Psalms 110:5

5 The Lord is at your right side; when he becomes angry, he will defeat kings.

Psalms 110:5 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 110:5

The Lord at thy right hand
These words are either directed to Christ, at whose right hand the Lord was to help and assist him, ( Psalms 16:8 ) or to the church, consisting of the Lord's willing people, at whose right hand he is to save them; is ready to help them, and is a present help to them in time of need, ( Psalms 109:31 ) or rather to Jehovah the Father, at whose right hand the "Adonai", or Lord, even David's Lord, and every believer's Lord, is, as in ( Psalms 110:1 ) , and who is spoken of in all the following clauses; and to whom the things mentioned are ascribed, and so what immediately follows:

shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath;
not only strike at them, and strike them; but strike them through, utterly destroy them. This is to be understood of the kings and princes that stood up and set themselves against him, ( Psalms 2:2 ) , which is interpreted of Herod and Pontius Pilate, ( Acts 4:26 Acts 4:27 ) , who both died shameful deaths; as did another Herod, that set himself against the apostles and church of Christ, ( Acts 12:1 Acts 12:2 Acts 12:23 ) , and also of Heathens, kings and emperors, who persecuted the Christians; as Diocletian, Maximilian, and others; who are represented as fleeing to rocks and mountains, to hide them from the Lamb, the great day of his wrath being come, ( Revelation 6:15-17 ) , and also of the antichristian kings, that shall be gathered together to the battle of the Lord God Almighty, and shall be overcome and slain by Christ, ( Revelation 16:14 Revelation 16:16 ) ( 17:14 ) ( Revelation 19:20 Revelation 19:21 ) which will be a time of wrath, when the vials of God's wrath shall be poured out upon the antichristian kings and states; see ( Revelation 16:1 Revelation 16:19 ) ( 11:18 ) . And may also reach the last and general judgment; when kings, as well as others, shall stand before him, and receive their awful doom from him; and shall perish when his wrath is kindled against them, ( Psalms 2:11 Psalms 2:12 ) .

Psalms 110:5 In-Context

3 On the day you fight your enemies, your people will volunteer. Like the dew of early morning your young men will come to you on the sacred hills.
4 The Lord made a solemn promise and will not take it back: "You will be a priest forever in the priestly order of Melchizedek."
5 The Lord is at your right side; when he becomes angry, he will defeat kings.
6 He will pass judgment on the nations and fill the battlefield with corpses; he will defeat kings all over the earth.
7 The king will drink from the stream by the road, and strengthened, he will stand victorious.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.