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PSALM 110

A Psalm of David.

1. jehovah has said to my lord: Sit you at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

2. jehovah will send out from Zion the sceptre of your strength; you shall rule in the midst of your enemies.

3. Your people shall be ready in the day of your strength; in the honours of holiness; from the womb of the morning you have the dew of your nativity.

4. jehovah has sworn, and he will not repent: You are a priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek.

5. The lord is at your right hand, he shall crush kings in the day of his anger;

6. He shall execute judgement amongst the nations; he shall fill the earth with dead bodies; he shall crush the head over many countries.

7. He shall drink of the stream in the way; therefore will he raise up the head.

That these words relate to the lord, does not appear from the literal sense of the passage as it stands in the book of Psalms, and yet that the lord alone is here meant, he himself teaches, Matt 22:41—43. AC 2135.

Verses 1 to 7. From the above Psalm it is evident what the lord is as a priest, consequently what the priesthood in the lord represented, namely all the work of the salvation of the human race; for the subject treated of in the above Psalm is concerning the lord's combats with the hells, when he was in the world, by which he acquired to himself Divine omnipotence over the hells, by which omnipotence he saved the human race, and also at this day saves all who receive him. This salvation itself, inasmuch as it is from the Divine good of the Divine love, is that from which it is said of the lord, you are a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchizedek; Melchizedek is the king of justice, thus the lord was called from his being made justice, and thereby salvation, according to what was shown, AC 9715. But whereas singular things in the above passage contain arcana concerning the lord's combats when he was in the world, which cannot be revealed without the internal sense, therefore it is allowed briefly to unfold them, Jehovah has said to my Lord, signifies that it was concerning the lord when in the world; that by lord is there meant the lord as to to the Divine Human [principle,] is manifest from Matthew 22:41, 42, 43; Mark 12:35, 30; Luke 20:41, 42, 43, 44; sit you at my right hand, signifies the omnipotence of Divine good by Divine truth, which the lord then was, and from which he fought and conquered; that to sit on the right hand denotes a state of power, and when concerning the Divine [being,] that it denotes omni-potence, see AC 3387, 4592; and that all power is of good by truth, see AC 6344, 6413; until I make your enemies your footstool, signifies until the evils, which are in the hells and from the hells, shall be subjugated, and made subject to his divine power; the sceptre of strength shall jehovah send out of Zion, signifies power on this occasion from celestial good; that Zion denotes such good, see AC 2362; you shall rule in the midst of your enemies, signifies which good has dominion over evils; evils are enemies, because they are against the Divine [being or principle,] especially against the lord; your people [are a people] of promptnesses in the day of your strength, signifies Divine truth combating on this occasion; in the honours of holiness, signifies which are from Divine good; from the womb of the morning you have the dew of your nativity, signifies conception from the Divine good itself, from which he had Divine truth; jehovah has sworn and will not repent, signifies what is firm and certain; you are a priest for ever, signifies the Divine good of the Divine love in him; according to the order of Melchizedek, signifies his Divine Human [principle] alike; Melchizedek is king of justice, thus jehovah made justice by combats and victories, AC 9715; the lord at your right hand, signifies the Divine truth on this occasion from him, by which he has omnipotence, as above; shall crush kings in the day of his anger, signifies the destruction of falses on the occasion; the day of anger was when he fought against evils, and destroyed them; kings are truths, and in the opposite sense falses, AC 2015, 2069; he has judged among the nations, signifies the dissipation of evils, for nations denote goods, and in the opposite sense evils, AC 1259, 1263; he has filled with dead bodies, signifies thus spiritual death, which is the total deprivation of truth and good; he shall crush the head over much earth, signifies the casting down of infernal self-love into the hells, and its damnation; he shall drink of the stream in the way, therefore will he raise the head, signifies the attempt to emerge by reasoning concerning truths; this is the sense of the above words, which is perceived in heaven, when that Psalm is read by man. AC 9809.

The lord, when he was in the world, was Divine truth, but when he was glorified, that is, when he made the Human principle in himself divine, he was then made Divine good, from which afterwards Divine truth proceeds, hence it is, that the disciples after the resurrection did not call him Master, as before, but lord, as is manifest in John 21:7, 12, 16, 17, 20, and also in the rest of the Evangelists. AC 4973.

Verse 1. Until I make your enemies your footstool. By your footstool here signified things natural, both sensual and scientific, and hence the rational things of man, which are called enemies when they pervert worship, and this by the literal sense of the Word, so that there remains only worship in externals, and internal worship either totally perishes or is defiled. When things natural and rational are thus perverted and defiled, they are called enemies; but inasmuch as in themselves they have relation to internal worship, when this worship is restored they then become a footstool. AC 2162.

Verse 4. According to the order of Melchizedek. That Melchizedek signifies the lord, see AC 1725.

Verses 5, 6, 7. These things are said of the lord, and of his combat against false and evil principles which are from hell, and of their subjugation; by kings are meant false principles from hell, by nations are meant evils thence derived; his Divine omnipotence is meant by the lord at your right hand; the subjugation of the false and evil principles from the hells, is signified by smiling them in the day of his anger, by judging amongst the nations, and filling with dead bodies; by the head which is smote is meant self-love, from which come all evil and false principles; by the river from which the head drinks, and by reason of which it exalts itself, is signified the Word in the letter; to drink of it is to learn something thence, and to exalt the head is so long to be repugnant; for all who are in false principles grounded in evil cannot be cast into hell until those things are taken away from them which they learn from the Word, since all things of the Word communicate with heaven, by which communication they exalt the head, but when those things are taken away they are cast down into hell. AE 518.