Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 110:2
The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
2. The sceptre of thy strength shall Jehovah stretch forth (or, send forth) out of Zion] The poet speaks, expanding the oracle. The rod or sceptre is the symbol of authority and power, the instrument of chastisement. (Cp. Isa 10:24; Isa 10:26; and Psa 2:9, though the Heb. word there is different.) Jehovah wields it on the king’s behalf. “He giveth strength unto his king” (1Sa 2:10). For the phrase rod of thy strength, cp. Jer 48:17; Eze 19:12; Eze 19:14.
out of Zion ] The capital of the new kingdom. Cp. Psa 2:6.
rule thou in the midst of thine enemies ] Supply saying before this clause. Jehovah speaks. The command is virtually a promise. Though enemies surround the king on every side, he is fearlessly to assume his sovereignty, and victoriously to exercise it. The word for ‘rule’ is used of Solomon in 1Ki 4:24; cp. also Num 24:19; Psa 72:8 (A.V. have dominion).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion – The scepter of thy power; that with which thou shalt rule. It will be given to thee by Yahweh; and it will be given to thee, as it were, out of Zion; that is, as proceeding from the church, and as derived from that. It will be an appointment connected with the church, and will be as if the church had conferred it on thee. The idea is, that the Messiah would receive, as it were, his designation, authority, commission, power from the church. He would spring from it Isa 11:1; would act for it; would do what was needful for its good; would wield the power which properly belongs to the church on the earth. Compare the notes at Psa 2:9.
Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies – Set up thy power over them, and reign in them. This is a commission to set up a kingdom in the very midst of those who were his enemies; in the hearts of those who had been and were rebellious. His kingdom is set up not by destroying them, but by subduing them so that they become his willing servants. They yield to him, and he rules over them. It is not here a commission to cut them off, but one much more difficult of execution – to make them his friends, and to dispose them to submit to his authority. Mere power may crush people; it requires more than that to make rebels willingly submissive, and to dispose them voluntarily to obey.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 110:2-3
The Lord shall send the rod of Thy strength out of Zion: rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies.
Messiahs sceptre and kingdom
The kingship of Christ is a twofold kingship. It is essential and it is hereditary. The one belongs to Him as God, the other belongs to Him as Mediator. The first is founded upon the Divinity of His Person, the second upon the dignity of His work. Hence the first is eternal, the second conferred.
I. The sceptre of Christ, the power which wields it, and the place of its appearing.
1. The sceptre is the symbol of royalty and is of even greater antiquity than the crown. Homer speaks of it as that sacred rod of kings. Christs sceptre is His Gospel. It is the Word of the Lord which is powerful, a Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation, Jehovahs rod of strength, mighty for the pulling down of Satans strongholds.
2. This sceptre is wielded by no feeble hand. To subdue the will of an alien world required an agency yet more powerful than that which created the universe and will raise the dead. Its sentiments, prejudices, habits, interests, pleasures, sins, form a positive quantity of antagonism. Hence the conversion of a soul from Satan to God is a miracle of miracles. The humanly impossible becomes the Divinely accomplished. The Holy Ghost wields the sceptre.
3. This sceptre was to appear out of Zion, and from thence by gradual conquests extend its influence over the entire earth. On Zion the apostles received their commission to preach; there they remained until power came upon them; there the first Gospel sermon was preached, and at the first swaying of this sceptre three thousand souls were added to the Lord; there the first Gospel Church was founded, almost under the shadow of the recent cross, and from thence this mystical sceptre went forth into all lands.
II. The establishment of His kingdom. The psalmist describes its position and its people.
1. Its position.
(1) It is a position of conflict. Rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies. In heaven He rules in the midst of friends. All the angels of God do worship Him. Here His kingdom is a beleaguered kingdom.
(2) It is a position of conquest. He rules. The sceptre has civilized where it has not converted men. It has quickened the conscience and entered into the life of nations. Education, liberty, philanthropy, and the sanctities of domestic life have resulted from its benign rule.
(3) It is a position of continuance. The positions thrown up against it are airy fabrics. Reared by vanity, they will be overthrown by time.
2. Its people.
(1) Their disposition–willing.
(2) Character–holy.
(3) Influence. The meaning of the similitude is that the people of Christ, full of a young and ardent vigour, should appear upon the earth in multitudinous number and fertilizing influence as the drops of dew at the dawn of day. (E. T. Carrier.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. The rod of thy strength] The Gospel – the doctrine of Christ crucified; which is the powerful sceptre of the Lord that bought us; is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword; and is the power of God to salvation to all them that believe.
