Psalms 110

Psalms 110:1-7

The confirmation of the King-Priest. A psalm of David. The second psalm here is the answer of Jehovah to this humbled One, establishing Him as King and Priest together, after the order of Melchizedek, and with a prophecy of the revival of Israel under Him; and the subjection of enemies. There are but seven verses, and which follow the general septenary pattern of 4 (3+1) +3; except that these portions seem to be more emphasized than usual, so as to divide the whole into three equal parts of equal value.

1. The first three verses speak of Jehovah’s King. But He is not yet actually enthroned. Like David himself, but whose Lord He really is, He has His time of rejection and even banishment. But unlike David, and completely in opposition to the thought of a reference in it to the Israelitish throne as the “throne of Jehovah” (1 Chronicles 29:23), it is precisely in this time of His rejection that He sits at the right hand of Jehovah. It is an Old Testament hint which the New Testament clearly unfolds for us.

The place is heavenly, not earthly: “He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” (Mark 16:19). It is further developed by the Lord Himself in His address to Laodicea (Revelation 3:21), where, distinguishing it from the human throne which He will by and by take, and which He will share with others, He speaks of having overcome, and sitting down with His Father upon His throne. This defines for us the Christian interval in which we are, and which we must not expect to find more than hinted at in the Old Testament scriptures. Jehovah acts in due time for His King, who waits in entire dependence upon Him for the day in which His enemies are to be made His footstool. Then Jehovah will send the rod of Messiah’s power out of Zion; the seat of His kingdom; setting Him there in the midst of a hostile world, then to be quickly reduced to subjection. And as when He comes from heaven His heavenly people exchange their bridal festivities for militant array, and come with Him, -so now that He is in Zion He gathers Israel first around Himself. It is the day of His might, and they are now, as they were not hitherto, all of ready heart. They are newborn children of the dawning day, in the beauties of holiness every one; and for Christ, in the tender sympathy (as I take it) which unites Him to His people, like the dew of His own youth. As Paul could say, “Now I live, if ye stand fast in the Lord,” so the immortal Life, as it were, renews itself in the vigor of His people. 2. And this leads naturally to another view of the Person addressed, besides that of King. He is the King-Priest, the One who goes in to God in man’s behalf, and presents for him the acceptable sacrifice. Here again God bears witness to Him, and here indeed all the fullness of the divine heart comes out. He knows the importance of this for us; He knows, too, how slow and unbelieving we are in the reception of His grace. Hence He not only speaks, -He swears: “Jehovah has sworn; and will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” The apostle has given us the full significance of this, and from the Christian side, in the epistle to the Hebrews. Here is not the place for any proper investigation of it. It is one of many proofs that for Israel also the predicted blessing could not come through the Levitical rites or priesthood, instituted by the law, but through a glorious Person ordained to an eternal priesthood. The sacrifice -which a priest implies -is not, however, brought before us here. But we see that the King needed for them cannot be only King, -that He cannot commit the work of atonement to other hands than His own. Only by atonement can He be true “King of righteousness” (Melchizedek) and bless the children of Abraham as he to whom Abraham had given tithes had blessed the father. 3. Priestly work is not otherwise before us in this psalm; while the day of wrath it is that is earnestly pressed. The fifth and sixth verses do not seem to be the action of the King Himself, but of God as the Sovereign Lord (Adonai) in His behalf, according to the character of the psalm as a whole. It is God who sets His foes as a footstool for His feet; which does not lose sight any more than this does of His own activity. But the heavenly and earthly thrones are now and henceforth in complete concord; and here, throughout, the ways are the ways of God, with which in the last verse once more the Conqueror is shown to be in full accord. Thus “the Lord is at Thy right hand” would not be the repetition of the thought in the first verse, but the converse; and the divine anger is at the rejection of the Object of divine delight. The head over a wide country would seem to be Gog (Ezekiel 38:1-23), as has been often noticed, inasmuch as it is not the descent from heaven that is in view, as in Revelation 19:1-21, but the rod going forth from Zion. The last verse shows us, in figurative language, the secret of the King’s success. He drinks of the brook in the way, taking Himself the divine refreshment, the stream of living water, of which, though provided for all, the kings of the earth have so little availed themselves. Thus is He, as having the mind of the Spirit, in full unhindered fellowship with the ways of God, -Himself, indeed, being as we know the centre of them.