Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me: a
Ruler over men--just; a Ruler--fear of God._"

The omission of the verb, "will be or rise," is quite suited to the
concise and abrupt style of the divine word. The mention of God, the
Rock of Israel, shows that the revelation has a reference to what is
done for the good of the people of God,--of His Church. For her good,
the glorious Ruler shall be raised. (Compare the words, [Greek:
antelabeto Israel paidos hautou], in Luke i. 54, as also ver. 68, and
ii. 32.) The appellation. Rock of Israel, indicates God's immutability,
trustworthiness, and inviolable faithfulness; compare my comment, on
Psalm xviii. 3, 32-47. The connection betwixt Ps. xviii. and the "last
words of David" here also clearly appears. The fundamental passage is
Deut. xxxii. 4.--That _men_ must be conceived of as the subjects of
dominion, is proved by Ps. xviii. 44, where David is made the head of
nations, and people whom he has not known [Pg 156] serve him,--and by
ver. 45, where the sons of the stranger do homage to him,--and by ver.
48: "Who subdues people under me."--_A Ruler_--_fear_ of God, _i.e._, a
Ruler who shall, as it were, be fear of God itself--personified fear of
God. We must here compare the expression, "This man is the peace," Mic.
v. 4, and, as to the substance of the expression. Is. xi. 2, "And the
Spirit of the Lord rests upon him ... the spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord." We might be disposed to refer this exclusively
to the person of the Messiah, especially when those Psalms are compared
which refer to a personal Messiah. But Ps. xviii.--which here receives,
as it were, its prophetic seal--and especially the relation of ver. 3
and 4 to ver. 5, where David speaks of his house, prove that the Ruler
here is, primarily, only an ideal person, viz., the seed of David
spoken of in Ps. xviii. 51. Things so glorious can, however, be
ascribed to it only with a reference to the august personage in whom
that seed will centre at the end of days,--the righteous Branch, whom
the Lord will raise up unto David (Jer. xxiii. 5), who executeth
judgment and righteousness on earth, Jer. xxxiii. 15. David knew too
well what human nature is, and what is in man, to have expected any
such thing from the collective body, as such.

Ver. 4. "_And as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, a
mourning without clouds; by brightness, by rain,--grass out of the
earth._"

In the first hemistich w