The Messianic Psalms, More Obvious Than You Might Think -- a study of Psalm 110
- mww
- Jul 1
- 15 min read
Updated: Jul 2
The Jews should have known the Messiah was more than they dreamed.
Bible Study Ideas and Commentary for Psalm 110
This week, we study one of the Messianic Psalms. The truth is that the Old Testament prepared the Jews for Jesus, their Messiah -- Prophet, Priest, and King -- Reigning King and Suffering Servant -- all of that and more. They failed to listen. Psalm 110 paints a compelling portrait that the Messiah will be greater than anyone the Jews could picture.
Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. (110:1)
Getting Started: Things to Think About
How Would You Describe Jesus?
This week's psalm is one of the more important Old Testament descriptions of Jesus, right up there with Isaiah 53. But before we jump into that, let's just make it personal. What adjectives come to mind when you think of Jesus? How would you describe Jesus to someone who hasn't read the Bible?
Your Favorite Jesus Exchange
Jesus brings up this week's psalm in one of my very favorite exchanges in the Gospels --
Matt 22:41 While the Pharisees were together, Jesus questioned them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They replied, “David’s.” 43 He asked them, “How is it then that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’: 44 The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet’? 45 “If David calls him ‘Lord,’ how, then, can he be his son?” 46 No one was able to answer him at all, and from that day no one dared to question him anymore.
Matthew compiled quite a few great exchanges in that chapter, including one David mentioned in last Sunday's sermon:
22:15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to trap him by what he said. 16 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are truthful and teach truthfully the way of God. You don’t care what anyone thinks nor do you show partiality. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” 18 Perceiving their malicious intent, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought him a denarius. 20 “Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked them. 21 “Caesar’s,” they said to him. Then he said to them, “Give, then, to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Most of the time when I read one of Jesus' exchanges with a doubter (or even a follower!), I am totally astonished at how perfect His words are. In a million years, I could not come up with a response half as perfect as His, and He did it day after day, conversation after conversation.
So, how about you? Do you have a favorite thing Jesus said in conversation? I'm going to try to have an answer for my Sunday School class when we get together this weekend, but this is a hard question!
Your Favorite Old Testament Quote in the New Testament
Okay - disclaimer: my discussion ideas this week demand that your group have some familiarity with the Bible. That won't work for every group, and you don't want to call anybody out for knowledge they don't yet have! But for many groups, this week is a great opportunity for your group to process what they've learned in the Bible.
Last quarter, we studied 1/2 Peter, and we noted just how many times Peter quoted/cited the Old Testament. Thinking more broadly about the New Testament, what's an example of an Old Testament quote that really helped you understand what the New Testament author was saying? For example, I remember the first time somebody told me that when Jesus quoted Psalm 22 (My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?), that Jesus would have had the entire psalm in mind. Mind blown. Do you have a favorite reference?
Bible Trivia!
Which passage is most-cited in the New Testament?
Yep, it's Psalm 110. I think that makes this psalm a big deal. Do a little research -- which other passages are cited the most in the New Testament?
This Week's Big Idea: The Messiah in the Old Testament
This is admittedly a crazy idea to summarize. There are entire books on this topic (and I recommend Walter Kaiser's book on the subject if you want to learn more). The most important thing I want to get across is that the Messiah -- Jesus -- is a fundamental topic throughout the Old Testament, not an add-on in some of the later prophets (although they certainly had many prophecies about the Messiah!). In particular, the Old Testament shows the Messiah both as a reigning King and a suffering Servant, not either/or.
Here's a summary of the great "Messiah" article in the Holman Bible Dictionary (which includes a very impressive 3-page list of all the messianic prophecies and where they are fulfilled in the New Testament):
"Messiah" means "anointed one" in Hebrew (translated Christos in Greek, which is where we get "Christ"). In general, the word was used on someone appointed by God for a task. This might be a prophet like Elisha (1 Ki 19:16), a king like Saul (1 Sam 9), or even a foreign king like Cyrus (Isa 45:1). The kings of Israel (specifically the line of David) were given special attention, going back to something you might have read last week in 2 Samuel 7:
“‘The Lord declares to you: The Lord himself will make a house for you. 12 When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with a rod of men and blows from mortals. 15 But my faithful love will never leave him as it did when I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.’” 17 Nathan reported all these words and this entire vision to David.
