Resurrection were all and each familiar [1] to the mind of the royal prophet. (Ps. 15.)
He sees in the distant future the brightness of the Ascension [2]. He calls upon the eternal gates to be lifted up, that the triumphant Conqueror of sin and death may take possession of His everlasting throne in heaven. David, the progenitor or forefather of Jesus Christ, who is Himself called the Son of David [3], was a figure of the Redeemer by the place of his birth, Bethlehem, by the obscurity and lowliness of his early years, by the victories he obtained over the enemies of the people of God, and also by his twofold character of king and prophet.
COMMENTARY.
The eighth promise of the Messias. David lived more than a thousand years before our Lord’s birth. (He reigned from 1055 to 1015 B. C.) But the Spirit of God, to whom a thousand years are but as one day, inspired his spirit and enabled him to look forward over centuries , and contemplate the sufferings and glory of the Redeemer.
The prophecies about our Lord’s Sufferings have been very literally fulfilled (New Test. LXXV and LXXVI). It amazes us that the prophet, writing 1000 years before our Lord suffered, should have described such details as the piercing of His Hands and Feet, the division of His garments, the casting lots for the seamless robe, the scoffing and wagging of the head on the part of the bystanders! This foretelling of future events was only possible by means of divine revelation.
About the Resurrection David prophesied that our Lord’s soul would descend to Limbo, but would not stay there; and that His body would rest in the grave, but would not know corruption (“He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead”).
- ↑ Familiar . “My flesh also shall rest in hope (in the grave); because Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (i. e. in Limbo), nor wilt Thou give Thy Holy One (He who is anointed by Thee) to see corruption (to experience it in His own body).”
- ↑ The Ascension. “The Lord said to my Lord (to David’s Lord, the Messias) : ‘Sit Thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies Thy footstool (till all Thine enemies are overthrown).’ The Lord hath sworn and He will not repent: ‘Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech (who was both priest and king and offered an unbloody sacrifice of bread and wine).”’ (Ps. 109.)
- ↑ The Son of David. God said to David: “I will raise up thy seed after thee, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom for ever (to last for all eternity). I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to me a Son.” (2 Kings 7, 14.)
