One of the first questions to be settled in approaching the study of this psalm is, Who was the human author whom God used in giving this revelation? In answer to this question various positions have been taken by scholars. In the superscription appear the words מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד "a Psalm of David." The writer is aware that in recent years rationalistic criticism has endeavored to throw doubt on the information given by the superscription of the psalms; but in the absence of clear, positive proof pointing in a different direction these superscriptions should be allowed to give their testimony unimpeached; hence one does well to accept the position that David, the King of Israel, was the human author.

Expositors endeavor, if possible, to place any document in its original historical setting in order to interpret it properly. In attempting to do so they seek for the historical facts which gave birth to the composition. Passing by the efforts made by some to find the setting of this psalm in the days of Hezekiah or some other prince of the house of David, the writer wishes the reader to note the fact that there are historical occurrences in the life of David sufficient to give birth or rise to this most magnificent ode. Among these events may be noted David's bringing the ark to Mt. Moriah; his making a sanctuary for it and his general oversight of things spiritual; and lastly his victories over the Syro-Ammonites. These events were of such moment as to give the typical background to this wonderful prophecy. At the beginning of David's reign, the hopes of the nation seemed to cluster around his personality as the one through whom peace, blessings, and all the hopes promised to Israel would come. After his great sin (II Sam. 11), the Messianic hope seemed to detach itself from his personality and to take on a more definite form to be realized in the future in the coming of a king from his descendants who would rule in absolute righteousness, justice and in the fear of God.

וְאֵלֶּה דִּבְרֵי דָוִד הָאַחֲרֹנִים נְאֻם דָּוִד בֶּן־יִשַׁי וּנְאֻם הַגֶּבֶר הֻקַם עָל מְשִׁיחַ אֱלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב וּנְעִים זְמִרוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל: רוּחַ יְהוָה דִּבֶּר־בִּי וּמִלָּתוֹ עַל־לְשׁוֹנִי: אָמַר אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לִי דִבֶּר צוּר יִשְׂרָאֵל מוֹשֵׁל בָּאָדָם צַדִּיק מוֹשֵׁל יִרְאַת אֱלֹהִים: וּכְאוֹר בֹּקֶר יִזְרַח־שָׁמֶשׁ בֹּקֶר לֹא עָבוֹת מִנֹּגַהּ מִמָּטָר דֶּשֶׁא מֵאָרֶץ: כִּי־לֹא־כֵן בֵּיתִי עִם־אֵל כִּי בְרִית עוֹלָם שָׂם לִי עֲרוּכָה בַכֹּל וּשְׁמֻרָה כִּי־כָל־יִשְׁעִי וְכָל־חֵפֶץ כִּי־לֹא־יַצְמִיחַ׃

"Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse saith, And the man who was raised on high saith, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel: The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, And his word was upon my tongue. The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me: one that ruleth over men righteously, That ruleth in the fear of God, He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, A morning without clouds, When the tender grass springeth out of the earth, Through clear shining after rain. Verily my house is not so with God; Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in all things, and sure: For it is all my salvation, and all my desire, Although he maketh it not to grow" (II Sam. 23:1-5).

From this quotation it is quite evident that David in the closing scenes of his life realized his own failures, but also the faithfulness of God in His raising up this righteous king of the future.

II. THE ORIGINAL TEXT AND TRANSLATION BY DELITZSCH.

לְדָוִד מִזְמוֹר נְאֻם יְהוָה לַאדֹנִי שֵׁב לִימִינִי עַד־אָשִׁית אֹיְבֶיךָ הֲדֹם לְרַגְלֶיךָ׃ מַטֵּה עֻזְּךָ יִשְׁלַח יְהוָה מִצִּיּוֹן רְדֵה בְּקֶרֶב אֹיְבֶיךָ׃ עַמְּךָ נְדָבֹת בְּיוֹם חֵילֶךָ בְּהַדְרֵי־קֹדֶשׁ מֵרֶחֶם מִשְׁחָר לְךָ טַל יַלְדֻתֶיךָ׃ נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָה וְלֹא יִנָּחֵם אַתָּה־כֹהֵן לְעוֹלָם עַל־דִּבְרָתִי מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק׃ אֲדֹנָי עַל־יְמִינְךָ מָחַץ בְּיוֹם־אַפּוֹ מְלָכִים׃ יָדִין בַּגּוֹיִם מָלֵא גְוִיּוֹת מָחַץ רֹאשׁ עַל־אֶרֶץ רַבָּה׃ מִנַּחַל בַּדֶּרֶךְ יִשְׁתֶּה עַל־כֵּן יָרִים רֹאשׁ׃

"1 The oracle of the Lord unto my Lord:
'Sit thou at My right hand,
Until I make thine enemies
The stool for thy feet.'

