Ps. xvi. 5 is discussed in Ber. R. 88, in connection with the cup which Pharaoh's butler

saw in his dream. From this the Midrash proceeds to speak of the four cups appointed for

the Passover night, and to explain their meaning in various manners, among others,

contrasting the four cups of fury, which God would make the nations drink, with the four

cups of salvation which He would give Israel in the latter days, viz. Ps. xvi. 5; Ps. cxvi.

13; Ps. xxiii. 5. The expression, Ps. cxvi. 13, rendered in our A. V. 'the cup of salvation,'

is in the original, 'the cup of salvations' - and is explained as implying on one for the days

of the Messiah, and the other for the days of Gog.

On verse 9, the Midrash on the passage says: 'My glory shall rejoice in the King Messiah,

Who in the future shall come forth from me, as it is written in Is. iv. 5: "upon all the glory

a covering."' And the Midrash continues 'my flesh also shall dwell in safety' - i.e. after

death, to teach us that corruption and the worm shall not rule over it.

Ps. xviii. 31 (in the Heb. verse 32). The Targum explains this in reference to the works

and miracles of the Messiah.

Ps. xviii. 50 is referred in Jer. Talmud (Ber. ii. 4, p. 5 a, line 11 from the top), and in the

Midr. on Lam. i. 16, to the Messiah, with this curious remark, implying the doubt

whether He was alive or dead: 'The king Messiah, whether He belong to the living or the

dead, His Name is to be David, according to Ps. xviii. 50.'

Ps. xxi. 1 (2 in the Hebrew) - the King there spoken of is explained by the Targum to be

King Messiah. The Midrash on the passage identifies him with Is. xi. 10, on which Rabbi

Chanina adds that the object of the Messiah is to give certain commandments to the

Gentiles (not to Israel, who are to learn from God Himself), according to the passage in

Isaiah above quoted, adding that the words 'his rest shall be glorious' mean that God gives

to the King Messiah from the glory abo ve, as it is said: 'In Thy strength shall the king

rejoice,' which strength is a little afterwards explained as the Kingdom (ed. Warsh. p. 30

a and b).

Verse 3 is Messianically applied in the Midrash on the passage.

Ps. xxi. 3 (4 in the Hebrew). Only a few lines farther down in the same Midrash, among

remarkable Messianic applications, is that of this verse to the Messiah, where also the

expression 'Jehovah is a man of war,' and 'Jehovah Zidkenu,' are applied to the Messiah.  5

Comp. also Shemoth R. 8, where it is noted that God will crown Him with His own

Verse 4 is Messianically applied in Sukk. 52 a.