Fairer or, more beautiful , i.e. lovely and amiable. He speaks not here so much of this outward beauty, which, though it be an ornament both to a bridegroom and to a king, yet is not very considerable in either, nor is much admired or applauded by wise men, as of the inward and glorious endowments of his mind or soul, such as wisdom, and righteousness, and meekness, &c., as the particulars of this beauty are declared, Psa 45:4,7 . Than the children of men ; than all other men: which is most true of Christ, but not of Solomon; whom many have excelled, if not in wisdom, yet in holiness and righteousness, which is the chief part of this beauty, and most celebrated in this Psalm.

Grace is poured into thy lips God hath plentifully poured into thy mind and tongue the gift of speaking with admirable grace, i.e. most wisely and eloquently, and therefore most acceptably, so as to find grace with and work grace in thy hearers. This was in the same sort true of Solomon, but far more eminently and effectually in Christ; of which see Isa 50:4 Luk 4:22 Joh 7:46 . The former clause noted his inward perfections, and this signifies his ability and readiness to communicate them to others.

Therefore which notes not the meritorious cause, for that beauty and grace now mentioned are declared to be the free gifts of God, and were the effects, and not the causes, of God’ s blessing him; but rather the final cause, or the end for which God endowed him with those excellent qualifications; and so the sense of the place is, Because God hath so eminently adorned and qualified thee for rule, therefore he hath trusted and blessed thee with an everlasting kingdom. Or, because , as this particle is used, Gen 38:26 Psa 42:6 , and elsewhere. And so God’ s blessing him with such solid and everlasting blessings, is noted as the cause of this singular beauty and grace here expressed.

Gird thy sword upon thy thigh either,

1. As an ensign of royal majesty. But that is usually and much better expressed in Scripture by putting a crown upon his head . Or rather,

2. As an instrument for war and battle, to smite his enemies, as it is declared, Psa 45:4,5 . And the sword is here put synecdochically for all his arms, as it is in many other places, as appears from Psa 45:5 , where we read also of his arrows. And this sword of the Messias is nothing else but the word of God coming out of his mouth; which is fitly compared to a sword, as may appear from Isa 49:2 Eph 6:17 Heb 4:12 Rev 1:16 , which is elsewhere called the rod of his mouth , Isa 11:4 , and the rod of his power , Psa 110:2 .

With thy glory and thy majesty or, which is thy glory and thy majesty; or, magnificence or beauty; for these words are joined with the sword, by way of apposition; which sword or word is the great instrument of maintaining and propagating thy honour, and glory, and kingdom.

In thy majesty being thus gloriously or magnificently girt and armed. Ride prosperously ; march on speedily (which is signified by riding) and successfully against thine enemies, i.e. thou shalt do so, as it is in the last clause,

shall teach thee So imperatives are oft put for futures, and predictions are expressed in the form of commands or exhortations.

Because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness or, because of thy truth , &c., i.e. because thou art worthy of this dominion and success; for thou neither didst obtain nor wilt manage thy kingdom by deceit or violence and unrighteousness, as the princes of the earth frequently do, but with truth and faithfulness, with meekness and gentleness towards thy people, and to all that shall submit to thee; with impartial justice and equity, whereby thy throne will be established, Pro 16:12 20:28 . Or, as it is in the Hebrew, word for word, upon the word of truth , &c.; which may seem best to suit with the foregoing words, which according to the Hebrew are, prosper thou, ride thou , and then immediately follows, upon the Word of truth , &c., to wit, the gospel; which is oft called truth, as Joh 8:32 Col 1:5 , &c., and the word of truth , Eph 1:13 ; and may no less truly be called the word of meekness, because it is not delivered with terror, as the law was at Sinai, but meekly and sweetly by Christ, and by his ministers, Mat 21:5 2Ti 2:25 ; and the word of righteousness , because it brings in everlasting righteousness, Dan 9:24 , and strongly obligeth and exciteth all men to the practice of righteousness and holiness. And so the gospel is compared to a horse or chariot, upon which Christ is said to ride, when the gospel is preached, and carried about from place to place, Rev 19:11 . And this may be here added, to show the great difference between the kingdoms of the world, that are managed with outward pomp and glory, and the kingdom of Christ, which is a spiritual kingdom, and, like a spouse, Psa 45:13 , all glorious wi&in, as consisting in spiritual virtues and graces, truth, meekness, and righteousness. Thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things, i.e. thou shalt do great and glorious exploits, which shall be grievous and terrible to thine enemies, as the next verse explains it, and this not by great forces, and the assistance of others, but by thine own single power; compare Isa 63:3 ; which doth by no means agree to Solomon, who was a man of peace, and not engaged in any martial actions against his enemies; and if he had done any thing considerable in that kind, he could not do it by his own right hand, but by the help of his soldiers. But this doth excellently agree to the Messias, and to him only.

Object. The things which were done by the Messias at his first coming were rather comfortable than terrible.

Answ They were indeed comfortable to all good men, but withal they were terrible to the ungodly, and particularly to the body of the Jewish nation, to whom Christ was a stone of stumbling, and rock of offence, and an occasion of their utter destruction. And upon that and other accounts, not only Christ’ s second, but even his first coming, is represented as dreadful, as Joe 2:30 Mal 3:2 , and elsewhere. For the phrase, thy right hand shall teach thee , it is not to be taken properly, for so he taught his hand, and not his hand him; but the meaning is, that his hand should show him, i.e. discover and work before him; for verbal words are oft understood really; as calling is put for being , as Isa 1:26 9:6 ; so teaching or showing is put for doing, as Psa 16:11 60:3 .

Thine arrows the same thing for substance with the sword , Psa 45:3 , both noting the instruments by which he conquers his enemies; which is no other than his word, which is sharp and powerful, and pierceth the hearts of men, Heb 4:12 ; which also first wounds sinners, and then heals them; and which is for the fall as well as for the rising of many , Luk 2:34 , and for judgment as well as for mercy, Joh 9:39 ; to some a savour of death, and to others a savour of life, 2Co 2:16 ; and therefore is fitly compared to arrows; which title is sometimes given to words, as Psa 64:3 , and frequently to God’ s plagues or judgments, Deu 32:23 Psa 18:14 64:7 , such as the word becomes to ungodly men by their own fault. And these metaphorical weapons are oft ascribed to Christ, who hath a bow, Rev 6:2 , and weapons of warfare , 2Co 10:4 , and whose mouth God is said to make a sword and an arrow, Isa 49:2 .

Of the king’ s enemies i.e. of thine enemies; the third person being put for the second, as is usual in prophetical writings; which here may seem to have some emphasis, as describing the persons against whom he shot his arrows, and the reason why he did so, because they were the enemies of his kingdom, and would not have him to reign over them , Luk 19:27 .

The people fall under thee either as slain by thine arrows; or as prostrate at thy feet, after the manner of conquered persons, Psa 18:38 20:8 . According to this and many other translations the words are transplaced, which in the Hebrew lie thus, Thine arrows are sharp , whereby the people do fall under thee, in the heart (i. e. in the midst, which is oft called the heart, as Exo 15:8 Deu 4:11 . And so it may be here; for the army, as such, hath no heart, properly so called. And so this is fitly alleged, as a proof of the sharpness and force of his arrows, that they not only wound those who march in the front, but even those who are in the midst of the army, where they may seem secure, and out of-their reach) of the king’ s enemies . But the middle words may be, and are by many, included within a parenthesis, and so they may agree with our translation thus, Thine arrows are sharp (for the people fall under thee , which is an evidence of their sharpness) in the heart (or, against the heart ; or, piercing into the heart ; which is an easy and usual ellipsis) of the king’ s enemies.

O God: it is most evident that the speech is still continued to the same person, whom he calls King , Psa 45:1,11 , and here

God which change of the title was very expedient, and in some sort necessary, to give us a true understanding of this Psalm, and to assure us that he doth not speak of Solomon, (to whom neither these, nor the foregoing, nor the following words agree, because his reign was peaceable and short, and stained with many and great iniquities,) but a far greater King, even of the Messias, who is not only a man, but also the mighty God , as he is called, Isa 9:6 , and as the apostle solidly proves from this place, Heb 1:8 . For though the name of Elohim , or God , be sometimes given in Scripture to some creatures, yet in those cases it is always clogged with some diminishing expression, signifying that they are only made or called gods, and that only for a certain time and purpose, as is manifest from Exo 4:16 7:1 Psa 82:6 ; and it is no where put simply and absolutely for any person, but him, who is God blessed for ever , Rom 9:5 . Is for ever and ever , to wit, properly and in thine own person, in which as he lives for ever, so he must necessarily reign for ever; whereas David, whose throne is said to be established for ever, 2Sa 7:16 , was a mortal man, and therefore that promise was not intended of, nor could be fulfilled in, his person, without including his posterity. And as he here gives to the Messias the name of God , which was never given to David nor Solomon, so he ascribes an everlasting kingdom to him in such a sense as it was never given to them. So Dan 2:44 7:14 .

The sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre it is not strange that thy throne is not liable to the same uncertainties and casualties with the thrones of earthly princes, because their sceptres are commonly managed with great injustice and manifold iniquities, which lay the foundation of their overthrow; whereas thou rulest with exact righteousness and equity, whereby thy throne is established, Pro 16:12 .

Thou dost not only do that which is good, and avoid that which is evil; which even bad princes and men may do, and sometimes actually do, for politic or prudential reasons; but thou dost this sincerely, and from an inward principle, even from a true love to God, and goodness, and from an implacable hatred against all wickedness. Therefore ; so this particle is commonly used. And so it denoteth, either,

1. The reward of Christ’ s righteous administration of his kingdom. So the sense is, Because thou hast given so many and great proofs of thy love to righteousness, and of thy hatred of sin, and that not only by the constant course of thy life, but also by thy death and passion, therefore God hath raised and exalted thee far above all men and angels, to a state of joy and endless glory at his right hand; which is fitly expressed by the

oil of gladness For anointing doth not always signify the conferring of inward gifts or endowments, but sometimes only notes the designation or inauguration of a person to some high dignity or employment, as Eze 28:14 , and elsewhere. Or,

2. The final cause or end of Christ’ s unction. So the sense is, To that end, i.e. that thou mightest love righteousness, and hate wickedness, and govern thyself and thy kingdom accordingly, God hath anointed thee , &c., i.e. hath endowed thee with all the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, Act 10:38 , in an eminent and peculiar manner, to the comfort and refreshment of thine own and all thy people’ s hearts; and hath solemnly called thee to be the Priest and Prophet and King of all his people. But the former sense seems to be the truest, and is for substance the same thing which is said in other words, Phi 2:8-10 .

God, thy God according to thy human nature, Joh 20:17 , though in respect of thy Divine nature thou art his fellow , Zec 13:7 , and his equal , Phil. it. 6, and one with him, Joh 10:30 . The oil of gladness ; so called here, as also Isa 61:3 ; partly because it not only makes the countenance fresh and pleasant, Psa 104:15 , but also rejoiceth the heart , Pro 27:9 ; and partly because it was a token of gladness, and used in feasts and other solemn occasions of rejoicing; of which see Psa 23:5 Dan 10:3 Amo 6:6 .

Above thy fellows i.e. above all them who partake with thee in this unction; either,

1. Above all that ever were anointed for priests, or prophets, or kings. Or,

2. Above all believers, who also have received this same unction, 1Jo 2:20,27 , and are made priests and kings unto God , Rev 1:6 .

With myrrh, and aloes, and cassia they used to perfume their garments: see Gen 27:27 . This may denote those glorious and sweet-smelling virtues, which as they were treasured up inwardly in Christ’ s heart, so did they manifest themselves outwardly and visibly, and give forth a grateful smell in the whole course of his life and actions; his doctrine also was a sweet savour unto God and men, 2Co 2:14,15 .

Out of the ivory palaces which may be referred, either,

1. To the garments, which were usually kept in, and now upon this extraordinary solemnity were brought out of, palaces, or houses, or wardrobes of ivory; so called here, as also Amo 3:15 , not because they were wholly made of ivory, but because they were adorned or covered here and there with it. Or rather,

2. To the king himself, who is here supposed to reside in his ivory palaces; and his garments are so fragrant, that they do not only perfume the whole palaces in which he is, but the sweet savour thereof is perceived by those that pass by them, or are at some distance from them; all which is poetically said, and with a manifest allusion to Solomon’ s glorious garments and palaces. By these ivory palaces he may mean either,

1. His human nature, in which Christ dwelt, as in a tabernacle , as the Greek word signifies, Joh 1:14 ; in which all these fragrant virtues were, and from whence they were diffused every where. Indeed the body is called a temple , Joh 2:19 , and a house or tabernacle , 2Co 5:1,2 , and so it might be called a palace . But why it should be called palaces, and that of ivory, seems not so plain. Or rather,

2. Those glorious and heavenly mansions, Joh 14:2 , which may not unfitly be called ivory palaces , as elsewhere in the same figurative manner they are said to be made of or adorned with gold and precious stones , Rev 21:1 8,19 ; from which mansions Christ came into the world, Joh 3:13 , and into which Christ went, and where he settled his abode, after he went out of the world, Joh 13:1 Act 1:11 , and from whence Christ poured forth all the fragrant gifts and graces of his Spirit into the world and church, Act 2:33 . Although there is no necessity to strain every particular circumstance in such poetical descriptions, nor to find out some particular thing in Christ to which it agrees; for some expressions may be used only as ornaments in such cases, as they are in parables; and it may suffice to know and say, that the glories and excellencies of the King Christ are described by such things in which earthly potentates do place their glory.