2 The sceptre of thine authority
Shall the Lord stretch forth from Zion:
'Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.'

3 Thy people are most willing in the day of thy warfare;
In holy festive garments,
Out of the womb of the dawn
Cometh to thee the dew of the young men.

4 The Lord hath sworn and will not repent:
'Thou shalt be a priest for ever
After the manner of Melchizedek.'

5 The Lord at thy right hand
Dasheth kings in pieces in the day of His wrath;
6 He will judge among the nations;
It becometh full of corpses.

He dasheth in pieces the head over a wide land;
7 Of the brook shall he drink in the way;
Therefore shall he lift up his head."

The poem falls into three strophes, each containing seven lines, which fact bears "the threefold impress of the number seven, which is the number of an oath and a covenant." There appears in the hymn the Sacred Name of God יְהוָה three times, each of which introduces the words of the Almighty.

III. WHO Is אֲדֹנִי, "MY LORD"?

As to the meaning אֲדֹנִי there has been much discussion to no profit. One familiar with the Hebrew knows that this term is frequently used by a servant when referring to his master and occasionally by a subject when addressing his king, as is seen in I Sam. 22:12, although the more correct form of address is אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ "My Lord the King" (I Sam. 24:8(9). That it is used in addressing a Divine Being is seen in Josh. 5:14,15. To Joshua reconnoitering around Jericho a man suddenly appeared. To his question as to whether he were for or against him, the latter answered, saying, אֲנִי שַׂר־צְבָא־יְהוָה "Prince of the Lord's hosts am I." Joshua, recognizing that he was a Supernatural Being, addressed him as אֲדֹנִי and worshipped. The statement that he was the prince of the hosts of the Lord shows that he had control of all of the hosts of heaven, including all cherubim, seraphim, and angels of every rank and file. While this passage is not absolute proof that this one appearing to Joshua was God, the implications of the context point positively in that direction. These implications will be elevated to veritable proof by an examination of Judg. 6:13,14.

In verse 11 of Judges 6 the statement is made that "The angel of the Lord came"; verse 12 states, "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto Him"; verse 13, "And Gideon said unto him, Oh, my Lord, if the Lord is with us ..."; and in verse 14 appears this statement, "And the Lord looked upon him ..." The Being Who is called "The Angel of the Lord" is, according to verse 14, the Lord Himself Whom Gideon addressed as אֲדֹנִי the same form of the word which appears in Psalm 110. The position that אֲדֹנִי refers to a divine person in this Psalm is confirmed by the fact that it opens with the words נְאֻם־יְהוָה "the oracle of the Lord." These words, with very few exceptions, refer to a divine revelation; hence in the mouth of David, who occupied the highest position of honor and power in the kingdom, it signifies a divine revelation made to him concerning his superior. Since the only one known in Hebrew prophecy as superior to David is the Messiah, evidently David in the Spirit of God here spoke concerning Him.

In the discussion of Psalm 2 in the preceding chapter it was seen clearly that the Messiah referred to in verse 3 is the same as is spoken of as "My King" in verse 6; that likewise the speaker of verses 7-9 who claims that God addressed Him as "My Son" and Who is to have universal dominion over the nations of the earth is the One referred to as מְשִׁיחוֹ "His anointed," and מַלְכִּי "My King"; and that hence the Messiah is both human and divine--God's Son. These facts being true, one is not surprised, when he reads in the Septuagint version, translated before 250 B.C, to see that the Hebrew translators used the same Greek word κύριος in translating both the word יְהוָה and אֲדֹנִי. This translation proves conclusively that the Hebrew scholars who made the Greek version understood that the One to Whom God spoke was likewise Divine.

