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The Bible is God’s revelation to which man is called to read, dwell on, know, and understand. First, the Canon of Scripture is not always easy to understand, even when passages are well translated. Further complicating the situation is figurative language crossing the borders of language and culture which are necessary backdrops for understanding the milieu of non prosaic literature of the Bible. Prophetic passages themselves can be challenging in that they must neither over stress nor neglect the symbolism. Prophecy also becomes increasingly difficult when the fulfillments are yet to come. For as many factors are involved in this and for as many scholars who have meditated on this passage there are equal amounts of views, disputes, interpretations, and hypotheses on psalm 110. As McCann has said, “commentators generally agree that Psalm 110 is a royal psalm but that is where the agreement ends.” The purpose of this paper is to synthesize and express a view that will uphold all that can be asserted truthfully about Psalm 110 without contriving religious fiction in over-zealous attempts to further a theological agenda. May God receive all the Glory for the truth held in this passage and all the understanding that can be gleaned from its contents.
AUTHORSHIP
The fact that this psalm is prophetic insomuch as it relays oracles of God, has made it difficult for scholars to hold that David was the author, causing them to interpret “Psalm of David” to mean a psalm concerning David. (Spurgeon, 185) To support this, they say that Psalm 110 is a periphrastic rendering of 2Samuel 7. (Briggs, 132; Leupold, 771) This would place too much strain on the text when there is a much more simple explanation. The clearest and most acceptable author must be David. First, the tag on the front of the psalm saying “a psalm of David” should be recognized as not an addition for clarity placed on by us today, but in actuality is part of the text itself making it infallible as Scripture. “We cannot but accept the claim in the heading of the psalm that its author is David.” (Leupold, 771) Second, understanding David (Appointed King of Israel) as referring to someone as Lord other than the LORD is feasible when compared to Joshua 5:14. (Kidner, 393) Here Joshua, who is appointed by God as leader of His people, refers to a mysterious man as Lord. This man claimed to be the commander of YHWH’s army, and who rendered the surrounding ground to be holy. He should be considered none other than the pre-incarnate Son of God. This would be congruent not only with understanding the authority of one greater than the leader of Israel, but also that that leader is divine, and that he is a conqueror. Further, Matthew 22:41-6 claries the parallel story of Joshua to David would be the testimony of Jesus when he challenged to Pharisees to understand how David could call his descendent “Lord.” (Wilson, 126) Here Jesus not only presumes Davidic authorship but he also asserts David as the speaker in the psalm. Therefore, the corroboration of Jesus testifies to David as author and shines light on who David’s Lord is. Finally, if nothing else, anyone denying Davidic authorship would have to simultaneously disagree with Jesus or deny the infallibility of scripture.
SETTING
When discussing the setting of the psalm, one must differentiate between the setting within the psalm, and the setting of where the psalm was used. Regarding the setting in which the psalm was written or read, such uses have been suggested as the New Year festival , the readying for war in springtime, and a prophet to the new king at coronation (Broyles, 414). All of these seem inadequate in that they take the critical approach to the text, attempting to designate an historical context for the immediate need and use of the psalm while neglecting the prophetic sense of it. If an occasion must be given, the best option would be when David is taking the Ark to Zion. (Reich, 121) Although David, as vice-regent, would be God’s right hand man on earth, serving as the priestly king, David upon bringing the ark into Jerusalem. The song of praise found in 1Chronicles 16 would show similar reverence and content to that of Psalm 110. Taking Davidic authorship and the previously stated occasion of the psalm, the early dating of the psalm to the early Period of the Kings would be preferable. (Kraus, 345) If the psalm is allowed to stand without an historical background, but is taken as a prophetic song discussing the Messiah, the understanding of its prophetic scope would be greatest and simplest view that would harmonize with all of scripture.
OUTLINE
A Psalm of David.
1 The LORD said to my Lord,
"Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."
2The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion.
Rule in the midst of Your enemies!
3Your people shall be volunteers
In the day of Your power;
In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning,
You have the dew of Your youth.
4The LORD has sworn
And will not relent,
"You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek."
5The Lord is at Your right hand;
He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath.
6He shall judge among the nations,
He shall fill the places with dead bodies,
He shall execute the heads of many countries.
7He shall drink of the brook by the wayside;
Therefore He shall lift up the head.
NKJV
In the midst of many varying views, the structural layout of breaking the psalm at the oracles of the LORD seemed most appropriate. First, poetically the psalm is written in two strophes, each strophe composed of six pentameter lines. (Briggs, 133) Second, v. 4 acts as a transition from conquering as a king to pouring out righteous wrath as a priest. It has been the effort of many scholars to keep v.4 with either the first or second half exclusively, but to join it to either side would seem to neglect what it offers to the other side. Further, in a 7-stanza psalm, the very middle would be four which would make a great spot for some kind of conjoining element to multiple ideas being expressed. Therefore, the psalm would best be divided up in a 1-3, 4, 5-7 pattern.
