Prophecy


Among the many Old Testament prophecies that allude to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, the two most explicit are found in Psalm 69 and Daniel 9.

Psalm 69 is Messianic beginning with verse 7.

7 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.

8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.

9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

10 When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.

11 I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them.

12 They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.

13 But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.

14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

15 Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

16 Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.

17 And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.

18 Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.

19 Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee.

20 Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

22 Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.

23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.

24 Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.

25 Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.

26 For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.

27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness.

28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

29 But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.

30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31 This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.

32 The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.

33 For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.

34 Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein.

35 For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession.

36 The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein.

Psalm 69:7-36

In the course of pleading with God to save him from dire troubles, David remembers that he has borne shame and reproach (v. 7), coming even from his own brothers (v. 8). He is now thinking about trouble of a kind that Christ Himself would endure, for He too would suffer opposition in His own house. As soon as David's musings open to a Messianic horizon, the Holy Spirit turns David away from self-absorption and lifts up his heart to enter, whether consciously or unconsciously, into the future experience of Christ. From verse 9 onward David records events connected with Christ, not himself. He loses sight of the mundane and temporal and fixes his thoughts upon a future drama of cosmic significance, the great drama of redemption. He shares vicariously in Christ's sufferings (vv. 8-29), as well as in the victory that Christ would achieve through them (vv. 30-36).

The psalm reveals the destiny of both Christ and His enemies. Whereas He would be set on high (v. 29), they would fall prey to an awful judgment. God would harden their hearts against repenting of their wicked treatment of Christ (v. 27). They would die in their sins, their names forever blotted out of the registry showing who is entitled to live in the presence of God (v. 28). Yet even before coming to their final destiny, they would suffer a great calamity. The table intended for their welfare—no doubt an allusion to the Temple, the place where the Jewish nation spread out its offerings of food and drink before the Lord—would become a death trap (v. 22). Because they would act foolishly, with darkened eyes, they would soon topple into the grip of great terrors (v. 23). God would unloose His indignation upon them (v. 24), and they would suffer a disaster of such proportions that it would virtually depopulate their homeland (v. 25).


Fulfillment


The Messianic portion of the psalm contains a number of specific prophecies that were fulfilled in the life of Jesus.

1. Christ would be rejected by His brothers (v. 8). Jesus' brothers indeed did not place themselves among His disciples.

For neither did his brethren believe in him.

John 7:5

2. Christ would be consumed by zeal for the Lord's house (v. 9). When Jesus purged the Temple of mercenary enterprise,

. . . His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

John 2:17

3. Christ would pray that God would spare Him from suffering and death (vv. 14-15). The fulfillment took place in the Garden of Gethsemane.

39 And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.

40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Luke 22:39-44

4. Christ would pray that God would not forsake Him (v. 17).

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Matthew 27:46

5. Christ would suffer a broken heart (v. 20). After Jesus died,

. . . One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

John 19:34

Elsewhere we have shown that the bloody issue from Jesus' side is medically sound evidence that He suffered a broken heart.

6. Christ would be given a drink of vinegar mixed with gall (v. 21). Shortly before Jesus died, He complained of a great thirst.

48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.

Matthew 27:48

Probably the source of the vinegar was the same concoction of vinegar and gall that had been offered to Him at the beginning of His crucifixion.

34 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.

Matthew 27:34

7. The nation of the Jews would subsequently be destroyed (vv. 22-25). The particulars of the fulfillment will be spelled out in detail as we discuss the kindred prophecy in the Book of Daniel.