THE SERPENT IN PSALM 110:1-7
Psalm 110 famously begins by saying, “The LORD says to my
Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I may your enemies your footstool” (v. 1). Hamilton
comments, “The statement that the enemies will be made a footstool for the feet
of the Davidic king (110:1) seems to draw on the connection between the damaged
heel and head in Gen 3:15.” (Hamilton, “The Skull Crushing Seed of the Woman,” 37)
This connection is strengthened by noticing that God will “set” (שׁית) the king’s
“enemies” (איב) as a footstool under the Lord’s feet. This recalls how God will
“set enmity” (ואיבה אשׁית; Gen 3:15a) between the serpent and the woman’s seed.
This king awaiting to rod his enemies underfoot will rule from Zion with a scepter
(cf. 49:10; Num 24:17; Ps 2:6, 9).
Psalm 110 ends with an allusion to Gen 3, as well. The
ESV translates Ps 110:6 to say, “He will execute judgment among the nations,
filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.”
Hamilton notes that verse 6c “could just as well be translated ‘he will crush .
. . the head . . . on the broad land.” (Hamilton, “The Skull Crushing Seed of
the Woman,” 37) Thus, when the king tramples his enemies underfoot, the psalm
presents the king’s victory as him crushing the head. This alludes to Gen 3:15:
“he shall bruise your head.” Allusions to Gen 3 frame Ps110, and this
encourages the interpreter to understand the king of Ps 110 to be the promised
seed of the woman from Gen 3:15. In Ps 110, as we have argued from Gen 3, every
enemy of the royal eschatological deliverer is the seed of the serpent, and the
seed of the woman will one day trample them underfoot. (Brian A. Verrett, The
Serpent in Samuel: A Messianic Motif [Eugene, Oreg.: Resource Publications,
2020], 36-37)
Re. Psa 110:6:
Oddly, the ESV translates “filing” (מָלֵ֣א) as a
participle instead of a finite verb. Translated as a finite verb, the verse
contains three short sentences that each describe the king’s victory: “He will
execute judgment among the nations. He will will with reference to corpses. He
will shatter the chief-head over the wide earth.” (AT) (Ibid., 36 n. 92)
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