EXPOSITION
(v.1-3)
This verse itself reflects a progression of God’s action from past, to present, to future. (Philips, 274) First, the LORD tells David’s Lord to come and sit at His right hand. First, this can be viewed as Christ’s ascension into heaven (past). Currently, He is waiting at the right hand of God for the time when YHWH will make his enemies his footstool (present). Finally, God will send his right hand to rule in the midst of his enemies (future). (Wilson, 127) Therefore, a subdivision of this half would show v.1 as the content and v.2-3 as the result/ramification of how his enemies will become his footstool and how he will rule over his people. This Prophecy is a very brief overview showing indications of the identity of the ‘Lord.’ Further, the reference of David (speaker of the psalm) refers to his Lord as adonai while he refers to God as YHWH. This distinction should first be noted so that one sees that David is seeing another who comes between him and the LORD. This is significant in that it is a foreshadowing of the deity to be revealed. When the LORD invites David’s Lord to sit at his right hand, it is a sign of equality in stature and rule. (Leupold, 775-6) YHWH gives the ‘rod’ to the Lord as a sign of authority. (Kraus, 349) The Lord’s rule over his enemies most likely signifies the 1000-year reign of Christ on earth. (Wilson, 126) The people that will be his volunteers are believed to be the remnant of Israel. The referent of this prophecy is ‘in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning’ which refers to conditions of his return, he will be dressed in priestly garb and will usher in the birth of a new era. (Philips, 277) The dawn represents the immanent light, just as the sky lightens before the sun comes up, so will the second coming of the Messiah be. Finally, one of two figurative blunders is the statement of the dew. It is debated what the dew is describing, but it is at least agreed that the symbolism behind it is a sign of freshness, vivacity, and numerous. If it is describing the volunteers, it could be better understood in light of Rev. 19:14.
(v.4)
The use of “swear” in regards to the LORD, is a strong sign of a commitment that is sure, steady, and unchanging. (Leupold, 777) First, YHWH tells that the messiah will be a priest forever, showing the eternality of he who will fill this office. Further, this illustrates the dual nature of the messiah’s role as priest. Not just any priest at that. He will be in the order of Melchizedek to whom Abraham paid tithe, showing the royalty of such a priest. Here, the definition of the messiah is started from both sides: from priest to king, from king to priest. Finally, the word Melchizedek comes from the two Hebrew words ‘king’ and ‘righteousness.’ The word king is written in the genitive construct rendering Melchizedek to be ‘king of righteousness.’ Further implications would be that Melchizedek was the king of Salem (later to be known as Jerusalem, i.e. Zion) which furthers the unity and integration in meaning of multiple facets of Psalm 110.
(v.5-7)
The Lord is at our right hand. The symbolism here is that he is our “ever present help in trouble.” Not that he is seated next to our throne. Verses 5 and 6 describe the Lord’s dealings with those who choose sin over him. The extent of the grotesqueness of violence is equal to the grotesqueness of the offense to the Priestly King. This is an illustration of the day of His wrath. (Kraus, 353-4) This signifies he end of the eschaton and the 1000-year reign where judgment is made and punishment is dispensed. The battle is fierce, and the volunteers are not present for this is God’s battle and he will be victorious. (Kidner, 396) Like v.3, v.7 is equally mysterious as to specifically what the symbolism stands for. Some hold that as a part of the King’s coronation, he finally goes to the spring of Gihon and takes water in 1Kings 1:38, 39. (Broyles, 415) Another view says this signifies the end of a long battle like how Gideon had his men drink at the river in Jdg. 8:4. Whatever the meaning of v.7 is, nothing can be concretely said due to the ambiguity of the figurative language.
MESSIANIC FULFILLMENT
This Psalm is quoted more times in the New Testament than any other piece of scripture. (Wilson, 126) In regards to how Jesus fulfilled this prophecy through his life, one has to look at what he said and who he was. First, in his challenges to the Pharisees found in Matthew 22 and Mark 12, one sees that Jesus regards himself as the Christ. Further evidence is expressed by Peter and Paul. Christ fulfilled the priestly side of his duty in that he did everything in the life of a man so that he could represent us to God. Hebrews talks extensively on Psalm 110; in fact, Hebrews acts as a commentary on the entire psalm. (Reich, 120) It focuses especially on how Jesus fulfilled his priestly duties and how he right now acts as our high priest intercessing to God the Father while Jesus is at His right hand (Hebrews 4, 7). (Wilson, 122-23) The opulence of Psalm 110 quotations in the New Testament show us that there is something being waited for, and that the referent of the passage either has been identified or is being sought. We, today, are waiting in verse one, with Jesus at the right hand of God until his footstool has been prepared. We can anxiously wait for his return where he will usher in 1000 years of peace, and where he will rule the world.
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