JESUS CHRIST, IN HIS REIGN,

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comp. Isa. xxxiv, 2-8, & lxiii, 1-4, with Rev. vi, 12 -17 & xix, 11—16; and Isa. xlv, 22—25, with Rom. xiv, 10, 11; Phil. ii, 10.

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Having thus surveyed some of the principal particulars in which Jesus Christ, during his reign of glory, exercises the attributes of the Supreme Being, we may proceed to a brief examination of several passages of Holy Writ, in which, with reference to this portion of his revealed history, he is described by the divine names.

The first passage which claims our attention, in relation to this point of our argument, forms a part of the prophecies of Jeremiah-" Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch; and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice (or righteousness) in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name, whereby he shall be called, Jehovah OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS:" ch. xxiii, 5, 6. That this passage contains a prediction of the coming of Christ, is abundantly evident from its internal characteristics; for, were we required to describe the Messiah as he was expected by the ancient Jews, and as he is represented in the general strain of Hebrew prophecy, we could scarcely express ourselves with greater point and precision than by saying, that he was to be the descendant of David, a righteous branch, a king who should reign and prosper-who should execute judgment and justice in the earth-and who should deliver his people from all their enemies. Accordingly, it is not by Christian commentators only, but by Jonathan the Targumist, and by the Jews in general both ancient and modern, that this prophecy is

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CALLED BY THE DIVINE NAMES,

explained as relating to the Messiah. It appears, then, that the name of the Messiah was to be called Jehovah our righteousness.

Now, it is possible that the term Jehovah might so form a part of a Hebrew proper name of a person, as to throw some light on his history and circumstances without involving the notion that the individual so named was himself Jehovah; and although the Bible affords no instance of any such name of a person, the manner in which it might have so happened will be rendered intelligible to the reader, by the name given to certain places and things. Thus Abraham called the name of the place where the angel of God had appeared to him, Jehovah-Jireh, because the Lord was seen there, (Gen. xxii, 14) and Moses built an altar, and named it Jehovah-nissi, because the Lord was his protector in battle: Exod. xvii, 15. Accordingly, the Jews would persuade us that the name Jehovah-Tsidkenu, is here given to the Messiah, simply because, in his days, or by his instrumentality, the righteous purposes of God were to be accomplished: see Targ. Jon. in loc. This gloss, however, when tried by the rules of fair criticism, and by the light of the New Testament, (for our present argument is addressed not to Jews, but to Christians) will not be found to bear the test of examination.

Jehovah-Tsidkenu was not the proper name of Jesus Christ; and, therefore, when we read that his name was thus to be called, we are to understand simply that the nature, character, and office, imported by this title,

2 In support of this assertion, the learned Gill cites the following authorities Bava Bathra, fol. lxxv, 2; Echa Rabbati, fol. 1, 1; R. Saadiah Gaon in Dan. vii, 13; R. Albo Sepher Ikkarim, lib. ii, c. 28; Abarbinel Mashmiah Jeshuah, fol. xxxv, 2; Caphtor, fol. lxxxvii, 1; Yalkut Simeoni, par. ii, fol. lxxv, 2; Kimchi, and Ben Melech in loc.

JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS,

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were to be his nature, character, and office; or, in other words, that he was actually to be Jehovah our Righteousness. Now, this view of the subject, which is supported (as has been already observed in reference to Isa. vii, 14) by the known idiom of the Hebrew tongue, is plainly confirmed by collateral considerations. That the latter clause of the title (Tsidkenu,

our Righteousness) is personally descriptive of the Messiah, is apparent from the context; for he is immediately before denominated the righteous branch, or the branch of righteousness; and is described as the person who was to execute judgment and righteousness in the earth; and not only from the context, but from the doctrine conveyed in the expression itself; for while righteousness, in its absolute sense, is ascribed indifferently to the Father and to the Șon, we clearly learn from the New Testament, that to be "our righteousness" is one of the characteristic and distinguishing offices of the latter-of that Redeemer who died for our sins, and rose again for our justification. Christ is made unto us of God, "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:" I Cor. i, 30. He "is the end of the law for righteousness, to every one that believeth :" Rom. x, 4. He was made “sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him :" II Cor. v, 21. Now, it is evident that the two parts of this remarkable title are placed in grammatical apposition to each other, and are descriptive of one and the same person. He that is our righteousness is also Jehovah. Hence, therefore, it follows, that Jesus Christ, whose glorious reign over his own church is so clearly proclaimed in this celebrated prophecy, is himself JEHOVAH.3

3 Jer. xxiii, 6·

-And this is the name where " וזה שמו אשר יקראו.

