Chapter 14.—Of David’s Concern
in the Writing of the Psalms.
In the progress of the city of God
through the ages, therefore, David first reigned in the earthly
Jerusalem as a shadow of that which was to come. Now David was a
man skilled in songs, who dearly loved musical harmony, not with a
vulgar delight, but with a believing disposition, and by it served
his God, who is the true God, by the mystical representation of a
great thing. For the rational and well-ordered concord of diverse
sounds in harmonious variety suggests the compact unity of the
well-ordered city. Then almost all his prophecy is in psalms, of
which a hundred and fifty are contained in what we call the Book of
Psalms, of which some will have it those only were made by David
which are in
scribed with his name. But
there are also some who think none of them were made by him except
those which are marked “Of David;” but those which have in the
title “For David” have been made by others who assumed his
person. Which opinion is refuted by the voice of the Saviour
Himself in the Gospel, when He says that David himself by the
Spirit said Christ was his Lord; for the 110th Psalm begins thus,
“The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I
make Thine enemies Thy footstool.”
1081
And truly that very psalm, like
many more, has in the title, not “of David,” but “for
David.” But those seem to me to hold the more credible opinion,
who ascribe to him the authorship of all these hundred and fifty
psalms, and think that he prefixed to some of them the names even
of other men, who prefigured something pertinent to the matter, but
chose to have no man’s name in the titles of the rest, just as
God inspired him in the management of this variety, which, although
dark, is not meaningless. Neither ought it to move one not to
believe this that the names of some prophets who lived long after
the times of king David are read in the inscriptions of certain
psalms in that book, and that the things said there seem to be
spoken as it were by them. Nor was the prophetic Spirit unable to
reveal to king David, when he prophesied, even these names of
future prophets, so that he might prophetically sing something
which should suit their persons; just as it was revealed to a
certain prophet that king Josiah should arise and reign after more
than three hundred years, who predicted his future deeds also along
with his name.
1082
1081
Ps. cx. 1
, quoted
in
Matt. xxii. 44
.
1082
1 Kings xiii. 2
;
fulfilled
2 Kings xxiii.
15–17
.