From the Messianic Psalm of 110, we will be digging deeper to see what may be hidden within the LORD’s utterance through its author, King David.
Psalm 110:1-7 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
V. 3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries. He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
We are told that we are to rightly divide the Word of God. Dividing the Word rightly means following certain guidelines of interpretation. In following these guidelines, the first thing one asks is, who is speaking and to whom are they speaking. Next, we ask, what is the context. Then we want to know, how is this scripture stated in the original text, what is the meaning of each word, is the meaning clear, or is the author using a figure of speech.
Understanding the Jewish figure of speech is paramount in correctly dividing the Word. For instance, Remez is a method of word use that hints at something that may be found in another text where one may discover a hidden or deeper meaning. Jesus often used this method in His speech, and it is found throughout scripture.
Psalm 110:3 is an example of poetic language and figurative speech, employing metaphors, personification, imagery, and parallelism to convey spiritual truths about the people's willing obedience to God's power and the eternal nature of His reign. Finally, one must consider, the law of first mention, which means that the meaning of any word when it is first mentioned, remains the meaning of that same word throughout the text.
The Bible does interpret itself. Some scriptures may leave you with a question that can be answered elsewhere in the text. Being very familiar with the text is a huge advantage. The most important of all tools of interpretation is the leading of the Holy Spirit.
With these principles in practice, I present to you the awesomeness of a much over-looked scripture. My emphasis for this study will be verse 3 that is bolded previously. First, I will, briefly explain the context of scriptures that come before and after verse 3.
The opening verses are a scene in heaven, and from the Hebrew text, we are first guaranteed that the content of this Psalm will be fulfilled, for God has sworn by Himself, and He will not change His mind! For the word LORD in caps is identified as Yahveh or Jehovah and HE is speaking to the Lord Adon or Yeshua/Jesus, who was, and is, and will be forever. Jehovah is instructing Jesus that He is to remain at the Fathers right side until the day when Jehovah will give all authority to Jesus to rule over His enemies from Zion. This prophetic Psalm looks into the future to Messiah’s reign on the earth at His second coming.
The final verses describe a far different scene than when Jesus came the first time. This scene is of a conquering King and Priest, who comes to destroy wicked rulers, and all those that have chosen to follow evil and have rejected His gift of salvation. It describes our Lord being totally refreshed once the earth is cleansed of evil, as if drinking from a clear fresh brook. This is the brief context of Psalm 110.
Now let’s focus on, and dig for the “hidden manna,” of this 3rd verse:
Verse 3 is indeed, “sweet manna hidden in plain sight,” that can only be seen through Hebrew eyes. It begins with, “Thy people will be willing in the day of thy power,” and this is a reference to Jew and Gentile, male and female, that will make up the body of Messiah at the end of days.
The Hebrew word translated willing is “nedabah.” It means, spontaneous, an abundant gift or freewill offering that is freely given. I cannot help but think of Paul exhorting the Christians to become “living sacrifices,” as their reasonable service to God. He was exhorting them to be “nedabah.”
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God.
In the day of Messiah’s power, refers to His second coming and His one thousand year reign upon this earth, called the Millennium reign of Christ. The word power in Hebrew is “chayil” and it means, a force, great strength, an army, a collective body, valor, virtue, power, and might. Messiah’s power at that time will be measured by the strength of His authority and position, more than by the strength of His army, although the strength of His army will be mighty. This Hebrew word “chayil,” does suggest that Messiah will be coming back with military force, which helps us identify the time frame.
In the day of Messiah’s power, His people will be “nedabah” in Hebrew. They will be spontaneous “living sacrifices,” willing to do His will, having died to their own wills. Their hearts have been so captivated by a love so pure and abiding, nothing but the purposes of God will matter to them. These people belonging to the Messiah, will be unlike any people that have dwelt upon the face of the earth since the fall in the garden of Eden, because of their willingness to obey and serve Messiah.
The next phrase is: in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning”
The scriptures seem to indicate that there will never be people like these people again. Father God calls these people “beauties of holiness” in this scripture, although, He had not yet created them. These “beauties of holiness” were created in the heart of God before the foundation of the world, and they will manifest at the appointed time. They will reclaim that which was stolen from Adam and Eve.
