THE PSALTER.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Your correspondent " Senex " objects to Psalm cix. on account of the imprecations in it. The explanation of the late Archbishop Benson throws wonderful light on this difficult passage. He pointed out that whereas the first five verses were spoken by David, the succeeding verses, the sixth to the twentieth, were David's quotation of what his enemies said of him. The change of person shows this quite clearly. Verse 5, David says, "They (i.e., his enemies) have rewarded evil for good." Verse 6 (quoting what his enemies say), "Set Thou a wicked man over him," &c., to verse 19, when David speaks again in his own person, "Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord, and of them that speak evil against my soul." The remaining verses show how cruelly he felt the "terrible anathemas" of his enemies uttered against him and not by him. This explanation is to be found in the Arch- bishop's work on the Acts.—I am, Sir, &c., A STUDENT OF SCRIPTURE.
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