Jehovah shall send the sceptre of thy might out of Zion rule in the midst of thine enemies.
The psalm opens with the Messiah seated at God's right hand. In verse 2 the scene changes: God sends out the scepter, and the Messiah rules. What is this scepter? Why Zion? Is this rule now, or still ahead?
The older wording behind this verse is "the rod of your strength," which the ESV gives as "your mighty scepter." That word "rod" has a settled meaning in Scripture, and it goes back to Moses.
The rod of Moses had become the symbol of the divine authority God gave him. From this point on we find the word used in Scripture with this meaning, as in "The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!" (Ps. 110:2).
Verse 1 and verse 2 stand side by side. A long stretch of history falls between them.
Verse 2 passes over the whole of the present interval, the day of grace. It even passes over the actual circumstances of His appearing in glory, the destruction of the beast and antichrist, and the deliverance of His people as recorded in Zechariah 12-14. It shows the Messiah as already established in Zion. That is why we read the words, "The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!" This at once explains the phrase in the next verse, "the day of your power." Messiah has come, and He has set up His throne on His holy hill of Zion. So it is the day of His power.
Zion is not a detail. It is the chosen seat of a reign that begins in war, not in calm.
It is a period during which Jesus is fully triumphant. He acts in power and as a king, but He does not yet rule in peace. During it He forms, develops, and establishes the relationship of His people with Himself on the earth, in His triumphs and in His kingdom, according to the rights by which He will subject His enemies to Himself… The whole of this psalm unfolds the same idea: the warlike kingdom of Christ, with Zion chosen by God for its seat, and for the place from which His power will go out during the triumphant wars of the Messiah.
Some have read the rod as the gospel spreading through the world. The order of the psalm answers that.
The first verse, Christ seated at Jehovah's right hand, covers the time while the gospel goes out. But in Psalm 110:2, the sending out of Christ's rod from Zion is when the time comes to rule in the midst of His enemies, not to convert them into His friends and prepare them for heaven.
The footstool in verse 1 points the same way.
When grace subdues souls, does that make them the footstool of their Conqueror? We have always understood that when men are converted they are united to Christ — made one body and one spirit with Him… But no: if we accept the interpretation being argued for, they are made His footstool, to be trodden under His feet! … Zion becomes the earthly centre of Christ's royal power before He has fully subdued His enemies. So of course He will be ruling in the midst of His enemies. But how can He rule "in the midst of His enemies" now, while He is seated at the right hand of God?
Names carry the timing here. Melchizedek is the priest of Genesis 14, and Christ's priesthood follows his order. God has a name that belongs to that day too.
"The Most High" is the millennial name of God, and He holds this name with Melchizedek (Gen. 14). In Psalm 110 we read that "the LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter." That is when Christ takes His Melchizedek character. Then in verse 5 it says, "Adonai" (not Jehovah) "at your right hand will shatter kings in the day of His wrath." Christ's priesthood is after the order of Melchizedek, and He is a priest who lives for ever.
The rod has not gone out yet. So Christ waits, and His people wait with Him.
Notice what Jehovah says in verse 1: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool." He is not treading them under His feet. When He comes forth, we come with Him, not to triumph over them; that He does alone, and the time has not come yet. Our actual condition will then be with Him. It is now by faith with Him. We have association with Him as a heavenly Christ.
- Rod — the word stands for authority given by God, the same symbol carried by Moses.
- Sent — verse 2 jumps straight over the present time of grace and lands with the Messiah already set up in Zion.
- Zion — the chosen earthly seat from which His power goes out, in a reign that begins in war and not yet in peace.
- Rule — He rules His enemies; He does not turn them into friends. Verse 1 calls them a footstool, not converts.
- Wait — He is seated, not yet treading down; His people share His place by faith now, and will come with Him when He acts.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in holy splendour from the womb of the morning [shall come] to thee the dew of thy youth.
