Messianic Perspectives

Liz Aiello: The 110th Psalm is quoted or alluded to by Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Peter, Paul, and other New Testament writers more than any other passage in the Old Testament. But this psalm is also a source of great controversy. So is it really a Messianic prophecy or just wishful thinking? We’ll find out today right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinct first-century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Aiello. Today, our Bible teacher is Dr. Gary Hedrick, president of CJF Ministries in San Antonio, Texas. You can reach our offices by dialing 1-800-926-5397.

Gary's subject today is The Truth About Psalm 110. And since this psalm is the most often quoted Old Testament prophecy in the entire New Testament, that means if it can be discredited, the whole Messianic house of cards comes tumbling down. I’ll be back a little later with information about a special offer, so have your pencil and paper ready. And now, with today's installment, here is Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: All right, thank you, and welcome, listening friend, to another edition of Messianic Perspectives. It’s good to have you with us today as we continue this series of studies on the truth about Psalm 110. And like we said last time, this is a very important series of studies because the 110th Psalm is the most widely quoted Messianic prophecy in the entire New Testament. Psalm 110 is quoted or alluded to in the New Testament more than any other passage in the Old Testament.

So that’s why this passage has been so controversial over the centuries. The whole superstructure of Messianic prophecy rests on this one passage. If the rabbis can discredit this one prophecy, if they can prove that the Christians are wrong, if they can prove that Jesus and Paul and Peter and other New Testament writers who quoted or alluded to this passage were wrong, then we are in a lot of trouble, folks.

And I’m telling you, when we are finished with this study, you’re going to realize that we have nothing to fear from the skeptics. We are intimidated too easily because the preponderance of evidence is on our side. Before we’re done, I’m going to make it so clear the only way you’re going to miss it is if you just flat out don’t want to see it. If you want to see it, you will. And if you don’t, you won’t.

Now, we said the first verse of this 110th Psalm is the one that engenders most of the controversy. Here’s what it says. Remember, this is David speaking. He says in verse one, "The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool." And we said last time the big controversy is over those two "Lords" there in verse one. "The Lord said unto my Lord," *Yahweh la-Adoni*, from one Lord to another Lord.

So here is the Christian interpretation or the Messianic interpretation. This is King David speaking, and he quotes the Lord, YHWH, *Yod He Vav He* in English, the Lord, the covenant name of God. He quotes the Lord as saying to David’s Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool." And we know who the first Lord is, so the issue is: who is the second Lord? Who is David’s Lord? And the answer to that question according to the Messianic interpretation is that this second Lord is the Messiah.

Now the rabbis will say David’s Lord is Lord with a small "L," like the word "master" or the word "sir." And it’s true that the Hebrew word *Adon* very often does mean "sir." It’s a title of respect. Even today, when you travel in Israel, you’ll hear school children calling an older man *Adon*. One time we got some hot dogs down on the beach in Eilat, Israel, down in the southern part of the country, and I forgot my change and we walked away.

So the hot dog vendor sent his little boy to chase us down, and this little guy came running up to us and he was saying, "*Adon, Adon*," "Sir, sir." So yes, *Adon* can mean "sir" or "master" in a human sense. In fact, in modern Hebrew, that is what it means most of the time. You wouldn’t expect to hear someone who speaks Hebrew call God *Adon*. God is a plural form, *Adonai*.

So the rabbis have this neat little dichotomy where they say *Adon* means "sir" and *Adonai* means "God." The form in Psalm 110 is *Adon*, so to them, that means whoever the Lord is talking to, he’s not talking to another God. That’s the rabbinic interpretation, and it’s a pretty neat and tidy little package. Just wrap it up and put a bow on it, and it’s perfect.

But there are some problems with their neat little package. First, no one can prove the word is really supposed to be *Adoni* rather than *Adonai*. Biblical Hebrew was written in block letters with no capitals and no vowels, as we saw before in this study. So if you’re looking at the words *Adoni* and *Adonai* in biblical Hebrew, the two words look exactly alike if you put them side by side.

And when you have two possible meanings of a Hebrew word, how do you know which one is the right one? The answer is by the context. And it’s interesting that in the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Book of Psalms, they have the word *Adonai* instead of *Adoni*. And Targum Jonathan, an Aramaic translation with commentary, has the Aramaic word *Memra* in the place of *Adoni*.

*Memra* means "Word." It’s the equivalent of the Greek *Logos* in John 1:1, where it says, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." And the Targums often substitute *Memra*, the Aramaic name *Memra*, for the name of God. And that’s what they have in Psalm 110 verse one.

