Prophetic Psalm of David, prediction of the reign of Jesus Christ.
109:1
The Lord said to my Lord: Who is this about? Who is telling whom? It is clear that one Lord speaks, the other listens, and, therefore, one is different from the other. Who's speaking? One who has powers greater than those of the Lord who is listening. Why? Because in the subsequent text of the speaker - not just a fairy tale is told, but in the form of an order - the demand of the speaking Lord is put forward: So, the speaker - the commanding Lord - is Jehovah God. He who listens to Him is the Lord of every person, our personal savior Jesus Christ. That is why David calls him “my Lord.” What does He command Jesus to do?
sit at my right hand, Jehovah commands Jesus to sit next to me, at His right hand. The right hand of the Heavenly King of the universe is a very honorable place and “position”, this is the most trusted person of the Sovereign. How long should Jesus remain in the position of sitting next to Jehovah?
until I make Your enemies Your footstool. Making Christ's enemies his footstool is a figurative expression. In ancient times in the Middle East, victorious leaders usually emphasized the humiliating subordinate position of the vanquished by trampling their heads or necks under their feet (Joshua 10:24-26). That is, until the enemies of Christ are placed at the disposal of Jesus in the humiliated position of losers - until then Jesus will not be able to accept the royal rod to rule over the Earth.
Who are the enemies of Christ and when can they be humiliated before Christ and given over to him? It is clear that the devil is the primary enemy, all opponents of God are also enemies of Christ. The devil will be placed at the disposal of Christ and humiliated when, from Jehovah’s point of view, the time comes to throw him down to earth and cleanse heaven from the main slanderer - Rev. 12:7,10. It is UNTIL this time that Jesus sits next to Jehovah as His right hand. But what will happen AFTER this?
109:2 The Lord will send the rod of your power from Zion: After this, Jehovah plans to send Jesus Christ the rod of royal power from Zion, that is, from the moment the devil is thrown onto the earth, Jesus will begin the duties of God's king and the role for the earth that Jehovah has assigned to him.
What does the transfer of the royal rod (authority) mean from Zion? On the literal Mount Zion, Jerusalem was built - the city of the great King Jehovah - Matthew 5:35, the government capital of the kings sitting on the throne of the Lord (Jehovah), ruling over the people of Jehovah - 1 Proverbs. 29:23. That is, Jesus Christ must receive royal power to sit on the throne of Jehovah and reign over all His people. (After the death of Christ, from the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, God ceased to live in the man-made temple in literal Zion, therefore the rod of royal power for Christ at the beginning of his reign will be provided from the heavenly Zion - from where Jehovah dwells and where Jesus Christ himself entered - into the true Holy of Holies in heaven (Hebrews 9:24) rule among your enemies.
As we see, Jesus will not begin his kingly era by ruling over an earth cleansed of the wicked. He will have to begin the mission of God's king - in difficult conditions: the devil will rage within the Earth and create even more difficult conditions for the pious and those who seek God. Few people on earth will be able to believe that Christ is already reigning during this period, for it will not be those of Christ who will prosper, but those living in evil. The godly will be trampled underfoot -2 Tim.3:12,13, Rev. 11:2. But if we remember that Christ warned about the difficult conditions on earth, as signs of the approaching deliverance from suffering - Matt. 24, then everything falls into place: Christ will begin to reign in heaven among enemies on earth and thereby bring closer the deliverance of mankind from this wicked age.
109:3 In the day of Your power Your people are ready; It is interesting that at the moment when God gives royal powers to Jesus Christ, all of Christ’s (144,000 of his co-rulers) will be ready to crush opponents (also with royal rods) like a potter’s vessel (Rev. 2:27). This will happen when the 7th and final trumpet of Revelation sounds (Rev. 11:15; 1 Thess. 4:16,17). At the 7th trumpet, all of Christ’s will ascend to heaven to Christ and will be ready to fulfill the commission of King Jehovah.
in the splendor of the shrine. This people, prepared from the point of view of the psalmist, will appear before Christ in all their spiritual beauty as believers (even if someone thinks otherwise). That is why Christ will be able to act through them
From the womb before the morning (dawn) Your birth was like dew. The birth of Jesus as a king will occur before dawn on earth; in dark, ignorant times he will become a king (just as dew appears before dawn). First, Jesus will become a king, and then, as a consequence of his reign, the dawn will come to earth.
That is, before the very end of this wicked age, the spirituality of humanity will not be very famous for its height, and against its background Jesus will begin to reign.