Whereby or, from which ; either,

1. From which place or palaces. Or rather,

2. From which thing, i.e. from the sweet smell of thy garments out of those ivory palaces, or from the effusion of the gifts and graces of thy Spirit from thy Father’ s right hand in heaven; which as it is a great blessing and comfort to those who receive them, so doth it rejoice the heart of Christ, both as it is a demonstration of his own power and glory, and as it is the happy instrument of doing much good in the world, and of bringing souls to God, which is Christ’ s great work and delight.

They have made thee glad i.e. thou art made glad; such phrases being oft used indefinitely and impersonally, as Luk 15:32 , and in many other places.

Among thy honourable women i.e. amongst them that attend upon thy spouse, as the manner was in nuptial solemnities; as men attended upon the bridegroom, whence they were called friends , Joh 3:29 . In reference to Christ, as the spouse or queen is the church in general, so these honourable women are particular believers, who are daily added to the church, Act 2:47 , and submit themselves to it. And although the church is made up of particular believers, yet she is distinguished from them, for the decency of the parable, as the whole is oft distinguished by our minds from the parts of which it consists, and as the daughters of Jerusalem are distinguished from the spouse in the book of the Canticles, though the spouse be wholly made up of them. And these believers may be said to be kings’ daughters , either because amongst others many persons of royal or princely races did embrace the faith, as was prophesied of them, Isa 49:7 60:10,11 , &c., or because they are in a spiritual sense kings unto God, Rev 1:6 .

Upon thy right hand the most honourable place next to the king’ s. See 1Ki 2:9 Mat 26:64 . Did stand ; which is the posture of a servant; to show that as she is a queen, she is also his subject to serve and obey him. Or, is placed , or seated ; which seems more agreeable to the person of a queen, 1Ki 2:19 , and of a spouse at the nuptial solemnity.

In gold of Ophir clothed in the richest garments made of the choicest gold; by which he designs the graces wherewith the church is accomplished.

Hearken: these words are spoken, either,

1. In the person of the attendants upon the bride or bridegroom. Or,

2. Of the bridegroom. Or rather,

3. By the prophet himself; who having hitherto spoken to the bridegroom, or king, now addresseth his speech to the bride, or queen.

O daughter: so he calls her, partly in token of his respect and affection to her, and partly because she is supposed to be young and beautiful; and therefore the prophet speaks like an eider and graver person, and as her spiritual father and counsellor.

Consider, and incline thine ear: he useth several words, signifying the same thing, to show his serious and vehement desire of her good, and the great importance and difficulty of practicing the following counsel.

Forget also thine own people, and thy father’ s house not simply, but comparatively, so far as they oppose or hinder the discharge of thy duty to thy husband; or so far as they are corrupted in doctrine, or worship, or practice. He alludes to the law of matrimony, Gen 2:24 , and to what Solomon did say, or should have said, to Pharaoh’ s daughter, to wean her from the idolatry and other vices of her father’ s house. But this, as well as the rest of the Psalm, respects Christ, arid is a seasonable and necessary advice and command to all persons that desire to come to Christ, whether Jews or Gentiles, that they would cast off all their inveterate errors and prejudices, all those superstitious, or idolatrous, or wicked opinions or practices, which they had received by long and ancient, and therefore venerable, tradition from their fathers, and entirely give up themselves to Christ to be instructed by him, and to receive his doctrine, though it would seem new to them. And by these words he seems to intimate, and tacitly to foretell, that not only the superstitious inventions and traditions of men, but even the legal worship appointed by Moses, and delivered to them from their parents successively for many generations, should be relinquished by the believing Jews, and abolished by Christ’ s coming.

So doing thou shalt be amiable and acceptable to thy Husband; which will abundantly recompense thee for the loss of thy father’ s house.

He is thy Lord as he is thy Husband, and also as he is thy King and God, as he was called, Psa 45:6 . And this is added as a reason, not of the last words, why the King would desire her beauty, but of the advice given to her, Psa 45:10 .

Worship thou him by which he implies that her Husband was no mere man, but God also, and therefore might be adored without any violation of that known and immutable precept of worshipping God only.

The daughter of Tyre i.e. the people or citizens of Tyre; as the daughter of Zion , or Jerusalem, or Babel, &c., are put for their inhabitants, 2Ki 19:21 Psa 137:8 Zec 9:9 . He mentioneth the Tyrians, partly because they did give presents to Solomon, 1Ki 5:1 , &c., to whom here is a continued allusion through the whole Psalm; and partly because they among others, and before many others, were to be converted to Christ, as they were. See Mat 11:21,22 Mr 3:8 7:24 Act 21:3-5 . But they are here put synecdochically for all the Gentiles, whom that city fitly represents, as being the mart of the nations , as she is called, Isa 23:3 . And being a very rich and proud, and therefore a self-conceited and a stiffnecked people, their merchants being princes , Isa 23:8 they may in a particular manner represent all those great and proud princes and stubborn people of the Gentile world, which should be subdued to Christ by the preaching of the gospel.

With a gift partly to testify their homage, which was done by gifts or presents, as appears from 1Sa 10:27 2Sa 8:2 , &c.; and partly to procure thine, and consequently thy husband’ s, favour, as it here follows.

The rich among the people of other nations.

The king’ s daughter i.e. the spouse; so called, either because she was the daughter of one king, and the wife of another; or because the spouse or wife is sometimes called the husband’ s daughter; partly because she is supposed to be younger than he; and partly because of that respect and subjection which she oweth to him, and that fatherly care and affection which he oweth to her. See 2Sa 12:3 Jer 3:4 . So the bridegroom calls his spouse his sister , Son 4:9 . Thus Livia, the wife of Augustus, is called his sister in ancient coins.

Within either,

1. Even in her retiring chambers in the king’ s palace, and not only when she showeth herself abroad. Or rather,

2. In her mind and soul, or in spiritual endowments, the excellent virtues and graces wherewith she is accomplished. For,

1. This is opposed to her outward clothing.

2. This being so great and so necessary a qualification of a worthy spouse, it is not likely it should be omitted in her description and commendation, especially when the bridegroom is commended for his inward accomplishments as well as for his outward glory, Psa 45:4,7

3. The church is this bride, as hath been said and proved before, whose true and chief beauty is inward and spiritual, and not consisting in outward pomp and glory.

Her clothing is of wrought gold her inward perfections do not rest within her, but break forth into virtuous and honourable actions, wherewith she is adorned in the view of the world. This suits well with the style of the Holy Scriptures, wherein the saints are oft said to be clothed with virtues and virtuous actions. See Psa 132:9 1Pe 5:5 .

He alludes to the custom of conducting the bride to the bridegroom’ s house.

Her companions i.e. her bridemaidens attending upon her, called her honourable women , Psa 45:9 , See Poole "Psa 45:9" , and here

virgins because of their spiritual purity and chastity, 2Co 11:2 .

Full of joy for the glory and felicity of the bride and bridegroom, and for the comfort and benefit which redoundeth to themselves from it.

Having directed his speech to the bride, he now returns to the bridegroom, as may be gathered both from the Hebrew words, which are of the masculine gender; and from the next verse, which unquestionably belongs unto him; yet so that he supposeth the bride to be concerned and partaker with him in the privilege here mentioned, and the children to be common to them both. And therefore this verse and Psalm cannot be understood of Solomon, and his marriage with Pharaoh’ s daughter, because he had no children by her, and but very few by all his wives and concubines; and his children were so far from exceeding their parents in the largeness of their dominions, or being made princes in al the earth, as is here said, that they enjoyed but a small part of their father’ s dominions, and that with many tribulations, and but for a short time. But this was most truly and fully accomplished in Christ; who instead of his fathers of the Jewish nation; from whom he descended, and by whom he was forsaken and rejected, (which here seems to be implied, and elsewhere is expressly affirmed,) had a numerous posterity of Gentile Christians of all the nations of the earth, which here and elsewhere are called princes and kings, because of their great power with God and with men, because they subdued a very great part of the world to the obedience of Christ, and ruled them in his name and stead.

As he began the Psalm with the celebration of the king’ s praises, so now he endeth with it, and adds this important circumstance, that this nuptial song should not only serve for the present solemnity, as others of that kind do, but that it should be remembered and sung in all successive generations; which plainly showeth that it was not composed upon such a slight and transitory occasion as that of Solomon’ s marriage with Pharaoh’ s daughter, which was soon forgotten, and the Israelites had little cause to remember it with any satisfaction; but upon that great and glorious and everlasting marriage between Christ and his church, of which this is most properly and literally verified.

The Church in persecution trusteth in the protection of God.

It may allude to the defeat of Sennacherib, (Houbigant) or might be sung by the Corites at the dedication of the second temple, when peace was restored to the world, after the death of Cambyses, Ezechiel xxxviii. The Fathers explain it of the Christian Church, delivered from persecutions. (St. Chrysostom, &c.) (Calmet)

Troubles. Those of English Catholics have been very great; yet they increase. (Worthington)

Their. Hebrew, St. Ambrose, &c., read, "its." (Calmet) ---

Both sea and land may be in confusion; we shall fear nothing, having God for our protector. (Haydock) ---

Though many and noble personages have revolted from the faith in England, yet the Catholic Church will never fail, (Worthington) even if it should in these islands. (Haydock)

Steam. Jerusalem was surrounded by placid streams, which are here opposed to the great waters, as in Isaias viii. 6. The Church, after persecution, is restored to peace, and adorned with all graces. (Calmet) ---

Tabernacle. This is the source of our joy, Apocalypse xxi., (Menochius) and xxii. 1., and Ezechiel xlvii. 1. ---

The advantages of the virtuous, both here and in heaven, are great. (Berthier)

Trembled. We have witnessed the commotions in the East, under Cyrus, and his son; the latter of whom seems to be styled Gog, (Ezechiel xxxviii. 19.) and perished in Judea, which he intended to plunder. (Calmet)

Shields. Hebrew, "the round things," which some explain, "chariots," without need. (Berthier) ---

Fire. The Fathers apply this to the peace which reigned at the birth of Christ, or to that which Constantine gave to the Church. (Calmet)

Still. We have only to admire the work of God. (Berthier) ---

He will bring all to a happy issue for his elect, though the wicked may rage. (Haydock)

My heart is inditing a good matter,.... What is valuable and excellent, concerning the excellency of Christ's person, of his kingdom, of his love to the church, and of the church itself; what is pleasant and delightful, comfortable, useful, and profitable: this his heart was inditing; which shows that it was under the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, and denotes the fervour of it; it "boiling up", as the word ^x signifies; being heated by the fire of the divine Spirit, whereby it was hot within him, and caused him to speak with his tongue; and also the abundance that was in it, it "bubbling up" ^y, as some choose to render it: from whence this good matter flowed like water out of a fountain;

I speak of the things which I have made touching the King; the King Messiah; the King of the whole world, and of the kings of it, and of the saints in it; over whom he reigns in a spiritual manner, and in righteousness; concerning whom this psalm or poem was composed by David under divine inspiration, and which he here delivers:

my tongue is the pen of a ready writer; or as ^z one; such an one as Ezra was, Ezr 7:6, that writes swiftly and compendiously; suggesting, that as he was; full of matter, he freely communicated it, being moved by the Holy Spirit, who spake by him, and whose word was in his tongue; which made him so ready and expert in this work. The allusion is to scribes and notaries, and such like persons, that are extremely ready and swift in the use of the pen. The word for "pen" is derived either from עוט, which signifies "to fly" ^a, and from whence is a word used for a "flying fowl"; yet we are not to imagine that here it signifies a pen made of a bird's quill, as now in common use with us: for this did not obtain until many hundred years after David's time. It seems that Isidore of Seville, who lived in the seventh century, is the first person that makes mention of "penna", a "pen", as made of the quill of a bird ^b, but rather the pen has its name in Hebrew, if from the above root, from the velocity of it, as in the hand of a ready writer; or rather it may be derived from עטה, "to sharpen", in which sense it seems to be used, Eze 21:15; and so a pen has its name from the sharp point of it: for when the ancients wrote, or rather engraved, on stone, brass, lead, and wood, they used a style or pen of iron; see Job 19:24; so when they wrote on tables of wood covered with wax, they used a kind of bodkin made of iron, brass, or bone; See Gill on Hab 2:2; and when upon the rind and leaves of trees, and on papyrus and parchment, they made use of reeds, particularly the Egyptian calamus or reed; and the word here is translated calamus or reed by the Targum, Septuagint, and all the Oriental versions. Now as the Jews had occasion frequently to copy out the book of the law, and other writings of theirs, their scribes, at least some of them, were very expert and dexterous at it; but whether the art of "shorthand" was to any degree in use among them is not certain, as it was in later times among the Romans, when they used marks, signs, and abbreviations, which seems to have laid the foundation of the above art, and had its rise, as is said, from Cicero himself, though some ascribe it to Mecaenas ^c: and in Martial's time it was brought to such perfection, that, according to him, the hand could write swifter than a man could speak ^d.

