Psalm 110[a] God Appoints the King both King and Priest
1 A psalm of David.
The Lord says to my lord: [b] “Sit at my right hand, while I
make your enemies your footstool.”
2 The scepter of your might: the Lord extends your strong scepter from
Zion. Have dominion over your enemies!
3 Yours is princely power from the day of your birth. In holy
splendor before the daystar, like dew I begot you.
4 The Lord has sworn and will not waver: “You are a priest
forever in the manner of Melchizedek.”[c]
5 At your right hand is the Lord, who crushes kings on the
day of his wrath,
6 Who judges nations, heaps up corpses, crushes heads across
the wide earth,
7 [d] Who drinks from the brook by the wayside and thus
holds high his head.
NOTES
(a) Psalm 110 A royal Psalm in which a court singer recites
three oracles in which God assures the king that his enemies are conquered (Ps
110:1–2), makes the king “son” in traditional adoption language (Ps 110:3),
gives priestly status to the king and promises to be with him in future
military ventures (Ps 110:4–7).
(b) 110:1 The Lord says to my lord: a polite form of address
of an inferior to a superior, cf. 1 Sm 25:25; 2 Sm 1:10. The court singer
refers to the king. Jesus in the synoptic gospels (Mt 22:41–46 and parallels)
takes the psalmist to be David and hence “my lord” refers to the messiah, who
must be someone greater than David. Your footstool: in ancient times victorious
kings put their feet on the prostrate bodies of their enemies.
(c) 110:4 Melchizedek: Melchizedek was the ancient king of
Salem (Jerusalem) who blessed Abraham (Gn 14:18–20); like other kings of the
time he performed priestly functions. Hb 7 sees in Melchizedek a type of
Christ.
(d) 110:7 Who drinks from the brook by the wayside: the
meaning is uncertain. Some see an allusion to a rite of royal consecration at
the Gihon spring (cf. 1 Kgs 1:33, 38). Others find here an image of the divine
warrior (or king) pursuing enemies so relentlessly that he does not stop long
enough to eat and drink.
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