109:4 The Lord has sworn and will not repent: You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. In Hebrews 7:3 we are talking about Melchizedek, the king of Salem and the priest of God, about whom nothing is known at all: he is not from the priestly tribe, it is not known where, nor when he was born, nor when he died, therefore he is a priest and king of Salem without beginning and without ending - suspended, so to speak, in the history of mankind as a certain Melchizedek-priest of the Most High without any continuation of information about him, an eternal priest.
For Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God... - first, by sign [name] the king of righteousness, and then the king of Salem, that is, the king of the world, 3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, having no beginning of days, nor the end of his life, becoming like the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
His similarity to the son of God is not in the fact that Melchizedek is without a beginning and without a pedigree, but in the fact that he (due to further unknown information about him) remains in history as a priest forever , that is, he is known only as a priest of the Most High
In relation to Christ, it is said that he is a priest ACCORDING to the ORDER of Melchizedek, but not because he is without beginning and without end: his genealogy just has a beginning and is known when he died and was resurrected. The ORDER of Melchizedek for Christ means, firstly, descent from a non-priestly tribe, and secondly, the COMBINATION of two “offices” - king (truth and peace) and priest of God” in ONE person, which was not known in Israel. For them, these functions - legislative, judicial (priesthood) and executive power (kings) - were clearly demarcated.
Heb.7:11 So, if perfection were achieved through the Levitical priesthood - for the law of the people is connected with it - then what further need would there be for another priest to rise up according to the order of Melchizedek (NOT from the PRIEST TRIBE, unknown to many), and not according to be called the rank of Aaron? (FROM the priestly tribe, officially recognized).
109:5 The Lord is at Your right hand. He will smite kings in the day of His wrath; Who are we talking about here? Who is the Lord? Who will defeat the kings? We know that Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of Jehovah. This means that this text can be read like this: The Lord Jesus Christ is at Your right hand, Jehovah. He, Jesus Christ, will defeat kings on the day of His wrath. That is, Jesus in the royal period will first of all have to “get even” with all the wicked rulers of the Earth. This moment is also described in Rev. 19:11,13,17, 18, where the battle of Jesus Christ with all the enemies of God is reported (this will happen at Armageddon - Rev. 16:14,16
109:6 He will bring judgment on the nations, fill [the earth] with corpses, crush the head (of the leader) in a vast land. The great defeat at Armageddon awaits not only the wicked kings, but also all the wicked nations living under the rule of wicked kings. The head of all wicked nations will be broken. Who is this? Apparently, this means the devil, the spiritual inspirer of all wicked kings and all opponents of God in principle. If the commander of the “army” of the wicked is defeated, then the “army” itself will be defeated.
109:7 He will drink from the stream along the way, and therefore will lift up his head. Jesus will not be left alone during this battle: he will drink from the source of living water, that is, with the support of God and with the help of His power, Christ will win, and therefore he will lift up his head - he will be exalted.
“From the womb before the morning star I gave birth to you.” Commentary on Psalm 109
Michael the Green Psalm 109 is the most quoted psalm in the New Testament, where there are more than 20 references to it. This psalm is prophetic and messianic. The Messiah is portrayed in it as the conqueror of all enemies and the high priest. Psalm 109 parallels Psalm 2, in which God calls the king of Israel His son, which goes back to the prophecy of the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 7:14). However, it should be borne in mind that the king here is called the son of God, as they say, in an improper sense - this does not mean his divine nature, but simply speaks of his special closeness to God or God’s special attitude towards him. In the same sense, all Israel was called the son of God (Ex. 4:22 - “And say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord [God of the Hebrews]: Israel is My son, My firstborn”). Apparently, in their direct meaning, both of these psalms are addressed to the king - David (2nd), Solomon (109th, whose author tradition considered David) or one of their descendants. The content of both psalms is similar - they glorify the king as God’s anointed one, to whom enemies must submit. Anointing means placing the king in service and endowing him with power from above - it is with this power that he will defeat his enemies. But what is said in Psalms 2 and 109 goes far beyond the scope of court rhetoric and therefore all their content cannot be attributed only to David, Solomon or one of their heirs, which is especially clear in Psalm 109. The words about sitting at the right hand of God speak of the hero of the psalm as one who is obviously more than just a man. Therefore, in addition to the direct historical meaning, it is necessary to see in these psalms, first of all, a prophetic meaning relating to Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God in the proper sense. In the kings, to whom these psalms could have been addressed historically, one should see a prototype of Christ, a “shadow of the future,” if we use the language of the corresponding passages of the New Testament (Col. 2:17 and Heb. 10:1). Psalm 109 is also interesting for us for its use in the service of the Feast of the Nativity of Christ: verses were selected from it for the prokeimenon at the 6th hour of Vespers and Matins and for the 3rd antiphon of the Liturgy. In addition, this psalm is read in its entirety at the 9th hour. Finally, in conjunction with the 2nd Psalm, it is heard at the Liturgy of the Evening: verses are taken from the 2nd Psalm for the prokeimenon, and from the 109th - for the aliluary. What does it have to do with Christmas? Its use in the Christmas service is intended to emphasize Who the Begotten One is: He is the One who sits on the Throne with the Father (see in the stichera of the Christmas Matins according to the 50th psalm - “Today Bethlehem will receive him who sits everlastingly with the Father”). When considering the psalm, we will use P. Yungerov’s translation from the Septuagint, and not the Russian Synodal one, because they render the important verse 3b differently, and in the Orthodox tradition it is understood precisely from the reading of the Septuagint.