The kingdom of our Lord was to be founded in Zion, and thence, by gradual conquests, to be extended over the whole earth. It was in Zion the preaching of the Gospel first began; and it is by the Gospel that Christ rules, even in the midst of his enemies; for the Gospel extends a moralizing influence over multitudes who do not receive it to their salvation.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Send; or, send forth, into the world. The rod of thy strength; thy strong or powerful rod, by a usual Hebraism. And the rod is put for his sceptre, or kingly power, as it is Isa 10:24 Jer 48:17; Eze 7:10,11; 19:11,12. But as the kingdom of Christ is not carnal, or of this world, Joh 18:36, but spiritual; so this rod or sceptre is nothing else but his word published by himself, or by his apostles and ministers, and accompanied with his Spirit, by which the Messias did his great exploits, and set up and established his kingdom, converting some of his enemies, and confounding and destroying others of them, by that same instrument, as is manifest by comparing Isa 2:3; 11:4; Mic 4:2; 2Co 10:4; 2Th 2:8. Hence this word is called the word of the kingdom, Mat 13:19, and the power of God, Rom 1:16. David having spoken of the Messias, Psa 110:1, now turneth his speech to him. Out of Zion; from Jerusalem, which is frequently understood by the name of Zion, which was an eminent and venerable part of it, as Psa 48:13; 87:2; 102:13,16, &c.; where the sceptre of the Messias was first to be established according to the predictions of the prophets, Psa 2:6,8; 48:3; Isa 2:3, &c.; to which the event exactly answered, Luk 24:47; Act 1:4; 2:1,2, &c.; and from whence it was to be sent forth into all the parts and kingdoms of the world, to bring in the Gentiles, which also the prophets had foretold, as Isa 2:3, and in divers of the foregoing Psalms, as hath been already frequently observed and proved.
Rule thou; thou shalt rule; the imperative being here put for the future, as it is Gen 12:12; Psa 37:27, and oft elsewhere. For this is not a command, but a prediction or a promise that he shall rule; which he doth partly by his grace, converting some, and so ruling their hearts by his word and Spirit, and subduing their lusts in them, and their external enemies for them; and partly by his powerful providence, whereby he defends his church and people, and subdues and punisheth all their adversaries.
In the midst of thine enemies; who shall see it, and do what they can to oppose thy dominion, but shall never be able to hinder it, but shall split themselves against it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. the rod of thy strengththerod of correction (Isa 9:4;Isa 10:15; Jer 48:12),by which Thy strength will be known. This is His Word of truth(Isa 2:3; Isa 11:4),converting some and confounding others (compare 2Th2:8).
out of Zionor, theChurch, in which God dwells by His Spirit, as once by a visiblesymbol in the tabernacle on Zion (compare Ps2:6).
rule thou, c.overenemies now conquered.
in the midstonce setupon, as by ferocious beasts (Ps22:16), now humbly, though reluctantly, confessed as Lord (Phi 2:10Phi 2:11).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion,…. His royal and powerful sceptre, called the sceptre of righteousness,
Ps 45:6 and is no other than the Gospel, the power of God unto salvation; and which is mighty through him, for the reducing souls to the obedience of Christ; when it comes with power, and works effectually. This was first preached in Zion, or Jerusalem, and went out from thence into all parts of the world; the first ministers of it had their commission there, and were sent from thence to publish it all over the world; see Isa 2:3, by means of which the kingdom of Christ was set up and spread in the world; with this rod and sceptre in his hand, he went forth with his ministers, conquering and to conquer, Re 6:2. The Jews r own this rod to be a rod in the hand of the Messiah, which they seem to understand literally; and have a fabulous notion of its being the same that Jacob, Judah, Moses, Aaron, David, and so every king of Judah, had, down to the destruction of the temple: the Targum in the king’s Bible is,
“the Word of the Lord shall send, c.”
the essential Word.
Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies or, “thou shalt rule”, as the Targum and Arabic version; in the hearts of those who, in their unregenerate state, are enemies: but the arrows of his word being sharp in them, they are brought to submit to him; the everlasting doors are caused to open; he enters in, takes possession of their hearts, and rules there. Or this may be understood of his church in the world, which is his kingdom, and lies surrounded with enemies on all hands; but, in spite of them, and all their opposition, he will support his kingdom and interest.
r Jelammedenu apud Yalkut in oc. Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 224. 1. Vid. Bereshit Rabba, fol. 75. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2 Jehovah shall send out of Zion the scepter of thy power. The Psalmist not only confirms, in different terms, what he stated above, but also adds, that Christ’s kingdom shall be vastly extended, because God would make his scepter stretch far and wide. David did indeed render not a few of the surrounding nations tributaries to him, but still his kingdom, when contrasted with other monarchies, was always confined within narrow limits. There is in the words an implied contrast, as if he had said, that Christ should not reign as King upon mount Zion only, because God would cause his power to extend to the remotest regions of the earth. And for this reason it is denominated the scepter of his power, (323) and how astonishing was it, that though the whole world was leagued in opposition to Christ’s kingdom, it yet continued to spread and prosper. In a word, David here animates the hearts of the godly against being dispirited by the foolhardy attempts on the part of those who presume to introduce discord and disorder into the kingdom of Christ; for he shows them that God will put forth his invincible power for the maintaining of the glory of his sacred throne. What time, then, our minds are agitated by various commotions, let us learn confidently to repose on this support, that however much the world may rage against Christ, it will never be able to hurl him from the right hand of the Father. Moreover, as he does not reign on his own account, but for our salvation, we may rest assured that we will be protected and preserved from all ills under the guardianship of this invincible King. Doubtless our condition in this world is connected with many hardships; but as it is the will of God that Christ’s kingdom should be encompassed with many enemies, and that too with the design of keeping us in a state of constant warfare, it becomes us to exercise patience and meekness; and assured of God’s aid, boldly to set at nought the rage of the whole world. From this passage we are instructed as to the calling of the Gentiles. Because, if God had not told us in this place respecting the extension of Christ’s kingdom, we would not this day have been classed among his people. But as the wall is broken down, (Eph 2:14) and the gospel promulgated, we have been gathered together into the body of the Church, and Christ’s power is put forth to uphold and defend us.
(323) “ The rod of thy strength, or the scepter of thy strength, i.e., thy powerful scepter, the scepter with which thou rulest thy powerful kingdom.” — Phillips.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) Send.The verb should be here rendered stretch, as in Gen. 22:10; Gen. 48:14, and frequently of stretching out the hand, often with hostile intent. The poet here speaks in his own person, addressing the King, to whom the oracle has just been announced.
Rod of thy strengthi.e., the sceptre, which is the emblem of royal power and sway. (See Jer. 48:17.) The word staff is different from that rendered rod, in Psa. 2:9; and the image is not, as there, necessarily of a weapon of destruction, but only of kingly rule, as in Psa. 45:6.
Rule thou . . .It is better to take these words as a quotation, and understand them as spoken of Jehovah. In the picture before us the Divine King seats the earthly monarch by His side, and taking his sceptre from his hand, stretches it in token of the wide empire he is to administer from Zion, where they sit enthroned, over the surrounding nations, and bids him assume the offered sway, in spite of the foes that surround him at present. The expression in the midst, instead of over, implies the condition under which the sovereignty was to be assumed, as also does the rest of the psalm, proceeding to describe the wars by which ultimate triumph over the hostile tribes would be secured.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. The Lord shall send Jehovah shall send, not Adonoh. It declares what Jehovah will do through Adonah, or what Adonah or Messiah shall do in Jehovah’s name.
Rod of thy strength The sceptre of Messiah, representing the strength and sovereignty of Jehovah’s government.
Out of Zion The Church, the seat both of theocratic and Messianic dominion. Here the gospel was planted, and from hence it was spread abroad among the nations. Luk 24:46-47; Acts 2. The Jews referred this verse to Messiah. “According to Bereshith Rabba, on Gen 38:18, the sceptre of the kingdom which the Lord sends out of Zion is the King Messiah, of whom Isaiah (Isa 11:1,) speaks: ‘There shall go forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse.’ So according to Bammidbar Rabba, ‘the rod of Aaron is preserved that it may be in the hand of King Messiah, which is the meaning of the rod of strength.’” Perowne.
Rule thou Have thou dominion. The address is to Adonah, Christ, and the imperative form of the verb, whether uttered by Jehovah or as a prediction of the psalmist, expresses the certain investiture of divine government in Christ, as in Psa 2:7-8; Psa 2:12; Psa 72:8.
