Psalm 110, A Prophetic Picture in the Hebrew Bible of the Preincarnate Messiah
Although this seven-verse psalm is short, translations
and interpretations are diverse. Nevertheless, it’s an important Messianic
portrait which is often referenced in the New Testament, including by the Lord
Himself. If we assume that the Gospel writers translated the message of Jesus
accurately, which I do although I’m not a literalist, then the path to
understanding is straight and easy. My challenge is to untangle the knots, let
enlightenment dawn, and clarify the mysteries…before you fall asleep or click
the delete button. I will take the persisters verse by verse to show you an
intriguing peek at the future Messiah of the Hebrew Bible. There is also a dire
warning in the psalm that can apply to us today.
The translation below is from biblehub.com, Berean Standard Bible translation, which is biblehub's default version. After a study of the Hebrew and various other American versions, the BSB suited me best, so I’m a new fan. It’s sufficiently academic and official, so I hope you can trust that I’ve put some thought into what I write here, and accept that I also have the charismatic life experience enabling me to meld a scholarly study with ancient, mystical beliefs in prophecy. Whether we ourselves believe in prophecy, as we translate and interpret, we need to honor the fact that the Bible authors did believe in it, and expected their readers to follow suit.
(To, for, or by) David
1The
LORD said to my Lord:
“Sit
at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies
a
footstool for Your feet.”
My inspiration for this post was a recent Bible study in which this verse was a cause of confusion for members, dedicated people who had been in church for decades. Who are the 3 personages of verse one? The first, LORD, is easy. When you see the capital letters, you know that the Hebrew text has cited the four consonants of the name of God. Some publishers will make the L larger than the ORD, but if you look closely, they are all capitalized. Then there is the author of the psalm, the one seeing Yahweh/Jehovah address Person Two (P2), whom the author calls “my lord.” So person 3 (P3) has less status then P2. The Hebrew for “my lord” or “my Lord” is adonai. Person Two receives immense eminence from the Almighty to sit beside Him while He (P1) subdues all of P2’s enemies. So P2 has less status then P1. Person One extends the invitation and has the power to make it stick. The decree of God over P2 is like a coronation, something that would be intoned by earthly courtiers to a human monarch on the day of coronation when he or she sits on the throne and is crowned. Who is the psalm’s author, and upon whom has the divine throne been bestowed, and how does the the psalmist, see this coronational conversation?
Option 2: Cautious believers are not far afield to read that a real prophet is actually seeing a vision of Yahweh speaking to King David of Judah, honoring the king in order to amaze his citizens and forewarn the leaders of neighboring nations like Philistia, Moab, or Edom. What ancient king wouldn’t want to have God make all his enemies a stool for his (David’s) feet? David would have loved it.
Option 3: Again, the heading of the psalm specifies that it is to, for, or by David. I believe that David is seeing a vision of the Father speaking to unidentified Person Two (P2), the future Messiah, who will be enthroned in the heavens as equal to God. I saw an article recently that claimed there is no Trinity in the Bible. If you are a believer like me, you can recognize the ruach elohim, the Spirit of God, (the New Testament Holy Spirit) all throughout the Old Testament, including at the creation. There are many hints and shadows of the future and possibly pre-existent Messiah. In Genesis 22, the near sacrifice of Isaac by his father Abraham supports the Christian assertion that the Father would have a Beloved Son who would be sacrificed for the sins of the world.
There are several biblical supports for option 3.
A: Ps. 16 is also in the Davidic Psalter and is ascribed to, for, or by David. Verses 1 and 2: “Preserve me, O God (El), for in You I take refuge. I said to the LORD (Yahweh), ‘You are my Lord (adonai); apart from you I have no good thing.’” Here David addresses the One God by 3 common names and titles. But in Psalm 110, David is clearly differentiating between the LORD and his (David’s) Lord. They are two different persons!
B: The ultimate proof of option 3 is the words of Jesus Himself in Matthew 22:41-45:
41While the Pharisees were assembled,
Jesus questioned them: 42“What do you think about the Christ? Whose
son is He?”
“David’s,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “How then does David in the
Spirit call Him ‘Lord’? For he says:
44The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My
right hand until I put Your enemies under Your feet.” 45So if David
calls Him ‘Lord,’ how can He be David’s son?”
Everyone knew that Messiah would come from the line of David, and all knew that Joseph, the father of Jesus, came from that line, but Jesus is making the point that he predates King David. So according to the Lord, it was He and not David at God’s right hand. The Apostles taught that this Messianic coronation took place when Christ was resurrected (Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20). Peter preached this on the day of Pentecost as a crowd of thousands listened (Acts 2:32-35). He reminded the crowd that David did not ascend to heaven, but God exalted Jesus to his right hand and sent the promise of the Holy Spirit.