1The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool.
2 Samuel 7:12 When your days are fulfilled, and you sleep with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, which will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13He will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14I will be his father, and he will be My son; […]16 And your house and your kingdom will be established forever before Me, and your throne will stand forever.
Psalm 2:6 I have anointed My King over Zion, My holy mountain
Psalm 8:7 You have made him ruler over the works of Your hands; He laid everything under his feet:
Mark 12:35 Continuing to teach in the temple, Jesus said, “How do the scribes say that Christ is the Son of David?” 36For David himself said by the Holy Spirit, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool. 37So David himself calls Him Lord: how then is He His Son?
Mark 14:60 Then the high priest stood in the midst and asked Jesus, “Why don’t you answer?” What do they testify against You? 61But He was silent and did not answer anything. Again the high priest asked Him and said to Him: Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One? 62Jesus said: I am; and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. 63Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “What more need do we have of witnesses?” 64You have heard blasphemy; what do you think?
Acts 2:34 For David did not ascend into heaven; but he himself says: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand,
1 Corinthians 15:25 For He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet.
Philippians 2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Hebrews 1:13 To which of the angels did God say, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool?
The Lord said to my Lord - the original uses a word that is often used in relation to prophecy or revelation. In the translation, the One who speaks and the One to whom it is spoken are designated by the same word “Lord,” but in the original Hebrew the words are different. The speaker is called by the sacred four-letter Name, and the One to whom the Speaker is addressing is called by the word “Adonai,” translated as lord or Lord. Those. if translated literally, it turns out “God spoke to Him whom the psalmist calls his Master.” The Christian tradition clearly understands him as the Messiah. This understanding is not alien to the Jewish tradition, especially its ancient layers (in later layers there is a tendency, for the purpose of polemics with Christianity, to deny this by naming other persons). Sit at my right hand - these words are a metaphor that borrows its images, as you can easily guess, from the court ritual: the king, sitting on the throne, places on the second throne at his right hand the one whom he demonstrates to his subjects as his heir and/or co-ruler . Thus, these words mean that the One to whom they are addressed is equal in honor with God and has equal power with Him, is His co-ruler. Until I make Your enemies Your footstool - a metaphor meaning the granting of complete and final victory. It comes from the custom of the winner (commander or ruler) to step on the captured commanders of the defeated side as a sign of his triumph, or even to place his throne on them. Those. these words mean the promise of victory over enemies. As the patristic commentaries unanimously say, the word “until” should not be understood to mean that power and honor are granted only temporarily, until this victory is achieved: on the contrary, it should be understood that they are granted forever. Another psalm besides the 2nd, closely related to the 109th, is the 8th psalm. In his 7th verse there are the words: “he put everything under his feet,” which is almost the same as in the 1st verse of Psalm 109. According to the text of Psalm 8, these words literally refer to man; the ancient Jewish interpretative tradition attributed them to the first man - Adam, whom God crowned with glory and honor and made ruler over the works of His hands. But Adam fell and proved unable to be the head of all of God’s creation, therefore this power is given to the Savior, the Messiah, in whom man is restored to the dignity that the Creator intended for him (the interpretation of the 8th Psalm, relating it to Jesus Christ, is given in the Epistle to Hebrews 2:5-9). The 1st verse of Psalm 109 can be understood in the same light. Christ referred to Psalm 109 twice: the first time was when He taught the people in the Temple and asked “Whose son is Christ?” In response to “David”, He referred to the psalm - “how does David call Him Lord, if He (Christ) is his son?”, thereby affirming that Christ is more than just the son of David in the flesh: if the psalm is addressed to one of David's descendants (the same Solomon), then how can David call him his master - after all, a son cannot be the master of his father? This means that the Messiah is more than just the son of David in the flesh. The second time Christ refers to Psalm 109 is at the court of the Sanhedrin. After He answered the high priest’s question, “Are you the Christ?” He replied, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power” (a euphemism for “at the right hand of God”), and He was accused of blasphemy: to say this about oneself meant to declare one’s divinity, and those who did not believe in His messiahship and divinity, considered such claims to be blasphemy against God.
