To not Know "the L-rd" from "my master" Can End in Disaster

[Psalms 110]

 

 

I.            Introduction

 

Psalms 110, an important Christian "proof text", is used by Christian apologists and missionaries as "testimony" from within the Hebrew Bible that validates theological doctrines, such as the Trinity and the divinity of the Messiah. 

 

A rigorous analysis of the Hebrew text of this psalm demonstrates that these claims, which are based on mistranslations from the Hebrew and a lack of knowledge about Judaism, have no basis or support within the Hebrew Bible.

 

II.            Comparison of Christian and Jewish English Translations

 

Side-by-side renditions of Psalms 110 are displayed in Table II-1.  The King James Version (KJV) rendition also shows references to key passages in the New Testament, which cross-reference the respective portions of this psalm.  [The references are found in the New American Standard Bible (NASB), but the corresponding passages, quoted below the table, are taken from the KJV.]  Highlighted words and phrases will be discussed later as part of the analysis.

 

Table II-1 – Psalms 110

 

1. Direct "quotes": Matthew 22:44(KJV) - The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my

 right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?

    Mark 12:36(KJV) - For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD

        said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make

        thine enemies thy footstool.

    Luke 20:42, 43(KJV) - And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The

 LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

    Acts 2:34-35(KJV) – (34) For David is not ascended into the heavens: but

           he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou

           on my right hand, (35) Until I make thy foes thy

           footstool.

    Hebrew 1:13(KJV) - But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on

          my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy

          footstool?

 

    Allusions: Matthew 26:64(KJV) - Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say

    unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on

    the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of

    heaven.

        Colossians 3:1(KJV) - If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which

    are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

        Hebrews 8:1(KJV) - Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum:

 We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of

 the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;

        Hebrews 10:12(KJV) - But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins

     for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

        1 Corinthians 15:25(KJV) - For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under

            his feet.

2. Hebrews 5:6,10(KJV) – (6) As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever

                                          after the order of Melchisedec.

                                       (10) Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.

    Hebrews 6:20(KJV) - Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an

                                      high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

    Hebrews 7:17,21(KJV) – (17) For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order

                                            of Melchisedec.

     (21) (For those priests were made without an oath; but this

     with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and

     will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of

     Melchisedec:)

3. Romans 2:5(KJV) - But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto

                                   thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the

                                   righteous judgment of God;

 

Major discrepancies exist between the Jewish and Christian translations of this psalm, particularly as it concerns the opening verse.  First, unlike most Christian Bibles, the KJV completely discarded the superscription "Of David a Psalm.".  In the rest of the verse, the Hebrew term  (adoni; pronounced ah-do-NEE), my lord/master, is rendered in the KJV and many other popular Christian Bibles as my Lord.  This alludes to Jesus (via the capital "L"), who is G-d the Son, the second personage in the Trinity.  The Tetragrammaton, , the ineffable title of the Creator that is written in the Hebrew via the four-letter sequence  (yod-heh-vav-heh), Y-H-V-H, appears in Psalms 110:1,2,&4, and is punctuated with vowels to be pronounced ah-do-NA-i.  This is rendered in the KJV as The LORD, alluding to G-d the Father, the first personage in the Trinity.  The use of all capital letters aims to distinguish The LORD [G-d the Father] from The Lord [G-d the Son].  The actual word  (A-donai), another one of several common titles used in the Hebrew Bible for the Creator, is the first word in Psalms 110:5.  It should be noted that in the Hebrew, both  (adoni), my lord/master, and  (A-donai), G-d, are identically spelled, but are punctuated with different vowels.  The KJV, having created the rendition my Lord for  [(adoni), my lord/master] in Psalms 110:1, had no choice but to render  [(A-donai), G-d] in Psalms 110:5 as "The Lord" (i.e., G-d the Son).

 

III.            Overview of Christian and Jewish Interpretations

 

A.      Overview of the Christian Perspective

 

Christians view Psalms 110 as a messianic psalm fulfilled by Jesus as both the Messiah (who, in Christian theology, is greater than his ancestor, King David) and, for Trinitarians, a divine being, the Son in the Trinity).

 

As can be seen from the numerous references to it, the authors of the New Testament had a great interest in this psalm.  According to the Christian view, the explicit application of this psalm to Jesus is noted in several ways:

 

U      By Jesus himself (e.g., Matt 22:41-45; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44)

 

U      By his apostles (e.g., Acts 2:33-35; Heb 1:13; 7:20-24)

 

U      By frequent references to its language throughout the New Testament (e.g., 1 Cor 15:25; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Heb 10:12-13)

 

The prolific use of Psalms 110 in the New Testament leaves no doubt in the mind of a Christian believer about its purely prophetic character.  In other words, the Christian view is that, when the L-rd G-d speaks of the Messiah, and when David prophetically refers to the Messiah, who is his descendant, as my Lord in Psalms 110:1, it clearly shows this cannot refer to an ordinary person.  Rather, it can only refer to the one who fulfills this verse in both ways, as a divine being and Messiah, namely, Jesus of Nazareth.

