V. David is described as the sweet Psalmist of Israel
V. David is described as the sweet Psalmist of Israel
And this title and epithet is given him, because he composed most part of the book of Psalms under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. He also invented the tunes to which they were set, and the instruments of music with which they were sung; hence you read of some that invented instruments of music like David (Amos 6:5). He also appointed persons to preside in this service, and to give instruction therein, of which you have a large account in the 29 and 31. And psalmody, as I have already observed, was never raised to so great a pitch, respecting the outward administration of it, as in David's time; so that he might with great propriety be called the sweet psalmist of Israel: though the words will bear another reading, and perhaps a better: And the sweet or pleasant one, in the psalms or songs of Israel; that is, David was the sweet and delightful subject of the songs of Israel. He was the person that the people in their songs with great pleasure dwelt upon, of which you have an instance in his youthful time: when they came forth in their songs, and dances, and said, "Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands" (1 Samuel 18:7).
In this also he was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sweet and delightful psalms of David were composed under the influence of the Messiah, as iii verse the third, The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me: the Lord Jesus, the Rock of Israel spake by him, and by his Spirit indited the psalms he was the penman of. The Spirit of Christ in him, spake of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory which should follow. Our Lord Jesus Christ might be particularly stilled the sweet psalmist of Israel, when he sung the praises of God in the great congregation; when he with his disciples, at the institution of the supper, sung an hymn: he began, he led on the disciples, and sung within them; O what a delightful sound was that, could it have been heard by us! the Messiah, the sweet psalmist of Israel singing the psalms of David!—The hallell or hymn which the Jews sung at their Passover, was none other than the psalms of David, the 113th to the 118th. These psalms he sung with his disciples, and then he was the sweet psalmist of Israel. Moreover, he has ordered that psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs should be sung by his people. Christ speaking in me, says the apostle (2 Corinthians 13:3); so that what is written by him may be said to be spoken by Christ; and in his epistles there are orders given to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs—Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19). And in another epistle it is said, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord (Colossians 3:16): this is the order of the great psalmist of Israel, our Lord Jesus Christ.
But particularly as David was the sweet, the delightful subject of time songs of Israel; so our Lord Jesus Christ is the sweet, the delightful subject of the hook of Psalms: we have his own authority for it; for we are told that he expounded unto his disciples in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself, and said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me (Luke 24:44). O how do they speak of Jesus! He is the subject of these songs, in most, if not in all of them; in great abundance, there you hear of him, and there he is set forth in the most delightful and glorious strains. There you read of the covenant of grace made with this our David, before the world was, and which can never be broken (52). There you read of his sufferings, and of his death, in the most lively descriptions of it especially in the 22nd Psalm, where he is represented in the greatest agonies, all his bones being dislocated or out of joint, as at his crucifixion; and the most minute circumstances are mentioned, as parting his garments among them, and casting lots upon his vesture. There you read of his resurrection from the dead; how that God would not suffer his Holy One, when in the grave, to lay so long as to see corruption, but shewed him the path of life (Psalm 16:10, 11). There you read of his ascension, and session at the right hand of God, and of his second coming to judgment, to judge the world in righteousness, and the people with his truth (Psalm 96:13). There you read of him as the priest of God. The Lord hath sworn, and will not re pent: thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4). There you read of him as being a sacrifice, and offering up his body (Psalm 40:6, etc.). There you read of him as the great prophet of Israel, not concealing truth and righteousness, and loving kindness from the great congregation (Psalm 40:9, 10). There you read of him as the anointed king, made higher than the kings of the earth—in short, there you read of him in all his offices. But I close all with a remark or two.
All that has been said may serve to endear our Lord Jesus Christ unto us. He is the true David, the beloved one. He is the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel, or the sweet subject of the songs of Israel. All this, I say, may serve to endear him to us; for however he may be disallowed of men, yet he is the chosen of God and precious; and he is so, and ought to be so, to all them that believe.
This may also serve to recommend unto us the reading of David's psalms, for Christ is the sum and substance of them. There is not only a rich fund of experience in these psalms, but a rich display of Christ in all his offices, in all his sufferings, and in all his grace. It may also serve to recommend unto us the singing of these psalms, which, no doubt, were designed to be sung by the churches of Christ under the gospel dispensation, since they are so full of him. And this may serve also to excite our attention to what follows: which the words I have now been upon are only a preface to. Now since here is so grand a description given us of David, and so of his Antitype, let it induce us to pay a regard to what really are the last words of so great a personage. These we shall consider in some subsequent discourses, as the Lord shall give opportunity.