The words spoken by the Lord to David's Lord are, "Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies the stool for Thy feet." This language shows that there are enemies of the Messiah. It is impossible for anyone to be hostile to another unless in some way he has come in contact with the latter who has done something which displeases him. Therefore the assumption underlying this language is that the Messiah has come in contact with those who are hostile to Him. The following verse shows very clearly who these enemies are: "The sceptre of Thine authority shall the Lord stretch forth from Zion: rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies." The first part of this Hebrew parallelism shows that the Messiah is to rule in Zion and the latter part points to the inhabitants of same as His enemies; therefore the inhabitants of Zion are His enemies. These two verses, therefore, presuppose that the Messiah comes to Zion and incurs the displeasure of the Hebrew people. When they become hostile to Him, the Lord invites Him, the Messiah, to leave the place of hostility and to sit at His right hand--in heaven. The period during which the Messiah is to remain in heaven with the Lord will be terminated by the latter's subduing the former's enemies. Therefore this passage assumes two comings of the Messiah: at His first coming the Hebrew people reject Him and He returns to the right hand of the throne of God awaiting the time (the length of which is not suggested here) when the Lord shall have brought the Hebrew people, those hostile to His Messiah, into a state of subjection. This conquest having been accomplished, the Messiah returns to Zion as its King and with divine authority and power rules in the very place where He formerly was rejected. At His first coming He comes in humiliation and, as Isa. 53 shows, He suffers and is rejected; He leaves the Hebrew people to suffer and to be driven from nation to nation because of the sin of their rejecting Him (which truth is taught in many other Scriptures); and finally He returns in the majesty and power of the Eternal God to restore the penitent remnant of the children of Israel to their own land, to make them the head of the nations instead of the tail, and to reign from sea to sea.

V. THE SECOND ORACLE

The second division of this psalm consists of verses 3 and 4. The words עַמְּךָ נְדָבֹת "Thy people are free-willingnesses" (i.e., "altogether cheerful willingnesses in the day of the marshalling of thy forces") answer the expectation that is aroused in verse 2, namely, since the Lord is to reign as a King He will have an army. The words "thy people" refer to the people of the Messiah, namely the Hebrew people. They are "free-willingnesses." This translation is literal and is very graphic. One might call them free-willingness personified, free, voluntary willingness being the dominant, all-absorbing characteristic which eclipses all others at the time.

At this point the question arises, "Why will the Hebrew people accept their Messiah Whom they have formerly rejected, when He returns in the day of His power?" To many, such a thought is far beyond the realm of possibility; hence unthinkable. The answer to this question is found in Hos. 5:15, "I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly." When one is in good health and has a sufficiency of material goods he feels, as a rule, very independent; but should he lose not only health, but property, he realizes for the first time how dependent he is. In this condition life takes on a different hue; he views everything from a different angle. Thus it shall be with Israel. When she enters the period which is called "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jer. 30:7), she will suffer as she has never at any time. She will be reduced to such straits as at present are inconceivable. It is true that many of Israel at various times have suffered almost unthinkable horrors, but there have never been any such difficulties and times of trouble as will come to the nation in the future. Daniel in speaking of this very time says, "And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book" (Dan. 12:1). According to the Torah, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was most reluctant in permitting Israel to leave the country in order to serve the God of Israel. Finally, after God had sent ten different judgments upon him, he was willing for them to go. Judgments similar to those which He brought upon Egypt by Moses, but far more intense and severe, will be visited during the time of trouble upon all nations. These judgments will, figuratively speaking, awake Israel to the fact that something is very radically wrong not only with the world in general, but with Israel in her relation to her God in particular. Under the stress of these severe judgments those who have survived the calamities, according to Hosea's prophecy, will seek God earnestly. In harmony with this statement appears one in the Torah. In Deut. 4:29, after having forewarned Israel that in the event they corrupted themselves in the land He would scatter them among the nations, God promised that "From thence ye shall seek the Lord thy God, and thou shalt find him, when thou searchest after him with all thy heart and with all thy soul." Thus Israel, like mankind in general, will only learn her great lesson by bitter experience. God has chosen her "in the furnace of affliction" (Isa. 48:10). In the midst of this distress they come to the point that they will say בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה "Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Psa. 118:26). Thus they become "free-willingnesses."

