Abstract. Psalm 110 is one of the royal messianic psalms, telling how YHWH as divine Suzerain and Principal will triumph in the earth through His anointed / messianic king as vassal and agent. God's delivering activity (yasha`) and His deliverance (yesha`, yeshua) is accomplished through divinely appointed agents. The NT testimony finds its interpretive understanding of Jesus Christ within this paradigm.

Introduction & method – listening to the text in its own context

Other than the the 586 NT references to Christ (as specific eschatological title, Messiah, Daniel 9) and 85 references to 'Son of man' (Daniel 7), more than any other text from the Hebrew Scriptures, the NT cites and alludes to the royal Davidic Psalm 110 a total of 33 times (Kay, 1973). The Hebrew Scriptures are replete with reference to God's delivering or setting free of His people based on His covenantal promises. The verb yasha` (to open to freedom, to save, to deliver) appears ~200 times between Exodus and Zechariah, and its derivative forms, yesha`, (freedom, deliverance, prosperity) and yeshua' (something saved, i.e., freedom, deliverance, victory, prosperity) are used ~35 times and ~77 times respectively. God's deliverance and liberation is to be accomplished through divinely-appointed deliverers. These deliverers, judges, and ultimately the kings were often invested in their office by being anointed (mashiach) with oil. In the early monarchy the king was called 'the LORD's anointed' or YHWH's mashiach (messiah). The idea of 'the messiah' as a future coming king who would establish justice, peace, and prosperity in the earth emerged from this, and passages which have this theme have been later called messianic (Sawyer, 1993).

(1) Determination of the text(s). We follow the Masoretic reading of Psalm 110, and suggest that the Greek LXX text and the NT usage are in full harmony with the MT.

(2) Ascertaining the literary / oral form. Psalm 110 is one of several 'royal psalms': Ps. 2; 16; 21; 45; 72; 89; 110. They celebrate the triumph and exaltation of the YHWH's anointed vassal king, and the peace and justice to follow. They are among many other psalms which have royal, messianic allusions. Like the other royal psalms, Psalm 110 is not only for the contemporary king but is also a prophetic oracle about the final hope to be accomplished through the king's descendents under the Davidic Covenant promise (II Samuel 7). The psalm is couched in the language and imagery of a ancient Near Eastern suzerain-vassal covenantal address.

(3) Recovering the contemporary historical life situation (setting). Given that this psalm is correctly attributed to David, it is among the older Psalms. Among the Davidic psalms, the royal psalms such as Ps. 110 would have been used in the liturgy and national worship. These psalms would have provided awe and inspiration in times of prosperity and hope and comfort in times of adversity among pious Israelites who rested on the strength of the suzerainty covenant-treaty in loyalty to YHWH and His anointed king from the house of David.

(4) Meaning of the words and idiom for original author and audience. The shorter possessive form 'adoni (my lord) of the root 'adon (lord) is used 197 times in the Hebrew Bible to refer exclusively to a human or angelic superior, but never to God (Graesar et al. 2003; at least 195 times, Buzzard & Hunting, 1998). As such, the term 'my lord' ('adoni) is used 166 times (Elliger & Rudolf, 1990; Graesar et al. 2003). The prepositional 'to my lord' (l'adoni) is used 24 times in exclusive reference to a human lord. With the conjunctive particle, v'adoni (and, so, then, when, now, or, but, that ... my lord) appears 6 times, again for a human superior. On the other hand, the longer form 'Adonai is used 449 times for the one God, YHWH (Buzzard & Hunting, 1998). Therefore, when YHWH spoke in Covenant suzerainty to 'my lord' ('adoni) in Psalm 110 it is immediately evident from the text (not to mention its Biblical, Davidic context) that God is addressing an exalted, anointed, human figure, not Himself or any other 'person' in the 'Godhead.'

