Biblical authors frequently quote psalms referring to the eschatological king and apply them to the people of God. This paper argues the prophets and apostles do not misappropriate the text in making these applications. Rather, this paper attempts to prove the psalms feature two layers of meaning. The first layer relates to the eschatological king. The second layer relates to the people of the eschatological king. Ample evidence demonstrates the OT prophets and NT authors recognized these two layers of meaning in the Psalms.
This paper features three categories of evidence indicating the psalms feature two layers of meaning. First, this study explains the necessity for two layers of meaning in the Psalms. Second, it establishes texts other than the Psalms also feature two layers of meaning. Third, it provides evidence for two layers of meaning of the Psalms from the OT prophets and from the NT authors.
The paper concludes with a brief consideration of David. David becomes a subject of the poetic text, the evidence suggests, in the same way any other person becomes a subject of the poetic text—through faith in the eschatological king.
The people of the king, by God’s design, can apply the psalms in Book One to themselves. Far from diminishing the place of the eschatological king in the Psalms, this practice magnifies it. Indeed, it deepens rather than decreases the beauty of the psalms.