2 Tawarikh 9:17-19

9:17 The king made a large throne decorated with ivory and overlaid it with pure gold. 9:18 There were six steps leading up to the throne, and a gold footstool was attached to the throne. ¹  The throne had two armrests with a statue of a lion standing on each side. ²  9:19 There were twelve statues of lions on the six steps, one lion at each end of each step. There was nothing like it in any other kingdom. ³ 

Mazmur 45:6

45:6 Your throne, ⁴  O God, is permanent. ⁵ 

The scepter ⁶  of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.

Mazmur 110:1

Psalm 110 ⁷ 

A psalm of David.

110:1 Here is the Lord’s proclamation ⁸  to my lord: ⁹ 

“Sit down at my right hand ¹⁰  until I make your enemies your footstool!” ¹¹ 

Mazmur 122:5

122:5 Indeed, ¹²  the leaders sit ¹³  there on thrones and make legal decisions,

on the thrones of the house of David. ¹⁴ 

Ibrani 1:3

1:3 The Son is ¹⁵  the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, ¹⁶  and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. ¹⁷ 

Ibrani 1:8

1:8 but of ¹⁸  the Son he says, ¹⁹ 

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, ²⁰ 

and a righteous scepter ²¹  is the scepter of your kingdom.

Wahyu 20:11

The Great White Throne

20:11 Then ²²  I saw a large ²³  white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven ²⁴  fled ²⁵  from his presence, and no place was found for them.

[9:18]  ¹ tc The parallel text of 1 Kgs 10:19 has instead “and the back of it was rounded on top.”

[9:18]  ² tn Heb “[There were] armrests on each side of the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.”

[9:19]  ³ tn Heb “nothing like it had been made for any kingdom.”

[45:6]  ⁴ sn The king’s throne here symbolizes his rule.

[45:6]  ⁵ tn Or “forever and ever.”

[45:6]  sn O God. The king is clearly the addressee here, as in vv. 2-5 and 7-9. Rather than taking the statement at face value, many prefer to emend the text because the concept of deifying the earthly king is foreign to ancient Israelite thinking (cf. NEB “your throne is like God’s throne, eternal”). However, it is preferable to retain the text and take this statement as another instance of the royal hyperbole that permeates the royal psalms. Because the Davidic king is God’s vice-regent on earth, the psalmist addresses him as if he were God incarnate. God energizes the king for battle and accomplishes justice through him. A similar use of hyperbole appears in Isa 9:6, where the ideal Davidic king of the eschaton is given the title “Mighty God” (see the note on this phrase there). Ancient Near Eastern art and literature picture gods training kings for battle, bestowing special weapons, and intervening in battle. According to Egyptian propaganda, the Hittites described Rameses II as follows: “No man is he who is among us, It is Seth great-of-strength, Baal in person; Not deeds of man are these his doings, They are of one who is unique” (see Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, 2:67). Ps 45:6 and Isa 9:6 probably envision a similar kind of response when friends and foes alike look at the Davidic king in full battle regalia. When the king’s enemies oppose him on the battlefield, they are, as it were, fighting against God himself.

[45:6]  ⁶ sn The king’s scepter symbolizes his royal authority.

[110:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 110. In this royal psalm the psalmist announces God’s oracle to the Davidic king. The first part of the oracle appears in v. 1, the second in v. 4. In vv. 2-3 the psalmist addresses the king, while in vv. 5-7 he appears to address God.

[110:1]  ⁸ tn The word נְאֻם (nÿ’um) is used frequently in the OT of a formal divine announcement through a prophet.

[110:1]  ⁹ sn My lord. In the psalm’s original context the speaker is an unidentified prophetic voice in the royal court. In the course of time the psalm is applied to each successive king in the dynasty and ultimately to the ideal Davidic king. NT references to the psalm understand David to be speaking about his “lord,” the Messiah. (See Matt 22:43-45; Mark 12:36-37; Luke 20:42-44; Acts 2:34-35).

[110:1]  ¹⁰ tn To sit at the “right hand” of the king was an honor (see 1 Kgs 2:19). In Ugaritic myth (CTA 4 v. 108-10) the artisan god Kothar-and Khasis is described as sitting at the right hand of the storm god Baal. See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 61-62.

[110:1]  sn The Lord’s invitation to the Davidic king to sit down at his right hand reflects the king’s position as the Lord’s vice-regent.

[110:1]  ¹¹ sn When the Lord made his covenant with David, he promised to subdue the king’s enemies (see 2 Sam 7:9-11; Ps 89:22-23).

[122:5]  ¹² tn Or “for.”

[122:5]  ¹³ tn Or “sat.”

[122:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Indeed, there they sit [on] thrones for judgment, [on] thrones [belonging] to the house of David.”

[1:3]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “who being…and sustaining.” Heb 1:1-4 form one skillfully composed sentence in Greek, but it must be broken into shorter segments to correspond to contemporary English usage, which does not allow for sentences of this length and complexity.

[1:3]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “by the word of his power.”

[1:3]  ¹⁷ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1, quoted often in Hebrews.

[1:8]  ¹⁸ tn Or “to.”

[1:8]  ¹⁹ tn The verb “he says” (λέγει, legei) is implied from the λέγει of v. 7.

[1:8]  ²⁰ tn Or possibly, “Your throne is God forever and ever.” This translation is quite doubtful, however, since (1) in the context the Son is being contrasted to the angels and is presented as far better than they. The imagery of God being the Son’s throne would seem to be of God being his authority. If so, in what sense could this not be said of the angels? In what sense is the Son thus contrasted with the angels? (2) The μέν…δέ (men…de) construction that connects v. 7 with v. 8 clearly lays out this contrast: “On the one hand, he says of the angels…on the other hand, he says of the Son.” Thus, although it is grammatically possible that θεός (qeos) in v. 8 should be taken as a predicate nominative, the context and the correlative conjunctions are decidedly against it. Hebrews 1:8 is thus a strong affirmation of the deity of Christ.

[1:8]  ²¹ tn Grk “the righteous scepter,” but used generically.

[20:11]  ²² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[20:11]  ²³ tn Traditionally, “great,” but μέγας (megas) here refers to size rather than importance.

[20:11]  ²⁴ tn Or “and the sky.” The same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky,” and context usually determines which is meant. In this apocalyptic scene, however, it is difficult to be sure what referent to assign the term.

[20:11]  ²⁵ tn Or “vanished.”

[20:11]  sn The phrase the earth and the heaven fled from his presence can be understood (1) as visual imagery representing the fear of corruptible matter in the presence of God, but (2) it can also be understood more literally as the dissolution of the universe as we know it in preparation for the appearance of the new heaven and new earth (Rev 21:1).