Psalm 110:1-6

1 {Psalm of David.} Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put thine enemies [as] footstool of thy feet.

2 Jehovah shall send the sceptre of thy might out of Zion: rule in the midst of thine enemies.

3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in holy splendour: from the womb of the morning [shall come] to thee the dew of thy youth.

4 Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek.

5 The Lord at thy right hand will smite through kings in the day of his anger.

6 He shall judge among the nations; he shall fill [all places] with dead bodies; he shall smite through the head over a great country.

Psalm 110:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 110

\\<>\\. This psalm was written by David, as the title shows, and which is confirmed by our Lord Jesus Christ, Mt 22:43 and by the Apostle Peter, Ac 2:34 and was not written by anyone of the singers concerning him, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; nor by Melchizedek, nor by Eliezer the servant of Abraham, concerning him, as Jarchi and others: for the former could not call Abraham his lord, since he was greater than he, Heb 7:7 and though the latter might, yet he could not assign his master a place at the right hand of God; nor say he was a priest after the order of Melchizedek: and as it was written by David, it could not be concerning himself, as the Targum, but some other; not of Hezekiah, to whom some of the Jews applied it, as Tertullian {m} affirms; but of the Messiah, as is clear from the quotation by Christ, Mt 22:43,44 and from the references to it by the apostle, \Ac 2:34 1Co 15:25 Heb 1:13\. And that this was the general sense of the ancient Jewish church is manifest from the silence of the Pharisees, when a passage out of it was objected to them by our Lord concerning the Messiah; and is the sense that some of the ancient Jews give of it; says R. Joden {n}, ``God will make the King Messiah sit at his right hand, &c:'' and the same is said by others {o}; and it is likewise owned by some of the more modern {p} ones; and we Christians can have no doubt about it. The psalm is only applicable to Christ, and cannot be accommodated to any other; no, not to David as a type, as some psalms concerning him may.

Footnotes

• [a] As Gen. 22.16; Ps. 36.1.
• [b] Or 'voluntary-offerings,' 'shall offer themselves willingly.'
• [c] Or 'forces (army).'
• [d] Or '... splendour, from the womb of the morning. To thee shall be the dew of thy youth,' i.e. 'young men:' see Ps. 22.31; 45.16.