2The Lord will send you a rod of strength from Zion, and rule among your enemies.
1 Samuel 2:10[...]The Lord will judge the ends of the earth, and will give strength to His king, and will exalt the horn of His anointed.
Psalm 2:8Ask of Me, and I will give the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession; 9You will strike them with a rod of iron; You will break them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
The rod is a symbol of power (scepter). God gives His Anointed One (Messiah, Christ) power over the whole world and victory over enemies. These enemies should be understood in the light of 1 Cor. 15:24-26 as “the rulers of this world” and death, who will be abolished at the Second Coming of Christ. From Zion - Zion is the name of the hill on which stood the fortress of the Jebusites, captured by David. There he established his residence, which is why Zion is also called the “City of David.” Zion is often used as the name for Jerusalem as a whole.
3 a With You is the power in the day of Your power in the splendor of Your saints:
Daniel 12:3 And those who have understanding will shine like the lights of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars, forever and ever.
Matthew 13:43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
“On the day of Your power, Your people are ready in the splendor of holiness” according to the Synodal translation, “It began with you on the day of Your strength, in the brightness of Your saints” in the Church Slavonic translation. The Day of Power is the day when the power (glorified “beginning” - more precisely “superiority”, i.e. power, as translated from Greek by Jungverov) of the Messiah over the world will be solemnly revealed. the day of the Lord's Judgment (historical prototype - the reign of David in Jerusalem). This power will appear “ in the splendor of the saints ,” i.e. is that the people of God (“the saints”), whose king is the Messiah, will be glorified: “the righteous shall shine like the sun and the stars.” Another understanding of the verse is this: an indispensable attribute, or decoration, of the “day of Power” should be the holiness (in the sense of high moral purity and sincere seeking of the Lord) of the people of God.
3 b “From the womb before the morning star I gave birth to you.”
Psatir 2:7[...]The Lord said to Me: You are My Son; Today I have given birth to You.
Psatir 89:3 Before the mountains were born, You formed the earth and the universe, and from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
Proverbs 8:22 The Lord made me the beginning of His way, before His creatures from time immemorial; 23 From the beginning I have been anointed, from the beginning, before the existence of the earth. 24 I was born when there were no deeps, when there were no springs abundant with water. 25I was born before the mountains were erected, before the hills, 26when He had not yet created the earth, nor the fields, nor the first specks of dust of the universe.
Micah 5:2 And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, are you small among the thousands of Judah? from you will come to me one who is to be a ruler in Israel and whose origin is from the beginning, from the days of eternity.
Colossians 1:15Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creation;[...]17And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Before the morning star : the morning star or morning dawn. “Before the morning star” - literally “before the morning dawn”, i.e. before the sun rose. In the Synodal translation we read: “from the womb before the morning star your birth was like dew,” i.e. it is emphasized that this birth occurs early, even before sunrise, just as dew falls long before sunrise, when it is still dark and cold. If we translate the Hebrew text literally - “from the womb before the dawn you receive the dew of your youth.” It can be seen that the place is somewhat dark, but its darkness becomes clearer if in the Hebrew text the word translated as “youth” is pronounced differently - not as a noun, but as a verb. Then it just turns out “gave birth” (note that this is exactly the vowel of the same word that is used in Ps. 2:7). In this case, the literal translation turns out to be: “from the womb before the dawn I gave birth to you,” which is already close to the literal translation from Greek - “from the womb before the morning came I gave birth to you” (for some reason, the words were omitted when translating into Greek about dew). It is clear that the words “before the dawn” (“before the morning”) cannot be taken literally: the dawn here is a metaphor, meaning that the birth spoken of occurred before the creation of the sun (cf. Proverbs 8:22-26). Therefore, in the Christian Church this verse has always been interpreted as speaking about the eternal birth of the Son of God. For this reason, it is heard repeatedly at Christmas services. And the words “from the womb” were one of the important arguments of the Orthodox side in trinitarian disputes in favor of the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father.
