to my master. Although
many translations render this as “my LORD,” with a capital L, the Hebrew
clearly shows ʾadoni, with a first-person singular suffix, whereas the
noun at the beginning of verse 5 reads ʾadonai, showing the plural
suffix invariably used when the noun ʾadon is a designation for God.
This is a royal psalm, and the speaker, by referring to the king as his master,
would appear to be a court poet.
till I make your enemies / a
stool for your feet. God’s protection of the king against the nation’s
enemies is a prominent theme in most of the royal psalms. Some Egyptian murals
actually depict an enthroned pharaoh with feet resting on the heads of kneeling
captives. (Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W.
Norton & Company, 2019], 3:264)