Thou art fairer than the children of men,.... Here begins the psalm, and this is an address to the King Messiah, the subject of it, commending him for his beauty and comeliness; which is not to be understood of his divine beauty or his glory, as the only begotten of the Father, in which he is the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person; for this admits of no comparison, nor is the beauty of angels and men to be mentioned with it; but of the beauty of his human nature, both in body and soul, which being the immediate produce of the Holy Spirit, and without sin, and full of wisdom, grace, and holiness, must transcend that of any or all the sons of Adam. They are all deformed by sin; and whatever spiritual beauty there is in any of them, they have it from Christ; they are comely through his comeliness the outward beauty of men is vain and deceitful, and soon perishes; but Christ is ever the same, and he esteemed of by all that know him, as exceeding precious, altogether lovely, and transcendently excellent and glorious. The Hebrew word here used is doubled in its radicals, which denotes the exceeding great fairness and beauty of Christ, especially as Mediator, and as full of grace and truth. It follows,

grace is poured into thy lips; by which is meant the matter of his speech, or the Gospel preached by him; these words of grace, as Kimchi on the text expresses himself; or gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, Luk 4:22. The Gospel of the grace of God was given him to preach; it was put into his mouth, and that in great abundance; it was given at sundry times and in divers manners, and by piecemeal, to the prophets before him; but it was poured into his lips, and he was abundantly qualified for preaching it, by having the Spirit without measure given him; and so was poured out in a graceful manner, with great authority, and as never man before him spake, in doctrines of grace, gracious invitations, precious promises, excellent prayers, and even words of eternal life; see Son 5:13;

therefore God hath blessed thee for ever; or, "because ^e God hath blessed thee for ever"; in his human nature, with the grace of union to the Son of God, and with all the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God; and as Mediator, with all spiritual blessings, with grace and glory for his people. Hence all his comeliness, grace, and gracefulness.

Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty,.... As Christ is, the mighty God, even the Almighty, and which appears by his works of creation and providence; by the redemption of his people; by his care and government of them; by succouring them under all their temptations and afflictions; by strengthening them for every service, duty, and suffering; by pleading their cause, and supplying their wants; by preserving them to his kingdom and glory; by raising them from the dead at the last day, and by introducing them into the possession of the heavenly inheritance. This mighty One is called upon to "gird on his sword": by which is meant either the sword of the Spirit, the word of God; which is sharp in convincing of sin, reproving for it, and threatening on account of it, as well as in refuting error and heresy; and a twoedged one, consisting of law and Gospel, and which Christ made use of to great purpose, against Satan in the wilderness, and against the Scribes and Pharisees; and which he will make further use of in the latter day, against the man of sin, and his followers: or else the power of Christ, which, as the Leader and Commander of his people, and the Captain of their salvation, is called upon to exert, by preparing to engage with, and by destroying his and their enemies; and which he did put forth when the year of the redeemed was come, which was the day of vengeance in his heart; when he combated with and destroyed Satan, and spoiled his principalities and powers; when he abolished death itself, and took away sin the sting of it, and the law, the strength of sin; overcame the world, and delivered his people from it, and out of the hand of every enemy. It is added,

with thy glory and thy majesty; which may be connected either with the phrase "and most mighty", and so be expressive of the glory and majesty of Christ, as the mighty God; or with his sword, as an emblem of his authority and majesty as a King, and may denote the glory of his Gospel and of his power; or may point at the end of his girding his sword upon his thigh, which was to show forth the glory of his majesty, or to obtain honour and glory: though the word "gird" may be supplied and repeated, and so make a distinct proposition, "gird with thy glory and thy majesty"; which was done when he was raised from the dead, and had glory given him; was crowned with it, and had the glory put upon him he had with his Father before the world was.

And in thy majesty ride prosperously,.... Not literally, as was prophesied of him he should, and as he did, Zec 9:9; but mystically and spiritually, either in the chariots of angels up to heaven, Psa 68:17; or on the white horse of the Gospel, with his bow and arrows after mentioned, conquering and to conquer, Rev 6:2; and where he rides "in his majesty", showing forth his glory both as a divine Person and as Mediator; and which is very conspicuous in the Gospel, and the ministry of it; and also "prosperously", as he did in the first preaching of the word by the apostles, when it was made the power of God to salvation to multitudes, and the Lord caused them to triumph in Christ everywhere; and as he will in the latter day, when the Jews will be converted, and the fulness of the Gentiles brought in;

because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness; either because he himself is "truth", the truth of all types, promises, prophecies, and doctrines; or because of the Gospel of truth which comes by him; or on account of his truth and faithfulness in fulfilling his own engagements, and the promises of his father: and because of the "meekness" which was so apparent in him, in taking upon him the form of a servant; in his marriage to sinners, and conversation with them; in ministering: to his disciples; in his conduct towards his enemies; and in seeking not his own glory, but his Father's: and because of "righteousness", the holiness of his nature, the purity of his life and actions; and because of the righteousness he is the author of to his people, and of his righteous administration of his offices, especially as a King;

and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things; or thy power, which the right hand is a symbol of, shall perform terrible things; as it did in the work of redemption, by conquering and destroying the enemies of his people, and of himself; and as it does in the conversion of men, which makes terrible work in their consciences, as the instances of the three thousand, of Saul, and of the jailer show; and as it has in his judgments on his enemies the Jews, in the utter ruin of their nation, city, and temple; and will do on all the antichristian powers in the latter day. The Targum paraphrases it,

"the Lord shall teach thee to do terrible things with thy right hand ^f.''

Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies,.... Meaning either the Jews, who were the implacable enemies of Christ, and who would not have him to reign over them; in the midst of whom were sent his arrows, of the sword, famine, and pestilence, and which were very sharp, and made sad havoc among them, and caused such a time of tribulation as was not before, or has been since, Mat 24:21; or else the doctrines of the Gospel. The Scriptures are the quiver out of which they are taken; the Gospel is the bow into which they are put, and out of which they are shot; and ministers are the archers that draw the bow at a venture, and shoot them; and which are compared to "arrows" for their swift, sudden, and secret motion, and for their piercing and penetrating power and efficacy: and these are Christ's, which he is the author of, and which he makes use of to good purpose, by striking the hearts of his people with them, who in their state of unregeneracy are enemies to him; which appears by their wicked works, and as they were when he died for them, and reconciled them to God; by means of which arrows fixed in them, and with which their hearts are pricked and wounded, they submit unto him, signified by the next clause:

whereby the people fall under thee: acknowledge themselves sinners; fall down at his feet; humbly implore his grace and mercy; submit to his righteousness; depend on him alone for salvation; adore him, and give him the glory of it, as well as become subject to his laws and ordinances. This is to be understood of those who are God's covenant people, whom he has given to Christ, and he has redeemed by his blood; and particularly the Gentiles, who were not a people, but now openly are, in distinction from the Jews, the enemies of the King Messiah.

Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever,.... This verse and Psa 45:7 are cited in Heb 1:8; and applied to the Son of God, the second Person in the Trinity; and therefore are not an apostrophe to the Father, as some have said; nor will they bear to be rendered, "thy throne is the throne of God", or "thy throne is God"; or be supplied thus, "God shall establish thy throne". But they are spoken of the Son of God, who is truly and properly God, the true God and eternal life; as appears by the names by which he is called, as Jehovah, and the like; by his having all divine perfections in him; by the works which he has wrought, and by the worship which is given unto him; and to whom dominion is ascribed, of which the throne is an emblem, Gen 41:40. And this his government is either general, over angels, good and bad, and over men, even wicked men, and over the greatest among men, the kings of the earth; or special, over his own church and people, and which is exercised by his Spirit and grace in them; by his word and ordinances among them; and which will be in a glorious manner in the latter day; and in heaven, though not in the same manner as now, and that to all eternity: for to this government duration for ever and ever is attributed; Christ will have no successor, he will die no more; nor can his government be subverted or taken out of his hands, or he be removed from his throne by any of his enemies, or by all of them; and though his kingdom will be delivered up to the Father, it will not cease, it is an everlasting one;

the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre; meaning either the Gospel, which is the golden sceptre of mercy and grace, stretched out and held forth for the encouragement of sensible sinners; and is a sceptre of righteousness, as it directs to the righteousness of Christ for justification, and encourages works of righteousness to be done by men: or rather the righteous administration of Christ's government is meant, the sceptre being an emblem of dominion and government, Gen 49:10.

Thou lovest righteousness,.... Either righteous persons, whom his countenance beholds, on whom his eyes are, and from whom they are never withdrawn, and with whom he is exceedingly delighted: or righteous things; a righteous administration of government; faithfulness and integrity in whatsoever he is intrusted with, or appointed to by his father; all righteous actions which the law requires, as appeared in the whole course of his life; and by working out a righteousness for his people, and by encouraging them in works of righteousness; and as also will appear by judging the world in righteousness at the last day, and by giving the crown of righteousness to his righteous ones;

and hatest wickedness; which was manifest not only by his inveighing against it and dehorting from it, and by his severity exercised towards delinquents; but by suffering for it, and abolishing it, and by chastising his own people on account of it;

therefore God, thy God; or "because ^g God", thy God; who is the God of Christ, as Christ is man; who prepared and formed his human nature, supported it in suffering, and glorified it, and to whom Christ prayed, and whom he believed in, loved, and obeyed as such:

hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows; who though he is called God, Psa 45:6, and is truly so, yet was not anointed as such, but as man and Mediator, to the office of Prophet, Priest, and King; and not with material oil, but with the Holy Ghost, his gifts and graces; see Act 10:38; called "the oil of gladness", in allusion to the use of oil at feasts and weddings, for the delight and refreshment of guests, and particularly of the oil of lilies, "olcum susinum", so some ^h translate it; well known to the Hebrews, who inhabited Syria and Palestine, where red lilies grew, of which this was made, and had in great esteem; and because of its effects in the human nature of Christ, filling it with alacrity and cheerfulness to go through the work he came about. This unction rotors to the time of his conception and birth, and also to the time of his baptism; and the phrase, "above thy fellows", denotes the abundance of the Spirit's grace, his having it without measure, and in a transcendent manner to any of the sons of men, even his own people; for these, and not angels, nor the princes of the earth, are meant, neither of which are his fellows; but the saints, who are of the same nature with him, of the same family he is the head of, of the same dignity through him, being made kings and priests by him, partakers of the same Spirit and grace; and will be companions with him, and sit on the same throne with him to all eternity. The Targum, in the king of Spain's Bible, begins the verse thus;

"But thou, O King Messiah, because thou lovest, &c.''

All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia,.... Either his human nature, as anointed with the oil of gladness, and filled with the graces of the Spirit, signified by the holy anointing oil in the tabernacle, of which the things mentioned were ingredients, Exo 30:23; or the garments of salvation and robe of righteousness, wrought out by him for his people, which are well pleasing and acceptable to his Father, and of a sweet smelling savour, being agreeable to his law and justice; and also to himself, as they are put upon his people; see Son 4:11. And likewise to them who rejoice at being clothed with them, and desire to be found in them: or else his people themselves, who are sometimes compared to a clothing and to garments, Isa 49:18; whose persons are to God as the smell of a field, whom the Lord has blessed; and whose sacrifices of prayer and praise are sweet odours to him, through the mediation of his Son;

out of the ivory palaces; see Son 7:4; meaning the places from whence these garments were taken, the wardrobe; or from whence Christ came, and where he appears; as heaven, the palace of the great King, from whence he came down, whither he is gone, and from whence he is expected again; and the human nature of Christ, in which he tabernacled on earth, and was pure and clear from sin; and his churches, which are his temples and palaces, where he grants his presence. Or it may be rendered, "more than the ivory palaces" ⁱ, and so be expressive of the excellency of Christ's garments above them; and denote the purity of his human nature, the spotlessness of his righteousness, and the comeliness of his people;

whereby they have made thee glad; or, "wherein" or "from whence" ^k; in which palaces, the churches, the saints make Christ glad, by speaking of his glory; by ascribing glory to him; and by the exercise of grace upon him, with which his heart is ravished, Son 4:9. Or "for which" ^l; garments of salvation, and robe of righteousness; they being clothed with them, and rejoicing in them, cause joy and gladness in Christ: or "more than they", or "theirs that make thee glad" ^m; meaning his fellows and their garments, his being more odorous than theirs.

Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women,.... Or "maids of honour" ⁿ; who filled and adorned the king's court, and made a splendid appearance there, the same with the virgins, the companions of the bride, in Psa 45:14; and design truly gracious souls, believers in Christ, who are his "precious ones" ^o, as the word may be rendered; the excellent in the earth, in whom is all his delight; the precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold; his portion, his jewels, his peculiar treasure, and the apple of his eye: and since they have been precious to him, they have been "honourable", as they are, both by birth and marriage, being born of God, and espoused to Christ; by their character, kings and priests; and by their company, being among princes, and especially by their having communion with Father, Son, and Spirit: and among these are "kings' daughters"; yea, they are all of them the sons and daughters of the King of kings; not by their first birth, by which they were mean, base, and dishonourable, wretched and miserable, and children of wrath, as others; but by their second birth, or regeneration, through being born from above, and of God, to an incorruptible inheritance; and so are clothed and fed like the daughters of kings, and have the attendance of such, angels to wait upon them and guard them; and through adopting grace, which regeneration is the evidence of, by virtue of which some of the children of men become the sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty; and through their marriage to the King's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ: the words may be rendered, "Kings' daughters were in thy precious things" ^p; that is, were arrayed with them: meaning either the graces of the Spirit, comparable to gems, pearls, jewels, and precious stones; see Son 1:10; or else the rich robe of Christ's righteousness, and garments of salvation, with which believers being clothed, are as a bridegroom decked with ornaments, and as a bride adorned with jewels, Isa 61:10; and this agrees with what follows;

upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir; by whom is meant the church, whose title is a "queen", being the bride, the Lamb's wife: wherefore, because he is King, she is queen; for this title she has not of herself; it is founded not in her own right, but upon her relation to Christ, being married to him; and so is expressive of relation to him, union with him, and of privilege and dignity through him; she sharing with him in all he has, even in his kingdom and government, reigning with him, and on the same throne: her being "on his right hand" shows the honour she is advanced unto; yet "standing" may denote subjection to him as her Lord and head; and being so close by him may suggest her fidelity and inviolable attachment to him, and strict adherence to his person, cause and interest; as well as her protection from him, being held and upheld by his right hand; and her reception of favours from thence, and her enjoyment of his presence, at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore. Her dress is "gold of Ophir": a place famous for gold; See Gill on 1Ki 9:28; with which the clothes of great personages used to be embroidered; so Esther is said ^q to put on her royal apparel, adorned with the good gold of "Ophir": here it means, that the queen's or church's clothing was of wrought gold, as in Psa 45:13, and intends the righteousness of Christ, with which she is arrayed, comparable to it for its richness, purity, lustre, glory, and duration.

Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear,.... These words are either spoken by the prophet, the author of the psalm; or by the King, the bridegroom himself; or, as others think, by Jehovah the Father, whose daughter the church is; unless it should be rather thought to be an address of the honourable women, the kings' daughters, the virgins and companions of the bride, delivered by them to her under the character of the daughter of Zion, the King's daughter, as she is called, Psa 45:13, "to hearken, incline her ear" and listen to her Lord and King, to his Gospel, and the doctrines of it, which are his voice and words, and to all his precepts and commands; and to "consider", see, and behold the goodness of God unto her, the greatness, excellencies, and glories of her husband; to look to him by faith, as he is held forth in the word and ordinances, and to him only and that constantly, which is well pleasing to him;

forget also thine own people and thy father's house; Christ is to be preferred before natural relations; converted persons are not to have fellowship with carnal men, though ever so, nearly related; former superstitions, Whether Jewish or Heathenish, are to be buried in forgetfulness; sinful self, and righteous self, are to be denied for Christ's sake; and the world, and all things in it, are to be treated with neglect and contempt by such who cleave to him. The Targum interprets this of the congregation of Israel hearing the law, beholding the wonderful works of God, and forgetting the idolatrous practices of their ancestors.

So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty,.... Which lies in the comeliness or righteousness of Christ put upon her; in the holiness of Christ reckoned to her; in being washed from all sin in the blood of Christ; in the graces of the Spirit being implanted in her, in which the beauty of holiness lies; in the salvation she is interested in, and beautified with; in enjoying the order and ordinance of Christ's house, and in having the presence of God and Christ with her: and this beauty is not natural, nor acquired by her, but what is given her; it is not an outward, but an inward beauty; nor is it fictitious, but real; it is perfect through the comeliness of her Lord upon her; and it is durable as the olive tree: and this is greatly desired by Christ, who delights in her, and to behold her countenance; seeks after her company, and will have her where he is, that she may behold his glory, and he may behold her beauty;

for he is thy Lord; not only by creation, but by redemption, and in right of marriage, as well as on account of other relations he stands in to her, as Father, Head, King, and Master; and it is her privilege that he is her Lord, as well as her duty to own the relation; since, though he is a sovereign Lord, he is no tyrannical one, but governs with gentleness, and he has all power to protect her, and all fulness to supply her wants; and on account of his being her Husband, Lord, and Head, he has a right of worship from her, as follows;

and worship thou him; both internally, by the exercise of faith, hope, and love upon him; and externally, by praying to him, praising of him, and attending on all his ordinances, and doing everything in a religious way, in his name, according to his word, and by his authority; and such worship should be in spirit and in truth, in sincerity, and without hypocrisy, in righteousness and true holiness, and with reverence and godly fear.

And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift,.... That is, among the honourable women in the king's court and palace: it is a prophecy of the conversion of the Tyrians, and their admission into a Gospel church, state, which had its accomplishment in the times of Christ and his apostles, Mar 7:24; compare with this Psa 87:4; and though Tyre is only mentioned, it being, as Kimchi on this place observes, near to the land of Judea; yet all other Gentiles are meant, to whom the Gospel should come to the conversion of them, and thereby become members of churches; where they are "with a gift", of themselves to the churches; see 2Co 8:5; joining themselves to them, to walk with them, and serve the Lord with one consent; and with the gift or offering of praise and thanksgiving, for the grace and blessings of it bestowed upon them; and with a free donation out of their substance, to support a Gospel church state, its ministers, and the interest, of religion; see Isa 23:18; the allusion may be to Exo 23:15;

even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour; either such as are rich, in a literal sense, both among the inhabitants of Tyre, who were a very wealthy people, Isa 23:8; and among other Gentiles, especially in the latter day, when kings shall be the church's nursing fathers, and bow down to her, Isa 49:23; or such who are so in a spiritual sense, enriched by Christ with all spiritual blessings, and who are particularly rich in faith, and heirs of a kingdom; these shall "entreat the favour" of the queen the church; not pray unto her, or worship her in a religious way; for God is only the object of such worship; but do those things by which they would show that they valued her friendship, and would gain her good will; as also acknowledge any former injury done her by them, and entreat her forgiveness; and particularly desire to have communion with her, and share in her prayers.

The King's daughter is all glorious within,.... The "King's daughter" is the same with the "queen", Psa 45:9; the church, who is the King's daughter, the daughter of the King of kings, through adopting grace, by marriage to Christ the King's son, and by regeneration, or being born of God: and she is "all glorious within"; within doors, in the inner chamber of the King, where being brought, she enjoys such communion with him as reflects a glory upon her; in his banqueting house, where his banner over her is love, and where her members enjoy fellowship with one another, and this in harmony, unity, and love; which make her look amiable, pleasant, beautiful and glorious: or within the hearts of her members, through the internal graces of the Spirit wrought there; the work of grace is an inward work; it has its seat in the heart or spirit of man, and is a glorious one, in its author, original, and usefulness; it is the workmanship of the Spirit, and a curious piece it is; it is the image of Christ upon the soul, a partaking of the divine nature; it is pure and spotless; it is clear of all sin, there is no sin in it, nor any comes from it; it is the saints' meetness for glory; it is the pledge, earnest, and beginning of it; it is "all glorious", and so are the persons that are the subjects of it, as born of God: there is nothing glorious in the old man, or corrupt nature; but in the new man, or work of grace upon the soul, everything is glorious, and it will issue in eternal glory and happiness: or all glorified within ^r; like any house or building, to which the church is sometimes compared, particularly the tabernacle or temple, which were glorious within side being greatly adorned, and having many glorious things therein; as the church is with the graces of the spirit, and with the word and ordinances, and the presence of God in them;

her clothing is of wrought gold; this is different from internal grace, which is sometimes spoken of as a clothing, 1Pe 5:5; since that is designed in the preceding clause; and yet this does not intend the outward conversation garments of the saints, which, though ornamental, are not so glorious as to be said to be of wrought gold; and yet not the robes of immortality and glory are meant; but the robe of Christ's righteousness, which he has wrought out for his church, the Father imputes unto her, and bestows upon her, and faith receives at his hand, and puts it on as a clothing, to appear in before God; and this may be said to be "of wrought gold"; because rich and valuable, splendid and glorious, substantial and durable.

She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework,.... Not in her sins, and trader the sense and guilt of them; as souls are brought to Christ, at first conversion, under the drawings of the Father's grace; nor in the rags of her own righteousness; but in the robe of righteousness, and garments of salvation, the change of raiment Christ has put upon her, having before this caused her iniquities to pass from her; or in the shining robes of immortality and glory: for this introduction of the church to Christ, her King, Head, and Husband, will be upon the first resurrection; when she being as a bride adorned and prepared for her husband, will be brought unto him, and presented to him by himself, a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing: and she will be introduced, either by the angels, who will be employed in gathering the elect from the four winds; or by the ministers of the Gospel, who, at the general harvest, in the end of the world will bring their sheaves with them; those souls they have been the instruments of converting, comforting, and ripening for glory; who will be their joy and crown of rejoicing then; these will be brought in several companies, which joining together, will make up the general assembly and church of the firstborn, that will then be presented to Christ: or by Jehovah the Father, who, as he brought Eve to Adam, when he had formed her of his rib, and had prepared her as a helpmeet for him; so when all the elect of God are formed by divine grace, and are prepared as a bride for the bridegroom, he will then bring them unto him, and they shall be with him where he is, and behold his glory; which is what he prays his father for, Joh 17:24;

the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee; such who are betrothed as chaste virgins to Christ, who strictly and chastely adhere unto him, love him in the singleness of their hearts; are incorrupt in faith and worship, and of pure and upright conversations; see Rev 14:4; these are the "companions" of the church, who are partakers of the same grace, enjoy the same privileges, and share in the common salvation; and, as they are partners together in sufferings, they will be in glory: these "follow" the footsteps of the flock, walk after the church in the path of doctrine and duty; are followers of her, as she is of the Lord, in the word and ordinances, and in the exercise of faith and patience; these, even everyone, shall be brought unto the King, not one shall be lost, or left behind: whither they shall be brought, and the manner in which, are expressed in Psa 45:15.

With, gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought,.... With joy unspeakable, and full of glory in themselves, because of what they shall be delivered from; from all outward troubles and afflictions; from all inward distresses, darkness, doubts, and fears; from sin, Satan, and all spiritual enemies; and because of what they shall enjoy, communion with God, angels and saints, the vision of God in Christ, conformity to him, perfect knowledge, complete holiness and happiness, and a glory both upon their souls and bodies: they shall also be brought with the joy of Christ's faithful minister, who will rejoice in that day that they have not run nor laboured in vain; and with the joy of all the holy angels; and with the joy of Christ the King himself, who always rejoiced in them and over them; yea, with the rejoicing of Father, Son, and Spirit: the Father will rejoice to see those brought in whom he has loved with an everlasting love, has chosen in Christ, given to him, and whom he sent his Son to redeem: the Son of God will rejoice to see those presented to him whom he has loved and betrothed to himself; who are the purchase of his blood, and the travail of his soul; who are his jewels, treasure and portion: and the Holy Spirit will rejoice to see those brought to glory whom he has been the convincer, comforter, and sealer of; whom he has been at work upon, and has wrought them up for this selfsame thing:

they shall enter into the King's palace; into heaven, the palace of the King Messiah, the King of kings and King of saints; where are mansions preparing for them, suitable to their high birth and character, as the daughters of a king; and where they shall enter, not merely to see it and go out again, but to dwell in it with their Lord, Head, and Husband, for evermore; and that as in their own palace, upon the foot of their relation to Christ, interest in him, right and meetness by him.

Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children,.... This is an address, not to the church, the queen, the King's daughter, spoken to and of in the preceding verses, but to the King Messiah himself, who was of the Jewish fathers, according to the flesh, Rom 9:4; and though he was rejected by that people, yet he had children; not only the apostles, who are sometimes so called, whom he set on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, in a doctrinal way, and sent into all the world to preach his Gospel; and which being attended with his mighty power, made them triumphant conquerors everywhere; but also a numerous progeny among the Gentiles: all the elect of God are his children, and he stands in the revelation of the everlasting Father to them, they being given unto him as such; and he being concerned in their adoption, by which they become children, and in their regeneration by which they appear to be such. Here the children of God, scattered abroad in the Gentile world, as distinct from the Jews, seem to be meant;

whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth; these children are princes, being the sons of a King; they look like princes, and have the spirit of such; they are treated as princes, fed, clothed, and attended on as such; and are, as princes, heirs of a kingdom: but then, they are not so originally, they are "made princes"; not by themselves, but by Christ, and who even makes them kings and priests unto God and his father: and that "in all the earth"; not with respect to earthly things: they are not made the princes of this world; but while they are on earth they are translated into the kingdom of Christ, and have a kingdom which never can be moved; and besides, they shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand years: moreover, this may have respect to the several parts of the world where they shall be, even in all parts of the world, especially in the latter day; see Isa 43:5.

I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations,.... These are the words of the psalmist, spoken to the King Messiah, declaring what he would do with respect to him; cause his name, that is, not any particular name or title of his, but rather his Gospel, the good matter he had endited concerning him; or he himself to be remembered, desired, loved, thought of, called upon, and praised in all succeeding generations; and which he did by penning of this psalm, which has been the occasion of the remembrance of Christ's name in all ages, to the present time; and of its being remembered by us now, and the same use it will have in time to come; see 2Pe 1:13;

therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever; because of the excellencies of his person; and particularly because of his greatness and glory as a King; as well as for all mercies, temporal and spiritual, they have from him; and this is but just, meet, and lovely, and is and will be their employment, as long as they live in this world, and to all eternity. This must be understood not of all people, but of God's chosen and covenant people; those that are given to Christ to be his people, and whom he has redeemed and purified to himself, a peculiar people; and particularly his people among the Gentiles: and so the Targum interprets it of such that are proselytes.

¹ sn Psalm 45. This is a romantic poem celebrating the Davidic king’s marriage to a lovely princess. The psalmist praises the king for his military prowess and commitment to justice, urges the bride to be loyal to the king, and anticipates that the marriage will be blessed with royal offspring.

² tn Heb “according to lilies.” “Lilies” may be a tune title or musical style, suggestive of romantic love. The imagery of a “lily” appears frequently in the Song of Solomon in a variety of contexts (see 2:1-2, 16; 4:5; 5:13; 6:2-3; 7:2).

³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 42.

⁴ tn Heb “[with] a good word.” The “good word” probably refers here to the song that follows.

⁵ tn Heb “my works [are] for a king.” The plural “works” may here indicate degree, referring to the special musical composition that follows.

⁶ tn Heb “my tongue [is] a stylus of a skillful scribe.” Words flow from the psalmist’s tongue just as they do from a scribe’s stylus.