In the midst of thine enemies Christ’s willing people are not associated in one compact nationality, or commonwealth, defined by geographical limits, but dispersed throughout the world and intermixed with the enemies of the cross. Still he maintains his Church amidst the hostile nations, ruling the latter with a rod of iron, as in Psa 2:7-8; Psa 2:12; Psa 72:8
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 110:2-3. The Lord shall send the rod It is plain, that by making but two periods of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th verses of the psalm, which is confessed on all hands to be prophetical of the Messiah’s reign, the Jews have so far murdered the sense of it, that no version has been able to translate it without some needless and unwarrantable superlatives; whereas, had they divided it into three verses, and placed the full stops where they ought to be, the sense would have been clear, easy, and exactly agreeable to the prophesy contained in it. But perhaps this is what they carefully avoided. The reason of it will appear by what follows. And as no version has as yet rectified it, we shall take the liberty to subjoin the literal translation of those three verses, according to their and our punctuation, that the reader may the which ought to be preferred.
According to the Massoretic.
Psa 110:2. The Lord shall send the rod of thy power out of Zion: Be thou ruler in the midst of thine enemies.
3. Thy free-will people in the days of thy power, in the beauty of holiness; from the womb of the morning is the dew of thy birth.
According to our Punctuation.
Psa 110:2. The Lord shall send the rod of thy power out of Zion.
3. Rule thou, in the midst of thine enemies, thy free-will people, in the day of thy power, in the beauty of holiness. 4. From the womb of the morning is the dew of thy birth.
In the first of these the reader will see that the placing the full point after enemies strikes off the next words, thy free-will people, from being either the accusative of the verb redeh, rule thou, going before, or from having any connexion with what comes after. So that the words stand so ungrammatically there by themselves, that to make sense of the verse, most versions have been forced to make it the nominative of a verb, which they have substituted to it of their own. Thus one of our versionsthat in the Liturgy of the church of England,words it thus, “In the day of thy power shall the people offer free-will offerings;” where the words shall offer are added to make up the sense; and the other words are inverted by placing the words in the day of thy power before them, contrary to the Hebrew. That in our Bible is still wider from the original, though it substitutes less, as the reader may see by comparing it with ours here, which is exactly literal and plain. According, therefore, to this pointing, the verses in question may be fairly commented as follows; Psa 110:2. The Lord shall send the rod, or sceptre of thy power out of Sion; i.e. out of the tribe of Judah; Psa 110:3. Rule thou over thy free-will people,for none but such are fit to be Christ’s subjects. In the midst of thine enemies, Jews and heathens, or, in a spiritual sense, the world, the flesh, and the devil. In the day of thy power, that is, when all power shall be given him, both in heaven and earth, Mat 28:18. In the beauties of holiness; which is the peculiar characteristic of Christ’s reign, and of his religion. Univ. Hist. vol. 3: p. 223.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Here comes in a blessed promise made to the person of Christ, as the mediator and head of his church. The expression of the rod of his strength, probably means the sovereignty of his word, which first went forth from Zion. Jesus commanded his disciples, when they went forth to preach and evangelize all nations, to begin at Jerusalem, Luk 24:47 . And are not the word of God’s grace, and the work of God’s Spirit, blended in this view of the rod of Christ’s strength? For the gospel is said to be preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, 1Pe 1:12 . And indeed are not all the Persons of the Godhead engaged in this great work? God the Father is the author and giver of it, and as such it is called the gospel of God, and the glorious gospel of the ever blessed God, Rom 1:1 , and 1Ti 1:11 . And Paul no less calls it, the gospel of Christ, of which be declared himself not ashamed, Rom 1:16 . And elsewhere, it is called the ministration of the Spirit, 2Co 3:8 . Hence the Prophet cries out, Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord, Isa 51:9 . But how beautiful is that part of the verse which calls upon Christ to rule in the midst of his enemies! Yes! his people, by nature, are enemies to him by wicked works; born in sin, and children of wrath, even as others. And when the Lord sends the word of his grace into the heart of sinners, what rebel lion is found there. Sweet thought! Jesus must have every knee bend before him. If we bow not to the sceptre of his grace, we shall certainly break under the iron rod of his justice.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 110:2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
Ver. 2. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength ] That is, the gospel, that sceptre of Christ’s kingdom, that power of God to salvation, unto as many as believe, mighty through God to work wonders, 2Co 10:5 Act 20:32 , even the preaching of Christ’s cross.
Out of Zion
Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the rod of Thy strength = Thy strong staff. Genitive of Character, App-17. The reference is to the ancestral staff, marking the priest as well as the prince, and handed down here to Messiah, David’s son.
