Psalm 101

I will … (101:1). This psalm records the vow of a king, as though he were taking an oath of office. This backdrop is evident from the reference to government ministers (v. 6) and the responsibility for the overall welfare of the holy city (v. 8). In this context, the commitment of the psalmist to maintain justice is first and foremost an expression of royal duty to God for good government (see comment on 72:1).471

King presenting a figurine of Ma’at indicating his claim to be a just king

Guillaume Blanchard/Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA, courtesy of the Louvre

Love and justice (101:1). The word for “love” (ḥesed) stresses fidelity, here coupled with “justice,” highlighting the attributes of God that the king will emulate. These characteristics marked the virtuous king throughout the ancient Near East (see comments on 72:1–4).

He whose walk is blameless will minister (101:6). The king in Israel employed officials to execute the responsibilities of government (2 Sam. 8:15–18; 2 Sam. 20:23–26; 1 Kings 4:1–6), and the righteousness of his rule depended on their effectiveness (2 Sam. 8:15). One Neo-Assyrian letter illustrates the connection between the king’s justice and his officials: “The king appointed the sukkallu [grand vizier] and the sartinnu [chief judge] in the land saying: ‘Render true and just judgement in my land, case by case.’ ”472

In Egypt, officials such as the vizier were responsible as agents of the king to ensure the maintenance of cosmic order and justice.473 Pharaoh Horemheb (ca. 1300 B.C.) claims: “[I chose men who were] discreet, whose characters were good, who knew how to seek out people’s thoughts, obedient to the words of the king’s house and to the laws of the council chamber.”474 Therefore, the integrity of government officials was of supreme importance, and an Egyptian tomb painting from the mid-fourteenth century B.C. portrays the pharaoh holding his scepter in one hand and extending the other to dispense rewards to faithful servants.475

Psalm 102

Hide your face (102:2). See comment on 13:1.

My bones burn (102:3). See comment on 38:3.

Skin and bones (102:5). See comment on 22:17.

Enthroned forever (102:12). See comment on 99:1.

Sanctuary on high (102:19). It is unclear whether an earthly temple was viewed as a physical replica of a heavenly temple in which the deity dwelt.476 However, the ancients did conceive of a heavenly court where the divine council met (see comments on 29:1; 82:1); thus, the earthly temple symbolized the heavenly abode and was a touch point for the divine presence on earth (see the sidebar “Sacred Space” at Ps. 84).477

The idea that God’s sanctuary is ultimately in heaven, not on earth, assures the psalmist that God oversees all events on earth and can deliver when he chooses (cf. 11:3–4). The monument on which Hammurabi engraved his laws is decorated with a portrait of the god of justice, Shamash, enthroned in the heavens (see comment on 19:7).

Psalm 103

Forgives all your sins (103:3). See comment on Psalm 51.

Heals all your diseases (103:3). See comments on 38:2–3.

The pit (103:4). See the sidebar “Death and the Underworld” at Psalm 30.

Like the eagle’s (103:5). Identifying exact species of birds is often difficult.478 Whether one wishes to classify some varieties of vultures with eagles, the behavior of the birds that underlies the metaphor is the same. Eagles, with six foot wingspans, soar effortlessly for long periods of time; the ancients marveled at their endurance and used this observation to compare the sustaining strength that comes from Yahweh.

East … west (103:12). In the ancient Near East, the four compass directions were oriented facing east rather than north. The Hebrew word for “east” means “place of rising” (of the sun; 104:22).479 Another word for “east” means “before, in front.” Facing the orientation of the rising sun, the Mediterranean Sea is behind, hence the words “sea” and “behind” were used for “west.” The words for “right” (hand) and “left” (hand) also meant “south” and “north,” respectively. Another expression for “west,” used in 103:12, was related to the word for evening (i.e., the setting sun). Unlike our modern sensibilities of “east” and “west” eventually meeting on the far side of the planetary globe, the ancient geographical viewpoint conceived of a flat earth in which “east” and “west” never met. Thus, the metaphor takes the two most distant points imaginable, sunrise (“east”) and sunset (“west”), to express the casting away of sin.