¹ tn Heb “you are handsome from the sons of man.” The preposition “from” is used in a comparative (“more than”) sense. The peculiar verb form יָפְיָפִיתָ (yafyafita) is probably the result of dittography of yod-pe (יפ) and should be emended to יָפִיתָ (yafita). See GKC 152 §55.e.

² tn Heb “favor is poured out on your lips.” “Lips” probably stands by metonymy for the king’s speech. Some interpret the Hebrew term חֵן (khen) as referring here to “gracious (i.e., kind and polite) speech”, but the word probably refers more generally to “attractive” speech that is impressively articulated and fitting for the occasion. For other instances of the term being used of speech, see Prov 22:11 and Eccl 10:12.

³ tn Or “this demonstrates.” The construction עַל־כֵּן (’al-ken, “therefore”) usually indicates what logically follows from a preceding statement. However, here it may infer the cause from the effect, indicating the underlying basis or reason for what precedes (see BDB 487 s.v. I כֵּן 3.f; C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 1:386).

⁴ tn Or “blesses you forever.” Here “bless” means to “endue with the power and skill to rule effectively,” as the following verses indicate.

¹ tn Or “mighty one.”

² tn The Hebrew text has simply, “your majesty and your splendor,” which probably refers to the king’s majestic splendor when he appears in full royal battle regalia.

¹ tn Heb “and your majesty, be successful.” The syntax is awkward. The phrase “and your majesty” at the beginning of the verse may be accidentally repeated (dittography); it appears at the end of v. 3.

² tn Or “for the sake of truth.”

³ tc The precise meaning of the MT is uncertain. The form עַנְוָה (’anvah) occurs only here. One could emend the text to עֲנָוָה וְצֶדֶק (’anavah vÿtsedeq, “[for the sake of truth], humility, and justice”). In this case “humility” would perhaps allude to the king’s responsibility to “serve” his people by promoting justice (cf. NIV “in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness”). The present translation assumes an emendation to יַעַן (ya’an, “because; on account of”) which would form a suitable parallel to עַל־דְּבַר (’al-dÿvar, “because; for the sake of”) in the preceding line.

⁴ tn Heb “and your right hand will teach you mighty acts”; or “and may your right hand teach you mighty acts.” After the imperatives in the first half of the verse, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive likely indicates purpose (“so that your right hand might teach you mighty acts”) or result (see the present translation). The “right hand” here symbolizes the king’s military strength. His right hand will “teach” him mighty acts by performing them and thereby causing him to experience their magnificence.

¹ tn Heb “your arrows are sharp – peoples beneath you fall – in the heart of the enemies of the king.” The choppy style reflects the poet’s excitement.

¹ sn The king’s throne here symbolizes his rule.

² tn Or “forever and ever.”

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.

³ sn The king’s scepter symbolizes his royal authority.

¹ sn To love justice means to actively promote it.

² sn To hate evil means to actively oppose it.

³ tn For other examples of the repetition of Elohim, “God,” see Pss 43:4; 48:8, 14; 50:7; 51:14; 67:7. Because the name Yahweh (“Lord”) is relatively rare in Pss 42-83, where the name Elohim (“God”) predominates, this compounding of Elohim may be an alternative form of the compound name “the Lord my/your/our God.”

⁴ sn Anointed you. When read in the light of the preceding context, the anointing is most naturally taken as referring to the king’s coronation. However, the following context (vv. 8-9) focuses on the wedding ceremony, so some prefer to see this anointing as part of the king’s preparations for the wedding celebration. Perhaps the reference to his anointing at his coronation facilitates the transition to the description of the wedding, for the king was also anointed on this occasion.

⁵ sn The phrase oil of joy alludes to the fact that the coronation of the king, which was ritually accomplished by anointing his head with olive oil, was a time of great celebration and renewed hope. (If one understands the anointing in conjunction with the wedding ceremony, the “joy” would be that associated with the marriage.) The phrase “oil of joy” also appears in Isa 61:3, where mourners are granted “oil of joy” in conjunction with their deliverance from oppression.

⁶ tn Heb “from your companions.” The “companions” are most naturally understood as others in the royal family or, more generally, as the king’s countrymen.

sn Verses 6-7 are quoted in Heb 1:8-9, where they are applied to Jesus.

¹ tn The words “perfumed with” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

² tn Heb “the palaces of ivory.” The phrase “palaces of ivory” refers to palaces that had ivory panels and furniture decorated with ivory inlays. Such decoration with ivory was characteristic of a high level of luxury. See 1 Kgs 22:39 and Amos 3:15.

³ tn Heb “from the palaces of ivory stringed instrument[s] make you happy.”

¹ tn Heb “daughters of kings.”

² tn Heb “valuable ones.” The form is feminine plural.

³ tn This rare Hebrew noun apparently refers to the king’s bride, who will soon be queen (see Neh 2:6). The Aramaic cognate is used of royal wives in Dan 5:2-3, 23.

⁴ tn Heb “a consort stands at your right hand, gold of Ophir.”

sn Gold from Ophir is also mentioned in Isa 13:12 and Job 28:16. The precise location of Ophir is uncertain; Arabia, India, East Africa, and South Africa have all been suggested as options.

¹ tn Heb “daughter.” The Hebrew noun בת (“daughter”) can sometimes refer to a young woman in a general sense (see H. Haag, TDOT 2:334).

sn Listen, O princess. The poet now addresses the bride.

² tn Heb “see and turn your ear.” The verb רָאָה (ra’ah, “see”) is used here of mental observation.

³ tn Heb “your people.” This reference to the “people” of the princess suggests she was a foreigner. Perhaps the marriage was arranged as part of a political alliance between Israel (or Judah) and a neighboring state. The translation “your homeland” reflects such a situation.

⁴ tn Heb “and the house of your father.”

¹ tn After the preceding imperatives, the jussive verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive is best understood as introducing a purpose (“so that the king might desire your beauty”) or result clause (see the present translation and cf. also NASB). The point seems to be this: The bride might tend to be homesick, which in turn might cause her to mourn and diminish her attractiveness. She needs to overcome this temptation to unhappiness and enter into the marriage with joy. Then the king will be drawn to her natural beauty.

² tn Or “desire.”

³ tn Or “bow down.”

⁴ sn Submit to him. The poet here makes the point that the young bride is obligated to bring pleasure to her new husband. Though a foreign concept to modern western culture, this was accepted as the cultural norm in the psalmist’s day.

¹ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

² tn Heb “and a daughter of Tyre with a gift, your face they will appease, the rich of people.” The phrase “daughter of Tyre” occurs only here in the OT. It could be understood as addressed to the bride, indicating she was a Phoenician (cf. NEB). However, often in the OT the word “daughter,” when collocated with the name of a city or country, is used to personify the referent (see, for example, “Daughter Zion” in Ps 9:14, and “Daughter Babylon” in Ps 137:8). If that is the case here, then “Daughter Tyre” identifies the city-state of Tyre as the place from which the rich people come (cf. NRSV). The idiom “appease the face” refers to seeking one’s favor (see Exod 32:11; 1 Sam 13:12; 1 Kgs 13:6; 2 Kgs 13:4; 2 Chr 33:12; Job 11:19; Ps 119:58; Prov 19:6; Jer 26:19; Dan 9:13; Zech 7:2; 8:21-22; Mal 1:9).

¹ tn Heb “[the] daughter of a king.”

² tn Heb “[is] completely glorious.”

³ tc Heb “within, from settings of gold, her clothing.” The Hebrew term פְּנִימָה (pÿnimah, “within”), if retained, would go with the preceding line and perhaps refer to the bride being “within” the palace or her bridal chamber (cf. NIV, NRSV). Since the next two lines refer to her attire (see also v. 9b), it is preferable to emend the form to פְּנִינִיהָּ (“her pearls”) or to פְּנִינִים (“pearls”). The mem (מ) prefixed to “settings” is probably dittographic.

¹ tn Heb “virgins after her, her companions, are led to you.” Some emend לָךְ (lakh, “to you”) to לָהּ (lah, “to her,” i.e., the princess), because the princess is now being spoken of in the third person (vv. 13-14a), rather than being addressed directly (as in vv. 10-12). However, the ambiguous suffixed form לָךְ need not be taken as second feminine singular. The suffix can be understood as a pausal second masculine singular form, addressed to the king. The translation assumes this to be the case; note that the king is addressed once more in vv. 16-17, where the second person pronouns are masculine.

¹ tn Heb “they are led with joy and happiness, they enter the house of the king.”

¹ tn The pronoun is second masculine singular, indicating the king is being addressed from this point to the end of the psalm.

² tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as jussive and the statement interpreted as a prayer, “May your sons carry on the dynasty of your ancestors!” The next line could then be taken as a relative clause, “[your sons] whom you will make princes throughout the land.”

³ tn Heb “in place of your fathers will be your sons.”

¹ tn Heb “I will cause your name to be remembered in every generation and generation.” The cohortative verbal form expresses the poet’s resolve. The king’s “name” stands here for his reputation and character, which the poet praised in vv. 2-7.

² sn The nations will praise you. As God’s vice-regent on earth, the king is deserving of such honor and praise.

"To the chief Musician upon ^{( a )} Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil, A Song of ^{( b )} loves." My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue [is] the pen of a ready writer.

^{( a )} This was a certain tune of an instrument.

^{( b )} Of that perfect love that ought to be between the husband and the wife.

Thou art ^{( c )} fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.

^{( c )} Solomon's beauty and eloquence to win favour with his people, and his power to overcome his enemies, is here described.

And in thy majesty ^{( d )} ride prosperously because of truth and meekness [and] righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.

^{( d )} He alludes to them, who ride in chariots in their triumphs, showing that the quiet state of a kingdom stands in truth, meekness and justice, and not in worldly pomp and vanity.

Thy ^{( e )} throne, O God, [is] for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom [is] a right sceptre.

^{( e )} Under this figure of this kingdom of justice is set forth the everlasting kingdom of Christ.

Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath ^{( f )} anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

^{( f )} Has established your kingdom as the figure of Christ, which is the peace and joy of the Church.

All thy garments [smell] of myrrh, and aloes, [and] cassia, out of the ivory palaces, ^{( g )} whereby they have made thee glad.

^{( g )} In which the people made you joyful to see them give thanks and rejoice for you.

Kings' daughters [were] among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the ^{( h )} queen in gold of Ophir.

^{( h )} Though he had many king's daughters among his wives, yet he found Pharaoh's daughter best.

^{( i )} Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;

^{( i )} Under the figure of Pharaoh's daughter, he shows that the Church must cast off all carnal affections to obey Christ only.

And the ^{( k )} daughter of Tyre [shall be there] with a gift; [even] the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.

^{( k )} He signifies that many of those who are rich will be benefactors to the Church, although they do not give perfect obedience to the Gospel.

The king's daughter [is] all glorious ^{( l )} within: her clothing [is] of wrought gold.

^{( l )} There is nothing feigned or hypocritical but she is glorious both within and without: and even though the Church has not always had this outward glory, the fault is to be imputed only to their own ingratitude.

Instead of thy fathers shall be thy ^{( m )} children, whom thou mayest make princes ^{( n )} in all the earth.

^{( m )} They will have greater graces than their fathers.

^{( n )} He signifies the great compass of Christ's kingdom, which will be sufficient to enrich all his members.

I will make thy ^{( o )} name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.

^{( o )} This must only be referred to Christ and not to Solomon.

The King In His Beauty

Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into Thy lips: therefore God bath blessed Thee forever. 3. Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O mighty one, Thy glory and Thy majesty. 4. And in Thy majesty ride on prosperously, because of truth and meekness and righteousness: and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things. 5. Thine arrows are sharp; the peoples fall under Thee; they are in the heart of the King's enemies. 6. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of equity is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. 7. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy follows.'--Psalm 45:2-7 (R.V.).

THERE is no doubt that this psalm was originally the marriage hymn of some Jewish king. All attempts to settle who that was have failed, for the very obvious reason that neither the history nor the character of any of them correspond to the psalm. Its language is a world too wide for the diminutive stature and stained virtues of the greatest and best of them, and it is almost ludicrous to attempt to fit its glowing sentences even to a Solomon. They all look like little David in Saul's armour. So, then, we must admit one of two things. Either we have here a piece of poetical exaggeration far beyond the limits of poetic license, or a greater than Solomon is here.' Every Jewish king, by virtue of his descent and of his office, was a living prophecy of the greatest of the sons of David, the future King of Israel. And the Psalmist sees the ideal Person who, as he knew, was one day to be real, shining through the shadowy form of the earthly king, whose very limitations and defects, no less than his excellences and his glories, forced the devout Israelite to think of the coming King in whom the sure mercies' promised to David should be facts at last. In plainer words, the psalm celebrates Christ, not only although, but because, it had its origin and partial application in a forgotten festival at the marriage of some unknown king. It sees Him in the light of the Messianic hope, and so it prophesies of Christ. My object is to study the features of this portrait of the King, partly in order that we may better understand the psalm, and partly in order that we may with the more reverence crown Him as Lord of all.

I. The Person Of The King.

The old-world ideal of a monarch put special emphasis upon two things--personal beauty and courtesy of address and speech. The psalm ascribes both of these to the King of Israel, and from both of them draws the conclusion that one so richly endowed with the most eminent of royal graces is the object of the special favour of God. Thou art fairer than the children of men, grace is poured into Thy lips: therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever.'

Here, at the very outset, we have the keynote struck of superhuman excellence; and though the reference is, on the surface, only to physical perfection, yet beneath that there lies the deeper reference to a character which spoke through the eloquent frame, and in which all possible beauties and sovereign graces were united in fullest development, in most harmonious co-operation and unstained purity.