Psalm 110 seats Christ at God's right hand until His enemies are made His footstool. Verse 3 shows the day that waiting ends — a people who come to Him gladly, dressed in holiness, fresh as morning dew.
The verse before it defines this phrase. Once the Messiah rules from Zion, the day of His power has come, and the people's willingness follows.
Verse 2 at once explains the phrase in the next verse, "The day of Your power." Messiah has come, and He has established His throne on His holy hill of Zion. So it is the day of His power. In His majesty He will "ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness," and the words will come true, "Let Your right hand teach You awesome deeds" (Psalm 45:4). At that time His power will be on display, and their hearts will be touched too. Then His people will be willing. They will be as "freewill offerings" — that is, they will offer themselves willingly for His service.
His people were not willing at the end of His life. This verse turns that scene around.
It seems, then, that the whole verse shows how the last scenes in our Lord's life are going to be exactly reversed. Then His people shouted for His death. They covered Him with unholy ridicule and dishonour. The youth of Israel departed from Him into a dark night of retribution for themselves. In the moment this verse looks forward to, He comes out in power and splendour. The youth of Israel flock to Him at the dawn of the millennial day — young in spirit at least, for they have all just been born again.
Willingness here means more than outward obedience:
Christ must have a willing people in the day of His power (Ps. 110:3) — not a people like those of the nations who, apart from the great multitude of those saved from among the Gentiles, will only approach the king with flattering, lying words of apparent submission.
One writer pictured a whole company set apart to God — the Nazirites, Israelites who took a vow of separation to the Lord.
I had a spiritual vision of the saints of God, wholly separated to the Lord, yielding themselves with glad and willing obedience to Him and His cause, like an army, triumphant and well equipped, shouting its enthusiasm for its king. I saw the saints as a company of Nazirites, like the Nazirites in Israel once were. "Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, the beauty of their form was like sapphire" (Lam. 4:7). This surely is the meaning of the words, "The people shall offer themselves willingly … in holy splendour."
Note: where the ESV has "in holy garments" and "her princes" (Lam. 4:7), the older translation used here has "in holy splendour" and "her Nazirites."
Commentators differ here. One writer reads the picture from what dew does, and how much of it there is.
The womb of the morning is the dawn of the new day, brought in by the reign of the Messiah. "The dew of Your youth" seems to mean that the young men who spring up to follow their Messiah in the early morning of His kingdom will be like the dew. This may mean they are for blessing, as dew is for the earth (see Micah 5:7), or that they are as many as the dewdrops of the morning. Probably both senses should be combined.
Others take the freshness as belonging to Christ Himself, unspoiled by glory:
In connection with His Melchizedek priesthood, it was said of Him: "The dew of Your youth will be Yours" (Ps. 110:3). Some worshipped Him as the Baby at Bethlehem. They marvelled as the flower of His perfect childhood developed, and later saw the rich fruit of His maturity. They will find all of it preserved in divine freshness on high.
The verse looks ahead, but one writer applies it now. What power will do in that day, grace already does.
His people will be willing in the day of His power; we, through grace, are made willing now (v. 3).
This willingness is not measured by great achievements.
It is not the doing of bold deeds, or the winning of remarkable victories over mighty foes. It may lead to that, surely. But it is the full and glad acknowledgment of the Lord's absolute right to have us wholly.
- Power — Verse 2 puts the Messiah on the throne in Zion. "The day of Your power" is the day His rule stands in the open.
- Willing — His power does not just compel. It touches their hearts, and the people offer themselves as freewill offerings.
- Reversal — The crowd that once shouted for His death and heaped dishonour on Him will flock to Him in splendour.
- Freshness — Commentators differ on "the dew of Your youth." Some see young men who come to Him at daybreak, as many as dewdrops and as full of blessing. Others see Christ's own freshness, kept unspoiled.
- Now — What power will produce in that day, grace produces already in those who gladly own His full right to them.