How would the Jews know that Psalms 110 is talking about the Messiah?
Question:
Hello Jeffrey,
I hope you're doing well by the grace of God.
I have a question about Psalm 110:1, "The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."
When Jesus quoted this in Matthew 22:45, he pointed out that David called the Messiah Lord. Please tell me where in Psalm 110 we can understand David talking about the Messiah.
God bless you so much,
Answer:
No passage in the Old Testament fully describes the Messiah and what will happen to him. Instead, we find hints about him scattered throughout the Old Testament.
"Messiah" means the "Anointed One." In Psalms 2, David talks about the reign of the Lord's Anointed (Psalms 2:2). He will reign as king from the holy mountain (Psalms 2:6). He will reign over all the nations (Psalms 2:8). He will be God's Son and is to be worship (Psalms 2:11-12), which hints at the Messiah's deity.
Psalms 132:17-18 indicates that God's anointed would descend from David.
The latter part of Psalms 110 reads similarly to Psalms 2, but the ruler is to be also a priest after the order of Melchizedek (Psalms 110:4). So while Psalms 110 is understood to be about the same Messiah, the difficult part for the Jews was understanding how a descendant of David, sitting on David's throne, could be greater than David, which is why Jesus pointed out this verse. The Jews refused to consider that the Messiah could be both human and deity at the same time.