He knows how we are formed (103:14). In a Mesopotamian creation story, Enki, god of wisdom, designs a purpose for humanity, which is fashioned from clay: “Enki, the-fashioner-of-the-forms, pondered by himself their nature.”480 Enki’s design is that humanity will relieve the minor gods of work. Further, he assigns useful roles in society to people whose bodies are crippled in some manner (see comment on 8:4). The point of the psalmist is that Yahweh’s knowledge of the ephemeral nature of humanity (“dust”; see comments on 104:29–30) moves him to compassionate love and forgiveness (103:12–13).

Enki and Ninmah, creation of humans

Musée du Louvre, Autorisation de photographer et de filmer; © Dr. James C. Martin

His angels (103:20). The word is literally “messengers.” Their identity is clarified by the designation “heavenly hosts.” These are further described in 89:5–7 as participants in the council of divine (i.e., supernatural) beings (see comments on 29:1; 82:1). The idea that supernatural servants attend to the will of a deity is also known from the story of Baal. In the preparations for battle between the Ugaritic god, Baal, and the god of the sea, Yamm, “messengers” (Ugar. ml ʾk = Heb. mal ʾāk, 103:20) are dispatched between the two deities.481 Baal enlists the services of a lesser deity to forge a weapon with which to defeat Yamm and to help him build his palace.482

After Yamm’s defeat, Baal dispatches messengers to the goddess Anat, who are called “gods” (Ugar. ʾlm; cf. Heb. ʾelîm, 29:1; see also comment on 91:11).483 This latter reference helps illustrate the terminology in the Old Testament wherein “angels” are called “gods,” members of the “divine council,” and “heavenly host” in the above listed psalms.

Psalm 104

He wraps himself in light (104:2). The psalmist begins to expand what he means by “splendor and majesty” (v. 1). The intense light of the sun provides a common image for ancient Near Eastern hymns, especially emphasizing the provision of the deity for his people. The Shamash (sun-god) Hymn declares, “Your radiance spreads out like a net over the world” (cf. 104:2), and it couples this illumination with the god’s shepherding role.484 The Egyptian Aten Hymn (see sidebar) stresses the sun god’s provision for his creatures.

These common cultural associations are found in the Old Testament, a fitting metaphor in a psalm extolling God’s care over his creation (see comment on 84:11; cf. Deut. 33:13–14; Mal. 4:2 and the benefits of a godly king in 2 Sam. 23:3–4).485 Furthermore, light has the connotation of something beautiful and dazzling (Ezek 1:4).486

Stretches out the heavens like a tent (104:2). The ancients perceived the sky (heavens) as a dome above the earth (see comments on 19:1; 24:2).487 In the Babylonian story about Marduk’s rise to supremacy (The Epic of Creation), Marduk takes his defeated foe, Tiamat (the waters of chaos), and splits her in two. With one half he creates heaven, stretching out her hide as a roof over the earth to hold back her waters in the heavens (similar to the word “expanse” in Gen. 1:6–8).488 He assigns the heavens as a sanctuary for the great gods and heavenly bodies.489 With a view that would contest the religions of Mesopotamia and Egypt, the psalmist affirms faith in Yahweh as Creator of all.

His upper chambers on their waters (104:3). Since substantial water came from the clouds above (cf. Gen. 7:11; Ps. 148:4), the ancient viewpoint included a heavenly ocean and openings in the vault over the earth as a source for these waters.490

Clouds his chariots (104:3). One of the common epithets of the Canaanite Baal is “rider of the clouds” (Ugar. rkb ʿrpt).491 In a similar expression here, Yahweh’s chariot (Heb. rekeb) is the clouds (cf. 68:4; Deut. 33:26).

Other imagery from the Baal myth also finds parallel in Psalm 104. Baal builds his own palace, having arisen to supremacy after the defeat of the chaos waters of Yamm, the “Sea.” The palace of Baal is constructed with choice timbers of Lebanon (cf. 104:3, 16), utilizing fire and flame (cf. 104:4), and with a thundering voice (cf. 104:7). In Baal’s palace is a prominent window, an opening in the clouds from which thunder sounds and heavenly waters can stream (cf. 104:13, “upper chambers”).492

Thus, while Psalm 104 may allude to Marduk’s rise to kingship (also riding a storm chariot into battle against chaos493), the array of images may have led the Israelites to draw a contrast to the claims of Baal. The point of the psalmist is that Israel’s God, not the gods of the Babylonians or the Canaanites, is the true King, who brings order to creation and regulates the life-giving waters that satisfy the earth.494

Winds … flames of fire his servants (104:4). This poetic imagery describes the servants of Yahweh who are elsewhere identified with angelic, divine beings (see comments on 29:1; 82:1; 103:20). Fire as an instrument of Baal’s work has already been mentioned. Similarly, when Marduk subdues the chaos monster, he harnesses the winds as a decisive weapon.495 The use of the word pictures “wind” and “fire,” then, emphasize the awesome power of God’s angelic servants—and ultimately of God himself.