In the Psalms, the line of David becomes idealized (Psalm 2, 18, 20, 28, 72, 84, 132, etc.). This becomes a source of great confusion when Jerusalem falls to Babylon and the line of kings is broken.
After the exile, in the absence of a king, attention shifts to the priests, particularly the high priest (called a messiah in Zech 4:14 and even Dan 9:25). And that's when the Jews begin to emphasize two different messiahs -- a royal one and a priestly one. And it is into this morass of expectations that Jesus appeared, and people asked, "Could this be the Messiah?" (John 4:29). That's part of the reason Jesus shied away from open declarations -- not because He wasn't the Messiah but because the people did not understand who the Messiah was.
This is where I reiterate what Kaiser said in his book that a thorough reading of the Old Testament reveals that the Messiah would be both a reigning King and a suffering Servant. If the people had wrong expectations of the Messiah, it's not because God didn't tell them.
Much of the early writings of the church (Matthew, Luke/Acts, letters of Paul and Peter) explain how Jesus is the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament (like Luke 4).
This Bible Project video gives the big picture:
And if you're into lists, these two pages are full of information:
Where We Are in the Old Testament: The Messianic Psalms
A handful of psalms are known as "Messianic Psalms", meaning they are believed to apply to the prophesied Messiah.
2, 45 (this is a really interesting one), 72, 132, 144
We know that Psalm 110 belongs in this group because Jesus Himself said that's what the psalm is about! Answers in Genesis published a helpful overview of why the Psalms (particularly Psalm 2 and 110) are considered "Messianic":
"Book V" of the Psalms begins with Psalm 107. You might remember from the Bible Project video that Book V is more hopeful, more focused on God's covenant with King David, and we see David as a type of Messiah, the One who will fulfill all of these promises found in the Psalms.
Psalm 107 is a reminder of how God has rescued His people time and again throughout their history.
Psalm 108 acknowledges God as the Savior of His people and asks God to save them again.
Psalm 109 asks God to rescue the psalmist (David) from his enemies.
Psalm 110 declares that someone (the Messiah) will one day accomplish the salvation requested in 108-109.
In other words, Psalm 110 establishes the hopeful tone that will characterize the end of the Book of Psalms.
Part 1: Jesus the King (Psalm 110:1-3)
This is the declaration of the Lord to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” 2 The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion. Rule over your surrounding enemies. 3 Your people will volunteer on your day of battle. In holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn, the dew of your youth belongs to you.
Let's go back to that Matthew 22 reference. Who asked the question about the Messiah? Jesus did. The Pharisees rightly noted that the Messiah was a "son of David" (meaning He would be in the line of David), and Jesus rightly counter-noted how odd it was that David's son would also be David's lord. The Lifeway material points out that the first reference to "Lord" in Psalm 110 is "Yahweh", and the second reference is "Adonai", which is a more general term for a superior. That's why in some versions of the Bible, that second reference to "Lord" is left uncapitalized -- not out of disrespect, but because the reference in the psalm is itself ambiguous. But in Matthew 22, Jesus clearly applies it to Himself, which is why it is capitalized there (and in every other New Testament reference). Anyway, Jesus' point -- which the Pharisees should have easily seen -- was that David identified this future "lord" as his "superior". In other words, the Messiah is greater than David. (Yes, we know that today, but think about what David was saying 1000 years before Jesus' earthly birth.)
Let's look at another cite of this passage -- Peter's sermon on Pentecost:
Acts 2:32 “God has raised this Jesus; we are all witnesses of this. 33 Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear. 34 For it was not David who ascended into the heavens, but he himself says:
The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.’
