Psalm 2
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
It is becoming more widely recognized that the Psalms were composed and later arranged in a purposeful way. Dr. Rydelnik points out a number of links between Psalm 110 and Psalm 2. This is an “innertextual link” because they are both from the Psalms. One of the links is that both Psalms promise the King dominion over enemy nations. Psalm 110 says for Him to sit at His right hand until God makes His enemies a footstool. Psalm 2 describes these enemy nations as rebellious, whose leaders “take their stand…against the Lord and His Anointed One” (2:2). But at the end of Psalm 2, God promises that He will give Him “the nations” as an “inheritance” and the “ends of the earth” as a “possession” (2:8).
Now read Psalm 110 –
The Lord says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 The Lord sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
3 Your people will offer themselves freely
on the day of your power,[a]
in holy garments;[b]
from the womb of the morning,
the dew of your youth will be yours.[c]
4 The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgment among the nations,
filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs[d]
over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the brook by the way;
therefore he will lift up his head.
A second link between Ps 110 and Ps 2 shows that the King acts with righteous wrath. In Ps 110:5 the King “crushes kings on the day of His anger [beyom appo],” while in Ps 2:5 God speaks “to them in His anger [be’appo].” Moreover, the nations are warned that if they fail to “pay homage” to the King, “He will be angry” (ʾnp) and they “will perish” (2:12). Not only does Ps 2:5 use the same word for anger as 110:5, but it also uses two synonyms, “burning anger” (charon) and the verb “be angry” (ʾanp), heightening the thematic links between the two psalms.
A third innertextual link between Ps 110 and Ps 2 is in the description of the King’s victorious battle. In Ps 110:2 God promises to extend the King’s “mighty scepter (matteh) from Zion” over all the nations. Similarly, in Ps 2:9 the King is promised the nations as an inheritance, noting that He “will break them with a rod (shevet) of iron,” using the synonyms matteh and shevet. Both psalms depict the King’s victory in graphic terms: Ps 110:5–6 describes Him as crushing kings, piling corpses, and crushing leaders; similarly, Ps 2:9 portrays Him as shattering earthly kings and nations into pottery shards.
Yet another link between the two psalms is that the King is to reign from Zion. In Ps 110:2, “the Lord” stretches forth the King’s scepter “from Zion.” Accordingly, Ps 2:6 presents the King as enthroned on “Zion,” God’s “holy mountain.”
Michael A. Rydelnik, “Psalm 110: The Messiah as Eternal King Priest,” in The Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy: Studies and Expositions of the Messiah in the Old Testament, ed. Michael Rydelnik and Edwin Blum (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2019), 684–685.
A final connection comes from a variant reading of verse 3. God says to the King, “from the womb of the dawn, I have begotten You (yelidtikā). This is the exact same word God uses of the King in 2:7,
You are my Son, today I have begotten you (yelidtikā).” Rydelnik goes on to say that, “Although Pss 2 and 110 are clearly linked in the NT (Heb 1:3–5, 13; 5:5–6), the phrases about the Begotten One were not associated until Justin Martyr did so in the second century. Hay proposes that the NT authors neglected to do so “because they knew that its meaning (and form) were disputed and because they could find other scriptural texts to support ideas of Jesus’ divine sonship.” Another possible explanation for the NT omission of this link is that perhaps the association of this word was so obvious that it was unnecessary for the NT authors even to cite it. With or without the association of the phrase “I have begotten you,” plainly Pss 2 and 110 use verbal and thematic links to present a fully orbed picture of the eschatological Messianic King.
Michael A. Rydelnik, “Psalm 110: The Messiah as Eternal King Priest,” in The Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy: Studies and Expositions of the Messiah in the Old Testament, ed. Michael Rydelnik and Edwin Blum (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2019), 685.
Other Old Testament Passages
1.) Daniel 7
In Daniel 7:9, the Ancient of Days takes His seat. But in Daniel 7:13-14, there is a reference to plural “thrones.” The Son of Man is given “an everlasting dominion that will not pass away” and a kingdom “that will not be destroyed.” This connects with Psalm 110 because the Son of Man takes His seat next to the Ancient of Days. It is akin to Ps 80:17: “Let Your hand be with the man at Your right hand, with the son of man You have made strong for Yourself.”
2.) Zechariah 6
Rydelnik writes –
Yet a second important intertextual reference to Ps 110:4 is Zch 6:9–15. There it describes the eschatological unification of the royal and priestly offices with a role-play by Joshua the high priest. A composite crown, representing kingship and priesthood, is placed on Joshua’s head and he is called by the messianic title, “Branch.” This Priest-King will build the eschatological Temple and “sit and rule on His throne … He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices” (Zch 6:12–13 NASB). Clearly this refers to the King described in Ps 110:4, who is a priest like Melchizedek, uniting the offices of king and priest.
Zechariah makes this clearly future with the unification of both priest and king into one individual. He will build the Temple of God and satisfactorily fulfill this role. This could not be understood as something fulfilled in the past.
3.) Zechariah 14
Also in Zechariah 14, “the Lord” is said to “go out to fight against those nations as He fights on a day of battle” so that “His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives” which “will be split in half from east to west” (Zch 14:3–5). This has to point to the coming of the Deliverer who will wipe out the enemy. Some have pointed out that it would be a remarkable case of anthropomorphism to show Yhwh God as physically touching the earth with his feet so that it split. This has to refer to the Messiah.
The imagery of Zch 14 relies on Ps 110 in several ways…
a. Both passages depict a descent from heaven—Ps 110 from the right hand of God to the battlefield (110:1, 5–6) and Zch 14:3–5 from the heights of heaven to Jerusalem in defense of God’s people.
b. Both passages describe a deliverer coming to the battle accompanied by a holy army. Psalm 110:3 states, “Your people will volunteer on Your day of battle. In holy splendor …,” while Zch 14:5 proclaims, “Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with Him.”
c. Finally, Ps 110:5–6 graphically portrays the King destroying the rebellious nations, crushing them and “heaping up corpses.” Similarly, Zch 14:12–14 graphically displays the plague and panic that will seize enemy armies in their defeat.
The point of what has been discussed in this section is this: in the postexilic era, the books of Daniel and Zechariah provide a clear messianic hope by relying on the words and images contained in Ps 110. Plainly, these later writers understood Ps 110 to refer to the Messiah of Israel.
It is not the intertextual references alone that point to a messianic interpretation. By placing the psalm in context of the whole Psalter and performing careful intextual and innertextual readings, it appears that Ps 110 presents the glorious Messiah Priest-King, seated at the right hand of God and returning in power to establish His dominion over all the earth.
Michael A. Rydelnik, “Psalm 110: The Messiah as Eternal King Priest,” in The Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy: Studies and Expositions of the Messiah in the Old Testament, ed. Michael Rydelnik and Edwin Blum (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2019), 686–687.
All of these connections show that there was an expectation of the Messiah as a priest/king and a warrior who will crush the enemy and reign over the earth dispensing God’s judgment and bringing peace. The prophets connected this with Psalm 110 in the Old Testament. What does the New Testament have to say about the interpretation of Psalm 110? We will go to that next.
Leave a Reply to adylynfriske89Cancel reply