A Psalms Group email preparing for Sunday, April 19, 2020
In addition to reading chapter 3, “History,” of Open and Unafraid, please prepare for our time together tomorrow by reading Psalm 110 from several translations, including a study Bible. Psalm 110 is the most frequently quoted psalm by New Testament writers. It is also the psalm Jesus talks to his critics about in the last days of his earthly life.
After his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, all three synoptic gospels record controversies in the Temple as Jesus teaches and his detractors question him. Scan Matthew 21:23-22:46, Mark 11:27-12:44, Luke 19:47-21:4. Then read Matthew 22:41-46, Mark 12:35-37, and Luke 20:41-44.
Notice the questions that Jesus asks:
What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He? How is it then that David in the Spirit calls him Lord? (Matthew 22:43 and 45)
How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his Son? (Mark 12:35 and 37)
How can they say that Christ is David’s son? David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son? (Luke 20:41 and 44)
Jesus quotes Psalm 110:1 as he questions his detractors. What do you learn about the Psalm 110 and about its importance and meaning to Jesus?
Scholars say that the Hebrew text of this psalm is very old, reaching back to the period of the early monarchy, even back to David himself. At one point the psalmist/prophet/poet David makes use of the ancient history about Melchizedek, a Canaanite priest/king of the pre-Israelite city-state of Salem (later named Jerusalem by David). In Genesis 14:17-20 , Melchizedek blessed Abraham in the name of the Most High God, the God he knew about, but whom Abraham knew personally. Building on this ancient idea of a king, a political leader, who was also a priest, Psalm 110 begins with an oracle, a prophecy.
Here’s an outline of Psalm 110: David’s Lord, the Victorious King/Priest
1. Yahweh’s Promise–v. 1 (“Says” is Hebrew ne’um, a divine oracle/prophecy)
His Messiah’s Victory–vv. 2-3
2. Yahweh’s Promise–v. 4
His Messiah’s Victory–vv. 5-7
According to the oracle (prophesy), Yahweh invites the king (called my lord, a royal title) to sit on the heavenly throne at Yahweh’s right hand. Post-exilic Jews who knew Psalm 110 believed that David was addressing the coming Messiah as “my lord.” But Jesus is asking them why David would be calling the coming Messiah “my lord (master)” instead of “my son,” a descendant of mine?
We’ll be discussing what Psalm 110 meant to Jesus, his earliest followers, and what it means to each of us now, in this strange time of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
“Psalm 110 is the truly supreme chief psalm of our dear Lord Jesus Christ.” –Martin Luther
In Christ,
Toni