The expression "free-willingnesses" is but another way of stating that the nation will repent of her having been enemies of God's Messiah, and that she will whole-heartedly accept Him and His leadership. This teaching is confirmed by the confession which Israel, according to Isa. 53:1-9, will yet make in the future. At the time of its national repentance Israel will confess that she had misunderstood the mission and work of the Servant of the Lord, having thought that He was smitten by the Lord for His sins, whereas He was smitten for the transgression of the nation. (A full discussion of the Servant of the Lord of Isa. 53 will be seen in Chap XVIII.) The unmistakable prediction that Israel will repent and come back to God is seen in Jer. 3:20-23:

אָכֵן בָּגְדָה אִשָּׁה מֵרֵעָהּ כֵּן בְּגַדְתֶּם בִּי בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל נְאֻם־יְהוָה׃ קוֹל עַל־שְׁפָיִים נִשְׁמָע בְּכִי תַחֲנוּנֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי הֶעֱווּ אֶת־דַּרְכָּם שָׁכְחוּ אֶת־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיהֶם׃ שׁוּבוּ בָּנִים שׁוֹבָבִים אֶרְפָּה מְשׁוּבֹתֵיכֶם הִנְנוּ אָתָנוּ לָךְ כִּי אַתָּה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ׃ אָכֵן לַשֶּׁקֶר מִגְּבָעוֹת הָמוֹן הָרִים אָכֵן בַּיהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ תְּשׁוּעַת יִשְׂרָאֵל׃

"Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the Lord their God. Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we are come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God. Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the tumult on the mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel."

Verse 20 is the Lord's severe indictment of Israel in departing from Him. Verse 21 is a prediction of her having been convicted, returning in genuine repentance to God. Verse 22a is God's invitation to return to Him. In 22b and 23 is Israel's confession to God and her acknowledgment that He is the One Who brings deliverance. In Zech. 12:10-14 appears another prediction relative to this same national repentance, at which time God "will remove the iniquity of that land in one day." This last statement refers to the time and event mentioned in Isa. 66:8, which has tersely been expressed: "A nation born in a day."

Just as the "people offered themselves willingly" (Judg. 5:2) and the governors did likewise (verse 9), so will the entire nation offer herself to her long-rejected Messiah to serve in any capacity He chooses. The word חֵילֶךָ translated "warfare" refers to troops and frequently to the marshaling of forces or armies. As proof of these statements see Ex. 14:28; I Kgs. 20:1; II Chron. 26:13.

B. A Nation of Priests

The converted nation will really be a kingdom of priests (cf. Ex. 19:6), for they will be arrayed in בְּהַדְרֵי־קֹדֶשׁ "holy festive garments." These words are the regular ones used in the Torah to refer to the attire of an officiating priest. Hence the nation in reality will at that time become a nation of priests. מֵרֶחֶם מִשְׁחָר לְךָ טַל יַלְדֻתֶיךָ "Out of the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youthful ones." Though there are two figures of speech blended in these words, a careful examination of each idea will render the passage very intelligible. The morning of the great day of King Messiah is likened to a woman who gives birth to children. The use of this figure carries with it the correlative idea of the most severe suffering and pain. In Isa. 66:7-9 the prophet uses the same figure, but instead of personifying morning he compared Zion to the woman who is in travail bringing forth her children.

בְּטֶרֶם תָּחִיל יָלָדָה בְּטֶרֶם יָבוֹא חֵבֶל לָהּ וְהִמְלִיטָה זָכָר׃ מִי־שָׁמַע כָּזֹאת מִי רָאָה כָּאֵלֶּה הֲיוּחַל אֶרֶץ בְּיוֹם אֶחָד אִם־יִוָּלֵד גּוֹי פַּעַם אֶחָת כִּי־חָלָה גַּם־יָלְדָה צִיּוֹן אֶת־בָּנֶיהָ׃ הַאֲנִי אַשְׁבִּיר וְלֹא אוֹלִיד יֹאמַר יְהוָה אִם־אֲנִי הַמּוֹלִיד וְעָצַרְתִּי אָמַר אֱלֹהָיִךְ׃

"Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord: shall I that cause to bring forth shut the womb? saith thy God."