It is sometimes argued that since the Hebrew vowel markings (including those differentiating between 'adoni and 'Adonai) were only added later by the Masoretes or Hebrew scribes (between ca. 600-1100 CE, Sanders, 1993b), they would have changed an original 'Adonai for 'adoni because of their beliefs about Psalm 110 (e.g., Neall, 2003). However, the scribes who applied the vowel markings were seeking to preserve as exactly as possible not only the integrity of the text but the masorah or oral 'tradition' about the vocalization of the ancient Hebrew which had been handed down for generations (Sanders, 1993a; Graesar et al. 2003). At this they succeeded remarkably – there are far fewer Hebrew textual variants than in the much younger Greek NT texts. Preserving the vocalization preserved the text.^[1] Also, all the other royal psalms have YHWH exalting and bestowing divine vassalship and prerogatives upon His anointed king, without ever turning the king into a member of a 'Godhead.' Psalm 110 is no exception to this pattern. Furthermore, the Greek LXX translation of the 3rd century BCE (centuries before the christological controversies in 2nd-5th century Christianity) preserves the correct understanding of the possessive 'adoni ('my lord') through the Greek rendering to' kyrio' mou. There is no reason to think that Psalm 110 introduces a second divine being.

Finally in all its citations and allusions to Ps. 110, the NT remains loyal to its Hebrew messianic context and never introduces another paradigm of understanding. As foretold, Jesus of Nazareth is God's anointed / Messiah, the royal descendent of David, who has been exalted to the right hand of God until his enemies are made his footstool.

(5) Understanding the total context and historical background. The context for the royal psalms including Psalm 110 is the Davidic Covenant promise in II Samuel 7 which served as the Yahwist constitutional basis for 'the house of David' dynastic claim and monarchic Judahite society (Schniedewind, 1999). It is central to the Deuteronomist understanding of pre-exilic Israelite and Judahite history. It was the Davidic promise which shaped the development of the messianic idea in Israel down past the 1st century CE.

In every case in Genesis through Psalms, the messianic deliverer is an appointed human being endowed by God with a divinely exalted office, originating from among the people, and granted prerogatives and powers to establish God's (final) judgment and justice in the earth. As will become evident, the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the NT testimony about Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ builds on and is entirely consistent with this Biblical messianic paradigm.
 

Discussion – How do you read?

A) Questions from history:

• Who was the expected deliverer / messiah to be? From where was he to come?
• What effect did the Covenant promise to David (II Samuel 7) have on the understanding of messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures?
• In context is the vassal king ('adoni) addressed by YHWH in Ps. 110:1 God Himself or a special divinely-favored and anointed human being?

• What kind of messianic deliverer was foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures? An incarnate deity? Or a special anointed human commissioned and empowered by the one God of heaven? How do you know?
• Do you find in Jesus of Nazareth and the NT the very Messiah predicted in the Hebrew scriptures or a later conciliar, post-Biblical view of Christ?

Buzzard AF, Hunting CF. 1998. The doctrine of the Trinity: Christianity's self-inflicted wound. International Scholars Publications: Lanham, MD; Oxford, UK.

Elliger K, Rudolf W. (eds.). 1990. WTT / BHS Hebrew Old Testament (4th ed.). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschoft.

Graesar MH, Lynn JA, Schoenheit JW. 2003. One God & one Lord: Reconsidering the cornerstone of the Christian faith. (3rd ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Christian Educational Services; http://www.CESonline.org; http://www.BiblicalUnitarian.com.

Kay D. 1973. Glory at the right hand: Psalm 110 in early Christianity. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.

Kee HC. 1970. Jesus in history: An approach to the study of the gospels. New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.

Neall B. 2003. "Was Messiah supposed to be God?" http://www.outreachtojudaism.net/wasmessiah.html.

Sanders, 1993a. "Masorah." In: BM Metzger and MD Coogan (eds.), The Oxford companion to the Bible. New York, NY / Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

____. 1993b. "Masoretic text." In: BM Metzger and MD Coogan (eds.), The Oxford companion to the Bible. New York, NY / Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Sawyer JFA. 1993. "Messiah." In: BM Metzger and MD Coogan (eds.), The Oxford companion to the Bible. New York, NY / Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Schniedewind WM. 1999. Society and the promise to David: A reception history of 2 Samuel 7:1-17. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.