Thou art fairer than the children of men.' Put side by side with that, words which possibly refer to, and seem to contradict it. A later prophet, speaking of the same Person, said: His visage was so marred, more than any man, and His form than the sons of men … There is no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him.' We have to think, not of the outward form, howsoever lovely with the loveliness of meekness and transfigured with the refining patience of suffering it may have been, but of the beauty of a soul that was all radiant with a lustre of loveliness that shames the fragmentary and marred virtues of the best of us, and stands before the world for ever as the supreme type and high-water mark of the grace that is possible to a human spirit. God has lodged in men's nature the apprehension of Himself, and of all that flows from Him, as true, as good, as beautiful; and to these three there correspond wisdom, morality, and art. The latter, divorced from the other two, becomes earthly and devilish. This generation needs the lesson that beauty wrenched from truth and goodness, and pursued for its own sake, by artist or by poet or by dilettante, leads by a straight descent to ugliness and to evil, and that the only true satisfying of the deep longing for whatsoever things are lovely' is to be found when we turn to Christ and find in Him, not only wisdom that enlightens the understanding, and righteousness that fills the conscience, but beauty that satisfies the heart. He is altogether lovely.' Nor let us forget that once on earth the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment did shine as the light,' as indicative of the possibilities that lay slumbering in His lowly Manhood, and as prophetic of that to which we believe that the ascended Christ hath now attained--viz, the body of His glory, wherein He reigns, filled with light and undecaying loveliness on the Throne of the Heaven. Thus He is fairer in external reality now, as He is, by the confession of an admiring, though not always believing, world, fairer in inward character than the children of men.

Another personal characteristic is Grace is poured into Thy lips.' Kingly courtesy, and kingly graciousness of word, must be the characteristic of the Sovereign of men. The abundance of that bestowment is expressed by that word, poured.' We need only remember, All wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth,' or how even the rough instruments of authority were touched and diverted from their appointed purpose, and came back and said, Never man spake like this Man.' To the music of Christ's words all other eloquence is harsh, poor, shallow--like the piping of a shepherd boy upon some wretched oaten straw as compared with the full thunder of the organ. Words of unmingled graciousness came from His lips. That fountain never sent forth sweet waters and bitter.' He satisfies the canon of St. James: If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.' Words of wisdom, of love, of pity, of gentleness, of pardon, of bestowment, and only such, came from Him' Daughter! be of good cheer.' Son! thy sins be forgiven thee.' Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy-laden.'

Grace is poured into Thy lips'; and, withal, it is the grace of a King. For His language is authoritative even when it is most tender, and regal when it is most gentle. His lips, sweet as honey and the honeycomb, are the lips of an Autocrat. He speaks, and it is done: He commands, and it stands fast.' He says to the tempest,' Be still!' and it is quiet; and to the demons, Come out of him!' and they disappear; and to the dead, Come forth!' and he stumbles from the tomb.

Another personal characteristic is--God hath blessed Thee for ever.' By which we are to understand, not that the two preceding graces are the reasons for the divine benediction, but that the divine benediction is the cause of them; and therefore they are the signs of it. It is not that because He is lovely and gracious therefore God hath blessed Him; but it is that we may know that God has blessed Him, since He is lovely and gracious. These endowments are the results, not the causes; the signs or the proofs, not the reasons of the divine benediction. That is to say, the humanity so fair and unique shows by its beauty that it is the result of the continual and unique operation and benediction of a present God. We understand Him when we say, On Him rests the Spirit of God without measure or interruption.' The explanation of the perfect humanity is the abiding Divinity.

II. We Pass From The Person Of The King, In The Next Place, To His Warfare.

The Psalmist breaks out in a burst of invocation, calling upon the King to array Himself in His weapons of warfare, and then in broken clauses vividly pictures the conflict. The Invocation runs thus: Gird on thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty hero! gird on thy glory and thy majesty, and ride on prosperously on behalf (or, in the cause) of truth and meekness and righteousness.' The King, then, is the perfection of warrior strength as well as of beauty and gentleness--a combination of qualities that speaks of old days when kings were kings, and reminds us of many a figure in ancient song, as well as of a Saul and a David in Jewish history.

The singer calls upon Him to bind on His side His glittering sword, and to put on, as His armour, glory and majesty.' These two words, in the usage of the psalms, belong to Divinity, and they are applied to the monarch here as being the earthly representative of the divine supremacy, on whom there falls some reflection of the glory and the majesty of which He is the vice-regent and representative. Thus arrayed, with His weapon by His side and glittering armour on His limbs, He is called upon to mount His chariot or His warhorse and ride forth.

But for what? On behalf of truth, meekness, righteousness.' If He be a warrior, these are the purposes for which the true King of men must draw His sword, and these only. No vulgar ambition or cruel lust of conquest, earth-hunger, or glory' actuates Him. Nothing but the spread through the world of the gracious beauties which are His own can be the end of the King's warfare. He fights for truth; He fights--strange paradox--for meekness; He fights for rightousness. And He not only fights for them, but with them, for they are His own, and by reason of them He rides prosperously,' as well as rides prosperously' in order to establish them.

In two or three swift touches the Psalmist next paints the tumult and hurry of the fight. Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things.' There are no armies or allies, none to stand beside Him. The one mighty figure of the Kingly Warrior stands forth, as in the Assyrian sculptures of conquerors, erect and solitary in His chariot, crashing through the ranks of the enemy, and owing victory to His own strong arm alone.

Then follow three short, abrupt clauses, which, in their hurry and fragmentary character, reflect the confusion and swiftness of battle. Thine arrows are sharp … The people fall under Thee.' In the heart of the King's enemies.' The Psalmist sees the bright arrow on the string; it flies; he looks--the plain is strewed with prostrate forms, the King's arrow in the heart of each.

Put side by side with that this picture:--A rocky road; a great city shining in the morning sunlight across a narrow valley; a crowd of shouting peasants waving palm branches in their rustic hands; in the centre the meek carpenter's Son, sitting upon the poor robes which alone draped the ass's colt, the tears upon His cheeks, and His lamenting heard above the Hosannahs, as He looked across the glen and said, If thou hadst known the things that belong to thy peace!' That is the fulfilment, or part of the fulfilment, of this prophecy. The slow-pacing, peaceful beast and the meek, weeping Christ are the reality of the vision which, in such strangely-contrasted and yet true form, floated before the prophetic eye of this ancient singer, for Christ's humiliation is His majesty, and His sharpest weapon is His all-penetrating love, and His cross is His chariot of victory and throne of dominion.

But not only in His earthly life of meek suffering does Christ fight as a King, but all through the ages the world-wide conflict for truth and meekness and righteousness is His conflict; and wherever that is being waged, the power which wages it is His, and the help which is done upon earth He doeth it all Himself. True, He has His army, willing in the day of His power, and clad in priestly purity and armour of light, but all their strength, courage, and victory are from Him; and when they fight and conquer, it is not they, but He in them who struggles and overcomes. We have a better hope than that built on a stream of tendency that makes for righteousness.' We know a Christ crucified and crowned, who fights for it, and what He fights for will hold the field.

This prophecy of our psalm is not exhausted yet. I have set side by side with it one picture--the Christ on the ass's colt. Put side by side with it this other. I beheld the heaven opened; and lo! a white horse. And He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He doth judge and make war.' The psalm waits for its completion still, and shall be fulfilled on that day of the true marriage supper of the Lamb, when the festivities of the marriage chamber shall be preceded by the last battle and crowning victory of the King of kings, the Conqueror of the world.

III. Lastly, We Have The Royalty Of The King.

Thy throne, O God! is for ever and ever.' This is not the place nor time to enter on the discussion of the difficulties of these words. I must run the risk of appearing to state confident opinions without assigning reasons, when I venture to say that the translation in the Authorised Version is the natural one. I do not say that others have been adopted by reason of doctrinal prepossessions; I know nothing about that; but I do say that they are not by any means so natural a translation as that which stands before us. What it may mean is another matter; but the plain rendering of the words, I venture to assert, is what our English Bible makes it--Thy throne, O God! is for ever and ever.'

Then it is to be remembered that, throughout the Old Testament, we have occasional instances of the use of that great and solemn designation in reference to persons in such place and authority as that they are representatives of God. So kings and judges and lawyers and the like are spoken of more than once. Therefore there is not, in the language, translated as in our English Bible, necessarily the implication of the unique divinity of the persons so addressed. But I take it that this is an instance in which the prophet was wiser than he knew,' and in which you and I understand him better than he understood himself, and know what God, who spoke through him, meant, whatsoever the prophet, through whom He spoke, did mean. That is to say, I take the words before us as directly referring to Jesus Christ, and as directly declaring the divinity of His person, and therefore the eternity of His kingdom.

We live in days when that perpetual sovereignty is being questioned. In a revolutionary time like this it is well for Christian people, seeing so many venerable things going, to tighten their grasp upon the conviction that, whatever goes, Christ's kingdom will not go; and that, whatever may be shaken by any storms, the foundation of His Throne stands fast. For our personal lives, and for the great hopes of the future beyond the grave, it is all-important that we should grasp, as an elementary conviction of our faith, the belief in the perpetual rule of that Saviour whose rule is life and peace. In the great mosque of Damascus, which was a Christian church once, there may still be read, deeply cut in the stone, high above the pavement where now Mohammedans bow, these words, Thy kingdom, O Christ! is an everlasting kingdom.' It is true, and it shall yet be known that He is for ever and ever the Monarch of the world.

Then, again, this royalty is' a royalty of righteousness. The sceptre of Thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness.' His rule is no arbitrary sway, His rod is no rod of iron and tyrannical oppression, His own personal character is righteousness. Righteousness is the very life-blood and animating principle of His rule. He loves righteousness, and, therefore, puts His broad shield of protection over all who love it and seek after it. He hates wickedness, and therefore He wars against it wherever it is, and seeks to draw men out of it. And thus His kingdom is the hope of the world.

And, lastly, this dominion of perennial righteousness is the dominion of unparalleled gladness. Therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of joy above Thy fellows.' Set side by side with that the other words, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.' And remember how, near the very darkest hour of the Lord's earthly experiences, He said:-' These things have I spoken unto you that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.' Christ's gladness flowed from Christ's righteousness. Because His pure humanity was ever in touch with God, and in conscious obedience to Him, therefore, though darkness was around, there was light within. He was sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,' and the saddest of men was likewise the gladdest, and possessed the oil of joy above His fellows.'

Brother! that kingdom is offered to us; participation in that joy of our Lord may belong to each of us. He rules that He may make us like Himself, lovers of righteousness, and so, like Himself, possessors of unfading joy. Make Him your King, let His arrow reach your heart, bow in submission to His power, take for your very life His words of graciousness, lovingly gaze upon His beauty till some reflection of it shall shine from you, fight by His side with strength drawn from Him alone, own and adore Him as the enthroned God-man, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Crown Him with the many crowns of supreme trust, heart-whole love, and glad obedience. So shall you be honoured to share in His warfare and triumph. So shall you have a throne close to His and eternal as it. So shall His sceptre be graciously stretched out to you to give you access with boldness to the presence-chamber of the King. So shall He give you too, the oil of joy for mourning,' even in the' valley of weeping,' and the fulness of His gladness for evermore, when He sets you at His right hand.

The Portrait Of The Bride

Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; 11. So shall the King desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him. 12. And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour. 13. The King's daughter within the palace is all glorious: her clothing is inwrought with gold. 14. She shall be led unto the King in broidered work: the virgins, her companions, that follow her shall be brought unto thee. 15. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be led; they shall enter into the King's palace.' --Psalm 45:10-15 (R.V.).

THE relation between God and Israel is constantly represented in the Old Testament under the emblem of a marriage. The tenderest promises of protection and the sharpest rebukes of unfaithfulness are based upon this foundation. Thy Maker is thy Husband'; or, I am married unto thee, saith the Lord.' The emblem is transferred in the New Testament to Christ and His Church. Beginning with John the Baptist's designation of Him as the Bridegroom, it reappears in many of our Lord's sayings and parables, is frequent in the writings of the Apostle Paul, and reaches its height of poetic splendour and terror in that magnificent description in Revelation of the Bride, the Lamb's wife,' and the marriage supper of the Lamb.'

Seeing, then, the continual occurrence of this metaphor, it is unnatural and almost impossible to deny its presence in this psalm. In a former sermon I have directed attention to the earlier portion of it, which presents us, in its portraiture of the King, a shadowy and prophetic outline of Jesus Christ. I desire, in a similar fashion, to deal now with the latter portion, which, in its portrait of the bride, presents us with truths having their real fulfilment in the Church collectively and in the individual soul.

Of course, inasmuch as the consort of a Jewish monarch was not an incarnate prophecy as her husband was, the transference of the historical features of this wedding-song to a spiritual purpose is not so satisfactory, or easy, in the latter part as in the former. There is a thicker rind of prose fact, as it were, to cut through, and certain of the features cannot be applied to the relation between Christ and His Church without undue violence. But, whilst we admit that, it is also clear that the main, broad outlines of this picture do require as well as permit its higher application. Therefore I turn to them to try to bring out what they teach us so eloquently and vividly of Christ's gifts to, and requirements from, the souls that are wedded to Him.

I. Now The First Point Is This--The All-Surrendering Love That Must Mark The Bride.

The language of the tenth verse is the voice of prophecy or inspiration; speaking words of fatherly counsel to the princess--Forget also thine own people and thy father's house.' Historically I suppose it points to the foreign birth of the queen, who is called upon to abandon all old ties, and to give herself with wholehearted consecration to her new duties and relations.