Earth on its foundations (104:5). Old Testament geography orients the earth on a foundation of pillars established by God (75:3; cf. 1 Sam. 2:8; Job 38:4). In this way, he keeps the earth stable on the subterranean ocean (see comments on Ps. 24:2), upon which it might otherwise toss to and fro. The creation and flood accounts speak of the land emerging from the “deep” (Gen. 1:2, 10; 7:11; 8:2–5). Egyptian geography also views the earth as a disk floating on the subterranean waters, the embodiment of the god Nun.496

Artist’s rendition of Israel’s cosmic geography

Alva Steffler

Whatever the Israelite may have feared about the potential of “the deep” for destruction, an emphatic message of 104:5–9 is that the earth’s stability is ensured by the power of Yahweh, who easily moves these forces of nature for the good of his creatures (104:10–18).

Set a boundary (104:9). With their ever-constant wave action hammering at the shoreline, the seas constituted an ongoing threat to the stability of the inhabited land (see comments on 24:2; 93:3–4). The potential for destruction is underscored most graphically in the biblical flood account and its Mesopotamian counterparts. The Mesopotamian texts allude to the danger of the sea, which was kept in check by “bolts” or “locks” set against their encroachment on land (cf. Job 38:8–11).497 Yahweh has set the boundary firm.

The moon … the sun (104:19). In the Mesopotamian account of Marduk’s creative work, he arranged the seasons of the year and the relation between the sun and moon.498 In the Egyptian Aten Hymn, the deity is praised because “you fashion the seasons to make all your creation flourish … you have made the sky far off in order to shine down.”499 The faith of the psalmist affirms that Yahweh created the celestial realm and set the seasons for the benefit of all. The sun is no god worthy of worship but rather an object of God’s creation (see the sidebar “An Egyptian Aten Hymn” and comments on 19:1; 147:4).

Leviathan (104:26). Elsewhere in the Old Testament, “Leviathan” is the fearful sea monster whom Yahweh subdues to secure the safety of his people and his creation (see comments on 74:13–14). In this verse, however, Leviathan is portrayed as merely another one of God’s marvelous creatures, likened to an object of entertainment. Even as the Old Testament authors drew imagery from the culture of their time, they did so in a way that undermined the belief system of the pagan world around them. The rule of Yahweh over his creation might be expressed using the cultural images of a chaos conflict, but this is no real challenge to his ultimate sovereignty, as this playful description of Leviathan demonstrates.500

The power of a deity in Mesopotamia is often expressed through the nature of his emblem animal. Marduk’s snake dragon, mušhuššu, is sometimes, as on this unfinished kudurru, portrayed as a cosmic sea creature like Leviathan, who is under the great god’s control.

Rama/Wikimedia Commons, courtesy of the Louvre

Give them their food (104:27–28). Tender care of the creator for his creatures is echoed in Egyptian hymns to the sun god (see the sidebar “An Egyptian Aten Hymn”):

Thanks be to you from all creatures, praises to you from every land …

Praises to you, who made all things, Lord of Truth and father of gods,

Who created mankind and fashioned the animals, Lord of Grain,

One who provides for the creatures of foreign lands.501

The standard pictorial image for the Egyptian Aten is a solar disk with rays in the form of extended arms and open hands (see comments on 145:16).502

Return to the dust … you send your Spirit (104:29–30). Both man and animal, viewed in Psalm 104 as joint recipients of God’s good provision, originated from the ground (Gen. 2:7, 19). In Old Testament thought, the force that animates them with life is their “breath,” a gift from God that is withdrawn at death, leaving only the earthlike material (Gen. 2:7; 3:19; 6:17). But life is renewed by the creative work of God’s “Spirit” (104:30; possibly “breath,” cf. 33:6).