36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” 37 When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
This is a simple observation with incredible consequences -- what happens to this "lord"? God Almighty has him sit at God's right hand in the throne room of heaven! This is the ultimate place of honor in the entire universe. When Jesus applied these words to Himself, the Sanhedrin immediately recognized it as (to them) the ultimate blasphemy:
Matt 26:62 The high priest stood up and said to him, “Don’t you have an answer to what these men are testifying against you?” 63 But Jesus kept silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” 64 “You have said it,” Jesus told him. “But I tell you, in the future you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” 65 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? See, now you’ve heard the blasphemy. 66 What is your decision?”
This "lord" is basically second-in-command in the universe (so to speak; I wonder if the doctrine of the Trinity would actually have been a relief to David -- "Oh, that's why!"). I like how the author of Hebrews said it:
Heb 1:13 Now to which of the angels has he ever said:
Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool?
But it goes even beyond that (if you can believe it)! At first glance, we would assume that David is talking about the Messiah's enemies like his own enemies -- foreign kings and their armies. Paul recognized that such enemies would be nothing to a cosmic Messiah. It must be more than that --
1 Cor 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be abolished is death. 27 For God has put everything under his feet. Now when it says “everything” is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception. 28 When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
Or think about what Paul says in Ephesians --
Eph 1:20 He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens— 21 far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.
Did you have any idea how packed verse 1 is? Take some time as a group to list everything the New Testament says that verse 1 says about Jesus.
Because it makes for a fun object lesson, bring in an actual footstool (like an ottoman). How does it affect you when someone says that all the kings of the earth are like a footstool to Jesus? (More to the point, death itself will be made Jesus' footstool, but that's beyond my comprehension.)
We talked about "Zion" last week.
Verse 3 is admittedly strange. The NIV has "Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning's womb." Right. The meaning seems to be that when the Messiah needs His army, it will gloriously appear like out of nowhere, like dew in the morning. Now, who is this army? Is it an angel army? The followers of the Messiah (i.e., us)? That's reading too much into the psalm. The early Jewish readers of the psalm would have read it as a straightforward reference to a king and his army, which is an accurate image. We just realize today that the psalm means even more than that -- whatever the cosmic equivalent of a king going to war would be.
Part 2: Jesus as Priest (Psalm 110:4)
4 The Lord has sworn an oath and will not take it back: “You are a priest forever according to the pattern of Melchizedek.”
This is where it should have been obvious to the Jewish readers that this Messiah was more than they expected.
I mentioned Melchizedek last week in reference to Zion -- a priest of Salem, the same place as the future Jerusalem, establishing the importance of that location. But now let's dig a little further into that reference.
Gen 14:17 After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Shaveh Valley (that is, the King’s Valley). 18 Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest to God Most High. 19 He blessed him and said: "Abram is blessed by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 20 and blessed be God Most High who has handed over your enemies to you." And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
The context is pretty similar to Psalm 110 -- a king (Abraham) winning a victory over his enemies. And the reference to Melchizedek is also pretty similar, as in "where did this come from and what in the world is going on?" This is truly a bizarre reference. There's no other way to say it. Melchizedek shows up here -- Genesis 14 and Psalm 110, and that's it. Nowhere else in the Old Testament.
If it weren't for the author of Hebrews, we would probably miss just how wildly important this obscure figure is:
Heb 7:4 Now consider how great this man was: even Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the plunder to him. 5 The sons of Levi who receive the priestly office have a command according to the law to collect a tenth from the people—that is, from their brothers and sisters—though they have also descended from Abraham. 6 But one without this lineage collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. 7 Without a doubt, the inferior is blessed by the superior. 8 In the one case, men who will die receive a tenth, but in the other case, Scripture testifies that he lives. 9 And in a sense Levi himself, who receives a tenth, has paid a tenth through Abraham, 10 for he was still within his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. 11 Now if perfection came through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the law), what further need was there for another priest to appear, said to be according to the order of Melchizedek and not according to the order of Aaron?
