Psalms 110:1

The Lord said unto my Lord,.... The Targum is, "the Lord said in his Word.'' Galatinus (q) says the true Targum of Jonathan has it, "the Lord said to his Word;'' and produces an authority for it.

Though His reign on earth shall then openly begin, He shall, as God, no less than now, continue to sit on His heavenly throne, which he mounted at His ascension.

Psalms 110 THE That the penman of this Psalm was not Eliezer, Abraham’ s servant, who writ it upon the occasion of Abraham’ s victory over those kings, Genesis 14, (as some of the later Jews have devised, out of opposition to Christianity,) nor any other person but David, is manifest from the title of the Psalm, which is a part of the sacred text. That this Psalm belongs to the Messiah is abundantly evident, both from the express testimony of the New Testament, 10:13, and from the consent of the ancient Hebrew doctors, manifested implicitly in , and expressly from their own mouths. Of which see my Latin Synopsis upon this place; and from the matter of the Psalm, which can by no means or arts be made to agree to David, who was not David’ s lord nor a priest, much less a priest forever, or after the order of Melchisedek, the priesthood of Aaron being in David’ s time in use and force, and in the hands of another person and family. And whereas divers other Psalms, though principally directed to and to be understood of the Messiah, yet in some sort may be understood concerning David also, or at least took their rise and occasion from David, or from something relating to him, this Psalm is directly, and immediately, and solely to be understood concerning the Messiah; the Spirit of God wisely so ordering this matter, that it might be a most express and convincing testimony against the unbelieving Jews concerning the true Messiah, and concerning the nature and quality of his kingdom. Written by David, as is manifest both from this title, which being given to this, as well as to many other Psalms, whereof David is confessed to be the author, either proves this to be David’ s, or proves none of them to be so; and from ,44 Mr 12:36, where also David is said to have spoken this Psalm in or by the Spirit of God, or by Divine inspiration. An account of the calling the kingdom of Christ, ; of his everlasting priesthood, ; of his mighty conquest over his enemies, ,6; and of his sufferings and triumph, . The Lord; God the Father, the first person in the Trinity, to whom accordingly the original of all things, and especially of the work of man’ s redemption by Christ, is ascribed. Said; decreed or appointed it from eternity, and in due time published this decree, as is noted, , and actually executed it; which he did when he raised up Christ from the dead, and brought him into his heavenly mansion.

Psalms 110:1 « A Psalm of David. » The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.A Psalm of David] Concerning Christ, saith R. Obadiah, and so say Christ himself, Matthew 22:44, and his apostles, 1 Corinthians 15:25 Hebrews 1:13; Hebrews 10:12-13, though some Rabbis maliciously say otherwise, as R. Joseph, caecus qui hic caecutit, to say the best of him, and other Jewish doctors, who stagger here in their expositions, as drunkards, ωςοιμεθυοντες (Chrysostom). Ver. 1. The Lord said unto my Lord] In this one verse we have a description of Christ’ s person, his wars and his victory; so that we may say of it (and so indeed of the whole psalm, which is an epitome of the gospel), as Cicero did of Brutus’ s laconical epistle, Quam multa, quam paucisi How much in a little. Sit thou at my right hand] Sit thou with me in my throne, having power over all things in heaven and earth, Matthew 28:18 Christ, as man, received what, as God, he had before. Until I make thine enemies thy footstool] Foes Christ hath ever had, and shall have to the world’ s end; but then they shall be all in a place fittest for them, viz. under Christ’ s feet; even those who now set up their crests, face the heavens, and say unto the King, Apostata, stouting it out with him.

