Psalms 110 · ESV Study Bible

Sit at My Right Hand

PSALM 110 [†] q The LORD says to my Lord:

r “Sit at my right hand,

s until I make your enemies your t footstool.”

2[†] The LORD sends forth u from Zion

v your mighty scepter.

w Rule in the midst of your enemies!

3[†] x Your people will y offer themselves freely

on the day of your z power, [1]

in a holy garments; [2]

from the womb of the morning,

the dew of your youth will be yours. [3]

4[^][†] b The LORD has c sworn

and will d not change his mind,

e “You are f a priest g forever

after the order of h Melchizedek.”

5[†] The Lord is at your i right hand;

he will j shatter kings on k the day of his wrath.

6 He will l execute judgment among the nations,

m filling them with corpses;

he will n shatter chiefs [4]

over the wide earth.

7 He will o drink from the brook by the way;

therefore he will lift up his head.

PSALM—NOTE ON 110:4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind. Once this takes effect, it cannot be revoked. a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was “king of Salem” (i.e., of Jerusalem) and a “priest of God Most High” (Gen. 14:18–20) who met Abraham after a battle, blessed him, and received a tenth of his spoil. The Davidic king is to be “after his order,” i.e., like him, probably in the sense that he is both a king and a priest (these are two distinct offices in Israel), ruling in Jerusalem (cf. Zion, Ps. 110:2). The prophet Zechariah foresaw a merger of these two offices in the person of the Messiah, or “the Branch” (Zech. 6:9–14). Since the OT records this of no other king of David’s line, this shows that the psalm is primarily about the final king, the Messiah. The author of Hebrews (Heb. 5:6), who cited Ps. 110:1 (see note) throughout his book, uses this verse to explain to his Jewish audience why Jesus, the now-reigning heir of David (cf. Heb. 1:3; 5:5), is also the ultimate priest; now that Jesus has arrived, Christian Jews may not legitimately return to “ordinary” Judaism in order to escape persecution, hoping that the old sacrifices will still “work,” for they will not. There is a text from Qumran (11QMelchizedek) that also foresees Melchizedek as a heavenly judge and deliverer.

PSALM—NOTE ON Psalm 110. This is a royal psalm, i.e., its theme deals with the role of the house of David in the life of God’s people (see also Psalms 2; 18; 20–21; 45; 72; 101; 132; 144; and possibly 89). Like Psalms 2 and 72, this psalm goes well beyond the achievements of any merely human heir of David and thus looks forward to the Messiah; in fact, unlike those two psalms, it is almost entirely future in its orientation (see note on 110:4). When the people of God would sing this in faith, they would celebrate God’s promises to David, yearn for the day in which the Gentiles receive the light (the coming accomplishment of the Messiah), and seek to be faithful to their calling until that great day. This psalm is one of the most cited OT texts in the NT, with quotations or allusions appearing in the Gospels, Acts, the Pauline epistles, Hebrews, and the Petrine epistles. Christians sing this psalm to celebrate that Jesus has taken his Davidic kingship by his resurrection (see note on Ps. 2:7), and that God is busy now subduing the Gentiles into the empire of Jesus.

PSALM—NOTE ON 110:1 The LORD to My Lord. The psalm opens with an oracle from God (the LORD/Yahweh) to the Davidic king (my Lord). Sit at my right hand. This is the position of honor (cf. 1 Kings 2:19; Ps. 45:9), occupied by the human king. The Davidic king “sat on the throne of the LORD” (1 Chron. 29:23). make your enemies your footstool. Cf. 1 Kings 5:3. God will subdue these enemies, making them subject to the authority of the Davidic king (cf. Ps. 2:8; 72:8–11, 17; Isa. 11:1–10). In Matt. 22:44 (Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42) Jesus draws attention to the fact that David (the psalm’s author) calls the king “my Lord,” which implies that the king (whom all agreed was the Messiah) was greater than David. The idea that the risen Lord Jesus is the reigning messianic king seated at “God’s right hand” appears in Acts 2:32–35; 1 Cor. 15:25; Eph. 1:20; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Pet. 3:22; cf. Matt. 26:64. In 1 Cor. 15:25 and Eph. 1:20 Paul combines this with Ps. 8:6 (see note there).

PSALM—NOTE ON 110:3 in holy garments. In festive clothing, in honor of the great moment (cf. 2 Chron. 20:21). from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. As the esv footnote observes, the meaning of the Hebrew is obscure. The “womb of the morning” is probably a poetic expression for the east, or for the dawn (which is when the dew appears). The “dew of your youth” may be a poetic term for refreshment, implying that the king has continual sources of fresh energy; or it might suggest willing soldiers as numerous as the dewdrops.