Horus putting life in the nostrils of Seti I, Abydos

Lenka Peacock

Similar to this thought is the Egyptian Memphite theology of creation, which describes the ongoing animation of humanity and animals through the active will of the god Ptah (see comments on Ps. 33).503 An Egyptian wisdom text states: “Well tended is mankind—god’s cattle, he made sky and earth for their sake, he subdued the water monster, he made breath for their noses to live, they are his images, who came from his body” (see comments on 8:4–5; 139:13).504

This last expression differs from another Egyptian account in which humanity came from the tears of the sun god.505 The Mesopotamian view differs even more, in that humanity was created out of a mixture of clay and the blood of a slain rebel god (see comment on 103:14).506

The earth, and it trembles (104:32). The glory of God is revealed in what Old Testament scholars refer to as a theophany (“appearance of God”). This manifestation of God’s glory was first expressed on Mount Sinai (Ex. 19), and the imagery is associated with God’s awesome power as a warrior (see comments on 18:7–8).

Psalm 105

The land of Canaan (105:11). By covenant promise to Israel’s forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (renamed Israel, Gen. 32:28), God granted the land of Canaan to the Israelites (15:1–19; 17:3–8; 26:3–6; 28:10–15; 35:9–12). The geographical name “Canaan” is attested frequently in texts from Mesopotamia, northern Levant, and Egypt in the second millennium B.C., corresponding roughly to the region of modern-day Lebanon and Israel-Palestine.

While the exact identity of some locations is uncertain, the following boundaries are generally recognized: the Wadi el-Arish near Kadesh Barnea on the south (Num. 34:3–5); the Mediterranean Sea on the west (Num. 34:6); for a northern boundary, Lebo Hamath, which is east of coastal Byblos, and the northern edge of the Lebanon Range just north of Byblos (Mount Hor, Num. 34:7–9); and as an eastern border, the Jordan River, eastern slopes above the Sea of Galilee/Chinnereth, and the region of Damascus (Num. 34:10–12).507

The land of Ham (105:23). According to the list of nations in Genesis 10:6–20, the descendants of Ham included the people who inhabited Egypt (“Mizraim” in Gen. 10:6, 13).

Darkness … blood … hail (105:28–33). Since Exodus 12:12 indicates that the plagues against Egypt were a judgment against Egypt’s gods, the significance of these plagues is better appreciated by relating them to Egyptian religion. The most important deity in Egyptian religion was the sun god, Re/Amun. Hence, darkness during the day is a statement of Yahweh’s sovereignty over Re, as well as over the pharaoh, who was the embodiment of this god. Some commentators link the darkness with a khamsin, a severe sandstorm that can occur in Egypt in the spring. Such storms are severe enough under normal circumstances to force the use of artificial light.508

Sandstorm in the Middle East

Andrew Walker

Hundreds of years before the exodus, Egyptian tradition described an ecological disaster in the Nile River using the imagery of water turning to blood: “Lo, the river is blood, as one drinks of it one shrinks from people and thirsts for water.”509 It was interpreted as an evil consequence of poor government. Pollution of the waters of the Nile River as a miracle by Moses was a judgment against the gods who gave life to Egypt through the inundation of the Nile and an indictment of the reigning pharaoh.

Great storms were a manifestation of a god’s wrath, so the hail and lightning conveyed the judgment of Yahweh, on account of which Pharaoh needed to repent (Ex. 9:27).510

Locusts (105:34–35). Locust plagues in North Africa are well known from ancient to modern times. A press report from 1988 described a recent occurrence: “Billions of locusts are moving across North Africa in the worst plague since 1954, blotting out the sun and settling on the land like a black, ravenous carpet to strip it clean of vegetation.”511 This horde devoured one hundred thousand tons of vegetation each time it landed.

Psalm 106

The Red Sea (106:7). Traditionally, the biblical “Red Sea” (Heb. yam sûp) of the exodus has been identified with the modern Gulf of Suez on the western edge of the Sinai Peninsula. For reasons not understood, the translation “Red” derives from a Greek translation of the Hebrew term sûp, but this word means “reed,” not “red”; hence a better translation is “Reed Sea.”