In this Psalm the Creator of all things hints at His plan to do a new thing. He plans to dwell among His people and build a temple not made with hands. His secret plan to pay the price for sin and to impower His people to overcome their sin nature, will shock and diminish the powers of darkness. His plan to create “beauties of holiness,” as a secret weapon against the powers of darkness, can only be hinted at during the age of King David, and through the centuries that follow.
This phrase, “beauties of holiness,” can only be found this one time in scripture. This unique phrase and the magnitude of its meaning can only be understood through Hebrew eyes. The Hebrew word for “beauties,” is “hadar,” and it expresses beauty as magnificent, an ornament of splendor, excellency, glorious, glory, goodly, honor, and majesty. This is the description, of those yet to be created in the future when Messiah comes.
These beauties of God are to be coupled with holiness. The Hebrew word for holiness is “qodesh” which means holy, sacred, consecrated, and saintly. It is the same word used to identify the Spirit of God, which in Hebrew is the “Ruach Haqodesh.” So, God had a plan and He called it “hadar qodesh,” or “beauties of holiness.”
When God created Adam, it was out of the dust of the earth, and Eve from Adam’s rib, all that God created, He thought of as tov, that is good. However, the “beauties of holiness” that were to be born of God and infused with divinity, would be creating something new. This “new creation,” that He was prophesying about in this Psalm, He called, in Hebrew, “hadar qodesh.” God did say they were Tov, (good) like He did about creation, but He added these superlatives about their nature: splendor, excellent, majestic, honorable, and magnificently glorious!
In this prophecy the LORD goes on and hints some more, indicating that His “beauties of holiness” come from “the womb of the morning.” It is very interesting to note that this Hebrew word for womb is “rechem” and it stems from the root word “recham.” It’s meaning is very revealing and causes one to pause and consider why it was used instead of “beten” which is commonly used for the womb of a woman. In the case or “recham,” the root word that is used in the phrase “womb of the morning,” means, to love, to have compassion, to have great tender mercy or pity as one would have for a fetus in the womb.
If the Hebrew word “beten,” would have been used instead of “rechem,” then one could interpret, “the womb of the morning,” as “before the morning,” or “before the break of dawn,” as some translators have done, because the womb represents a place “before” the birth. However, the Hebrew word “rechem,” is speaking about love and the tenderness toward those carried in the womb.
The Hebrew word used most often for morning is “boqer,” which means early morning or break of day. However that is not the word used in this phrase of scripture. The Hebrew word used here for dawn of the morning is “mishchar,” and it comes from the root word “shachar,” which means, dawn, to be up early for any task, it implies earnestness to rise early, or painstaking search, enquire early, and seek diligently at dawn. In other words, some mornings have an important reason for rising early.
So the question arises, “Is God using “remez” and hinting at something profound? Is He calling attention to a morning in the future that should be earnestly and diligently sought? Is “womb of the morning,” the morning when God reveals His “recham,” His unfailing love and great tender mercy for mankind? Is it the morning when the essences of Love Himself will rise from the dead, initiating His plan of “hadar qodesh?” Is it THE MORNING? I think it is!
Another interesting thing to note, is that the “womb of the morning” can also have a duel meaning, which is common in eastern culture. It could also mean the birth of a new day, which happens at the crack of dawn. Rising early in the morning is a Hebrew idiom for expressing something important is to take place. This idiom, no doubt, was birthed from this word “shachar”. The earlier one rises for an event, the greater the importance of that event.
Nothing in all of History has ever been as important as the morning that expresses “recham,” for Yeshua rose, having conquered death and providing a way to be reconciled to the Father for all eternity. But, that plan, and what was to follow, was to be hidden in the heart of the Father until the appointed time. As the LORD spoke through David, HE would just hint at what was coming.
Therefore the last hint of this verse is, thou has the dew of thy youth. So let’s continue digging. Jehovah, as established earlier, is speaking to Yeshua/Jesus, so the thou is referring to Messiah. The hint here is that the Messiah has the dew of His youth.
Understanding word play and figure of speech is key to understand what Father God is hinting at.
