August 19 — Psalm 110

“The LORD says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” The LORD sends out from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes. Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day you lead your forces on the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning, like dew, your youth will come to you. The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter heads over the wide earth. He will drink from the stream by the path; therefore he will lift up his head.” (Psalm 110)

“You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

“Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” They said to Him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “Then how does David in the Sprit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Until I put thine enemies beneath Thy feet?”’ If David then calls Him ‘Lord’, how is He his son?” (Matt. 22:41-45).

The fact that Jesus quoted this psalm would have come as no surprise to the audience that day. It was believed that David was the psalm’s author, that he wrote by inspiration, and that he spoke of about the Messiah. What the religious leaders were unwilling to admit was that David’s Lord was both divine and human.

Melchizedek was originally mentioned in Genesis chapter 14. He is a Gentile but also an obscure and enigmatic figure. He certainly did not descend from Abraham. He was the “king of Salem” (Genesis 14:18), which some feel was the city of Jerusalem. The word “Salem” also meant “peace,” so he was the king of peace. He is also identified as a “priest of God Most High”. This king-priest pronounced a blessing on Abram and received his tithe, a tenth of the spoils of war (v. 20)

In using the Apostles’ Creed to declare the faith of the Christian Church, the church says over and over again, “I believe in Jesus Christ … who sits at the right hand of God.” In this declaration of faith, we make a confession of where we first see Jesus in relation to G-d. The statement is the nearest approximation the church has to an answer to the question of where Jesus is now. The psalm thus declares to the world — he is the one who sits at the right hand of G-d. Jesus is King! The meaning and confession of our faith makes absolute claims on our response — obedience of the community and its members.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, your Son is the high priest of the new Jerusalem. Consecrate us to be your holy people, that the reign of Christ, your anointed one, may come in its fullness; through the same Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

August 18 — Psalm 109

“Do not be silent, O God of my praise. For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They beset me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, even while I make prayer for them. So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love. They say, “Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand on his right. When he is tried, let him be found guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin. May his days be few; may another seize his position. May his children be orphans, and his wife a widow. May his children wander about and beg; may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit. May the creditor seize all that he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil. May there be no one to do him a kindness, nor anyone to pity his orphaned children. May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation. May the iniquity of his father be remembered before the LORD, and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the LORD continually, and may his memory be cut off from the earth.” (Verses 1-15)

This psalm constitutes the most vivid example of an imprecatory prayer found in the Psalms. What is an “imprecatory prayer”? This type of prayer is a prayer of “retribution” — these Psalms are those that invoke judgment, calamity, or curses, upon one’s enemies or those perceived as the enemies of God.

Such petitions for justice have posed a theological problem, not to our surprise. Questions people have raised over the years include: How can a man who claims to trust in the Lord (verses 21-31), pray such curses on his enemies as those found in verses 6-20?

Let me provide several possible answers for this problem. First, there is a legitimate righteous indignation against sin. Jesus indirectly commands something similar when he tells the woman caught in adultery to “Go and sin no more.” (John 8:11) Second, the curses used here are actually a prayer that places the matter into the hands of a just and holy G-d. The Psalmist does not judge — he prays that G-d will be G-d, and will judge rightly. Third, the psalmist is so identified with God that he turns to the only place he knows he will be heard — where we are always heard — he turns to G-d.

Let us pray:

God of steadfast love, on the cross your Son forgave his enemies. Turn us from hatred and evil, that we may forgive the offenses of others as we have been forgiven by you; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.