 

Psalms 110:1,4 are the two key verses in this psalm on which the Christian interpretation rests.  Psalms 110:1 allegedly refers to Jesus as being invited to sit on the right side of G-d in glory, where he will wait for G-d (the Father) to judge the earth and bring all things into subjection under him (the Son).  Psalms 110:4 speaks of a priest of the Most High G-d, Melchizedek (the common Christian transliteration will be used in reference to Christian claims), who came to Abraham, and to whom Abraham tithed one-tenth of all his goods.  Thus, because Abraham tithed him, the Christian view holds that Melchizedek was greater than Abraham (who was Levi's great-grandfather).  So that the Melchizedek priesthood, having preceded the Aaronic priesthood, is viewed as being superior to it and, thus, supplants and replaces it.

 

In Judaism, and according to Torah, the royal office (which was the domain of the Tribe of Judah) and the office of the priesthood (which was the domain of the Tribe of Levi) are separate entities, so that a priest may not be a king, and vice versa.  But for Christianity, this psalm celebrates the exaltation of Jesus to the throne of an eternal and increasing kingdom and a perpetual priesthood that will see the subjugation of his enemies and the multiplication of his subjects, and which is rendered a certainty by the word and oath of the Almighty.

 

More detailed commentary may be found in the standard Christian commentaries such as, Matthew Henry and Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown.

 

B.     The Jewish Perspective

 

Regardless of who its author was, the overall theme of Psalms 110 is that it speaks of David's legendary power, which came through divine favor that was earned by his righteousness.  The author of this psalm assures King David of victory over the enemies of his people, the Jewish people.

 

Regarding the interpretation of this psalm, as is often the case, there are several perspectives offered by the Jewish Sages.  The two most common interpretations are that this psalm is about either King David or our Patriarch  Abraham.  Another interpretation combines these two.  Lastly, since King David's name is associated with the future King/Messiah (e.g., Jer 30:9; Ezek 37:24; Hos 3:5), a messianic interpretation of this psalm is also plausible.

 

The interpretation of this psalm by Rabbi Ibn Ezra (and adopted also by Rabbi David Qimhi [RADAQ]) as being about King David is according to the pshat, i.e., the simple/literal reading, wherein the superscription is "A Psalm for [or, concerning] David".  It entails David's ordeal with King Saul [a Benjaminite,  (y^emini) in Hebrew, e.g., Esther 2:5, a word that is identical to the Hebrew term for the phrase my right hand].  According to this view, David is asked to wait until his enemy (Saul) is brought down.

 

The interpretation by RASHI (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi) uses the apparent allusion to Malki-Tzedeq as a way to relate this psalm to Abraham and his battle with Amraphel, and his subsequent victory over the four enemy kingdoms (see Genesis14).

 

A melding of these two interpretations is possible when one reads this psalm as a prayer by an aging King David when his soldiers went to battle without him.  In his prayer, King David refers to images of G-d's dealings with Abraham during his battle with the four kings, and he asks G-d to help him as He helped Abraham to prevail over his enemies.

 

Finally, since King David is also counted among the 55 Jewish prophets listed in the Hebrew Bible, and there is use made in this psalm of verbs conjugated in the future tense, it becomes plausible that there is allusion here to the future King/Messiah.  As such, this psalm confirms some of the basic requirements the Messiah must meet, e.g., that he will be of the seed of David, victorious over all his enemies, a Torah scholar, and a world leader.

 

IV.            Who Is Speaking to Whom?  About What Are They Speaking?

 

The Christian interpretation of Psalms 110 is plagued by many problems, all of which appear to be connected to the most common Christian renditions of the first verse.

 

1. The Superscription

 

Christian renditions generally do not number the superscription at the head of a psalm and, in the case of Psalms 110, the KJV deleted the superscription altogether.  Yet, it is noteworthy that the Christian perspective on this psalm depends on the assumption that King David is the author and speaker.  On the other hand, the Jewish interpretations are not limited by such a restriction.

