Who’s who?

Who’s who? | PSALM 110 Part 2 – Authorship & Identity

INTRO

Welcome to this session of wisdom forging — where you and I engage in the ongoing practice of applying biblical thinking to deepen our understanding of truth in Scripture.

THE PLAN

We are now commencing part 2 of our 3-part journey through Psalm 110 — “this is where the fun begins”. This is where the meat is. Or the edamame, if you’re not a carnivore.

SUMMARY

In the first leg of our journey through Psalm 110 we focused on the superscript, explaining how a plain reading of the superscript tells us that this psalm is written by David, as it is taken to mean when preceding numerous other psalms. Perhaps you’re thinking at this point, “yes, we all know that David wrote it, so what’s next?” Bear with me, because in this discussion I will bring up again the question of authorship and who’s who in each section of this psalm and what that means.

CROSS-REFERENCING SCRIPTURES

Anyway, back to main course — Verse 1 of Psalm 110.

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.

Verse 1 is quoted in: Matthew 22:44 — Mark 12:35 — and Luke 20:41.

You can find similar imagery elsewhere in Scripture — but you won’t find the exact expression.

Psalm 8:6 says “You have put all things under his feet.” Psalm 47:3 says “He subdues peoples under us, and nations under our feet.”

These are examples of similar imagery, which is consistent with inspired authorship by a single person — The Holy Spirit.

But they are not exact quotations. The NT verses that I mentioned are exact quotations of Psalm 110.

PSALM 110:1 IN MATTHEW 22:44

Let’s examine the passage from Matthew 22 beginning in v. 41.

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “The Son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls Him Lord, saying, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” ’? If then David calls Him Lord, how is He his Son?” And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions.

The New Testament Koine Greek words that Jesus’s speech was recorded through is a direct quote of Psalm 110 v. 1 from the Greek Old Testament — the Septuagint.

The Hebrew is the Tanakh. The Greek is the Septuagint.

One Scripture: two languages.

WORD STUDY TIP

As an aside, when studying Greek from the Bible, make sure to use a language tool that understands Ancient or Koine Greek.

I’ve witnessed a few people come to absurdly unbiblical conclusions — because they used a Modern Standard Greek translation tool and ignored the context of the rest of the Bible related to their cherry-picked verse or word.

Try reading Old English. You’ll understand right away.

Modern Greek is not Koine Greek. Languages inevitably evolves with the culture over time.

BY DAVID OR ABOUT DAVID?

So, to remind us of the question — is Psalm 110 by David or about David? And is the Messiah his son or his Lord?

Jesus asserts in Matthew 22:43 that David authored this psalm “in the Spirit” of God — which the crowd would have agreed with, because they already regarded the Psalms as Scripture.

Let me remind you: Scripture is not created or designated by men. It is God-breathed.

“The LORD said to my Lord”

David said in the psalm:

The LORD (YHWH) said to my Lord (ʾădōnî).

The word ʾădōnî can refer to a human authority, but what human authority would the paradigmatic king of Israel call his lord — a Lord who will sit at the right hand of God, crush kings on the day of his wrath, judge the nations, and yet lift his head high?

RIGHTEOUS WRATH V. HUMAN PRIDE

The Lord’s head held high at the end of this psalm implies righteous pride — not human arrogance.

James 1:19–20 —

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Human anger doesn’t produce God’s righteousness.

Ephesians 4:26–27 —

be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.

Righteous indignation is possible, but dangerous.

God’s wrath is holy because it flows from His perfect justice. Ours tends to come from our ego — the part of us that wants to follow in the footsteps of Satan and shake our fist in the air as though we can judge with the authority of God.

DAVID’S “Lord”

All that in mind — if David, in the Spirit, is referring to his personal Lord, how does one make sense of the interpretation that the future king is merely a human son of David?

No one was able to answer Jesus when He posed this question — nor, from that day, did they dare to ask Him again.

A SOBERING REFLECTION

If comfort in my beliefs depends on blindness, will I dare to face the One who brings the light?

THE USE AND NATURE OF SCRIPTURE

2 Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is breathed out by God and useful for correction. Correction is exactly what Jesus was using Psalm 110 for when speaking to the Pharisees.

This verse is also excellent for discussing the biblical canon, because it gives both the nature of Scripture — breathed out by God, thus not dependent on human recognition to hold authority — and the purpose of Scripture — to teach, correct, and develop righteousness.

PETER’S AFFIRMATION

Peter affirms our interpretation of Psalm 110 in Acts 2:34, where he is recorded giving his Pentecostal sermon.

(Acts 2:29-38)

“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that He would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

PETER’S APPROACH

Notice how Peter’s sermon to the Jews — beginning in verse 17 — makes use of David’s messianic poetry in the Psalms to allow Scriptures that the Jews already respected and believed they understood to correct the wrong, yet common, belief that their Messiah had not yet come.

APPLICATION IN EVANGELISM

This is a particularly useful way to speak to non-Christian Jews if they’re already committed to denying the God-breathed nature of the New Testament.

Instead of an eloquent theological statement or an especially passionate sermon, sometimes we just need to slow down and read the Scriptures that a person claims to believe and let the light of God’s Word penetrate the veil.

They will either:

Create a more convoluted self-delusion — which is harder to maintain over time; or

Decide that they don’t hold to Scripture — in which case they can be more easily seen for the lost sheep that they are, and hopefully receive more intentional outreach; or

Lay down their pride that keeps them from reading the Bible as it is — and we get to celebrate the storing up of another treasure in Heaven: a soul saved. Praise God and Amen!

APPLICATION IN THE CHURCH

By the way — that can apply to a lukewarm spectator in our church today just as well as it did to those Jews 2,000 years ago.

OUTRO

Studying and applying the Word of God always blesses and refreshes me. I hope the way I’ve presented Scripture in this message encourages meaningful dialogue and sharper understanding.

If you’re interested in further studies and discussions centered on the transformative truths of the Holy Bible, you can follow this podcast or search for The Wisdom Crucible on YouTube for video recordings.

Media metrics may drive the algorithms, but the Word of God is what drives me — and that’s what I hope to pass on.

May the Lord bless you and continually refine your heart through His Word.