Psalm 110 Participant Analysis

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Participant Analysis

  What is Participant Analysis?

Participant Analysis focuses on the characters in the psalm and asks, “Who are the main participants (or characters) in this psalm, and what are they saying or doing? It is often helpful for understanding literary structure, speaker identification, etc.

For a detailed explanation of our method, see the Participant Analysis Creator Guidelines.

There are six participants/characters in Psalm 110:

Profile List

David/Psalmist

YHWH
"The Lord" (v. 5)

King
"lord" (v. 1)
"priest" (v. 4)

King's people
"young men" (v. 3)
"dew" (v. 3)

Wicked
"[Rebellious] kings" (v. 5)
"Head [of the rebellious kings]" (v. 6)
Nations

Profile Notes

  • King: The oracle begins with YHWH speaking to a person whom David calls “my lord.” This person is a king who rules alongside YHWH over the entire earth. David addresses this king as his superior: a king greater than he is, because he will see the fulfillment of the eternal and universal promises that YHWH has made. This superior will be greater not only in the extent of his kingdom, but also in his relationship to YHWH: he will be both priest and king, having immediate, special access to YHWH, and he will be successful because YHWH, himself, will do battle against his enemies. 
  • King's people: The king's people will be willing to serve in his army. In the ancient world, extending a kingdom happened when armies fought over territory. Professional, full-time soldiers were not common in the ancient world, so kings depended largely on volunteers to serve in their armies. It was not easy for kings to find volunteers to serve in their army. It is not difficult for this king, however. His people, i.e., his potential army, will be willing to serve in his army as soon as he announces his plans for war. He would start his campaign in the holy mountains which surround Jerusalem, and these mountains will be covered with young soldiers in the same way the grass is covered with dew in the early morning.
  • Enemies: Although the king's enemies are never explicitly identified in this psalm, their fate is clearly stated: YHWH will destroy them. Moreover, the imagery of enemies as a footstool (v. 1) was also used to express both authority and victory over enemies. In other words, Psalm 110 depicts YHWH bringing victory, and then authority, over all the king’s enemies. In David's vision, YHWH smashed the heads of the rebellious kings across the wide world, and so he has extended David's lord's scepter from Zion and made his enemies a footstool for his feet. The king rules alongside YHWH over the entire earth.
Text (Hebrew) Verse Text (CBC) The Close-but-clear translation (CBC) exists to provide a window into the Hebrew text according to how we understand its syntax and word-to-phrase-level semantics. It is designed to be "close" to the Hebrew, while still being "clear." Specifically, the CBC encapsulates and reflects the following layers of analysis: grammar, lexical semantics, phrase-level semantics, and verbal semantics. It does not reflect our analysis of the discourse or of poetics. It is not intended to be used as a stand-alone translation or base text, but as a supplement to Layer-by-Layer materials to help users make full use of these resources.
לְדָוִ֗ד מִ֫זְמ֥וֹר
 1a
A psalm by David.
נְאֻ֤ם יְהוָ֨ה ׀ לַֽאדֹנִ֗י
 1b
YHWH’s oracle to my lord:
שֵׁ֥ב לִֽימִינִ֑י
 1c
“Sit at my right side,
עַד־אָשִׁ֥ית אֹ֝יְבֶ֗יךָ הֲדֹ֣ם לְרַגְלֶֽיךָ׃
 1d
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
מַטֵּֽה־עֻזְּךָ֗ יִשְׁלַ֣ח יְ֭הוָה מִצִּיּ֑וֹן
 2a
YHWH will extend your strong staff from Zion.
רְ֝דֵ֗ה בְּקֶ֣רֶב אֹיְבֶֽיךָ׃
 2b
Rule among your enemies!
עַמְּ ךָ֣ נְדָבֹת֮ בְּ י֪וֹם חֵ֫ילֶ֥ ךָ
 3a
Your people will be willing on the day you manifest your power.
בְּֽהַדְרֵי־קֹ֭דֶשׁ מֵרֶ֣חֶם מִשְׁחָ֑ר
 3b
On holy mountains, from the womb of dawn,
לְ֝ ךָ֗ טַ֣ל יַלְדֻתֶֽי ךָ׃
 3c
The dew, your young men, [will come] into your possession.
נִשְׁבַּ֤ע יְהוָ֨ה ׀ וְלֹ֥א יִנָּחֵ֗ם
 4a
YHWH has sworn, and he will not change his mind:
אַתָּֽה־כֹהֵ֥ן לְעוֹלָ֑ם
 4b
“You are forever a priest
עַל־דִּ֝בְרָתִ֗י מַלְכִּי־צֶֽדֶק׃
 4c
just like Melchizedek.”
אֲדֹנָ֥י עַל־יְמִֽינְךָ֑
 5a
The Lord at your right side
מָחַ֖ץ בְּ יוֹם־ אַפּ֣ וֹ מְלָכִֽים׃
 5b
smashed kings on the day his anger was unleashed.
יָדִ֣ין בַּ֭גּוֹיִם מָלֵ֣א גְוִיּ֑וֹת
 6a
He will rule among the nations whom he filled with corpses.
מָ֥חַץ רֹ֝֗אשׁ עַל־אֶ֥רֶץ רַבָּֽה׃
 6b
He smashed heads across the wide world.
מִ֭נַּחַל בַּדֶּ֣רֶךְ יִשְׁתֶּ֑ה
 7a
He will drink from a wadi on the campaign.
עַל־כֵּ֝֗ן יָרִ֥ים רֹֽאשׁ׃
 7b
Therefore, he will lift [his] head.