 

In the Hebrew text, the superscription reads  (l^eDavid mizmor), where  (l^e) is a preposition,  (David) is the name David, and  (mizmor) means a psalm.  The Hebrew preposition  (l^e) could have any of the following meanings: to or for, by, and in or into.  Eliminating the last pair for obvious reasons, this particular superscription could indicate this psalm as having been either composed by David or composed for or dedicated to David.  In other words, it is not possible to determine, with absolute certainty, that King David was the composer of this psalm.

 

Christian apologists and missionaries will cry "foul" here, charging that this is an after-the-fact attempt to use this ambiguity to force a biased interpretation of this psalm.  Such charges are effectively countered with other instances in the Book of Psalms where the preposition  (l^e) in the superscription means for and not by.  The group  of 11 psalms and songs for the Sons of Korah, Psalms 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 84, 85, 87, and 88, exemplify this.  In each of these psalms, the superscription contains the following type of phrase:

 

Psalms 48:1 - A Song, a Psalm for the sons of Korah [ (shir mizmor li'vnei korah)].

 

Then there is Psalms 72, composed by King David for his son Solomon:

 

Psalms 72:1,20 – (1) A Psalm for Solomon [ (li'shlomoh)]. O G-d, give your judgments to a king; and your righteousness to a king’s son.

(20) The prayers of David the son of Jesse are completed.

 

In both cases, the preposition  (l^e) changes to  (li) due to a grammatical rule[1].  These two examples demonstrate that the assumption on which the Christian view of this psalm is based, namely, that David must be its author, is not necessarily valid since it is not the only possibility here.  Because this psalm is not written in the 1^st-person relative to David, it could have been composed by someone else, perhaps someone who served under David.

 

It is interesting to note that, in Psalms 72, King David speaks about himself in the 3^rd-person in the opening and closing verses, something that is also found in other Psalms written by David:

 

Psalms 144:1,10 – (1) A Psalm of David [ (l^eDavid)]. Blessed is the L-rd my rock, Who trains my hands for the battle; my fingers for the war;

(10) Who gives salvation to the kings; Who delivers David His servant from the evil sword.

 

It is, therefore, reasonable to posit that King David authored Psalms 110, writing about himself in the 3^rd-person, or prophetically about the future King/Messiah.  As a result, any one of the Jewish interpretations can be validated vis-ΰ-vis the Hebrew Bible.  Moreover, the Jewish interpretations do not support the Christian perspective, since it is founded on mistranslations and on concepts that are not part of the Hebrew Bible.

 

 

2. Who Is Speaking to Whom in Psalms 110:1?

 

In the two renditions of Psalms 110:1 shown below, the equivalent Hebrew terms and their respective transliterations are placed in brackets following the highlighted translated phrases.

 

The KJV and other Christian translations render the opening verse this way:

 

Psalms 110:1(KJV) - The LORD [ (Y-H-V-H)] said unto my Lord [ (ladoni)], Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

 

The common Jewish translation of the opening verse is:

 

Psalms 110:1 - Of David a psalm.  The word of the L-rd [ (Y-H-V-H)] to my lord/master [ (ladoni)]: "Sit at/[Wait for] My right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool at your feet."

 

Clearly, both translations cannot be correct, and a further analysis of this verse will help determine which of these is the correct one.

 

The first phrase in the Hebrew text, the Tetragrammaton,  (yod-heh-vav-heh), Y-H-V-H, is rendered as The LORD in the KJV, and as The L-rd in the Jewish translation.  Both Christian and Jewish interpretations agree on this term as representing the Creator.

 

The next term in the Hebrew text,  (ladoni, is rendered as unto my Lord in the KJV (note the capital "L"), and as to my lord/master in the Jewish translation (note the lower-case "l"/"m").  The Hebrew word  (ladoni), pronounced as la-doh-nee), consists of two components: the preposition  (l^e), which was encountered in Sec. IV.A, and which can only mean to in this case; and  (adoni), which is the 1^st-person, singular conjugation (in the possessive) of the noun/title  (adon).  Rules of Hebrew grammar cause several changes in the noun/title  (adon) when it is both conjugated in the possessive and combined with the preposition  (l^e)[2].

 

Table IV.B-1 shows the four different applications or the term  (adon) in the Hebrew Bible, of which there are 334 instances.

 

Table IV.B-1 – Applications of  (adon) in the Hebrew Bible

 

(1) This includes all instances of  (adoni)

(2) This includes three cases from the 26 instances of an appellation for addressing G-d

 

Of the 334 cases of the term  (adon) in the Hebrew Bible, 195 are conjugated in the 1^st-person possessive form  (adoni), which occur with and without attached prepositions.  This subset of 195 cases is broken out in terms of the various forms (with and without prepositions) in Table IV.B-2.

 

Table IV.B-2 – Applications of  (adon) in the Hebrew Bible