Zion. See App-68. Compare Rom 11:25-27.
enemies = foes.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 110:2
Psa 110:2
“Jehovah will send forth the rod of thy strength out of Zion:
Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.”
“The rod of thy strength.” The marginal reading here has “sceptre of thy strength,” indicating that it is the King who is spoken of, Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
“Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” This is a very important verse because of the light it casts upon the nature of the reign of Jesus Christ. Dramatically contrary to the false millennial conception of Christ’s reign as being some kind of a utopian paradise on earth where there is universal acceptance of Christ’s holy rule, the truth that appears here is that the reign of Christ will be “in the midst of his enemies,” in spite of them, and in their presence, regardless of their hatred and opposition. The rule of Christ will be only in the hearts of those who love him. But eventually, “all enemies” of Christ shall be put down; and then, Christ will not begin his rule; he will end it (1Co 15:28).
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 110:2. The Lord is the same person so termed in the preceding verse, and the pronoun thy refers to Christ. The thought is that God would empower his Son to become a successful ruler. The reign was to issue from Zion which was that part of Jerusalem that was headquarters for the kingdom of Christ.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the rod: Exo 7:19, Exo 8:5, Mic 7:14, Mat 28:18-20, Act 2:34-37, Rom 1:16, 1Co 1:23, 1Co 1:24, 2Co 10:4, 2Co 10:5, 1Th 2:13, 1Pe 1:12
out: Isa 2:3, Eze 47:1, Mic 4:2
rule: Psa 2:8, Psa 2:9, Psa 22:28, Psa 22:29, Psa 45:5
Reciprocal: Exo 4:2 – a rod Exo 8:22 – midst Num 17:2 – twelve rods Num 17:8 – budded Num 24:17 – a Sceptre Deu 33:7 – and be thou 2Sa 19:14 – even 2Sa 23:3 – He that ruleth 2Ch 6:41 – the ark Psa 2:6 – Yet Psa 16:5 – thou Psa 21:8 – General Psa 23:4 – thy rod Psa 45:1 – touching Psa 45:4 – prosperously Psa 47:9 – The princes Psa 98:1 – his right Psa 134:3 – bless thee Psa 145:12 – make known Isa 11:4 – and he shall Isa 40:10 – his arm Isa 45:24 – and all Isa 52:13 – he shall Eze 19:11 – she had Dan 7:14 – given Mic 4:3 – and rebuke Zec 12:8 – the house Joh 5:27 – hath Act 3:13 – hath Act 5:31 – hath Act 10:36 – he is 1Co 1:18 – unto Eph 1:19 – exceeding Phi 3:12 – apprehended Heb 4:12 – is quick Heb 9:4 – and Aaron’s Rev 6:2 – and he went Rev 7:9 – a great
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 110:2. The Lord shall send Or, send forth, the rod of thy strength
Thy strong or powerful rod: that is, thy sceptre or kingly power, Isa 10:24; Jer 48:17. But then, as the kingdom of Christ is not carnal, or of this world, Joh 18:36, but spiritual; so this rod or sceptre is nothing else but his word or gospel, published by himself, or by his apostles and ministers, and accompanied with his Spirit, by which the Messiah set up and established his kingdom: see Isa 2:3; Isa 11:4; Mic 4:2; 2Co 10:4; 2Th 2:8. Hence this gospel is called the word of the kingdom, Mat 13:19; and the power of God, Rom 1:16. David, having spoken of the Messiah, Psa 110:1, in this verse addresses his speech to him. Out of Zion From Jerusalem, which is frequently understood by the name of Zion. Here the kingdom of the Messiah was to be first established, according to the predictions of the prophets, and from hence the rod of his strength, the gospel word, was to be sent forth into all the parts and kingdoms of the world, to bring in the Gentiles, which also the prophets had foretold, as Isa 2:3, and in divers of the foregoing Psalms, as has been already frequently observed and proved. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies Or, Thou shalt rule, the imperative being put for the future, as is often the case elsewhere. Christ rules partly by his grace, converting some, and setting up his kingdom in their hearts, that kingdom which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; and partly by his powerful providence, whereby he defends his church and people, and subdues and punishes all their adversaries; in the midst of whom he is here said to rule, to signify that, though they should do what in them lay to oppose his kingdom, they should not be able to hinder the erection and establishment of it, but should bring ruin upon themselves by opposing it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
110:2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of {b} Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
(b) And then it will stretch through all the world: and this power chiefly stands in the preaching of his word.