4The Lord has sworn and will not repent: You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.
Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was a priest of the Most High God.
Hebrews 7:13 For he of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one came near the altar.
The Lord swore and will not repent - he made a promise and will not change it. In its literal sense, perhaps, this refers to the promise given to David through Nathan: the throne in Israel will not be taken away from his descendants, as happened with the first king of Israel, Saul. Prophetic meaning - the Messiah will necessarily come from the descendants of David (“son of David”), and he is also given a promise of the priesthood. You are a priest forever: the sacred significance of the kingdom of David and his descendants is emphasized, making the king a kind of priest, albeit in a special sense: such a combination was not allowed by the Law of Moses, according to which priestly service at the altar (bringing sacrifices) could only be carried out by representatives of one - the only family - the descendants of Moses' brother Aaron. According to the order of Melchizedek - this refers to the story of the 14th chapter of the book of Genesis about how Abram with his servants and allies defeated the armies of Kederlaomer and the kings allied to him (part of it is read as a parimia for the Week before the Nativity of Christ). After this victory, he was met and blessed by a mysterious man - Melchizedek (literally - “king of righteousness” or “king-righteous”), called “king of Salem” (apparently of Jerusalem) and “priest of the Most High God.” In the Old Testament, with the exception of the 4th verse of Psalm 109, Melchizedek is not mentioned anywhere: he is not included in any genealogies, the dates of his birth and death are unknown, who became his successor, etc. What is known is what is said in verses 18-20 of the 14th chapter of Genesis: that he was both king in Jerusalem and priest, that he blessed Abraham, and that Abraham gave him a tithe of all his spoils, thereby recognizing his priesthood. By calling the hero of the psalm “a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek,” the psalmist means that he will, like Melchizedek, be both king and priest. Historically, i.e. as applied to the kings who reigned in Jerusalem, this was manifested in the fact that the king had special care for the Temple, which was built at the expense of King Solomon. But in the literal sense, to be a priest, i.e. The king could not make sacrifices on the altar (when one of the kings tried to do this, he was punished by God with leprosy). Thus, this promise can be fully applied only to the Messiah, which is discussed in detail in the Epistle to the Hebrews: Christ is the High Priest because he made a sacrifice on the Cross to atone for our sins, and according to the order of Melchizedek, because like Melchizedek he is outside biblical genealogies, so Christ is not included in the genealogy of those who have the right to offer sacrifices according to the law (see Heb. 7:13)
5The Lord will smite kings at your right hand on the day of his wrath.
Psalm 15:8 I have always seen the Lord before me, for He is at my right hand; I will not hesitate.
Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life: whom shall I fear?
The point is that God is constantly with the Messiah and is the power with which he overcomes his enemies. Here we see a different metaphor than in verse 1: God Himself is already at the right hand of the Messiah, defeating his enemies. If the first metaphor is taken from court ritual, then this one reflects military realities: in battle, to the right of the king there is a bodyguard - the best warrior, ready to protect him. One can say this: in the days of peace, the Messiah sits at the right hand of God, sharing His power, and in the day of battle, God is already at his right hand as a guardian.
6He will bring judgment on the nations, fill (the earth) with corpses, and crush the heads of many on the earth,
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it will bruise your head, and you will bruise its heel.
Isaiah 66:12 For the Lord will bring about judgment on all flesh with fire and with His sword, and many will be slain by the Lord.
Psalm 67:22 But God will crush the head of His enemies, the hairy crown of the one who is stubborn in his iniquities.
This speaks of the defeat that will be inflicted on the opposing forces on the day of the Lord's Judgment (parallel to verse 1).
7He will drink from the stream along the way, therefore he will lift up his head.
Isaiah 52:13 Behold, My servant shall prosper, and be exalted, and exalted, and great.
Philippians 2:6 He, being in the image of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God; 7But he made himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a servant, becoming in the likeness of men, and becoming in appearance like a man; 8 He humbled himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, even death on the cross. 9Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name that is above every name,
A verse that is quite difficult to interpret. Patristic commentaries understand it as speaking about the humiliation of Christ and his subsequent exaltation and glorification: in order to drink water from the stream, it is necessary to bow down, crouch to the ground. This decline is the reason for the subsequent elevation. With this interpretation, in the last verse we can see a return to the theme with which the psalm began - the theme of the exaltation of the Messiah by God. But this exaltation is accomplished through His humiliation and suffering, which fully corresponds to what is said in the Gospel, especially in John, who sees His glory in the Passion of Christ (“Now is the Son of Man glorified”).