Notes

  • The speakers of the psalm: Although YHWH speaks directly in v. 1aβ-b and v. 4b-c, there is a sense in which YHWH is speaking throughout the psalm, through the voice of his prophet David. As Hilber notes, "the whole of Psalm 110 has integrity as a unified prophetic oracle, and the components of the psalm should not be differentiated in terms of Yahweh's words in distinction from the prophet's words."[1]
  • The addressee of the psalm: The king, whom the speaker addresses in the second person (vv. 1aβb, 2, 3, 4bc, 5), is the addressee throughout the psalm. The third person אדני ("my lord") in v. 1aα does not imply that the king is not the addressee at this point in the psalm, because a speaker will often use third person language when speaking to an addressee if the addressee is a superior in some sense (see e.g., Jacob's encounter with Esau in Gen. 33:8-14; cf. 1 Sam. 26:19).
  • The subjects in vv. 5-7: For a thorough discussion of this issue, see The Subject(s) in Ps. 110:5-7. In short, YHWH is probably the subject in v. 7 for the following reasons:
    • (1) אֲדֹנָי ("the Lord" = YHWH) is named as the subject in v. 5a, and "there is no indication in the sequence of clauses in vv. 5-7 that we should assume a change of subject."[2]
    • (2) The act of drinking from a stream naturally follows the act of smashing heads (e.g., Judges 15:15-19). Thus, the subject of vv. 5-6 (the warrior who smashes heads) is most likely also the subject of v. 7 (the one who drinks to quench his thirst).[3]
    • (3) Throughout the psalm, the king is the addressee and is thus referred to in the second person. The verbs in v. 7, however, are in the third person.
Together, these reasons make it probable that YHWH is the subject of the verbs in v. 7. The number one objection scholars raise to this view is that "it is difficult to think of God as drinking from the torrent;"[4] "the action of drinking from 'a stream upon the way' is more readily comprehensible of a human king than of YHWH himself'.[5] This objection is hardly persuasive, however, because the Old Testament often describes YHWH in stark anthropomorphic terms. The motif of YHWH as a warrior is especially common (cf. Ex. 15:3). The image of YHWH as a warrior drinking from a stream in Ps. 110:7 is hardly more difficult to imagine that the image of YHWH waking "from sleep, as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine" (Ps. 78:65).

Participant Relations Diagram

The relationships among the participants may be abstracted and summarized as follows:

Updated Psalm 110 - PA Relations Diagram.jpg

Psalm 110 - PA Mini-Story updated.jpg

Participant Analysis Summary Distribution

Psalm 110 - Tracking Table.jpg

  1. ↑ Hilber 2005, 82.
  2. ↑ Zenger 2011, 143; cf. Goldingay 2008.
  3. ↑ Cf. Reinke 1857, 256.
  4. ↑ Barbiero 2014, 3.
  5. ↑ Mitchell 2003, 263; cf. Baethgen 1904; Briggs 1907; Allen 2002; Nordheim 2008.