signifies, to slay, to murder, the noun, which, in prose, is perpetually used for an homicide or murderer, may very naturally, in poetry, be applied to the instrument of slaughter, the sword. Just as Sophocles's Ajax calls his sword, upon which he is about to fall, o qayɛùs. I know not that a similar application of the word paysùs (which literally renders the Hebrew, murderer) is to be found in the Greek language. And yet no one can doubt that, in this passage of the tragedian, it is applied to the inanimate steel. From this verse, as well as from the general structure of the Psalm, but from this verse in particular, it may be probably inferred that the suppliant is the Hebrew Church, of the Antichristian age, rather than an individual of the Hebrew nation. For an individual could not with any consistency profess a hope of returning in high triumph to the Holy Land, at the same time that he complains of the cruelty of his murderers in a foreign country. But a church, collectively, may be supposed to express a hope of ultimate peace and prosperity, at the same time that she is suffering in her * Vide Nold. not. 722. † Ajax. Mast, lin. 826. members. In the Apocalypse, it seems to be predicted, that, in the times of Antichrist, numbers of converted Jews will receive the crown of martyrdom. The application, which many learned expositors would make of this Psalm, to David, driven from Jerusalem by Absalom's rebellion, seems liable to many insuperable objections. Even in the very height of that rebellion, David was never in the extreme danger and in the defenceless condition in which the suppliant in this Psalm is placed. David thought it prudent, indeed, to retire from Jerusalem; because Absalom had alienated the affections of so many of the people, that it was necessary in order to avoid the danger of a surprise of the city by the disaffected party, that the king should put himself at the head of his army. But his departure was not the flight of a person fallen from his power, without means of defence, and abandoned of his friends, but the march of a great monarch, taking the field with a numerous army, (2 Sam. xv, 13—18), and attended by generals of such high renown as Joab, Abishai, and Ittai (XVIII, 2). It is true, he ascended Mount Olivet in the guise of a mourner (xv, 30). But his dejection arose not from any apprehension of the superior strength of his enemy, but from the reflection that "his son, who came out of his bowels, sought his life." (xvi, 11). And it was from affection and attachment to his person, that his loyal adherents wept with their sovereign, and, after his example, "covered every man his head." He had his spies at Jerusalem, who gave him early information of all Absalom's mo tions and designs; and when he had crossed the Jordan into the land of Gilead, so little did his situation resemble that of the suppliant in this Psalm, that he met with friendship and assistance even from the Ammonites. (XVII, 27-29). It is true, that one man of the family of Saul ventured to insult the king most grossly, upon his first departure from the city; but had it not been for the king's politic lenity, the audacious blasphemer of afflicted majesty would have met the fate he merited from the just indignation of Abishai. (xv1, 5—14). The Suppliant in this Psalm, holds the language of one who had long been in exile in a distant country, and is made to dwell upon the recollection of the principal features of his country, Jordan, the Hermons, and the little hill, as what he wished earnestly to see again after long absence. But David's absence from Jerusalem, upon the occasion of Absalom's rebellion, was certainly of no long duration. It should seem from the particulars of the history, that the whole interval, from the king's departure from Jerusalem to his triumphant return, could not be of many weeks. There seems no reason to suppose that the celebration of any one of the festivals of that year was obstructed. David, in what is called his flight, which, in truth, was only a retreat to a spot where he could give the enemy battle with advantage, was never beyond the limits of his own kingdom. As for Jordan and Hermon, which the suppliant in this Psalm so mournfully recollects, David was never out of sight of them. And from the "little hill," if this little hill be Zion, his greatest distance was Mahanaim. The town of Mahanaim was in the tribe of Gad, on the northern side of the brook Jabbok; and the utmost distance of this place, from Jerusalem, could not be more than seventy-two Roman miles, which is not quite sixty English. For, by Reland's map of distances, the whole distance from Jerusalem to Scythopolis was sixty-one Roman miles; namely, From Jerusalem to Scythopolis,....... 61 Mahanaim is not laid down in Reland's map. But by D'Anville's map of Palestine, the distance of Mahanaim from Scythopolis appears to be more than two-thirds, but much less than three-fourths, of the distance of Gadara. And again, by Reland's map of distance, Gadara was sixteen Roman miles from Scythopolis. Take eleven Roman miles, then, as the distance of Mahanaim from Scythopolis, which cannot be far from the truth, and add this to sixty-one, and you have seventy-two Roman miles (i. e. as was said before, sixty English very nearly) for the whole distance of Mahanaim from Jerusalem. And that it could hardly be so much, may appear from another argument. Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, was murdered in his house, at Mahanaim, about noon. (2 Samuel Iv, 5, 6. Compare with this, 11, 8.) The two assassins "gat them away through the plain all night,” (IV, 7); and the next day arrived with the murdered Prince's head at Hebron, where David then resided. The distance, therefore, of Hebron from Mahanaim was not more, than men, fleeing for their lives, could traverse in twenty-four hours. And yet this distance must have been greater than the distance between Mahanaim and Jerusalem. For Mahanaim lay NE. or per haps NNE. of Jerusalem. Hebron lay south of Jerusalem, a little declining to the west, at the distance of twenty-two Roman miles. From all these circumstances, it appears, that David, at Mahanaim, is not the person represented by the suppliant in this Psalm. The Arabic interpreter seems to have better divined the true subject, who gives both this 42d and the following Psalm the title of "A prayer for the Jews who had fallen.” [G] (PSALM XLIII.) from a nation of no pity." " לא חסיד ,is, properly חסד "abundant in goodness." The privation of this describes a character, destitute of the feelings of humanity, void of the milk of human kindness. [H] The 3d and 4th verses might, perhaps, be better divided, thus; 3 Lead forth thy light and thy truth; let them lead me; Let them bring me to thy holy hill, and to thy dwellings. |