Here Zion is the name poetically given to the nation which is compared to a woman in travail. That this period of travail is most severe is seen from the fact that God punishes Jerusalem double for her sins (Isa. 40:1,2). The Child of which the nation is delivered is the faithful, penitent, God-fearing remnant of the nation who, seeing the mistake of the nation and thirsting after God with all of its heart, returns to God and the Messiah Whom the nation rejected at His first coming.

This remnant of the nation which is born in a day, appears again in Ezek. 20:33-39. Promising to gather the scattered nation from all the lands whither they have been dispersed and to bring them "into the wilderness of the peoples" and to "enter into judgment with you face to face," God makes the following promise: "And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me; I will bring them forth out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezek. 20:37,38). Here appears the remnant that is born in a day when Zion is in travail after all of the rebels and transgressors have been slain.

This purified remnant is compared in the second figure of this statement to the dewdrops upon the vegetation in the early morning. Associated with the idea of dew is that of vigor, youth, and power. As the innumerable dewdrops on the vegetation are invisible while it is yet dark but are clearly seen in all of their beauty at the sunrise, so this penitent remnant at the close of Israel's dark night of trouble becomes manifest when King Messiah Who, according to Mal. 4:2, is "the Sun of Righteousness" arises with healing in His wings.

The fact that the converted nation is a kingdom of priests (cf. Isa. 61:6) presupposes that the leader likewise is a priest. This supposition is confirmed by verse 4: "The Lord has sworn and will not repent: thou shalt be a priest forever after the manner of Melchizedek." God's sworn statement is a sufficient guarantee of its fulfillment. The fact that the ruler, the hero of this psalm, is to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, confirms the position taken at the beginning of the study of this psalm, namely, that David was not the subject but the author. Franz Delitzsch on this point remarks: "How could David be called a priest after the manner of Melchizedek, he who had no claim upon the tithes of the priests like Melchizedek, and to whom was denied the legal right to offer sacrifices (cf. II Chron. 26: 20), a right which is inseparable in the Old Testament from the idea of the priesthood?" Jeremiah in making his prediction of the new covenant doubtless had this thought in mind when he spoke the following words: וְהָיָה אַדִּירוֹ מִמֶּנּוּ וּמֹשְׁלוֹ מִקִּרְבּוֹ יֵצֵא וְהִקְרַ בְתִּיו וְנִגַּשׁ אֵלָי כִּי מִי הוּא־זֶה עָרַב אֶת־לִבּוֹ לָגֶשֶׁת אֵלַי נְאֻם־יְהוָה׃ "And their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is he that hath had boldness to approach unto me? saith the Lord" (Jer. 30:21). Likewise, Zechariah, a post-exilic prophet, doubtless had this same Psalm in mind when he by inspiration declared, כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת לֵאמֹר הִנֵּה־אִישׁ צֶמַח שְׁמוֹ וּמִתַּחְתָּיו יִצְמָח וּבָנָה אֶת־הֵיכַל יְהוָה׃ וְהוּא יִבְנֶה אֶת־הֵיכַל יְהוָה וְהוּא יִשָּׂא הוֹד וְיָשַׁב וּמָשַׁל עַל־כִּסְאוֹ וְהָיָה כֹהֵן עַל־כִּסְאוֹ וַעֲצַת שָׁלוֹם תִּהְיֶה בֵּין שְׁנֵיהֶם׃ "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; and he shall build the temple of the Lord; even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both" (Zech. 6:12,13). "The coming Prince of Israel requires no priestly assistance, but is placed near to God as a Priest, and has free access to Him." This Man Who is called צֶמַח the Branch, is recognized both among Jews and Gentiles as the promised Messiah. According to Zechariah He will wear not only the regal crown, but the sacred mitre, being both King and Priest.