In all real wedded life, as those who have tasted it know, there comes, by sweet necessity, the subordination, in the presence of a purer and more absorbing affection, of all lower, howsoever tender, loves that once filled the whole heart. Such surrender is not pain but gladness, inasmuch as the deeper well that has been sunk dries the surface springs, and gathers all their waters into itself. The new treasure that has filled the heart compels, by glad compulsion, the surrender or, at least, the subordination, of all former affections to the constraint of all-mastering love.

The same thing is true in regard to the union of the soul with Christ. The description of the bride's abandonment of former duties and ties may be transferred, without the change of a word, to our relations to Him. If love to Him has really come into our hearts, it will master all our yearnings and tendencies and affections, and we shall feel that we cannot but yield up everything besides, by reason of the sovereign power of this new affection. Christ demands from us (if I may use the word demand' for the beseeching of love), for His sake, and for our sakes, the entire surrender of ourselves to Him. And that new affection will deal with the old loves, just as the new buds upon the beech-trees in the spring deal with the old leaves that still hang withered on some of the branches. It will push them from their hold, and they will drop. If a river should be turned into some dark cave where unclean beasts have herded and littered for years, the bright waters would sweep out on their bosom all the filth and rottenness. So, when the love of Christ comes surging and flashing into a heart, it will bear out on its broad surface all conflicting and subordinate inclinations, with the passions and lusts that used to rule and befoul the spirit. Christ demands complete surrender, and, if we are Christians, that absolute abandonment will not be a pain nor unwelcome. We shall drop the toys of earth as easily and naturally as a child will some trinket or plaything, when it stretches out its little hand to get a better gift from its loving mother. Love will sweep the heart clean of its antagonists; and there is no real union between Jesus Christ and us except in the measure in which we joyfully, and not as a reluctant giving up of things that we would much rather keep if we durst, count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord.'

Have the terms of wedded life changed since my psalm was written? Is there less need now than there used to be that, if we are to possess a heart, we should give a whole heart? And have the terms of Christian living altered since the old days, when He said, Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple'? Ah! I fear me that it is no uncharitable judgment to say that the bulk of so-called Christians are playing at being Christians, and have never penetrated into the depths either of the sweet all-sufficiency of the love which they say that they possess, or the constraining necessity that is in it for the surrender of all besides. Many happy husbands and wives, if they would only treat Jesus Christ as they treat one another, would find out a power and a blessedness in the Christian life that they know nothing about at present. Daughter! forget thine own people and thy father's house!'

II. Again, The Second Point Here Is That Which Directly Follows,

The King's love and the Bride's reverence. So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.'

The King is drawn, in the out goings of His affection, by the sweet trust and perfect love which has surrendered everything for him and happily followed him from the far-off land. And then, in accordance with Oriental ideas, and with His royal rank, the bride is exhorted, in the midst of the utter trust and equality born of love, to remember, He is thy Lord, and reverence thou Him.' So, then, here are two thoughts that go, as I take it, very deep into the realities of the Christian life. The first is that, in simple literal fact, Jesus Christ is affected, in His relation to us, by the completeness of our dependence upon Him, and surrender of all else for Him. We do not believe that half vividly enough. We have surrounded Jesus Christ with a halo of mystery and of remoteness Which neither lets us think of Him as being really man or really God. And I press on you this as a plain fact, no piece of pulpit rhetoric, that His relation to us as Christians hinges upon our surrender to Him. Of course, there is a love with which He pours Himself out over the unworthy and the sinful--blessed be His name!--and the more sinful and the more unworthy, the deeper the tenderness and the more yearning the pity and pathos of invitation which He lavishes upon us. But that is a different thing from this other, which is that He is pleased or displeased, actually drawn to or repelled from us, in the measure of the completeness and gladness of our surrender of ourselves to Him. That is what Paul means when he says that he labours that whether present or absent he may be pleasing to Christ.' And this is the highest and strongest motive that I know for all holy and noble living, that we shall bring a smile into our Master's face and draw Him nearer to ourselves thereby. So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty.'

Again, in the measure in which we live out our Christianity, in whole-hearted and thorough surrender, in that measure shall we be conscious of His nearness and feel His love.

There are many Christian people that have only religion enough to make them uncomfortable, only enough to make religion to them a system of regulations, negative and positive, the reasonableness and sweetness of which they but partially apprehend. They must not do this because it is forbidden; they ought to do that because it is commanded. They would much rather do the forbidden thing, and they have no wish to do the commanded thing, and so they live in twilight, and when they come beside a man who really has been walking in the light of Christ's face, the language of his experience, though it be but a transcript of facts, sounds to them all unreal and fanatical. They miss the blessing that is waiting for them, just because they have not really given up themselves. If by resolute and continual opening of our hearts to Christ's real love and presence, and by consequent casting off of our false and foolish self-dependence, we were to blow away the clouds that come between us and Him, we should feel the sunshine. But as it is, a miserable multitude of professing Christians walk in the darkness, and have no light,' or, at the most, but some wintry sunshine that struggles through the thick mist, and does little more than reveal the barrenness that lies around. Brethren! if you want to be happy Christians, be out-and-out ones; and if you would have your hands and your hearts filled with Christ, empty them of the trash that they grip so closely now.

Then, on the other side, there is the reminder and exhortation: He is thy Lord, worship thou Him.'

The beggar-maid that, in the old ballad, married the king, in all her love was filled with reverence; and the ragged, filthy souls, whom Jesus Christ stoops to love, and wash, and make His own, are never to forget, in the highest rapture of their joy, their lowly adoration, nor in the glad familiarity of their loving approach to Him, cease to remember that the test of love is, Keep My commandments.'

There are types of emotional and sentimental religion that have a great deal more to say about love than about obedience; that are full of half wholesome apostrophes to a dear Lord,' and almost forget the Lord' in the emphasis which they put on the dear: And I want you to remember this, as by no means an unnecessary caution, and of especial value in some quarters to-day, that the test of the reality of Christian love is its lowliness, and that all that which indulges in heated emotion, and forgets practical service, is rotten and spurious. Though the King desire her beauty, still, when He stretches out the golden sceptre, Esther must come to Him with lowly guise and a reverent heart. He is thy Lord, worship thou Him.'

III. The Next Point In This Portraiture Is The Reflected Honour And Influence Of The Bride.

There are difficulties about the translation of Psalm 45:12 of our psalm with which I do not need to trouble you. We may take it for our purpose as it stands before us. The daughter of Tyre' (representing the wealthy, outside nations) shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour.'

The bride being thus beloved by the King, thus standing by His side, those around recognise her dignity and honour, and draw near to secure her intercession. Translate that out of the emblem into plain words, and it comes to this--if Christian people, and communities of such, are to have influence in the world, they must be thorough-going Christians. If they are, they will get hatred sometimes; but men know honest people and religious people when they see them, and such Christians will win respect and be a power in the world. If Christian men and Christian communities are despised by outsiders, they very generally earn the contempt and deserve it, both from men and from heaven. The true evangelist is Christian character. They that manifestly live with the sunshine of the Lord's love on their faces, and whose hands are plainly clear from worldly and selfish graspings, will have the world recognising the fact and honouring them accordingly. The sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee, and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down to the soles of thy feet.' When the Church has cast the world out of its heart, it will conquer the world--and not till then.

IV. The Next Point In This Picture Is The Fair Adornment Of The Bride.

The language is in part ambiguous; and if this were the place for commenting would require a good deal of comment. But we take it as it stands in our Bible, The King's daughter is all glorious within'--not within her nature, but within the innermost recesses of the palace--her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework.'

It is an easy and well-worn metaphor to talk about people's character as their dress. We speak about the habits' of a man, and we use that word to express both his customary manners and his costume. Custom and costume, again, are the same word. So here, without any departure from the well-trodden path of Scriptural emblem, we cannot but see in the glorious apparel the figure of the pure character with which the bride is clothed. The Book of the Revelation dresses her in the fine linen clean and white, which symbolises the lustrous radiance and snowy purity of righteousness. The psalm describes her dress as partly consisting in garments gleaming with gold, which suggests splendour and glory, and partly in robes of careful and many-coloured embroidery, which suggests the patience with which the slow needle has been worked through the stuff, and the variegated and manifold graces and beauties with which she is adorned.

So, putting all the metaphors together, the true Christian character, which will be ours if we really are the subjects of that divine love, will be lustrous and snowy as the snows on Hermon, or as was the garment whose whiteness outshone the neighbouring snows when He was transfigured before them.' Our characters will be splendid with a splendour far above the tawdry beauties and vulgar conspicuousness of the heroic' and worldly ideals, and will be endowed with a purity and harmony of colouring in richly various graces, such as no earthly looms can ever weave.

We are not told here how the garment is attained. It is no part of the purpose of the psalm to tell us that, but it is part of its purpose to insist that there is no marriage between Christ and the soul except that soul be pure, none except it be robed in the beauty of righteousness and the splendour of consecration, and the various gifts of an all-giving Spirit. The man that came into the wedding-feast, with his dirty, every-day clothes on, was turned out as a rude insulter. But what of the queen that should come foully dressed? There would be no place for her amidst its solemnities. You will never stand at the right hand of Christ, unless your souls here are clothed in the fine linen clean and white, and over it the flashing wealth and the harmonised splendour of the gold and embroidery of Christlike graces. We know how to get the garment. Faith strips the rags and puts the best robe on us; and effort based upon faith enables us day by day to put off the old man with his deeds anti to put on the new man. The bride made herself ready,' and' to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white.'

V. Lastly, We Have The Picture Of The Homecoming Of The Bride.

She shall be brought unto the King … with gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought; they shall enter into the King's palace.'

The presence of virgin companions waiting on the bride is no more difficult to understand here than it is in Christ's parable of the Ten Virgins. It is a characteristic of all parabolical representation to be elastic, and sometimes to duplicate its emblems for the same thing; and that is the case here. But the main point to be insisted upon is this, that, according to the perspective of Scripture, the life of the Christian Church here on earth is, if I may so say, a betrothal in righteousness and loving-kindness; and that the betrothal waits for its consummation in that great future when the bride shall pass into the presence of the King. The whole collective body of sinful souls redeemed by His blood, and who know the sweetness of His partially received love, shall be drawn within the curtains of that upper house, and enter into a union with Christ Jesus ineffable, incomprehensible till experienced; and of which the closest union of loving souls on earth is but a dim shadow. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit'; and the reality of our union with Him rises above the emblem of a marriage, as high as spirit rises above flesh.

The psalm stops at the palace-gate. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.' But there is a solemn prelude to that completed union and its deep rapture. Before it there comes the last campaign of the conquering King on the white horse, who wars in righteousness. Dear friends! you must choose now whether you will be of the company of the Bride or of the company of the enemy. They that were ready went in with Him unto the marriage, and the door was shut.'

Which side of the door do you mean to be on?

The psalmist's tongue was guided by the Spirit of God, as the pen is by the hand of a ready writer. This psalm is touching the King Jesus, his kingdom and government. It is a shame that this good matter is not more the subject of our discourse. There is more in Christ to engage our love, than there is or can be in any creature. This world and its charms are ready to draw away our hearts from Christ; therefore we are concerned to understand how much more worthy he is of our love. By his word, his promise, his gospel, the good will of God is made known to us, and the good work of God is begun and carried on in us. The psalmist, Psa 45:3-5, joyfully foretells the progress and success of the Messiah. The arrows of conviction are very terrible in the hearts of sinners, till they are humbled and reconciled; but the arrows of vengeance will be more so to his enemies who refuse to submit. All who have seen his glory and tasted his grace, rejoice to see him, by his word and Spirit, bring enemies and strangers under his dominion.

The throne of this almighty King is established for ever. While the Holy Spirit leads Christ's people to look to his cross, he teaches them to see the evil of sin and the beauty of holiness; so that none of them can feel encouragement to continue in sin. The Mediator is God, else he had been neither able to do the Mediator's work, nor fit to wear the Mediator's crown. God the Father, as his God in respect to his human nature and mediatorial offices, has given to him the Holy Spirit without measure. Thus anointed to be a Prophet, Priest, and King, Christ has pre-eminence in the gladdening gifts and graces of the spirit, and from his fulness communicates them to his brethren in human nature. The Spirit is called the oil of gladness, because of the delight wherewith Christ was filled, in carrying on his undertakings. The salvation of sinners is the joy of angels, much more of the Son. And in proportion as we are conformed to his holy image, we may expect the gladdening gifts influences of the Comforter. The excellences of the Messiah, the suitableness of his offices, and the sufficiency of his grace, seem to be intended by the fragrance of his garments. The church formed of true believers, is here compared to the queen, whom, by an everlasting covenant, the Lord Jesus has betrothed to himself. This is the bride, the Lamb's wife, whose graces are compared to fine linen, for their purity; to gold, for their costliness: for as we owe our redemption, so we owe our adorning, to the precious blood of the Son of God.

If we desire to share these blessings, we must hearken to Christ's word. We must forget our carnal and sinful attachments and pursuits. He must be our Lord as well as our Saviour; all idols must be thrown away, that we may give him our whole heart. And here is good encouragement, thus to break off from former alliances. The beauty of holiness, both on the church and on particular believers, is, in the sight of Christ, of great price, and very amiable. The work of grace is the workmanship of the Spirit, it is the image of Christ upon the soul, a partaking of the Divine nature. It is clear of all sin, there is none in it, nor any comes from it. There is nothing glorious in the old man or corrupt nature; but in the new man, or work of grace upon the soul, every thing is glorious. The robe of Christ's righteousness, which he has wrought out for his church, the Father imputes unto her, and bestows upon her. None are brought to Christ, but those whom the Father brings. This notes the conversion of souls to him. The robe of righteousness, and garments of salvation, the change of raiment Christ has put upon her. Such as strictly cleave to Christ, loving him in singleness of heart, are companions of the bride, who partake of the very same grace, enjoy the same privileges, and share in one common salvation. These, every one, shall be brought to the King; not one lost or left behind. Instead of the Old Testament church, there shall be a New Testament church, a Gentile church. In the believing hope of our everlasting happiness in the other world, let us always keep up the remembrance of Christ, as our only way thither; and transmit the remembrance of him to succeeding generations, that his name may endure for ever.

