Psalms 110:1

1. The Lord said unto my Lord Jehovah said to Adonee, or, the oracle of Jehovah to Adonee. This is the usual formula for announcing an oracle, “Jehovah said,” or, “thus saith the Lord.” Jehovah speaks to Adon, whom David calls Lord, the Lord, or my Lord, that is, Christ. This is clear from Jewish and Christian commentators, but above all by the frequent and important quotations of the New Testament. “In later Jewish writings nearly every verse of the psalm is quoted as referring to the Messiah. In the Talmud it is said: ‘God placed King Messiah at his right hand, according to Psalms 110:2,’ etc. In the Midrash Tehillim, on the same passage it is said, ‘God spake thus to Messiah.’ In the same Midrash, on Psalms 18:36, we read, ‘R. Judah, in the name of R. Channa, the son of Chanina, says: In the age to come [that is, the Messianic dispensation,] will the Holy One (blessed be He) set the Messiah at his right hand, as it is written in Psalms 110:0, and Abraham on his left.’ In the book Zohar it is said, ‘The higher degree spake unto the lower, Sit thou on my right hand.’ And again, ‘The righteous (Jacob) spake to the Messiah, the son of Joseph, Sit thou at my right hand.’ According to the same authority, R. Simeon explains the words ‘Jehovah said unto my Lord,’ of the union of the Jews and the heathen in one kingdom by the Messiah. R. Saadis Gaon, commenting on Daniel 7:13, writes: ‘This is the Messiah our Righteousness, as it is written in Psalms 110:0, Jehovah said unto my Lord,’” etc., etc. Perowne. That the Jews of our Saviour’s time, admitted the application of this passage to Christ is proved from his quotation of it, (Matthew 22:41-45,) where the whole weight of the argument depended on their admitting and believing the legitimacy of such application, the only question being whether Jesus was the Christ. In using the suffix form, Adonee, my Lord, (which is the form in which the Septuagint and our Saviour, τω Κυριω μου , use the passage,) David clearly distinguishes himself from Messiah, whom he causes to stand forth in his person and Lordship in clear objective vision, which is in advance of the phraseology of Psalms 2:7, “Jehovah hath said to me,” etc. The same view is strongly carried out in Mark 12:35-37; Acts 2:34-35.

Sit thou at my right hand The place of honour and power, next in rank to the king, and sharing the government as viceroy. See 1 Kings 2:19; Matthew 20:21, and compare Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1.

Thine enemies thy footstool Quoted and applied to Christ, 1 Corinthians 15:25; Hebrews 1:13; Hebrews 10:13. The phrase occurs in various forms, and always denotes absolute and abject submission. See Joshua 10:24; 1 Kings 5:3; Psalms 18:40; Psalms 47:3. It must be remembered, that making his foes his “footstool” is not a phrase that denotes conversion and reconciliation. The language applies only to incorrigible enemies. The particle until points not only to their ultimate forced submission, or subjugation, but to a turning point, an era of consummation in the mediatorial government, as in Acts 2:35; Acts 3:21; 1 Corinthians 15:24-26, where see notes.