Psalms
Chapter 110
1
The Messiah, King and Priest
The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand till I make your foes your footstool.”
2
From Zion the Lord will extend your mighty scepter; and you will rule in the midst of your enemies.
3
Yours is royal dignity from the day you were born in holy majesty. Like dew from the womb of the dawn, I have begotten you.
4
The Lord has sworn, and he will not take back his word: “You are a priest, forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
5
The Lord is at your right hand to crush the kings on his day of wrath.
6
He will judge the nations, heaping up corpses, smashing heads on the wide plain.
7
He has lapped up the water from the brook; this is why he will lift up his head.
Commentaries
110
Sometimes we feel trapped, as if in prison, by life’s problems. This psalm is like a flash of lightning that illuminates the prison and shows us an unexpected escape toward heaven. Despite some obscure expressions, the overall meaning is clear: from Zion will come the one who will be victorious over all the hostile powers (vv. 5-6). The struggle will be challenging, but God will ultimately ask him to sit at his right hand, and all will be subject to him. Our Lord is the Son of God. We can pray with this psalm, which evokes the political consciousness of authority. A Christian reading asks that the psalm be free from its violence. Christ is king and priest, but king of justice, love, and peace; the priest who entered the sanctuary through his blood and has opened access to it for us. Let us pray for the people of God, who are kingly and priestly.