Verfon; Set thou a wicked Man over him. Now this Verb muft either have been, in fome Degree, altered in tranfcribing; or, if it has now no other Form than it ever had; it must be underftood as expreffive of no malevolent Wish towards the Perfon to whom it refers; but only, like all the other fucceeding Verbs, which are in the future Tense, as declaratory, or prophetieal of fuch Evils as were, on Account of his atrocious Wickedness, to befal him.

The Verb may have undergone fome Alteration, whether we fuppofe it to have been at firft written with, or without Vowel Points: If with, the Vowel Points it had originally may have been different from those it has at prefent, and confequently its Meaning different. With dif ferent Points we find it in other Conjugations, and in various Moods and Tenfes, and particularly in the preter Tense third Person of Hophal, the passive of Hiphil. And were we to suppose that in the Text under Confideration it had originally the fame Points it now has there; the whole Difficulty would be very fufficiently removed, and the Senfe be as follows. A Wicked Man was fet (or made to prefide) over him;-to rule his Confcience and direct his Actions-made fo to prefide over him by his own seeking, and

with

with his own Confent; Which was the real Cafe with Refpect to Doeg, who of his own Accord lodged before Saul an ill founded Charge of Treafon against Ahimileck the High Prieft, and in Obedience to the cruel Command of a furious bloodthirsty Tyrant, after all his other Servants had abfolutely refused, murdered him, and all his Relations and Attendants..

But if it be allowed that the Vowel Points are comparatively of a late Invention, and that the Hebrew Language Originally had none, we might either adopt the Construction now mentioned; or fuppofe, in tranfcribing, that the first Letter was changed, and that instead of a Jod, or a Tau, an He was inferted in its Room. Then the Verb like all the Reft will have a future Signification, and the Claufe in which it ftands will run thus; Either Thou fhalt fet a wicked Man over him; or a wicked Man fhall be fet over him.

But whether the Verb has undergone any Change or not, I am most firmly perfuaded it has not, and cannot have any Meaning more unexceptionable than it has in the future Tense. As the future Tenfe is allowed on all Hands to have sometimes the Force of the Imperative Mood; fo the imperative Mood when the Senfe requires

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requires it and will admit of it, may (vice versa) have the very fame Conftruction with the future Tenfe. And this I apprehend to be really, and invariably the Cafe, whenever it is made use of under the Direction of Inspiration to express any Evils relative to wicked Men or Enemies.

And that the Claufe under Confideration, fet thou a wicked Man over him, together with all that follows to Verfe the 19th, expresses no kind of Malevolence, and is only declaratory or prophetical, we have a clear decifive Proof in Acts ́i. 15, 16, and 20th Verses, "In thofe Days Peter ftood up in the Midft of the Difciples, and faid Men and Brethren, the Scripture muft needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghoft, by the Mouth of David, fpake concerning Judas t, who was Guide to those who took Fefus; for it is written in the Book of Psalms; Let his Habitation be defolate, and let no Man dwell therein, and his Office let another take §." Upon

"The true Rendering of this Verse feems plainly to be this; 'Tis fit that this Scripture should be fulfilled concerning Judas-ubich the Holy Ghost, by the Mouth of David, Spake before; (viz. concerning other Perfons, and now perfectly applicable to the Cafe of Judas.") vid. Pyle in Loc.

The 20th Verfe is manifeftly quoted from the Greek Ver fion of the Septuagent, where all the Verbs are in the Impera

Upon these Words we may first observe, that in the Judgment of the Apoftle Peter, what the Pfalmift faid in Pfalm lxix. and in Pfalm cix. was a Prophecy, and not any kind of Prayer; a Prophecy concerning the Fate of Ahitophel and Doeg; but applicable to the Cafe of the Traytor Judas.-That the whole of what the Pfalmist spoke concerning those treacherous and wicked Men was prophetical, and in particular all he said concerning Doeg in Pfalm cix. the the firft Claufe of Verfe the 6th, as well as all that follows.

2dly. From what the Apoftle has here declared, it is clear and obvious that the whole Paffage, from Verse the 6th to Verfe the 19th inclufive, contains no Words of the Pfalmift, much less of his Enemies, but only the Words of the Holy Ghoft fpoken by his Mouth; fo that on the Account of them he was neither entitled to any Praise, nor juftly liable to any Cenfure. He fpoke as the Spirit gave him Utterance. He did not adopt the Language of his Enemies, neither did he express one Wifh, or one Idea of his own: "For no Prophecy of Scripture comes from the Prophet's own Suggestion, Wish, or Fancy.

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true Mood, but in the Hebrew Original they are all in the fu Bure Tenfe.

Fancy. So this Prophecy was not the Effect of any private Impulfe, or Incitation of the Pfalmift's own Mind; he fpoke nothing of himfelf, but God spoke by him; agreeably to this, to speak of himself, or of his own Heart or Mind, is always made the Sign of a false Prophet, whom God had not fent *." This Prophecy proceeded not from the Pfalmift's own Will, he spoke it just as he was moved by the Holy Ghoft: He spoke not by the Will of Man nor properly the Language of any Man.

It has indeed been conjectured, by some very able and learned Critics, that the whole Pargraph from Verse the 6th, to the 19th, has been introduced by the Pfalmift as a Specimen of thofe horrid Imprecations, thofe Words of Hatred, which his Enemies were accustomed to utter against him. The Conjecture is ingenious, and those who would see a fuller Account of it and fet out to the beft Advantage, may confult the Difcourfe published not many Years fince by the very candid and judicious Doctor Arnold, late Prebendary of Wells. But however ingenious we may deem it to be, it is manifeftly ill founded, the Words, fuppofed to have been thofe of David's Enemies, having been en

Vid. Whitby on 2, Pet, i. 20, 21,

prefsly