VI. MESSIAH'S FINAL CONQUEST

In harmony with the statement of verse 1 that the Lord God will subject the Messiah's enemies under Him, the psalmist in Psa. 110:5-7 declares that the Lord God at the right hand of the Messiah (assisting Him) strikes through kings in the day of His wrath. Hence though the Messiah does take personal vengeance against His enemies as set forth in Isa. 63:1-6, the Lord God assists in the subduing of the same. The conflict in which the Messiah will engage when He returns in glory is graphically set forth in the prayer of Habakkuk, chapter 3. Likewise, Joel in the third chapter of his prophecy sets forth the judgment which the Messiah will bring upon the godless nations when He returns. These Scriptures, as well as many others, simply set forth in graphic form the destruction of the armies of the world as is suggested in verse 6 of this ode. The expression "He dasheth in pieces the head over a wide land" has been variously interpreted. It is quite likely, however, that it is a reference to the slaughter of the Ruler who reigns over wide stretches of territory. It is quite probable that this one is the same one who is set forth as the little horn on the fourth beast mentioned in Dan. 7, which is the same person as the one who is spoken of as the king of Babylon in the end-time.

To sum up the information gathered from this psalm let the reader note that the One concerning Whom the psalmist is speaking is God manifest in the flesh (cf. Isa. 9:6(5)), Who is come to Zion and Who, having incurred her displeasure, is rejected; therefore, God invites Him to remain in His Presence until the subjection of said enemies. When they are subdued the Messiah returns in power and the remnant of those who rejected Him accept Him willingly, becoming a nation of priests who constitute His priestly army. He as their Leader is a Priest, not according to the Aaronic priesthood, but after the order of Melchizedek, being appointed to this office by an oath. When He returns to begin His reign in Zion with the assistance of the Lord, He smites all of His enemies and sets up His kingdom among men.

AUTHOR'S TRANSLATION WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES IN ITALICS

A Song of David which the Spirit of God spoke through him (II Sam. 23:1,2). A Divine Revelation of יְהוָה (The Lord) to my Lord, King Messiah, God manifest in human form, concerning His relations to Israel:

"Sit at my right hand in the heavens, since the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to whom you went when you were born of the Virgin (Isa. 7:14) and whom you tried to lead back to God, have absolutely spurned your good offices and have rejected you. Continue in association with me in the Heaven of Heavens (Psa. 115:16) until the time arrives when I shall make your enemies the footstool of your feet. This subjugation of the children of Israel will be accomplished at the close of 'the time of Jacob's trouble' when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people (Dan. 12:7). Then, the rod of your strength, will I יְהוָה (The Lord) send forth out of Zion, which figurative language refers to your glorious reign in Jerusalem (Psa. 2). According to Our Eternal Purpose, rule in the midst of your enemies, since they in their great distress will then earnestly say, 'Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord.'

"When you go to Zion the second time, the attitude of the nation will be exactly opposite from what it was when you went there the first, for your people will offer themselves to you as free-will offerings with their whole hearts in the day of your power when you muster all of your forces and resources and establish your universal reign of righteousness in their midst. The entire nation will then be a kingdom of priests (Ex. 19:5) arrayed in the garments of holiness. Out of the womb of the morning you will have the dew of your youthful ones. In these figures the time of your beginning to reign is spoken of as the mother of the remnant of the nation which, in turn, is compared to the early morning dew because of the youthful vigor of each one of your people and of the great number of them.

"Since the nation is to be a kingdom of priests, it is proper that you as her leader and King, likewise, be a Priest.

"Therefore, I יְהוָה have sworn and will not repent, 'you are a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.' You are the King of Glory (Psa. 24:8) and Priest, not of the Aaronic order, but of a higher type, Melchizedek, King of Salem (Jerusalem) in the days of Abraham to whom the latter paid tithes, being the pattern (Gen. 14:18; Zech. 6:13).

יְהוָה   "'the Lord' at your right hand will fatally wound kings in the day of His wrath. He will judge among the nations, when He assists you in establishing your throne; He will fill the battlefields with dead bodies, as is set forth in Isa. 63:1-6; He will fatally wound the head man who governs a vast land, and who is the Anti Messiah (cf. Dan. 7:8,11). In this final conflict He, the Lord, will drink of the brook by the way, which language means that He will not stop, rest, and prolong the conflict, but, rather, will hastily complete His conquest. Therefore He will lift up His head in triumph at the end of the battle.

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