Psalm 110 presents the Messiah as both David’s descendant and David’s superior. Jesus was not denying that the Messiah is David’s son. He was showing that “Son of David” is not a complete description of Him.
What the Hebrew actually says
The King James Version reads:
“The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
The two occurrences of “Lord” represent different Hebrew expressions:
- The LORD: יהוה, YHWH, the personal name of the God of Israel.
- My Lord: לַאדֹנִי, la’adoni, meaning “to my lord,” “my master,” or “my superior.”
The Hebrew could be translated:
“An oracle of YHWH to my lord: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”
The Hebrew text and English translation can be seen here:
https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt26b0.htm
The word adoni by itself does not necessarily mean that the person addressed is God. It can address a human superior. The extraordinary matter is what YHWH says to this particular Lord: He is invited to sit at God’s right hand, exercise authority over the nations, and hold an eternal priesthood.
How can David’s son also be David’s Lord?
“Son of David” means a descendant of David, not necessarily David’s immediate child. Jesus’ question was:
“If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?”
Matthew 22:45
Jesus was not suggesting that the Messiah could not be descended from David. Matthew had already called Jesus “the son of David” in Matthew 1:1. The point is that ordinary ancestry would place David above his descendant. Yet David prophetically acknowledges this descendant as his own Lord and superior.
The answer is that the Messiah is both:
- David’s descendant according to the flesh “Jesus Christ of the seed of David.”
2 Timothy 2:8 - The preexistent Son of God and David’s sovereign Lord “I am the root and the offspring of David.”
Revelation 22:16
Jesus is David’s “offspring” because He descended from David. He is David’s “root” because He existed before David and is the ultimate source and Lord of David’s kingdom.
Thus Jesus is not merely another Davidic king. He is the divine-human Messiah, the Son who came after David in human genealogy but existed before David in His divine identity.
What Psalm 110 says about the Messiah
The entire psalm identifies David’s Lord as an extraordinary King-Priest:
- Verse 1: He sits at YHWH’s right hand.
- Verse 2: His royal authority extends from Zion.
- Verse 3: His people willingly gather to Him.
- Verse 4: He is “a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”
- Verses 5–6: He judges kings and nations.
- Verse 7: He emerges victorious.
No ordinary descendant of David fulfilled this. Israelite kings came from Judah, while Aaronic priests came from Levi. Psalm 110 anticipates someone who combines kingship and priesthood eternally.
This is why Hebrews repeatedly applies Psalm 110:4 to Jesus. His priesthood does not come through Aaronic physical descent but through the eternal order of Melchizedek.
Did David actually write the psalm?
There are four substantial reasons for accepting Davidic authorship.
1. The Hebrew superscription attributes it to David
The psalm begins:
לְדָוִד מִזְמוֹר
LeDavid mizmor
Traditionally translated:
“A Psalm of David.”
The prefix le- can have a range of meanings, including “to,” “for,” “belonging to,” or “by.” Therefore, taken by itself, the superscription could theoretically mean “a psalm for David.” But throughout the Psalter, “of David” is the conventional understanding when this formula appears.
2. The Septuagint also attributes it to David
The Greek Septuagint, translated before the time of Jesus, contains the title:
Ψαλμὸς τῷ Δαυΐδ
“A Psalm of David.”
This shows that Davidic attribution was not invented by Christians to support Jesus. It was already part of the pre-Christian textual tradition.
https://www.septuagint.bible/-/psalmos-109.html
The Septuagint numbers it Psalm 109, while the Hebrew and most English Bibles number it Psalm 110.
3. Jesus explicitly says David spoke it by the Holy Spirit
Mark records Jesus saying:
“For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
Mark 12:36
Notice the force of the wording:
- “David himself”
- “said”
- “by the Holy Ghost”
That is considerably stronger than merely saying, “The Book of Psalms says.” Jesus identifies David as the inspired speaker.
https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Mark%2012%3A36
Matthew says David spoke “in spirit” in Matthew 22:43. Luke says, “David himself saith in the book of Psalms” in Luke 20:42.
4. Peter also attributes it to David
On Pentecost, Peter said:
“For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand.”
Acts 2:34
Peter argues that David could not have been referring to himself because David had not ascended into heaven. The words prophetically referred to the resurrected and ascended Jesus.
The alternative authorship theory
Some modern men, that reject the Kingship of Jesus, suggest that an unnamed court prophet wrote the psalm for David. Under that interpretation:
- “A psalm for David” would be the title.
- “My lord” would be King David.
- YHWH would be promising victory to David at his coronation.
This is grammatically possible if Psalm 110 is isolated from the New Testament, and rejects thousands of years of Biblical Translators. It hides their apparent error because an anonymous subject could naturally call David “my lord.”
But it encounters a serious problem: Jesus explicitly says David himself spoke the words by the Holy Spirit. Mark 12:36 is especially difficult to explain away. Some critical scholars say Jesus was merely adopting the Pharisees’ conventional attribution for the sake of argument, but that is not the natural force of “David himself said by the Holy Ghost.”
There is also a notable parallel with David’s final oracle:
“David the son of Jesse said…The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.”
2 Samuel 23:1–2
Psalm 110 begins with ne’um, “oracle,” the same prophetic terminology associated with David’s last words. This supports David functioning as both king and inspired prophet. A scholarly discussion of this evidence is available here:
https://journal.rts.edu/article/psalm-110-reconsidered
Conclusion
We cannot produce David’s original handwritten copy, but the textual and canonical evidence identifies him as the psalm’s inspired speaker:
- The Hebrew title says “A Psalm of David.”
- The pre-Christian Septuagint preserves the Davidic attribution.
- Jesus says David himself spoke it by the Holy Spirit.
- Peter independently attributes it to David.
- The prophetic language parallels David’s oracle in 2 Samuel 23.
David calls his descendant “my Lord” because the Messiah is not merely David’s biological successor. Jesus is David’s descendant in His humanity, David’s Lord in authority, and the divine Son who existed before David. Psalm 110 reveals the Messiah as the everlasting King-Priest whose present heavenly enthronement will culminate in visible judgment and rule over the nations.