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Welcome to this session of wisdom
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forging where you and I engage in the
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ongoing practice of applying biblical
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thinking to deepen our understanding of
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truth in scripture.
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Our journey through scripture today will
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initiate an exploration of Psalm 110.
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This is the first leg of our journey,
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the rest of which will be found in parts
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two and three.
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Rather than simply making declarative
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statements about this psalm that I'm
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sure most, if not all, Christians would
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agree with, I want to take some time to
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focus on why we hold to our Christian
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beliefs about this psalm and others,
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specifically the messianic prophetic
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nature of this psalm.
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We'll explore the scripture and
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discussion surrounding it as though
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practicing to give an answer to anyone
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who asks as 1 Peter 3:15 instructs so
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that our faith is both understood and
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easily shared.
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If we don't practice this skill,
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consider this. How well prepared are we
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to preach the gospel to people who
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aren't familiar with the Bible? or
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perhaps even more challenging,
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especially in this case to a
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non-Christian Jew who already thinks
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they know better than us how to read and
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interpret the Old Testament, what they
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call the Tanakh.
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So
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sometimes people will look to word roots
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or to all the possible translations of a
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word or phrase and selectively hold to
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the meaning that supports their desired
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interpretation
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regardless of contextual cues or even
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their own traditional understanding as
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in the case of what we'll discuss um
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today.
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I think that the example that we're
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going to discuss today, this is a
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supremely embarrassing example of a way
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in which people will set aside their
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traditional understanding, the
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contextual clues, and the words right in
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front of them
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because they simply can't accept the
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implications of what it will mean for
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them.
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So
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in some circles you might encounter a
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debate on the Davidic authorship of
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select psalms including Psalm 110 due to
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linguistic or historical grounds. But
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within the context of the New Testament,
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Psalm 110 was already viewed as dividic
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and messianic scripture, as I'll show
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during part two of this journey in
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relation to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
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Acts.
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So, let's talk about a few different
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translations for a moment. English
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Christian Bible translations.
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And in fact, let me show you.
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Here we are.
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So,
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we have the ESV, the KGV, the LEB, the
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ASV, and the AEV
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are the examples we have here. A psalm
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of David. A psalm of David of David. A
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psalm. A psalm of David. A psalm of
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David.
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um it's not up there on that list, but
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the NIV that um I read as well also says
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of David, a psalm. U and there are other
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translations that will say one of these
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exact phrases. Uh probably most will say
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say it in one of these ways. There's
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another translation I want to mention
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because of uh the discussion we're going
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to engage in regarding um Jewish
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tradition, rabbitic Jewish tradition,
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specifically
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the complete Jewish Bible. It's a
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Messianic Jewish English Bible published
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in 1998 from the perspective of a Jew
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who believed in Jesus as I do, as
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Christians do, but wanted to emphasize
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the Jewish roots of both testaments, old
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and new. So, some things were written a
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little bit differently, but I checked.
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And the superscript of Psalm 110
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and the other Psalms that have the same
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Hebrew superscript
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reads the same way as all of these other
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English translations. It's a Psalm of
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David.
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Let me uh just clean up that page for
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you. There we go. And we'll leave Psalm
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110. This is the ESB, by the way, that
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you see on the right side of the screen.
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So the preposition preceding David the
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Hebrew leaved
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well uh yes in the superscript can be
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translated one of three ways essentially
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of David which would indicate authorship
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to or for David which would be make it
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maybe a dedication to David. um you
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might interpret it that way. And then
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the third way is about David, which
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makes David the subject.
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So how do we interpret the intended
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meaning of a word that has more than one
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potential meaning?
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Context.
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Context is key always. So let's talk
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about the rabbitic Jewish Tanakh
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which is the non-Christian
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authoritative scripture
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in its context throughout the Psalms.
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The most natural and traditional reading
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of the Hebrew linguistic construction
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mism le Davidid translates most plainly
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to Psalm of David.
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There's no grammatical or textual reason
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to interpret it to mean about David
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rather than by David. And they even read
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the same phrase, the exact same Hebrew
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phrase to indicate Davidic authorship
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for other psalms such as 11, 15, 23, 29,
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24 and others. Okay.
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Despite that, rabbitic Jewish tradition
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holds to the belief that the my lord
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here in verse one
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right here, if you see on the right side
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of the screen there, that the my lord in
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verse one of Psalm 110 is referring to
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David rather than to David's Lord, the
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Messiah.
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It's an interpretation from theological
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presupposition,
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meaning it's motivated by a desire to
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avoid identifying the psalmist's Lord as
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the Messiah, which leads to credence for
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the Christian perspective, regarding
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this psalm as a prophecy of Jesus
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Christ, which is how Christians
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typically view Psalm 110.
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A language is bafflingly complex when
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you study in detail like this.
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Woe is our tendency to be so careless
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with it
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[Music]
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sometimes. So anyway, allow me to draw
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an illustration for you.
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Just imagine this. A tourist driving
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through Spain sees a road sign that says
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Salida. He assumes it's the name of a
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nearby town and decides that's going to
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be his new destination.
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Unfortunately for him, he doesn't
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realize that Salida in Spanish simply
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means exit. So instead of exiting the
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highway, he keeps driving, mile after
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mile, looking for a town that doesn't
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exist.
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The sign wasn't wrong or misleading. It
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was perfectly clear to anyone who
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understood the language. The problem was
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a result of the tourist's assumption.
