Psalms 110:4

The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent,.... What he swore about, and did not repent of, was the priesthood of Christ, as follows; and which shows the importance of it, since when Jehovah swears, as

The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Hath sworn; which he did not in the Aaronical priesthood, , but did it here, partly because the thing was new and strange, and might seem incredible, because God had already erected another, and that an everlasting priesthood, , and given it to Aaron and his posterity for ever, and therefore this needed all possible assurance; and partly that his priesthood might be established upon better promises, as is said, , and made sure and irrevocable, and such that God neither could nor would repent of it, as it follows. Thou art, to wit, by my order and constitution; thou shalt be so, and I do hereby make thee so. A Priest, as well as a King. Those offices which were divided before between two families, are both united and invested in thee, both being absolutely necessary for the discharge of thine office, and for the establishment of thy kingdom, which is of another kind than the kingdoms of the world, spiritual and heavenly, and therefore needs such a King as is also a minister of holy things. This word plainly discovers that this Psalm cannot be understood of David, as some of the Jews would have it, but only of the Messias. And although this word cohen be sometimes used of a prince or great person in the state, as the Jews object, yet it cannot be so understood here, partly, because it signifies a priest in , from whence this expression is borrowed; partly, because that word is never used of a sovereign prince or king, (such as the Jews confess the Messiahs to be,) but only of inferior princes or ministers of state, as ; partly, because such an inconsiderable assertion would never have been ushered in by so solemn an oath, especially after far greater things had been said of him in the same kind, and partly, because the Messias is called a Priest, ; compare 35:15,18. For ever; not to be interrupted or translated to another person, as the priesthood of Aaron was upon the death of the priest, but to be continued to thee for ever. After the order of Melchizedek, or, after the manner, &c.; so as he was a priest and also a king, and both without any successor and without end, in the sense intended, .

Psalms 110:4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou [art] a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.Ver. 4. The Lord hath sworn, &c.] Christ’ s priestly office, as well as his kingly, is here described, whereof how many and how great mysteries there are, see Heb. vii., with the notes. The Church is collected and conserved not only by Christ’ s kingly power, but also by his priestly mediation. Thou art a priest] 1. To expiate. 2. To intercede. After the order of Melchisedek] Who whether he were Shem, or some other, is not easy to determine. Melchisedek was a king and a priest. Christ was more, a priest, a prophet, and a king. These offices have met double in some others; as Melchisedek was king and priest, Samuel a priest and a prophet, David a king and a prophet; but never met all three in any but in Christ alone.

(4) After the order of Melchizedek.—This follows the LXX. and Vulg. Better, after the manner of since there could have been with the psalmist no intention of contrasting this priesthood with that of Aaron, as there naturally was when the Aaronic order had come to an end or was visibly doomed to extinction. The previous history of Israel itself offered no example of the formal union of kingly and priestly offices in one person. It first appears in idea in Zechariah 6:12-13; in actual fact in the pontificate of Jonathan (1Ma 10:21). It is true that the royal and priestly functions were sometimes united, especially in the case of David, and in 2 Samuel 8:18, David’s sons are called “priests” (in English version, “chief rulers;” margin, or princes). It was therefore necessary to go back to Melchizedek, in whom history recognised this sanctioned and formal union (Genesis 14:18). For the various points brought out in the Epistle to the Hebrews 6, 7, see New Testament Commentary.

