| PSALM 2 AND PSALM 110
Psalms 2 and 110 have from ancient times been considered almost as a pair. The letter to the Hebrews in particular quotes them side by side,8 and the Acts of the Apostles drew its strength from these sources.9 The Messianic tone of the second psalm The theme of the second psalm runs as follows:
When we read the Midrash's exposition of the Psalms we cannot but be amazed at the sheer volume of explanation which the ancient scholars draw out of them. Nevertheless, the same verses which are quoted in this context are generally accepted as Messianic references. The Midrash speaks firstly of the "one who is to come", the "Messiah-King", before whom all will bow down, as it is said in Isaiah 49:23 "They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground". There are many OT passages associated with the phrase "I will proclaim the decree of the LORD" which, particularly for Christians, have a special message. The Midrash sets them out as following:
Following this the Midrash states further that:
The strongest proof of the Messianic nature of these two psalms is found in the Midrash passage above with its seven separate Bible citations, all traditionally Messianic references. These observations would in themselves suffice as background for a Christian interpretation, but even more so if we add to them the Talmudic discussion of the same things and the Zohar literature's cryptic references. There is an expression in Latin, non multa sed multum, according to which one should not present "many varied proofs" but rather "a specific amount" of the same rare examples. A professor of music once told a story about a world-famous teacher who, with his best pupil, worked at the same opera year after year. Finally the young man asked the maestro, "My colleagues already have many operas in their repertoires, when will I be ready to perform?" The teacher listened once more to his favourite opera and said, "You're ready now! This work contains the material for all other music." And indeed: the young man became famous overnight. The Christian would do well to familiarise himself with the scope of the older Jewish Messianic expectation on the basis of a small number of examples dealt with thoroughly. The Talmud too has something to say about the Messianic character of psalm 2. Regarding the word "anointed" in verse 2 it explains:
When Israel a few years back made peace with Egypt some national leaders quoted the words of Isaiah chapter 19 which state that one day there will be a "highway from Egypt to Assyria" and that "in that day Israel will be a third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth." The beginning of the same chapter says that "The LORD rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt." The Zohar tradition associates the words âv qal, literally 'light cloud', with verse 12 of Ps.2, 'Kiss the Son'. The Aramaic word for 'son', bar, has a value of 202 in Gematria, and in the same way the Hebrew letters of âv qal together add up to 202. Such comparisons do not, of course, have any intrinsic value, but they do help to remind us of the Bible's internal coherence. When the Zohar describes this "son", bar, it appends to the description a trinitarian statement:
At this point it is worth noting that the Jewish scholars were aware of the special nature of the divine revelation. Since the name Elohim, 'God', right at the beginning of the Bible is actually in the plural and the verb which accompanies it always in the singular, there have been attempts, particularly in the old Zohar tradition, to explain the various "faces" of the being of God. The Zohar uses five expressions which refer to the doctrine of the Trinity: tlât rishin, 'three heads'; tlât ruhin, 'three spirits'; tlât havayôt, 'three forms of revelation'; tlât shmehin, 'three names'; and talta gvanin, 'three shades of interpretation'. These Aramaic words express God's "being", just as in English the word 'godhead' is used. The Zohar asks:
The Zohar refers to this problem of God's self-revelation by the name razei de-Shlosha or 'The mystery of the number three'. They are like the "outer shell of the inner truth", as the Rabbis have said. This mystery will one day be revealed by the Messiah:
From these quotes we see that the Zohar refers to the Son mentioned in psalm 2 as the "Son of the Most High" and of "the Holy One," and that this anointed "shepherd" and "teacher" is also "the Lord of the serving angels" -- which emphasis in the letter to the Hebrews and in the Dead Sea Scrolls is associated with the Messiah. The Messiah will also one day reveal the mystery of the trinity. Furthermore, the Zohar builds bridges between this psalm and, for example, Isaiah's Messianic prophecies. The Messianic nature of psalm 2 must have been in my mind when Pope Paul VI visited Israel at the beginning of April 1964. People were standing in droves at the roadside waiting to catch even a glimpse of him, but the city's prelates had been invited to the Catholic church on Mount Zion. I was shepherded into this chosen group wearing my Finnish clerical robe, which bear a strong resemblance to the vestments of a Catholic bishop, and we stood and waited in the front chancel of the church for our turn to greet the Pope. When one of my Jewish Christian colleagues genuflected before his high-ranking overseer I began