Psalm 110 was Re: [b-hebrew] LORD

Pastor Mark Eddy markeddy at adams.net
Fri Feb 14 14:03:20 EST 2003


----- Original Message -----
From: Polycarp66 at aol.com

gfsomsel asked:
Mark,

To whom then was David speaking?

My answer:
I'm not sure that I understand the question. David seems to have written his psalms to be used also by
others in their worship. In that sense, David was speaking to whomever would use this Psalm in the future.
Not all Psalms are prayers addressed to God. Some, like this one, are didactic. Psalm 110 begins: NeAuM
YHWH. This is a standard beginning for a prophetic utterance of God to His people. This phrase first first
occurs (in cannonical order) in Gen. 22:16. It also occurs in 1 Sam. 2:30 and extensively in the latter
prophets (e.g. Is. 14:22f etc., Jer. 1:8 etc., Ezek 13:6f etc., Hos 2:14 etc., Amos 2:11 etc. etc.) This
is the only use of NeAuM YHWH in the Psalms. That gives us a clue that this Psalm has a special,
revelatory character. David writes that God Himself revealed this decree to David. David wrote it down, so
that all his people might know about this decree of YHWH.

If you mean, who is the "you" of verse 2ff? It is David's "Lord" to whom YHWH addressed the words of verse
1. Verse 4 again has YHWH address David's "Lord" with the words, "You are a priest forever..." I think
everyone agrees that those words are not spoken to David. Verse 6 is where the address switches from
second to third person. It seems best to apply them also to David's "Lord" rather than to YHWH.

I hope this answers your question.
Mark Eddy



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