Verse 4. The Lord hath sworn] Has most firmly purposed, and will most certainly perform it, feeling himself bound by his purpose, as an honest man would by his oath. And will not repent] Will never change this purpose; it is perfectly without condition, and without contingency. Nothing is left here to the will of man or angel. Christ shall be incarnated, and the Gospel of his salvation shall be preached over the whole earth. This is an irresistible decree of that God who loves mankind. Thou art a priest for ever] The word כהן cohen signifies, not only a priest, but also a prince; as, in the patriarchal times, most heads of families had and exercised both political and sacerdotal authority over all their descendants. Every priest had a threefold office: 1. He was an instructor of the family or tribe over which he presided. 2. He offered sacrifices for the sins of the people, to reconcile them to God, and give them access to his presence. 3. He was their mediator, and interceded for them. So is Christ, the grand, the universal Instructor, by his word and Spirit; the Lamb of God, who, by his sacrificial offering of himself, takes away the sin of the world, and still continues to exhibit himself before the throne in his sacrificial character; and also the great Mediator between God and man: and in these characters he is a PRIEST for ever. He will instruct, apply the sacrificial offering, and intercede for man, till time shall be no more. After the order of Melchizedek.] For the elucidation of this point, the reader is requested to refer to the notes on Psalms 14:18-19, See Clarke on Genesis 14:18; "Genesis 14:19" and to the observations at the end of that chapter, See Clarke on Genesis 14:24, where the subject, relative to the person, name, and office of this ancient king, is fully discussed; and it will be necessary to read that note, c., as if appended to this place. Melchizedek was king of Salem, that is, king of Jerusalem for Salem was its ancient name: but שלם salem signifies peace, and צדק tsedek, righteousness. Christ is styled the Prince of peace; and he is the king that rules in the empire of righteousness; and all peace and righteousness proceed from him, Hebrews 7:2. He is priest after the order of Melchizedek-after his pattern; in the same kind or manner of way in which this ancient king was priest. Calmet properly observes that there were three orders of priesthood. 1. That of royalty. All ancient kings being, in virtue of their office, priests also. This seems to have been considered as the natural right of royalty, as it obtained in almost every nation of the earth, from the beginning of the world down to the end of the Roman empire. 2. That of the first-born. This right appertained naturally to Reuben, as the first-born in the family of Jacob. 3.

4. The priesthood of the king. Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent] The king is also priest by an immutable Divine decree. The immutability of this decree is affirmed in the most solemn manner possible. The ‘oath’ of Him who cannot lie is no stronger than His word; He who knows all things from the beginning cannot repent or change His purpose (Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29), though man’s failure or change may necessitate a temporary interruption of His purpose which appears to finite man in the light of a ‘repentance.’ But He who is absolutely true and unchanging condescends for man’s sake to confirm His word by an oath. Cp. Amos 6:8; Psalms 132:11. Thou art a priest for ever after the order (or, manner) of Melchizedek] Melchizedek, king of Salem, and priest of God Most High (El Elyôn), appears in Genesis 14:18 ff. as the representative of a true faith in the primitive world. He was a type of that union of civil and religious life, which must be the ideal of the perfect state. The thought here affirmed is that the new king of Jerusalem must hold a position in no way inferior to that of the ancient king of Salem. As the representative of “a kingdom of priests and an holy nation” (Exodus 19:6) he had a priestly character. As the representative of God to the people and of the people to God he had a mediatorial office. David, when he brought up the Ark into the city of David, laid aside his royal robes and wore the dress of a priest (2 Samuel 6:14): both he and Solomon exercised priestly functions in offering sacrifice, or at least in directing the sacrifices, if they did not actually offer them (2 Samuel 6:17-18; 1 Kings 8:62 ff.), and in blessing the people (2 Samuel 6:18; 1 Kings 8:14; 1 Kings 8:55); Solomon deposed and appointed a high-priest (1 Kings 2:27; 1 Kings 2:35). David’s sons, in whatever sense the term may have been used, were styled priests (2 Samuel 8:18). But the priesthood of the king is here implicitly distinguished from the hereditary priesthood of the family of Aaron, as a priesthood ‘after the manner of Melchizedek.’ For ever, as applied to an individual, may be a relative term, as in 1Ma 14:41, quoted above, p. 663. Cp. 1 Samuel 1:22. But the promise of an eternal priesthood corresponds rather to the promise of eternal dominion in 2 Samuel 7:13; 2 Samuel 7:10; 2 Samuel 7:25; 2 Samuel 7:29. Made to an individual, it is realised in his descendants. Jeremiah speaks of the priestly right of access to God which is to be conferred upon the Messianic prince (Jeremiah 30:21); and the union of civil and religious life was symbolised under the altered circumstances of the return from Babylon by the coronation of Joshua (Zechariah 6:12-13).

The Lord hath sworn - He has confirmed the appointment of the Messiah by a solemn oath, or as by an oath. That is, It is as sure and fixed as if he had taken an oath. Compare Hebrews 6:13.

4. This contains the grand central revelation of this psalm, the doctrine of the union of priest and king in him whom David calls, (Psalms 110:1,) “my Lord.” The Lord hath sworn—Jehovah hath sworn.