A difficulty with the traditional identification of the Reed Sea with the Gulf of Suez is that the Israelites “turned back” during their escape, away from a path toward the Gulf of Suez (Ex. 14:2). Their encampment by the “Sea” has been correlated with recently identified Egyptian fortresses named in Exodus 14:2. This recent work confirms an earlier suggestion based on Egyptian texts, archaeology, and geology that the biblical “Reed Sea” should be identified with the Ballah Lakes, which existed on the eastern Egyptian frontier at the time of the exodus.512

Horeb … a bull (106:19–20). “Horeb” (another name for “Sinai”) refers to the region and mountain where God met Moses and Israel to forge the covenant and give the law (Ex. 17:6; 19:2, 20; 33:6; Deut. 5:2). While suggestions have been offered to locate this “mountain of God” in the northern Sinai Peninsula as well as northern Arabia (Midian), the traditional, southern Sinai Peninsula remains the most likely candidate.513

Pharaoh before Apis bull, late period

© British Museum/Art Resource, NY

Mount Horeb/Sinai is where Israel committed idolatry by worshiping the golden calf (“bull”) that Aaron made (Ex. 31:18–32:6; Deut. 9:8). Because of its inherent strength and perceived fecundity, the bull represented various gods in Egypt, Canaan, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia.514 The identification of the bull with the storm god in Canaan made an association between Yahweh’s storm appearance on Mount Horeb and a bull particularly tempting. Such images were cast from solid metal or carved from wood and covered with engraved gold leaf.515 Of course, this was the precise thing that the first and second commandments prohibited.

Land of Ham (106:22). See comments on 105:23.

Baal of Peor (106:28). The word “Baal” is a generic word for “lord.” It was used for the name of any deity thought to inhabit a particular location, hence the combination of the name “Baal” with a place name. The same word was also used for one of the chief Canaanite gods, who was thought to manifest himself at different locations (cf. Josh. 11:17; Judg. 3:3; 8:33). Peor was a mountain of unknown location in the land of Moab where the foreign prophet Balaam was brought to curse the Israelites on their way to the Promised Land (Num. 23:28).

Ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods (106:28). With some sacrifices, part of the sacrificial animal was offered on the altar to the god and the rest was consumed in a communal meal by the worshipers (see comment on 22:26). This symbolized a union between worshipers and the deity to whom they sacrificed (Gen. 31:53–54). Thus, in the case of Baal Peor, the communal sacrifice with the Moabites also involved the Israelites in worshiping Moabite gods and feasting with them (Num. 25:2–3). They “yoked themselves” (106:28; cf. 50:5).

The NIV translation “sacrifices offered to lifeless gods” corresponds to the view that the gods and idols of other peoples are in reality dead things (Lev. 26:30). However, this phrase can be translated more literally “sacrifices of the dead,” possibly alluding to some sort of mourning custom (Deut. 26:14).516 Offerings devoted to the deceased were customary in Egypt and Mesopotamia, but these were not necessarily integral to worship of the gods except in the case of the deceased pharaoh.

Rituals from Mari (ca. 1800 B.C.) and Ugarit incorporate sacrifices to gods in the context of a feast at which deceased kings were thought to be present.517 These rituals were royal, but not enough is known of funerary customs, especially among common people, to do more than speculate on a possible connection with the worship at Baal Peor. The important point here is that the Israelites engaged in a sacrificial feast in fellowship with Moabite gods.

Waters of Meribah (106:32). See comments on 95:8.

They sacrificed their sons and their daughters (106:37). Of all Israel’s idolatrous practices, the most heinous was the burning of children (2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 32:35). The practice of child sacrifice among the Phoenicians is known from classical sources as well as archaeological excavation of Phoenician settlements in North Africa.518 Often, this religious custom was part of fulfilling a vow promised under desperate circumstances (cf. Judg. 11:30–40; 2 Kings 3:27). Regardless, it was abhorrent to Old Testament faith (Lev. 18:21).

The unusual word translated “demons” (plural of šēd; elsewhere only in Deut. 32:17) is related to an Akkadian word (šēdu) that refers to protective or malevolent spirits (see the sidebar “Demons in the Old Testament”).519 These were usually lesser, personal, or household gods that played a subservient role in Mesopotamian religion, sometimes translated “genie.”520 An Assyrian hymn to the goddess Nanaya refers to them as her subordinate servants, although some were imagined to be monsters of the underworld.521 If these connotations held for usage of the Hebrew word, then the psalmist is amplifying the tragedy, implying that these “gods” to which the Israelites sacrificed their children were nothing more than inferior inhabitants of the supernatural realm.