The Hebrew word for dew is “tal” and it means a covering as the dew covers vegetation. Dew is often called the dew of heaven signifying God’s blessings and provision. When dew is withheld it is seen as a curse or judgment from God. The dew of heaven is associated with salvation and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In Isaiah, dew was associated with the resurrection of the dead that is to take place at the rapture of the Church.
Isaiah 26:19 Based on the content of the rest of the scripture, I believe “dew” in this verse has duel meaning and is meant to speak of the blessings and out pouring of the Holy Spirit that the resurrection of Jesus initiates.
The word youth used in this scripture is in Hebrew “yaldutheycha” and it means your youth, your childhood, and your offspring. It comes from the root word yalad which means to bear or to give birth. This same root word is where we get the words yeled and yaldah, which is Hebrew for boy and girl. Again, I believe it is possible that this word yaldutheycha has a duel meaning as so many Hebrew words do.
In this case I believe God is referencing to the Messiah, who is an eternal being and ageless, that when he is in His youth, only 33 years of age, He would experience the dew of the resurrection. The glory of Him being raised from the dead would cover the earth like the dew of heaven covers the entire earth. Speaking of His youth Jehovah could also have been inferring to the innumerable offspring that the resurrection would birth, much like the innumerable dew drops that rise from the earth at the break of day. Both meanings for youth could be in play.
As is so often the case, the LORD has given us a word picture to unravel. The picture that is being painted can only be appreciated through the lens of the Hebrew language and figures of speech. I will gather the meaning of each Hebrew Word and paint a picture for you that you did not see when you first read the verse in question. Father God in heaven is speaking to his Son Yeshua who will in the future come to earth as Lord and Savior, and Jewish Messiah.
He speaks His prophecy through King David in a riddle saying: Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.
Suggested from the Hebrew word pictures that are looking into the future:
Messiah, your people will be comprised of Jew and Gentile followers. They will be spontaneous obedient people, offering themselves to you as “living sacrifices,” submitting to your great authority, numbered among your mighty army, when you rule and reign upon the earth, having devoured your enemies with great force upon your arrival.
The next phrase, “in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning”
Suggested from the Hebrew word pictures that are looking into the future:
These living sacrifices have been set apart and are unlike any other humans. They are magnificent beings of beauty, honor, and splendor, their excellency can only be compared to their glorious majesty. They are holy, sacred and consecrated because the breath of holiness has been breathed on them. They exist because LOVE exists! They were conceived in a womb full of love, compassion, and the tenderest of pity and sympathy toward the human race, on a very special morning.
It was a morning of great importance! It was a morning, like the womb, that expressed LOVE. It was the morning when the man that was the essence of Love would rise very early in the morning signifying the importance of this particular morning. This morning was Resurrection Morning!
I am convinced, through the Hebrew word study that “the womb of the morning,” is a figure of speech for the Resurrection of Christ!
These beauties of holiness, could only exist because of the resurrection of Yeshua from the dead. All of mankind after Adam and Eve were born from the womb of a woman, except for God’s new creation they were to be born again, this time they were conceived in the “womb of the morning.” These born again beauties of holiness were miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit in much the same way as Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit. Now let that sink in!
The Holy Spirit came upon Mary and created within her the miracle of Jesus, the God/Man. In much the same way the Holy Spirit came upon man and created, what the apostle Paul called, “a new creation,” however, the LORD called them, “beauties of holiness.”
Now looking at the last part “thou hast the dew of thy youth”
Suggested from the Hebrew word pictures that are looking into the future:
You, Messiah, have innumerable followers that are called by your name. These “new creations” cover the earth like the innumerable dew drops that rise upon the foliage of the earth at day break. They have been birthed from the dew (blessings of God and out pouring of the Holy Spirit) of your resurrection. These blessings of “dew,” which continues today, bringing you a continuous stream of offspring because of what you did in your youth.
For over 2,000 years ago, at the young age of 33, Messiah, you set into motion an outpouring of the Holy Spirit who continues to fill the earth with Born again, Spirit baptized “Beauties of Holiness.”
This Messianic Psalm looks forward to the day when Messiah Jesus returns to Rule and Reign as King of Kings, and when He comes into Power this word indicates that His Beauties of Holiness will be willing to sacrifice their lives for His Glory. Will you be counted among His Beauties?