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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
March, 1938
The Messianic Psalms* By W ILL IAM L PETTINGILL Wilmington, Delaware
PSALM 34 be eaten, “ roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it” (Ex. 12:8). If the household was too little for the lamb, then the lamb might be divided with the neighbors (Ex. 12:4); but it must not be cut into parts and one part taken over to the neighbors; rather the neighbors must come to it. “ In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth aught of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof” (Ex. 12:46). Thus it is seen in this passover type that the body of Christ must always be consid ered as one and indivisible. It must not be divided. Not a bone of it should be broken. We find the same thing repeated with emphasis in Numbers 9:12 concerning the passover lamb: “ They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it.” Coming to our Psalm with this key from the New Testament and from the Pen tateuch, we find that we have here not only, as indicated by the headlines,) “A Psalm of David, when he changed his be havior before Abimelech; who drove him
“They looked unto him, and were radiant; And their faces shall never be con founded.” It is our Lord who speaks of Himself as “ this poor man” who cried, and Jehovah heard Him, and saved Him out of all His troubles (v. 6). This is the One who, though' He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich (2 Cor. 8:9). It is He who thus assures us in verse 7: “ The angel of Jehovah encampeth round about them that fear him, And delivereth them.” (R. V.) This declaration is always true, for al though He does not always deliver in the same way, yet He always delivers. He delivered Peter from prison, but He deliv ered John the Baptist by means of the sword of Herod. John the Baptist was- beheaded for his faithful testimony, and when he was put to death, no doubt Hero- dias thought she had triumphed over her enemy. But as a matter of fact, he was the victorious one, for while she was left here to face the consequences of her awful sin, he was delivered instantly from earth’s sorrows to enter upon the divine reward for his faith fulness. In Philippians 1:29 it is written t h a t ||‘unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.” And, however great the suf ferings may be, we may depend upon it t h a t they are not worthy to be com pared with the glory that shall be revealed (Rom. 8:18), and that God is always faithful to His p r o m i s e to deliver His p e o p l e . Hear our Lord in the passage beginning with verse 8 as He says: “ Oh taste and see that Jehovah is good: Blessed is the man that taketh refuge in him. Oh fear Jehovah, ye his saints; For there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger; But they that seek Jehovah shall not want any good thing.” (R. V.) Then observe the tenderness of His ex hortation: \Continued on page 132]
E S S I A N I C P s a l m s being those which are quoted i n t h e New Testament a n d there ap plied to the Lord Jesus C h r i s t , Psalm 34 conse quently c o m e s under this classi fication. At verse
20 in this Psalm, we read: “ He keepeth all his bones: not one of them 'is broken,” or in John 19:31-37 we read: “ The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was a high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was cruci fied with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true; and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another Scrip ture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.” The Holy Spirit of Truth throughout the Bible has been extremely careful to pre serve in type and symbol, as well as in plain teaching, “ the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” and to show that “ there is one body,” and only one, and that this is “the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 4:3, 4 ; 1:22, 23). This body of Christ consists of all those, and only those who are born again; and these are “ mem bers of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones” (Eph. 5:30). They become mem bers of His body by the baptism of the Holy Spirit which comes to all of them at the moment of their new birth (1 Cor. 12:12, 13). It is wonderful to think of ourselves as bones in the body of Christ, and then to read the assurance that “ He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.” The carcass of the passover lamb in Exodus 12 was, o f . course, a type of the body of Christ who is our Passover, slain for us (1 Cor. 5:7). This carcass of the lamb, after the blood had been shed, and the firstborn had been redeemed, was to *All rights reserved.
away, a n d h e de parted” (cf. 1 Sam. 21:10-15); b u t w e have also a Psalm with Christ in its heart, and we are to think of Him, rather than of David, as the S p e a k e r throughout the Psalm. Let the Psalm be read with this empha sis in mind, and it takes on a new beauty, which cannot be seen apart from the light derived f r o m o u r knowledge of its Mes sianic character. It is Christ who says:
“ I will bless Jehovah at all times: His praise shall continually be in mouth.” (v. 1, R. V.) It is His soul that boasts in Jehovah, and of this “the humble shall hear, and be glad” (v. 2 ). It is He who calls upon us to magnify Jehovah with Him, and to let us exalt His name together (v. 3). It is He who declares that He sought Jehovah, and that Jehovah heard Him, and delivered Him from all his fears (v. 4). There is a change made in the Revision in verse 5, where instead of the word “ lightened,” we read, “ radiant” :
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