The prophecy which we have now been considering remarkably accords with a well-known passage of the Psalms. 66 My heart," says the Psalmist, "is inditing a good matter! I speak of the things which I have made touching the King: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever! Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness, and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee. Thy throne, O GOD, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows:" xlv, 1-7.

יקראו,Or again

by he shall be called; or, more literally, by which one shall call him.” A similar indefinite use of the verb repeatedly occurs in the Hebrew Scriptures: vide Jud. i, 17; II Sam. ii, 16; Isa. ix, 6. Or we may understand "Israel" as the governing substantive to the verb ; for it is the church by whom Christ is denominated the Lord our Righteousness. "Hoc nomen ejus est, quo vocabit eum Israel," Junius et Tremell. "Quo vocabit eum unusquisque" Piscator. may be rendered as a plural verb, "vocabunt (eum)." So Vulg. Targ. Syr. Arab. The Septuagint Translator understands “Jehovah" as the nominative to the verb, and renders καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ὃ καλέσει Κύριος, Ιωσεδεκ. “And this is the name by which the Lord shall call him, Josedek, i. e. Jehovah-Righteousness. It is, however, abhorrent from the plain dictates of truth, to introduce the Supreme Being as classing himself with his creatures, and as denominating the Messiah " righteousness;" and the Septuagint Translators have avoided this difficulty only by cutting off, from the name Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the particle our.

our

This remarkable prophecy is repeated in Jer. xxxiii, 15, 16; and there, according to our common English version, the name of Jehovah-Tsidkenu is ascribed to Jerusalem, or to the church of which Christ is the Head. "This is the name whereby she shall be called, &c." If this interpretation is correct, it affords no proof whatever that the name, when applied to Jesus Christ, as a description of his own person and character, is not indicative of his real divinity; but it is most probable that our translators are here in error. The pronoun, which they render "she," may be regarded as the masculine, in the Chaldaic form; and is so rendered by the Targumist, as well as by the Syriac and Vulgate translators. In that case, this, as well as the former prophecy, applies only to the Messiah. In the Septuagint version, the prophecy is not repeated: vide Michaelis and De Rossi in loc.

ANOINTED OF GOD,

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The psalm of which this passage forms the first division, is, like the Canticles, an epithalamium, or marriage song-the former part of it being descriptive of the bridegroom, and the latter part, of the bride. Now, although in some of its subordinate particulars, this inspired poem may possibly apply to Solomon, or some other Jewish monarch, and his queen, its more important signification, as relating to Christ and the church, is amply substantiated, first, by the judgment of the Jews themselves, who appear to be unanimous in explaining this passage as a prophecy of the Messiah; secondly, by the sublime and significant terms in which are here depicted the majesty, authority, and righteous sway, of Israel's spiritual monarch -a point in which this psalm precisely corresponds with many others of the evangelical prophecies; and thirdly, by the doctrine of the New Testament, which frequently presents our Saviour to us in the same character of the Bridegroom, or glorious Head and Husband of his own church: Matt. xxv, 5; John iii, 29; Eph. v, 25; Rev. xix, &c.

Whatsoever doubt, however, might have attached to this subject, is removed by the apostle Paul, who, in his argument with the Hebrews, adduces this passage, not only as an acknowledged description of the Son of God, but as affording a proof of his superiority in the divine nature, over all the angels: Heb. i, 8. It is unquestionable, therefore, that, in this memorable prophecy, while the respective offices of the Father and the Son-of the Anointer and the Anointed-are plainly distinguished, the Son

4" Meir Arama ait consentire omnes Rabbinos hunc psalmum De Messia loqui:" Muis in Poli Syn. See also Scoetgen. Hor. Heb. in Heb. i, 8 and Targum in loc.