(1) The Messiah; and, if so, with a prophetic consciousness of His Divinity, or, at least, His superiority as a Prince over all other princes. (2) David himself: this is, of course, inconsistent with the Davidic authorship of the psalm. (3) Solomon. (4) Hezekiah. (5) Joshua son of Josedech. (6) One of the priest-kings of the Asmonean dynasty. We now come to the words of the oracle: “Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.” Commentators have sought in the customs of Arabia, and even in the mythology of the Greek poets, for proof that this expression denotes viceroyalty or copartnership in the throne. If this meaning could be established from Hebrew literature, these parallels would be confirmatory as well as illustrative; but the nearest approach to be found in the Old Testament only makes the seat at the king’s right hand a mark of extreme honour. (See the case of Bath-sheba, 1 Kings 2:19; of the queen consort of Psa 45:9; of Jonathan, 1Ma 10:63.) Nothing more can be assumed, therefore, from the words themselves than an invitation to sit at Jehovah’s right hand to watch the progress of the victorious struggle in which wide and sure dominion is to be won for this Prince. But even this is obscured by the concluding part of the psalm (see Psalms 110:5), where Jehovah is said to be at the right hand of the person addressed, and is beyond question represented ac[??] going out with him to battle. Hence, we are led to the conclusion, that the exact position (“at the right hand”) i not to be pressed in either case, and that no more is intended than that, with Jehovah’s help, the monarch who is the hero of the poem will acquire and administer a vast and glorious realm. Footstool.—The imagery of the footstool (literally a stool for thy feet) is no doubt taken from the custom mentioned in Joshua 10:24.

PSALM CX The Messiah sits in his kingdom at the right hand of God, his enemies being subdued under him, 1, 2. The nature and extent of his government, 3. His everlasting priesthood, 4. His execution of justice and judgment, 5, 6. The reason on which all this is founded, his passion and exaltation, 7. NOTES ON PSALM CX The Hebrew, and all the Versions, except the Arabic, attribute this Psalm to David: nor can this be doubted, as it is thus attributed in the New Testament; see the places in the margin. We have in it the celebration of some great potentates accession to the crown; but the subject is so grand, the expressions so noble, and the object raised so far above what can be called human, that no history has ever mentioned a prince to whom a literal application of this Psalm can be made. To Jesus Christ alone, to his everlasting priesthood and government, as King of kings and Lord of lords, can it be applied. The Jews, aware of the advantage which the Christian religion must derive from this Psalm, have laboured hard and in vain to give it a contrary sense. Some have attributed it to Eliezer, the servant or steward of Abraham; and state that he composed it on the occasion of his master's victory over the four kings at the valley of Shaveh, Genesis 14:14-17. Others say it was done by David, in commemoration of his victory over the Philistines. Others make Solomon the author. Some refer it to Hezekiah, and others to Zerubbabel, c.: but the bare reading of the Psalm will show the vanity of these pretensions. A King is described here who is David's Lord, and sits at the right hand of God a conqueror, reigning at Jerusalem, King from all eternity-having an everlasting priesthood, Judge of all nations, triumphing over all potentates, indefatigable in all his operations, and successful in all his enterprises. Where has there ever appeared a prince in whom all these characters met? There never was one, nor is it possible that there ever can be one such, the Person excepted to whom the Psalm is applied by the authority of the Holy Spirit himself. That the Jews who lived in the time of our Lord believed this Psalm to have been written by David, and that it spoke of the Messiah alone, is evident from this, that when our Lord quoted it, and drew arguments from it in favour of his mission, Matthew 22:42, they did not attempt to gainsay it. St. Peter, Acts 2:34, and St. Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:25; Hebrews 1:13; Hebrews 5:6; Hebrews 5:10; Hebrews 7:17; Hebrews 10:12-13, apply it to show that Jesus is the Messiah. Nor was there any attempt to contradict them; not even an intimation that they had misapplied it, or mistaken its meaning. Many of the later Jews also have granted that it applied to the Messiah, though they dispute its application to Jesus of Nazareth.

1–3. Jehovah’s oracle concerning the king: the assurance of victory over his enemies: the willing service of his people.

The Lord said unto my Lord - In the Hebrew, “Spake Jehovah to my Lord.” The word יהוה Yahweh is the incommunicable name of God. It is never given to a created being.

1. The Lord said unto my Lord—Jehovah said to Adonee, or, the oracle of Jehovah to Adonee.