to wonder how a Lutheran pastor should, according to the rules, act in such a situation. Then I remembered the words of psalm 2: "Kiss the Son!" That means Christ! At home I had been taught as a boy, on being introduced to someone, to click my heels together and give a firm handshake, and so while the others were kissing the Pope's ring I decided on my course of action. When the frail saintly figure of the Pope stretched out his hand I took hold of it, bowed, and squeezed hard -- possibly underestimating the strength I applied. The holy fingers crumpled up in my hand and I saw something not unlike the expression of the Lord's suffering servant flash in the pontiff's eyes. He studied this representative of the Nordic Vikings for a moment and seemed to say to himself, "That can't be one of our bishops". The aide at his side then received an order in Italian to give me a souvenir medallion, a great copper coin which still sits on my desk testifying to me that I have thus received forgiveness for all my sins both future and past. If the mediaeval Catholic understanding is worth anything I can further add to this merit the fact that my sins are also forgiven through having lived in the Holy Land. There must have been a tiny spark of humour in the Pope's eyes all the same -- it was an additional experience for him too! The picture in psalm 110 of the one sitting at the right hand of God Psalm 110, which as we observed earlier has often been considered a "twin" to psalm 2, is also given a Messianic interpretation by the Sages, to the extent that there is no essential disharmony between the Christian and Rabbinic exegesis of both these psalms. The psalm in outline is as follows:
The Midrash on the Psalms says of the verse 'Sit at my right hand', that "he says this to the Messiah; and his throne is prepared in grace and he will sit upon it". The Talmud refers to psalm 110 when discussing Zechariah 4:14 -- "These are the two who are anointed to serve the LORD of all the earth" -- and states:
It is remarkable that the idea of the Messiah's special status also comes to the fore in the Rabbis' exposition of other psalms. Of these, three are primarily worthy of mention: a) Psalm 16:11 says:
The words the "right hand" of God, the "sustaining of the right hand", and the "right hand man" are thus connected in some way with the Messiah, and are to be taken in conjunction with psalm 110. These Rabbinic interpretations give their own intelligible explanation to the intellectual background of the Apostles' Creed, in which we confess that we believe Christ "sits at the right hand of God, the omnipotent father". When, in connection with these 'twin' psalms, we have had to speak about the Messiah as the Son of God, and even about the Zohar's "mystery of the number three" which is associated with these psalms, it is worth pointing out that such ideas, usually associated with Christian theology, are also a natural part of older Judaism. They are not, in other words, mere creations of the Church. Furthermore, they sometimes spring from the most surprising Bible passages. The last verse of psalm 2, "blessed are all who take refuge in him", also appears in psalm 18, another psalm containing the Messianic motif (v.30). The word "Rock", mentioned in v. 31 is understood in the Talmud, when discussing Moses' hymn in Deuteronomy ch. 32, to mean "the Messiah, the Son of David" (Deut. 32:15).19 This "refuge" in psalm 2 relates to the "son", who is honoured by greeting him with a kiss. I remember how I kept watch by our son's sick bed in Jerusalem in Easter week 1959. He had been unconscious for four months, but before this last phase and before he went blind he had seen our Saviour and knew that he was dying. At that point an academic Jewish friend of ours came to the hospital to see us. He knew of our affection for the Jews and urged me to convert to Judaism with my seven year-old son. I said to this well-meaning linguist that we had no reason to do so as we believed that Jesus has fulfilled the Law and that he is the Son of God. "That," I explained, "is what I myself believe and that's what my son believes." "But", my friend protested, taking a Bible out of his briefcase, "God doesn't have a son. Show me where it says so." I made a silent prayer, because a glib answer will not satisfy someone who is in earnest. Somewhere from my subconscious a verse arose of which I had no recollection of knowing. "Read Proverbs 30 verse 4", I said, and he read:
The Letter to the Hebrews occupies itself at length with the description in Ps 110 of the High Priest: "You are a priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek." And so Christ "in the days of his flesh, offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears" on our behalf. "Another priest" was needed "in the order of Melchizedek", a priest "who holds his priesthood permanently", because perfection could not be attained "through the Levitical priesthood". "He is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens." Christ went "once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption."20 What does it matter if such quotations are meaningless to the modern reader? They at least show that our faith is rooted in Old Testament thought. It is remarkable to observe the central tenets of Christianity set out
in Jewish exegesis of psalms 2 and 110.
|