Demons in Mesopotamia often also served as protective spirits. These were sometimes composite creatures, some of which used goat figures such as in the familiar goat-fish combination.

Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons, courtesy of the Louvre

Gather us from the nations (106:47). See comment on 107:3.

Psalm 107

Those he gathered (107:3). This verse may be celebrating the gathering of the people after exile in Mesopotamia and Egypt (126:1). The curses of Deuteronomy 28:63–68 warned of exile from the land, which would take the form of deportation as prisoners by conquering nations. This consequence of foreign attack was common in the ancient Near East.522

Israelites going into exile from Lachish

Todd Bolen/www.BiblePlaces.com

A record of King Iahdun-Lim (ca. 1860 B.C.) of Mari reports on his conquest of the city of Haman: “Having taken away their population, he controlled the banks of the Euphrates.”523 As booty in his campaigns against Syria-Palestine, the Egyptian Amenhotep II (ca. 1420 B.C.) boasts of bringing thousands of captives back to Memphis.524 The northern kingdom suffered deportation to Assyria (2 Kings 15:29; 17:6, 23), first by Tiglath-pileser (ca. 732 B.C.), who claims to have deported 13,520 people.525 Then Shalmaneser, by the hand of Sargon II, carried off another 27,280 inhabitants of Samaria (ca. 722 B.C.).526 Sennacherib reports over 200,000 captives from Judah in his 701 B.C. campaign.527

The southern kingdom experienced its final fate from 605 to 586 B.C., when the Babylonians deported masses from the southern kingdom, with others fleeing to Egypt and elsewhere (2 Kings 24–25; Jer. 41:17–18; 43:4–7; 52:15, 28). A Babylonian prayer addresses the gods Shamash and Marduk, “Who can gather in scattered people … who have been led into captivity or imprisoned.”528 See comment on 147:3.

Prisoners suffering (107:10). Prisons in ancient Israel were used primarily for temporary detention pending trial (Lev. 24:10–12), for housing forced labor (Judg. 16:21), for unjust captivity for economic “collateral” (2 Kings 4:1), or for isolation of political prisoners (Jer. 52:11).529 Release from prison in Psalm 107 may allude particularly to the exile (vv. 3, 11).

Some deportees were simply resettled in a foreign land to build new lives. But others—probably those of higher social rank capable of leading an insurrection—were imprisoned. King Jehoiachin, for example, rebelled against God’s word (2 Kings 24:9), was carried off to Babylon (24:15), and was later released from prison conditions (25:27–30). A ration list from the palace of Babylon names Jehoiachin and his sons, who were under house arrest.530

While Jehoiachin never returned to the land, others did. Release of prisoners became a noteworthy act of deliverance in the history of Israel. This sort of action seems typical of what was expected of ancient Near Eastern deities, as illustrated in the Shamash Hymn: “You reveal havens to refugees and runaways. You show the exile roads he did not know. [You set free] the one in a hid[den dungeon]. You save the displaced cast in prison.”531 This can also be an attribute of justice for release of those wrongly imprisoned.532

Gates of death (107:18). See the sidebar “Death and the Underworld” at Psalm 30.

Psalm 108

My heart is steadfast (108:1). This psalm is a composite of 57:7–11 and 60:5–12 (see comments there; see the sidebar “Repeated Psalms”).

Psalm 109

A curse (109:17). See comments on 62:4.

Right hand (109:31). See comment on 110:5.

Psalm 110

The Lord says to my Lord (110:1). Psalm 110 is a prophetic oracle concerning the king, probably delivered in the temple.533 This opening introduction is similar to what is found in Assyrian royal prophecy that was delivered in temple worship at the king’s enthronement: “The word of Ishtar of Arbela to Esarhaddon.”534 Several themes are parallel between Psalm 110 and Assyrian enthronement prophecy: (1) legitimation of kingship, (2) promised destruction of enemies, (3) presence of loyal supporters, and (4) priesthood of the king.535

Divine authorization was also the custom in Egypt, where the pattern of coronation appears close to that described in 1 Kings 1:32–35 and 2 Kings 11:4–21.536 First, the Egyptian king was elected by divine decree in the temple (in 1 Kings 1:39, the temple had not been built, but the anointing took place at the tabernacle, God’s temporary shrine). This was followed by a procession to the palace, where enthronement took place.537 In Israel, prophetic oracles spoken on the coronation day provided important divine support for the king’s authority.

