Psalms 110:1 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Lord said unto my Lord נאם יהוה לאדני, neum Jehovah ladoni, the saying, or decree, that is, I record the saying or decree of Jehohovah to my Lord, that is, to his Son the Messiah, whom I acknowledge as my Lord and God. This decree, made in eternity, was in due time published, and was actually executed when God raised up Christ from the dead, and brought him into his heavenly mansion. David designedly calls the Messiah his Lord, to admonish the whole church, that although he was his son according to the human nature, yet he had a higher nature, and was also his Lord, as being by nature God blessed for ever, and consequently Lord of all things, as he is called Acts 10:36; and by office, as he was God man, the Lord and King of the whole church, and of all the world, for the church's sake. And this was said to prevent that offence which the Holy Ghost foresaw the Jews and others would be ready to take at the meanness of Christ's appearance in the flesh. The Hebrew word אדון, adon, is one of God's titles, signifying his power and authority over all things, and therefore is most fitly given to the Messiah, to whom God had delegated all his power in the universe, Matthew 28:18. Sit thou at my right hand Thou who hast for so many years been veiled with infirm and mortal flesh, despised, rejected, and trampled upon by men, and persecuted unto death; do thou now take to thyself thy great and just power. Thou hast done thy work upon earth, now take thy rest, and the possession of that sovereign kingdom and glory, which by right belongs to thee; do thou rule with me, with an authority and honour far above all creatures, in earth or heaven. So this phrase is expounded in other places: see Luke 22:69; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1; Hebrews 10:12-13; Ephesians 1:20, &c. It is a figurative expression, taken from the custom of earthly monarchs, who placed those persons on their right hands to whom they would show the greatest honour, or whom they designed to advance to the greatest power and authority: see 1 Kings 2:19. It here signifies the dominion which Jesus Christ, after his death, received from the Father, as the Messiah. Thus he says of himself, Revelation 3:21, I overcame, and am set down with my Father on his throne. Until I make thine enemies Until, by my almighty power, communicated to thee, as Mediator, I make those that crucified thee, (converting some and destroying others,) and the idolatrous heathen, subjecting them to thy gospel, as also the power of sin and Satan in men's hearts, and, at last, death itself, thy footstool Thy slaves and vassals. This expression, thy footstool, which denotes an entire subdual of enemies, alludes to the custom of eastern nations, to tread upon the necks of the kings whom they had conquered, and so make them, as it were, their footstool.