So that’s one problem: the fact that there are indications even in traditional Jewish sources that this word in Psalm 110 should be understood as *Adonai* rather than as *Adoni*. But there’s more. Even if we concede that the word should be *Adoni*, the rabbinic interpretation assumes that the word *Adon* cannot refer to God. Now, we understand that most of the time it does not refer to God. We know that.

But is this always the case? Because if there are exceptions, then who’s to say Psalm 110 verse one isn't also an exception? So what about it? Does the word *Adon* ever refer to God? And this is something the critics of the New Testament don’t want you to know. And the answer to the question is yes, *Adon* can and very often does refer to God. Absolutely it does.

In the Book of Isaiah, for instance, we find numerous occurrences of the phrase *Ha'Adon Yahweh*, or "Lord God," and its variations, all of which incorporate the form *Adon*. Let me give you the references so you can look them up for yourself if you have a Hebrew Bible. Look at Isaiah 1:24, Isaiah 3:1, Isaiah 10:16, and Isaiah 19:4. No one would be foolish enough to dispute that these passages all use *Adon* in reference to God, in reference to deity.

Here are two more for you if you want to look them up. Micah 4:13 and Malachi 3:1 also use *Adon* to refer to God. So it is not a hard and fast rule. The Hebrew word *Adon* can and does refer to God in some instances. And who is to say that Psalm 110 verse one isn't one of those instances? So you see, this is not quite the neat and tidy little package the critics want you to think it is.

Jesus himself based an argument on the 110th Psalm in one of his disputes with the Pharisees. It says in Matthew 22:41, "While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, 'What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?' They said to him, 'The son of David.' He said to them, 'How then does David in the spirit call him Lord saying, "The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool"?'"

"If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son?" And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question him anymore. That’s Matthew 22 verses 41 through 46. Now, here is a text from the New Testament, which is older than the Aramaic Targums, older than the Talmud, or at least older than the Talmud in the form in which we have it.

The New Testament is even older than some of the Dead Sea Scrolls. And this New Testament passage shows us that even the Pharisees way back there in the first century, even the Pharisees understood that in this passage, David’s Lord was talking to the Messiah. And clearly, this text presented a problem for the Pharisees because it says they couldn’t answer him.

Which means one of three things: either they, number one, were reading *Adonai* instead of *Adoni* here in verse one; or, number two, they recognized that *Adoni* could very well refer to deity; or, number three, they simply recognized that David would not call his own son Lord. You see, the Pharisees answered Jesus' first question without hesitation. Everyone knew who the son of David was. It was a title for the Messiah.

But they were stumped by that second question. How could David call his own son Lord? Even if you understand it as *Adon* rather than *Adonai*, you still have an inconsistency because a father would not ordinarily address his own son as Lord or *Adon*. It would be just the opposite. The son would call his father *Adon*. Solomon, for example, would have called his father David Lord or *Adon* because David was not only his father but also his king.

But as New Testament believers, we can answer the question that stumped those first-century Pharisees because the answer is this: King David could call his descendant with a capital "D," his son, the Messiah, David could call him *Adon*, or he could even call him *Adonai*. It really doesn’t matter. Either one works. David could call him *Adon* or *Adonai* because the Messiah would be no mere man.

He would be the God-man, the second person of the Godhead, Yeshua of Nazareth. In fact, the full title of his divinity is *Adonai Yeshua Ha-Mashiach*, or the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I hope I haven’t lost you. I know we’re wading through a lot of technical gobbledegook here and you’re probably getting tired of hearing about *Adon* and *Adonai*, but I want you to hang in there because on the next program, I’m going to show you something about the Messianic prophecies that will amaze you.

And ultimately, I’m going to quote from some traditional Jewish sources, Jewish scholars themselves, who have things to say that are going to confirm exactly what we’re saying about the 110th Psalm. So I hope you’ll join us. Until then, this is your friend Gary Hedrick, saying God bless you, take care, bye-bye.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. Today, we’ve been listening to our Bible teacher, Dr. Gary Hedrick, talking about The Truth About Psalm 110. If you found today's program especially helpful and insightful, you’ll be glad to know that we have placed the entire series of programs on compact disc. The title is The Truth About Psalm 110.

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If you’re listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I'm Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on The Truth About Psalm 110 right here on Messianic Perspectives. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas, and is made possible on this station by the freewill contributions of our listeners in this area.