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And that's what happens when someone
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reads of David and decides it means
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about David.
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because that fits
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what they need, what they think they
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need to believe about the psalm, about
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who's writing it, about who's speaking
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to who in it.
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Starting in verse one, the words are
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right there in front of them. Yet the
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misunderstanding or in some cases the
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rejection of context leads them farther
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and farther from the intended
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destination, truth, which in this case
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has always been a revelation of Jesus
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Christ, our Messiah.
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Even before the New Testament, even
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before he came along, it was right
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there.
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So, gram grammatical nitpicking aside,
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let's read the text that follows the
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superscript, the psalm itself.
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I'm just going to read straight through
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it first. It's really short and I just
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want to have a picture of the whole
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psalm in my mind as we're going forward.
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So, this sit in my right hand, that's
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that's um just something that they that
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the ESV added in. your translation if
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it's not the isv it might say something
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similar is sort of just the subject or
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like a subheading uh for this psalm. So
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anyway, Psalm 110, a psalm of David, the
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Lord says to my Lord, "Sit at my right
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hand until I make your enemies your
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foottool."
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The Lord sends forth from Zion your
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mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of
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your enemies. Your people will offer
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themselves freely on the day of your
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power in holy garments. From the womb of
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the morning, the dew of your youth will
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be yours. The Lord has sworn and will
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not change his mind. You are a priest
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forever after the order of Melkisedc.
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The Lord is at your right hand. He will
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shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
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He will execute judgment among the
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nations, filling them with corpses. He
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will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.
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He will drink from the brook by the way.
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Therefore, he will lift up his head.
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I love the poetic construction of the
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Psalms.
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I never had enough of an appreciation of
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the Psalms growing up. I read the Bible
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from a very young age. Um, never as much
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as I wanted to or felt like I should,
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but I never spent enough time in Psalms.
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and I'm beginning to appreciate them in
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a way that I never was able to before.
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Let's go back up to verse one. Let's
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look at this for a minute. David says,
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because it's a psalm of David,
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one of the many psalms that David wrote,
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he says that the Lord says to my Lord,
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that my Lord, I want to focus on that
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for a minute. My Lord is not a term that
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David would likely use to refer to
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himself
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or to a subordinate or a descendant.
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If you consider the language after this,
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okay
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throughout the rest of this psalm,
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just just keep that keep the way it
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describes the my lord, the words it uses
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to refer to him for a moment. Even when
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men of authority are replaced in their
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roles by their sons, the common theme of
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respect for elders makes it awkward to
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refer to a descendant with this kind of
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reverent, honorific language that the
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Bible reserves for the persons of the
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Trinity.
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This also follows logically according to
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its use throughout the rest of the
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Hebrew scriptures. the my Lord
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sitting at the right hand of God. That's
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an illustration of divine exaltation
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that no created being, not even the
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great King David could claim.
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[Music]
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This Lord in the psalm is in verse 4.5
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I'll call it after the Lord of Melkis
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after the order of Melkisedc
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which is not a characteristic clearly
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applied to David elsewhere in the Old
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Testament. If you want to say that David
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is after the order of MelkiseDC, you're
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either going to have to do some pretty
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extraordinary mental gymnastics,
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rewrite the Bible. Or you're going to
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have to
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be able to prove
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that the my Lord is David in this psalm
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because that's not in any of the other
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psalms about David.
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So
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all that in mind, do you understand how
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your interpretation
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of the superscript can either pave the
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way to Jesus or to willful blindness?
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We cannot afford to be ignorant of these
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things because it's our responsibility
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as Christians to direct people to the
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truth of scripture.
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If you've never thought much of the
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superscript, like I certainly hadn't
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before I was asked to take a turn
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teaching and go through the Psalms and
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landed on Psalm 110,
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you might stumble in your defense of the
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faith. If you try to evangelize to a
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non-Christian Jew by using Old Testament
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prophecy to direct them to Jesus,
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thinking,
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"Hey, this is really convincing stuff,
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right?" What are you going to do when
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they potentially reframe the whole
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scripture by misrepresenting who's
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speaking to and of whom?
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If you haven't thought about this, how
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well do you think you're going to be
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prepared to give them an answer, to
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defend your faith, to defend the
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Christian understanding
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of the psalm as being messianic, as
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being prophetic of Jesus?
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In my opinion,
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we shouldn't need to spend time
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discussing this.
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It seems blatantly obvious that King
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David wrote repeatedly and specifically
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of Jesus Christ, including here in Psalm
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110, but throughout the Psalms in plenty
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of other Psalms.
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[Music]
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However, if we're going to preach to
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anyone but the choir, we need to be
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prepared for the arguments, the willful
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blindness, and the mental gymnastics
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that some will use to avoid calling the
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Messiah by name. To avoid calling the
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Lord by name, the Savior and Judge
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standing right before them, Jesus
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Christ.
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In parts two and three, I'm going to
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spend more time at going through the
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text of this psalm and talking about
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everything beyond the superscript. Um,
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but for now, I just want to leave you
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with my final thoughts.
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thinking through the word of God always
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blesses me.
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And I hope the way I've presented
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this journey into scripture and the way
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that I've approached this
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encourages genuine dialogue, both
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private and public, rather than merely
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passive media consumption.
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You're welcome to like and subscribe and
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all that stuff or not at any time.
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Like and subscribe is what drives media
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algorithms, but the word of God is what
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drives me and that's what I hope to pass
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on.
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May the Lord bless you today.