Go ahead and read all of Hebrews 6 and 7. Some of what the author says goes beyond our human capacity to understand, but these verses (7:4-11) are pretty straightforward. Abraham, the father of the Jews, paid this out-of-nowhere-priest a tithe, which is something ordinarily paid to the Levitical priests. That means Melchizedek represents a different kind -- and superior kind -- of priesthood. That explains how this Messiah can be a son of David (tribe of Judah) and still a priest (not a Levite).
Now wait, where did God swear this? In that 2 Sam 7 reference, God promised David that his heir would reign forever. But there's nowhere else where God specifically says that the Messiah will be a "priest forever" (using those words). That means this is prophecy! David is a prophet. The author of Hebrews understands why it is important (see Hebrews 7), including how it fulfills God's later promise to Joshua son of Jozadak that there will one day be a union of the priesthood and the kingship (Zech 6:11-13) to be fulfilled in Jesus.
Aside: Prophet, Priest and King
Make sure your group understands why the terms "prophet, priest and king" are important with respect to Jesus.
Jewish history revealed three primary societal needs --
a prophet to reveal/explain God's will (think Elijah and Isaiah)
a priest to mediate (think Aaron)
a king to lead (think David)
There were specific provisions for each of these roles in the Old Testament, and they each played a unique but crucial role in Jewish society.
But think about it -- each of those roles existed as an accommodation for human sin. Even the priests had to make sacrifice for their own sin before they could make sacrifice for anyone else! Each role constantly reminded the people that there was a barrier between themselves and holy God.
Enter Jesus.
We've seen in this psalm that the Messiah would be both Ruler and Priest, something that was unheard of in Jewish thought (which is why Jews in Jesus' day expected two messiahs -- one royal and one priestly). But we also know that Jesus was the ultimate Prophet, speaking clearly and completely the Word of God and explaining accurately and authoritatively what God had already said.
So when we speak about Jesus being Prophet, Priest and King, we're saying a lot.
Part 3: Jesus the Victor (Psalm 110:5-7)
The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his anger. 6 He will judge the nations, heaping up corpses; he will crush leaders over the entire world. 7 He will drink from the brook by the road; therefore, he will lift up his head.
Now things get a little dark and violent. "Heaping up corpses"?! Unfortunately, you know as well as I do that things are going to get disastrous for rebellious humanity in the last days. Those who say that Revelation has no real meaning are going to be horrified when those final days come. We have already talked about God as Judge in the Psalms, so I don't want to rehash that.
But let's talk about something that has confused me: how can the Lord be at the Messiah's right hand when He just put the Messiah at His right hand? Two different images are being used. The first is the throne room -- the Messiah sits at the King's (God's) right hand in the place of authority. But when the Messiah goes forth to conquer His enemies, God Almighty is figuratively at His right hand, demonstrating His complete support for the Messiah's work. (Again, now that we know God is a Trinity, all of this actually makes more sense.) In other words, when the Messiah goes out in conquest and judgment, God Almighty goes with Him. No one can stand against Him. Everyone who opposes Him (and sadly there will be many) will be crushed, and their corpses will litter the fields.
But the Messiah will drink from a brook. ? Huh. This could refer to being refreshed (which is how Lifeway takes it). It could also refer to a king's declaration of victory over an enemy (in the arid Middle East). Or it could be a reference to Gideon's army (Judg 7) and His readiness for more conquering. Whatever it means, the result is that every other head will be bowed in defeat, but the Messiah's will be lifted high.
So -- application. This one is pretty simple. The Psalms tell us that there is coming a Messiah, One who will defeat all of God's enemies and rule triumphantly over the world. We know this is Jesus. Are you His faithful subject, or are you in rebellion against Him? It's either/or. And there is one sure outcome for both groups.
(This is a great opportunity to share the gospel with your group.)