was from their destiny that David, by the Holy Spirit, inferred
what would befall Him. Nowhere, however, has David directly and
exclusively to do with a suffering Messiah, as had, afterwards, the
prophet Isaiah.

In all that respects the Psalms, we must content ourselves with merely
a passing glance, lest we encroach too much upon the territory which
belongs to the Commentary on the Psalms. But "the last words of David,"
preserved to us in the Books of Samuel, we shall make the subject of a
more minute consideration, inasmuch as they form a connecting link
between the two classes of Psalms which rest on the promise in 2 Sam.
vii., viz., those referring to David's house and family, and those
relating to the personal Messiah. The "ruler among men" whom we meet in
these "last words," is, in the first instance, an _ideal_
person,--viz., the Davidic race conceived of as a person; but the
_ideal_ points to the _real_ person, in whom all that had been foretold
of the Davidic family should, at some future period, find its full
realization. It is with a view to this person, that the personification
has been employed.

2 SAMUEL XXIII. 1-7.

The last words of David are comprehended in seven verses; and these,
again, are subdivided into sections of five and two [Pg 153] verses
respectively. First, there is a description of the fulness of blessings
which the dominion of the just ruler shall carry along with it, and
then of the destruction which shall overtake hostile wickedness.

It is not by accident that these last words are not found in the
collection of Psalms. The reason is indicated by the [Hebrew: naM]
There is a prophetic element in the lyric poetry of David wheresoever
it refers to the future destiny of his house; but this prophetic
element rises, here, at the close of his life, to pure prophetic
inspiration and utterance, which stand on an equal footing with the
prophecy of Nathan in 2 Sam. vii., and claim an equal authority.

Ver. 1. "_And these are the last words of David. David, the son of
Jesse, prophesies, and the man prophesies who was raised up on high,
the anointed of the God of Jacob, and sweet in the Psalms of Israel._"

It is substantially the same thing, whether we understand: "the last
words of David" or "the latter words of David"--later in reference to
xxi. 1. For even Ps. xviii., which precedes in chap. xxii., belongs,
according to its inscription and contents, to