February 20
Reading: Psalm 110
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David
1 The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power,
in holy garments; from the womb of the morning,
the dew of your youth will be yours.
4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgment among the nations,
filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the brook by the way;
therefore he will lift up his head.
No chapter in the Old Testament is quoted as often in the New Testament as Psalm 110. Jesus quoted it to puzzle the Jewish teachers. (Matthew 22:44, Mark 12:36, Luke 20:42-42) It shows up in Peter’s message in Acts 2:34-35. It shows up in Hebrews 1:13, 5:6, 7:17, 21, 27. Allusions to this psalm are found even more frequently.
Psalm 110 is unquestionably a Messianic Psalm. The first verse begins with a puzzle for the Jewish scholar. The puzzle is more obvious in the Hebrew than in English. There is David, the king, who is writing the psalm. There is the LORD (all capitals), which is the English translation of “Yahweh.” This is God’s covenant name, a play on the word for “I Am” in Hebrew. Then there is “my Lord,” which is the English translation of the Hebrew “Adonai.” This is the normal word meaning “lord” or “master.” It is a title that one would use for a king or a prince.
In Psalm 110, so much hangs on the prescript, “A psalm of David.”
The question arises, “Who, other than Yahweh, would David call ‘my Lord?’” This is the puzzle that Jesus presented to the Jewish teachers. No one could answer Him. They all would have said that this would be the Messiah. But then, how could King David call him “my Lord” if he was David’s descendant? Wouldn’t that make David his superior? And yet, David calls him “Adonai.”
We know now that this is because the Messiah would be God Himself, and would reign at the right hand of Yahweh forever, as this very psalm indicates. In fact, the Messiah, according to Psalm 110, reigns as king (vss. 1-3), priest (vs.4), and mighty warrior (vss. 5-7). There is no other king in all the history of Israel who combines these three offices. This Messiah, who we know now as Jesus Christ, will reign in awesome power and execute judgment on all of Hs enemies, just as we read in Psalm 2.