Commentary on Psalms Volume 3 John Calvin (continued)
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS - VOLUME 3
Apostle,) that as death did not intercept the exercise of his office, he has no successor. And this circumstance demonstrates the accursed sacrilege of the Popish mass; for, if the Popish priests will assume the prerogative of effecting a reconciliation between God and men, they must of necessity denude Christ of the peculiar and distinguishing honor which his Father has conferred upon him.
Psalm 110:5-7
5. The Lord at thy right hand 331 hath broken in pieces kings in the day of his wrath. 6. He shalt judge among the heathen, he shall fill all with ruins; he shall break the head over a great country. 7. He shall drink of the torrent in the way, and therefore shall he elevate his head on high.
5. The Lord at thy right hand In these words David celebrates the dreadful nature of that power which Christ possesses for the dispersion and destruction of his enemies; and by this means he affirms, that though encompassed by bands of deadly foes, yet their malignant attempts would not prevent God from upholding the King whom he has set up. It is proper to consider the expression, in the day of his wrath, by which we are instructed patiently to endure the cross, if it happen that God, for a time, conceals himself during the prevalence of the cruelty and fury of enemies; for he knows well when the full and fit season arrives for executing vengeance upon them. Next, he invests Christ with power over the nations, and the people of uncircumcised lips; meaning, that he was not chosen King to reign over the inhabitants of Judea only, but also to keep under his sway distant nations, agreeably to what was predicated of him in Psalm 2:8. And because, in all
"The Lord at thy right hand. In this psalm it is evident, verse 1, thatיהוהis the title of God the Father, and so again, verse 4, andאדניof the Messiah God the Son, in respect of that dignity, and dominion, and regal power, to which he was to be exalted at his ascension, that 'at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.' This is expressed, verse 1, by his 'sitting at God's right hand,' for which the Apostle, 1 Corinthians 15:25, reads, 'it must be that he reign.' By this it is evident that, in this verse, 'The Lord at thy right hand,' must be understood of the Messiah instated in his regal power at the right hand of his father, and not of the Father as his παραστάτης, to back and help him, as Psalm 16:8, and elsewhere, the phrase is used. For of the Son thus exalted we know it is that we read John 5:22, that 'the Father has committed all judgment to the Son.' Agreeable to which it is that this 'Adonai,' or 'Lord at Jehovah's right hand here, shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath;' i.e., shall act revenges most severely on the opposers of his kingdom; which revenges, in the New Testament, are peculiarly attributed to Christ, and called 'the coming of the Son of Man, coming in the clouds, coming with his angels, and the approaching or coming of his kingdom.'" — Hammond. In this 5th verse the Psalmist makes a sudden apostrophe to Jehovah. Horsley is much inclined to indulge in a conjecture, which Dr Kennicott, too, seems to have entertained, that the word,יהוה Jehovah, has been lost out of the text after the original word for at thy right hand; and that the passage should run thus: "The Lord at thy right hand, O Jehovah!"