Psalm 45
Title
לַמְנַצֵּ֣חַ עַל שֹׁ֭שַׁנִּים לִבְנֵי קֹ֑רַח מַ֝שְׂכִּ֗יל שִׁ֣יר יְדִידֹֽת
1My heart overflows with a noble theme. I recite my verses for the king. My tongue is like the pen of a skillful writer. 2You are the most excellent of the sons of men. Grace has anointed your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever. 3Strap your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and your majesty. 4In your majesty ride on victoriously on behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness. Let your right hand display awesome deeds. 5Your arrows are sharp. The nations fall under you, with arrows in the heart of the king’s enemies. 6Your throne, God, is forever and ever. A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom. 7You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows. 8All your garments smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia. Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad. 9Kings’ daughters are among your honorable women. At your right hand the queen stands in gold of Ophir. 10Listen, daughter, consider, and turn your ear. Forget your own people, and also your father’s house. 11So the king will desire your beauty, honor him, for he is your lord. 12The daughter of Tyre comes with a gift. The rich among the people entreat your favor. 13The princess inside is all glorious. Her clothing is interwoven with gold. 14She shall be led to the king in embroidered work. The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to you. 15With gladness and rejoicing they shall be led. They shall enter into the king’s palace. 16Your sons will take the place of your fathers. You shall make them princes in all the earth. 17I will make your name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore the peoples shall give you thanks forever and ever.
Introduction
Psalms 45
This psalm is an illustrious prophecy of Messiah the Prince: it is all over gospel, and points at him only, as a bridegroom espousing the church to himself and as a king ruling in it and ruling for it. It is probable that our Saviour has reference to this psalm when he compares the kingdom of heaven, more than once, to a nuptial solemnity, the solemnity of a royal nuptial, Mat 22:2; Mat 25:1. We have no reason to think it has any reference to Solomon's marriage with Pharaoh's daughter; if I thought that it had reference to any other than the mystical marriage between Christ and his church, I would rather apply it to some of David's marriages, because he was a man of war, such a one as the bridegroom here is described to be, which Solomon was not. But I take it to be purely and only meant of Jesus Christ; of him speaks the prophet this, of him and of no other man; and to him (Psa 45:6, Psa 45:7) it is applied in the New Testament (Heb 1:8), nor can it be understood of any other. The preface speaks the excellency of the song (Psa 45:1). The psalm speaks, I. Of the royal bridegroom, who is Christ. 1. The transcendent excellency of his person (Psa 45:2). 2. The glory of his victories (Psa 45:3-5). 3. The righteousness of his government (Psa 45:6, Psa 45:7). 4. The splendour of his court (Psa 45:8, Psa 45:9). II. Of the royal bride, which is the church. 1. Her consent gained (Psa 45:10, Psa 45:11). 2. The nuptials solemnized (Psa 45:12-15). 3. The issue of this marriage (Psa 45:16, Psa 45:17). In singing this psalm our hearts must be filled with high thoughts of Christ, with an entire submission to and satisfaction in his government, and with an earnest desire of the enlarging and perpetuating of his church in the world.
To the chief musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil. A song of loves.
Cross-references: Matt 22:2 · Matt 25:1 · Ps 45:6 · Ps 45:7 · Heb 1:8 · Ps 45:1 · Ps 45:2 · Ps 45:3 · Ps 45:8 · Ps 45:9 · Ps 45:10 · Ps 45:11 · Ps 45:12 · Ps 45:16 · Ps 45:17