The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.
The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, х diber (H1696) biy (H871a)] - speaketh in me; referring, not to his general inspiration only, but to the revelation which immediately follows.
And his word was in my tongue, х uwmilaatow (H4405), His word]. Millah is an exclusively poetic term (Job 6:26; Job 33:32; Job 36:2; Psalms 19:5; Psalms 106:2; Psalms 139:4; Proverbs 23:9). 'The parallelism here employed is not to be viewed as consisting of two simply synonymous members, in which the same sentiment is taught without any difference of mode or degree, but is obviously of the class termed gradational, in which the idea introduced in the former member is continued, but amplified in the latter' (Henderson). In order to attach greater interest and importance to his composition, he premises that it was not the product of his own mind, the invention of his own poetic genius, or the result of his own penetrating sagacity: it was the inhabitation of the Divine Spirit, whose extraordinary influence had qualified him to be an inspired writer, supplying the matter, and afterward enabling him to select appropriate language, a fitting vehicle for the embodiment of the ideas, in the form of sacred song. Having made this statement with reference to his character as an organ of divine communications generally, he goes on to announce a special revelation which had been communicated to him, either by direct inward impression on his mind (cf. 1 Peter 1:11; 2 Peter 1:21), or by an audible voice, of which the sacred history records many instances.
Although many of the lyrical compositions of David contain prophetic elements wherever he is led to allude to his royal dynasty, developments more or less full of the grand premise made to him (2 Samuel 7:1-29), yet they were only incidentally or in part predictive; whereas these "last words" are wholly in this form, belonging exclusively to the high and pure domain of prophecy; and therefore they have not been, like the preceding song, incorporated with the book of Psalms. They contain a direct and beautiful prediction of the advent and benign government of the Messiah. But the whole poem is exceedingly elliptical, and therefore in several portions of it obscure. Our translators evidently felt great difficulty in rendering the Hebrew text, as may be inferred from the numerous interpolations or italicised words which they have employed as links to unite the apparently disjecta membra of the original, but by which, instead of harmonizing or illustrating the passage, they have produced confusion, and given a version to a great extent remote from the true meaning.
The researches of Kennicott, who lived and wrote since the King James Version was published, have thrown welcome light upon the passage; for, in his 'Dissertation' (vol. 1:) upon the Hebrew text, he mentions a remarkable feature in the oldest, most reliable of the MSS., namely that it has the name Yahweh in this passage-thus determining the poem to be a prophetic song of the Messiah. This was a discovery of a most interesting nature; and on the importance of which to the cause of Biblical criticism, Michaelis, at the time of its announcement to the Christian world, enlarged in the warmest terms of admiration and gratitude.