Each of the synoptics record Jesus using this Psalm. The classifications are always disputed by scholars, but this one is pretty hard to escape. ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand.’ How can you say this? And this will be the question Jesus will pose to some of his more contentious examiners. How can David say this?
Now, this takes us back to the Levitical priesthood. Aaron is the first priest, and from him in the tribe of Levi comes the priesthood. These were the only ones who could offer sacrifice. The context of the Psalm is hard to nail down. Dr. Alan Ross would argue that this was probably after some battle. David identifies the Lord here as exalted to the right hand of God. This may have been one of the last things David wrote.
David is talking about some covenant promises that are not at play in reality, but they will come true in the end times. God is telling the psalmist here that his descendant will be God. David probably anticipated the Messiah more than most evangelical Christians. He understood, being the king of Israel, what was at stake. He knew the consequences of his own actions and the consequences of Israel’s sin and stubbornness.
Each of the three gospel synoptics talks about this. The first word here is oracle, which has a little more authority. We might read it as something cumbersome like ‘Yahweh gave an oracle to my Lord that you will sit at my right hand.’ The right hand of course, is the place of power.
We have the word Yahweh. The best Jews, of course, did not say the word because roughly translated it would be saying ‘I am.’ What is written in the Old Testament would be Yahweh and the pious rabbi would read Adonai because you didn’t say, ‘I am.’ Just saying the word caused the rabbis to pause, this was a sacred thing to them.
God’s telling Jesus one day He will go back to the Holy City and stretch forth His strong scepter. There is a lot of wordplay happening here. Many times a scepter is stretched forth. So what’s the picture? You have power. There were 12 tribes, each with a unique staff. This is the one over all the other staffs, and that’s the one, the Messiah will stretch forth from the worship center. So you see the Psalm starting to unfold. Nations will go to Zion to learn about Yahweh.
On the day when Jesus comes to have this scepter in the midst of His enemies, His people will come and rally to His side. This did not happen at His first coming, but there will be a day when God, the Father from heaven will say, “Jesus, it’s time for you to enter that realm again. And when you go down there, there will be a bunch of people who will freely volunteer to come be with you.”
The youth of Dew is a beautiful metaphor. Dew was a metaphor for God, bathing and blessing His land in the dry months. This picture is the womb. So we see these two phrases explaining this group of volunteers. They’re holy in their array, and it’ll be like a birth. It’ll be refreshing to see this happen when Messiah comes. There will be a company of followers who will be a Holy Assembly.
For more from inContext, click here.
In Episode 10 of Living From the Heart, we consider the “endless imagery” that bombards our view in our digital world. Consider David’s awareness of idolatry, immorality, and sensuality in Psalm 101: “I will set no worthless things before my eyes.”
What does it mean to follow Christ? In Episode 9 of Living From the Heart, we take a look at choosing to serve the universal king, the sovereign God, and His Son, Jesus Christ.
The idea of righteousness means God always does the right thing in the right way—no injustice escapes His mind. In Episode 8 of Living from the Heart, we talk about the ways Christians react to injustices and uncertainty.
