Page:04.BCOT.KD.PoeticalBooks.vol.4.Writings.djvu/744

we still maintain, as formerly, that the Psalm admits of being much more satisfactorily explained from the life of Jeremiah than that of David.
The passion Psalms are the part of the Old Testament Scriptures most frequently cited in the New Testament; and after Ps 22 there is no Psalm referred to in so many ways as Ps 69. (1) The enemies of Jesus hated Him without a cause: this fact, according to Joh 15:25, is foretold in Psa 69:5. It is more probable that the quotation by John refers to Psa 69:5 than to Psa 35:19. (2) When Jesus drove the buyers and sellers out of the Temple, Psa 35:10 received its fulfilment, according to Joh 2:17 : the fierce flame of zeal against the profanation of the house of God consumes Him, and because of this zeal He is hated and despised. (3) He willingly bore this reproach, being an example to us; Joh 2:10 of our Psalm being, according to Rom 15:3, fulfilled in Him. (4) According to Act 1:20, the imprecation in Psa 69:26 has received its fulfilment in Judas Iscariot. The suffixes in this passage are plural; the meaning can therefore only be that indicated by J. H. Michaelis, quod ille primus et prae reliquis hujus maledictionis se fecerit participem. (5) According to Rom 11:9., Psa 69:23. of the Psalm have been fulfilled in the present rejection of Israel. The apostle does not put these imprecations directly into the mouth of Jesus, just as in fact they are not appropriate to the lips of the suffering Saviour; he only says that what the psalmist there, in the zealous ardour of the prophetic Spirit - a zeal partaking of the severity of Sinai and of the spirit of Elias - invokes upon this enemies, has been completely fulfilled in those who wickedly have laid violent hands upon the Holy One of God. The typically prophetic hints of the Psalm are far from being exhausted by these New Testament quotations. One is reminded, in connection with Psa 69:12, of the mockery of Jesus by the soldiers in the praetorium, Mat 27:27-30; by Psa 69:21, of the offer of vinegar mingled with gall (according to Mar 15:23, wine mingled with myrrh) which Jesus refused, before the crucifixion, Mat 27:34, and of the sponge dipped in vinegar which they put to the mouth of the crucified One by means of a stalk of hyssop, Joh 19:29. When John there says that Jesus, freely and consciously preparing Himself to die, only desired a drink in