Sit at my right hand (110:1). Close physical proximity, especially at the “right” hand, is a metaphor of privileged relationship and even legal heir (45:9; 80:17; cf. 1 Kings 2:19). Esarhaddon placed his son Assurbanipal on his right hand, who was to succeed him as king in Assyria, and his son Shamash-shumu-ukin on his left, who was to take the secondary status of king.538 The coronation text for the Egyptian king Horemheb describes him as presented to the gods under the embrace of the god Horus; Egyptian art depicts him seated at Horus’ right side.539

Middle kingdom pharaoh seated on the lap of his governess with a footstool that bears the images of his enemies

HIP/Art Resource, NY

I make your enemies a footstool (110:1). Assyrian royal prophecy promises that the deity will place the king’s enemies under his feet.540 An inscription on the throne pedestal of Salmaneser III (ca. 850 B.C.) states: “valiant man who with the support of Aššur, his lord, has put all lands under his feet like a footstool.”541 Egyptian art also shows the newly enthroned king with his feet on a footstool and enemy nations inside, and coronation inscriptions speak of enemy nations under the king’s feet.542 Other reliefs from Egypt and Mesopotamia portray the king with his foot on the neck or head of prostrate foes.543 Thus, in Psalm 110, Yahweh promises that the enemies of the Davidic king will be subject to him.

Horemheb seated at the right hand of Horus

John Campana

Your troops … your youth (110:3). An Egyptian royal text may offer a parallel to this difficult verse: “The elite rejoice when they see him, and subjects perform a dance in celebration in his form as a youth.”544 Like this Egyptian text, this verse celebrates the king’s military brilliance with images of majestic splendor and youthful prowess.

Not change his mind (110:4). A similar denial of duplicity accompanies a divine promise in an Assyrian royal prophecy: “I have spoken to you, I have not lied to you” (followed by a promise of victory).545 For a promised oath and denial of lying, see also Psalm 89 (especially vv. 3–4) with the sidebar “Prophetic Assurance to the King” (also 132:11).

A priest forever (110:4). In Egypt and Mesopotamia, the king was regarded as a priest, who was ultimately responsible for the support of temple worship and on special occasions participated in priestly duties (cf. 2 Sam. 6; 1 Kings 8).546 Like the royal prophecy in Psalm 110, Assyrian royal prophecies called the king to his priestly responsibility.547 Royal priesthood was also the custom among Canaanite peoples.548 By alluding to the ancient precedent of a priestly king in Canaanite Jerusalem (Melchizedek in Gen. 14), this psalm confers on the Davidic king in Jerusalem a priestly title.

Banquet scene shows a king or ruler in his role of priest seated before an offering table consecrating bread. Relief on the long side of a basalt sacrificial basin from Temple B1, Ebla (Tel Mardikh). Middle Bronze Age, 17th c. B.C.

Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY, National Museum, Damascus, Syria

The Lord is at your right hand (110:5). A common metaphor of protection in Mesopotamian literature is the claim that a deity was stationed before, behind, or at the (particularly right) side of an individual.549 Prophetic assurances that the deity will be alongside the king in battle are part of Assyrian royal prophecies: “Ninurta [shall go] at the right and left side of [the king, and shall put] his enemies under [his] foot.”550 The promise of destruction of the king’s enemies and foreign rulers is a predominant feature of these Assyrian prophecies.

He will drink from a brook (110:7). The reference to “he” in verse 7 changes from the Lord (vv. 5–6) to the king. While awkward in English style, such changes in reference are also in Assyrian royal prophecy. Some have suggested that the king drinking from the brook alludes to the coronation ritual, where the king was anointed by the spring of Gihon, located in the Kidron Valley below Jerusalem (cf. 1 Kings 1:38–39, 45).551

One of the Shulgi Hymns

Kim Walton, courtesy of the Oriental Institute Museum

This may have been a water purification ritual during the coronation, similar to what was practiced in Egypt; but lifting the head here suggests that the symbolism of granting strength to the king for victory.552 Lifting the head as a sign of invincibility is illustrated in the coronation inscription concerning the Sumerian king Shulgi.553