110:2: The LORD extends Your mighty scepter from
Zion:
“Rule
in the midst of Your enemies.”
Have you ever wondered why Jews are so hated in the world? Because the message and revelation of Messiah was centered in Zion…not just Jerusalem, but the Jewish people, the scribes, priests, kings, prophets, and writings.
110:3 Your people shall be willing
on
Your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor, from the womb of the
dawn,
to
You belongs the dew of Your youth.
Since Christ inherited a spiritual throne, his enemies are not the people and kings of the earth but the demons and fallen angels who rage against all the goodness of God’s creation. The battle field is mankind. We’re the booty, the spoils, the treasure of war. This is spiritual warfare, not battles over doctrines, wealth, land, or power. In the days of the Judges, when war was necessary, there was no official army, no conscription. A Spirit-inspired call went out from the Judge, and people chose whether or not to answer. When the Spirit moves, God’s people rise to the challenge willingly. Today the battle is usually fought/should be fought with prayer and words. Verse 3 also refers to Christ’s eternal existence. He is the Alpha and the Omega, He always was and will always be the Majestic King of Glory.
110:4: The
LORD has sworn
and
will not change His mind:
“You are a priest forever
in
the order of Melchizedek.”
According to the Law of Moses, only the descendants of his brother Aaron could be priests. Only the descendants of the tribe of Levi could handle the holy objects in the tabernacle. Kings could not be priests, and priests could not be kings. The Melchizedek priesthood would deserve a whole post just to explain it to those not familiar with the book of Genesis. Melchizedek was a real Canaanite priest in Abraham’s day, to whom Abraham paid tithes. He was also the King of Salem (Jerusalem), which means King of Peace. His name means King of Righteousness. This was hundreds of years before the Hebrew people left Egypt to claim the Promised Land.
The author of the book of Hebrews clarifies the reference to Melchizedek as a metaphor of Jesus—He is eternal, beyond ethnic identification, a holy King. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:3).
In that same letter the author states, “1This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2and Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything. First, his name means 'king of righteousness.' Then also, 'king of Salem' means 'king of peace.' 3Without father or mother or genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God, he remains a priest for all time,” (Hebrews 7:1-3).
Of Jesus, the Hebrews author writes, “27Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself. 28For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever" (Heb. 7:27, 28).
David couldn’t with any integrity have ascribed all these qualities to himself.
110:5: The
Lord is at Your right hand;
He
will crush kings in the day of His wrath.
110:6: He
will judge the nations, heaping up the dead;
He
will crush the leaders far and wide.
The psalm is steeped in the language and culture of the 10th century. Evangelicals often forego the nuances of context and culture, while academics refuse to traffic in miracles and mysticism. Psalm 110 is freighted with both, so from our perspective today, these verses are culturally disquieting. In the culture of the tenth century BC, the deity, the king, the people, and the temple felt honoed by “crushing” or shattering or scattering one’s enemies. Western democracies don’t think in such narcissistic military terms, but no human government is without sin, misjudgments, and compromise of principals. History shows us over and over that straying into sociopathic colonialism leads to millions of deaths. Think of WWII and the rubble and corpses left in its wake. Think of Hitler shooting everyone in his bunker, then shooting himself. Think of Mussolini’s body hanging upside down in the town square or Gaddafi beaten and shot by an angry mob. Cult leader Jim Jones convinced hundreds of followers to drink poison and die beside their children. Sin leads to immense harm, and national sin can demolish nations. God doesn’t do this. His enemy does, and God may allow it until we learn the societal lessons required for progress. Often in the healing, great changes for good arise. Germany and Japan are our modern allies today, and Israel has its own homeland.
Messiah's enemies are described in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. Lucifer or "the shining one" exalted himself above God. One author wrote, "...he wears the mask of Tyre's contemptuous king." In these passages, the fate of a real earthly king and a powerful, fallen non-human intelligence are woven together. In God's time, both are humiliated and silenced.
7 He will drink from the brook by the road;
therefore
He will lift up His head.
Talk about scriptural whiplash...suddenly we’re wafted away from apocalyptic wars to a refreshing scene, but this is a metaphorical brook flowing with living waters. Jesus said to the woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water,” (John 4:10). The thirst Jesus was slaking was spiritual; the living water was the eternal life that only a perfect eternal king and priest can offer. Jesus was drinking from the deep wells of heaven where the life we all want to live extends forever.
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