Some make Shoshannim, in the title, to signify an instrument of six strings; others take it in its primitive signification for lilies or roses, which probably were strewed, with other flowers, at nuptial solemnities; and then it is easily applicable to Christ who calls himself the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys, Son 2:1. It is a song of loves, concerning the holy love that is between Christ and his church. It is a song of the well-beloved, the virgins, the companions of the bride (Psa 45:14), prepared to be sung by them. The virgin-company that attend the Lamb on Mount Zion are said to sing a new song, Rev 14:3, Rev 14:4.

I. The preface (Psa 45:1) speaks, 1. The dignity of the subject. It is a good matter, and it is a pity that such a moving art as poetry should every be employed about a bad matter. It is touching the King, King Jesus, and his kingdom and government. Note, Those that speak of Christ speak of a good matter, no subject so noble, so copious, so fruitful, so profitable, and so well-becoming us; it is a shame that this good matter is not more the matter of our discourse. 2. The excellency of the management. This song was a confession with the mouth of faith in the heart concerning Christ and his church. (1.) The matter was well digested, as it well deserved: My heart is inditing it, which perhaps is meant of that Spirit of prophecy that dictated the psalm to David, that Spirit of Christ which was in the prophets, 1Pe 1:11. But it is applicable to his devout meditations and affections in his heart, out of the abundance of which his mouth spoke. Things concerning Christ ought to be thought of by us with all possible seriousness, with fixedness of thought and a fire of holy love, especially when we are to speak of those things. We then speak best of Christ and divine things when we speak from the heart that which has warmed and affected us; and we should never be rash in speaking of the things of Christ, but weigh well beforehand what we have to say, lest we speak amiss. See Ecc 5:2. (2.) It was well expressed: I will speak of the things which I have made. He would express himself, [1.] With all possible clearness, as one that did himself understand and was affected with the things he spoke of. Not, "I will speak the things I have heard from others,"that is speaking by rote; but, "the things which I have myself studied."Note, What God has wrought in our souls, as well as what he has wrought for them, we must declare to others, Psa 66:16. [2.] With all possible cheerfulness, freedom, and fluency: " My tongue is as the pen of a ready writer, guided by my heart in every word as the pen is by the hand."We call the prophets the penmen of scripture, whereas really they were but the pen. The tongue of the most subtle disputant, and the most eloquent orator, is but the pen with which God writes what he pleases. Why should we quarrel with the pen if bitter things be written against us, or idolize the pen if it write in our favour? David not only spoke what he thought of Christ, but wrote it, that it might spread the further and last the longer. His tongue was as the pen of a ready writer, that lets nothing slip. When the heart is inditing a good matter it is a pity but the tongue should be as the pen of a ready writer, to leave it upon record.

II. In these verses the Lord Jesus is represented,

1. As most beautiful and amiable in himself. It is a marriage-song; and therefore the transcendent excellencies of Christ are represented by the beauty of the royal bridegroom (Psa 45:2): Thou art fairer than the children of men, than any of them. He proposed (Psa 45:1) to speak of the King, but immediately directs his speech to him. Those that have an admiration and affection for Christ love to go to him and tell him so. Thus we must profess our faith, that we see his beauty, and our love, that we are pleased with it: Thou are fair, thou art fairer than the children of men. Note, Jesus Christ is in himself, and in the eyes of all believers, more amiable and lovely than the children of men. The beauties of the Lord Jesus, as God, as Mediator, far surpass those of human nature in general and those which the most amiable and excellent of the children of men are endowed with; there is more in Christ to engage our love than there is or can be in any creature. Our beloved is more than another beloved. The beauties of this lower world, and its charms, are in danger of drawing away our hearts from Christ, and therefore we are concerned to understand how much he excels them all, and how much more worthy he is of our love.

2. As the great favourite of heaven. He is fairer than the children of men, for God has done more for him than for any of the children of men, and all his kindness to the children of men is for his sake, and passes through his hands, through his mouth. (1.) He has grace, and he has it for us; Grace is poured into thy lips. By his word, his promise, his gospel, the good-will of God is made known to us and the good work of God is begun and carried on in us. He received all grace from God, all the endowments that were requisite to qualify him for his work and office as Mediator, that from his fulness we might receive, Joh 1:16. It was not only poured into his heart, for his own strength and encouragement, but poured into his lips, that by the words of his mouth in general, and the kisses of his mouth to particular believers, he might communicate both holiness and comfort. From this grace poured into his lips proceeded those gracious words which all admired, Luk 4:22. The gospel of grace is poured into his lips; for it began to be spoken by the Lord, and from him we receive it. He has the words of eternal life. The spirit of prophecy is put into thy lips; so the Chaldee. (2.) He has the blessing, and he has it for us. "Therefore, because thou art the great trustee of divine grace for the use and benefit of the children of men, therefore God has blessed thee for ever, has made thee an everlasting blessing, so as that in thee all the nations of the earth shall be blessed."Where God gives his grace he will give his blessing. We are blessed with spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, Eph 1:3.

3. As victorious over all his enemies. The royal bridegroom is a man of war, and his nuptials do not excuse him from the field of battle (as was allowed by the law, Deu 24:5); nay, they bring him to the field of battle, for he is to rescue his spouse by dint of sword out of her captivity, to conquer her, and to conquer for her, and then to marry her. Now we have here,

(1.) His preparations for war (Psa 45:3): Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O Most Mighty! The word of God is the sword of the Spirit. By the promises of that word, and the grace contained in those promises, souls are made willing to submit to Jesus Christ and become his loyal subjects; by the threatenings of that word, and the judgments executed according to them, those that stand it out against Christ will, in due time, be brought down and ruined. By the gospel of Christ many Jews and Gentiles were converted, and, at length, the Jewish nation was destroyed, according to the predictions of it, for their implacable enmity to it; and paganism was quite abolished. The sword here girt on Christ's thigh is the same which is said to proceed out of his mouth, Rev 19:15. When the gospel was sent fort to be preached to all nations, then our Redeemer girded his sword upon his thigh.

(2.) His expedition to this holy war: He goes forth with his glory and his majesty, as a great king takes the field with abundance of pomp and magnificence - his sword, his glory, and majesty. In his gospel he appears transcendently great and excellent, bright and blessed, in the honour and majesty which the Father had laid upon him. Christ, both in his person and in his gospel, had nothing of external glory or majesty, nothing to charm men (for he had no form nor comeliness), nothing to awe men, for he took upon him the form of a servant; it was all spiritual glory, spiritual majesty. There is so much grace, and therefore glory, in that word, He that believes shall be saved, so much terror, and therefore majesty, in that word, He that believes shall not be damned, that we may well say, in the chariot of that gospel, which these words are the sum of, the Redeemer rides forth in glory and majesty. In thy majesty ride prosperously, Psa 45:4. Prosper thou; ride thou. This speaks the promise of his Father, that he should prosper according to the good pleasure of the Lord, that he should divide the spoil with the strong, in recompence of his sufferings. Those cannot but prosper to whom God says, Prosper, Isa 52:10-12. And it denotes the good wishes of his friends, praying that he may prosper in the conversion of souls to him, and the destruction of all the powers of darkness that rebel against him. " Thy kingdom come; Go on and prosper."

(3.) The glorious cause in which he is engaged - because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness, which were, in a manner, sunk and lost among men, and which Christ came to retrieve and rescue. [1.] The gospel itself is truth, meekness, and righteousness; it commands by the power of truth and righteousness; for Christianity has these, incontestably, on its side, and yet it is to be promoted by meekness and gentleness, 1Co 4:12, 1Co 4:13; 2Ti 2:25. [2.] Christ appears in it in his truth, meekness, and righteousness, and these are his glory and majesty, and because of these he shall prosper. Men are brought to believe on him because he is true, to learn of him because he is meek, Mat 11:29 (the gentleness of Christ is of mighty force, 2Co 10:1), and to submit to him because he is righteous and rules with equity. [3.] The gospel, as far as it prevails with men, sets up in their hearts truth, meekness, and righteousness, rectifies their mistakes by the light of truth, controls their passions by the power of meekness, and governs their hearts and lives by the laws of righteousness. Christ came, by setting up his kingdom among men, to restore those glories to a degenerate world, and to maintain the cause of those just and rightful rulers under him that by error, malice, and iniquity, had been deposed.

(4.) The success of his expedition: " Thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things; thou shalt experience a wonderful divine power going along with thy gospel, to make it victorious, and the effects of it will be terrible things."[1.] In order to the conversion and reduction of souls to him, there are terrible things to be done; the heart must be pricked, conscience must be startled, and the terrors of the Lord must make way for his consolations. This is done by the right hand of Christ. The Comforter shall continue, Joh 16:8. [2.] In the conquest of the gates of hell and its supporters, in the destruction of Judaism and Paganism, terrible things will be done, which will make men's hearts fail them for fear (Luk 21:26) and great men and chief captains call to the rocks and mountains to fall on them, Rev 6:15. The next verse describes these terrible things (Psa 45:5): Thy arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies. First, Those that were by nature enemies are thus wounded, in order to their being subdued and reconciled. Convictions are like the arrows of the bow, which are sharp in the heart on which they fasten, and bring people to fall under Christ, in subjection to his laws and government. Those that thus fall on this stone shall by broken, Mat 21:44. Secondly, Those that persist in their enmity are thus wounded, in order to their being ruined. The arrows of God's terrors are sharp in their hearts, whereby they shall fall under him, so as to be made his footstool, Psa 110:1. Those that would not have him to reign over them shall be brought forth and slain before him (Luk 19:27); those that would not submit to his golden sceptre shall be broken to pieces by his iron rod.

We have here the royal bridegroom filling his throne with judgment and keeping his court with splendour.

I. He here fills his throne with judgment. It is God the Father that says to the Son here, Thy throne, O God! is forever and ever, as appears Heb 1:8, Heb 1:9, where this is quoted to prove that he is God and has a more excellent name than the angels. The Mediator is God, else he neither would have been able to do the Mediator's work nor fit to wear the Mediator's crown. Concerning his government observe, 1. The eternity of it; it is for ever and ever. It shall continue on earth throughout all the ages of time, in despite of all the opposition of the gates of hell; and in the blessed fruits and consequences of it it shall last as long as the days of heaven, and run parallel with the line of eternity itself. Perhaps even then the glory of the Redeemer, and the blessedness of the redeemed, shall be in a continual infinite progression; for it is promised that not only of his government, but of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end (Isa 9:7); even when the kingdom shall be delivered up to God even the Father (1Co 15:24) the throne of the Redeemer will continue. 2. The equity of it: The sceptre of thy kingdom, the administration of thy government, is right, exactly according to the eternal counsel and will of God, which is the eternal rule and reason of good and evil. Whatever Christ does he does none of his subjects any wrong, but gives redress to those that do suffer wrong: He loves righteousness, and hates wickedness, Psa 45:7. He himself loves to do righteousness, and hates to do wickedness; and he loves those that do righteousness, and hates those that do wickedness. By the holiness of his life, the merit of his death, and the great design of his gospel, he has made it to appear that he loves righteousness (for by his example, his satisfaction, and his precepts, he has brought in an everlasting righteousness), and that he hates wickedness, for never did God's hatred of sin appear so conspicuously as it did in the sufferings of Christ. 3. The establishment and elevation of it: Therefore God, even thy God (Christ, as Mediator, called God his God, Joh 20:17, as commissioned by him, and the head of those that are taken into covenant with him), has anointed thee with the oil of gladness. Therefore, that is, (1.) "In order to this righteous government of thine, God has given thee his Spirit, that divine unction, to qualify thee for thy undertaking,"Isa 61:1. 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he has anointed me. What God called him to he fitted him for, Isa 11:2. The Spirit is called the oil of gladness because of the delight wherewith Christ was filled in carrying on his undertaking. He was anointed with the Spirit above all his fellows, above all those that were anointed, whether priests or kings. (2.) "In recompence of what thou has done and suffered for the advancement of righteousness and the destruction of sin God has anointed thee with the oil of gladness, has brought thee to all the honours and all the joys of thy exalted state." Because he humbled himself, God has highly exalted him, Phi 2:8, Phi 2:9. His anointing him denotes the power and glory to which he is exalted; he is invested in all the dignities and authorities of the Messiah. And his anointing him with the oil of gladness denotes the joy that was set before him (so his exaltation is expressed, Heb 12:2) both in the light of his Father's countenance (Act 2:28) and in the success of his undertaking, which he shall see, and be satisfied, Isa 53:11. This he is anointed with above all his fellows, above all believers, who are his brethren, and who partake of the anointing - they by measure, he without measure. But the apostle brings it to prove his pre-eminence above the angels, Heb 1:4, Heb 1:9. The salvation of sinners is the joy of angels (Luk 15:10), but much more of the Son.

II. He keeps his court with splendour and magnificence. 1. His robes of state, wherein he appears, are taken notice of, not for their pomp, which might strike an awe upon the spectator, but their pleasantness and the gratefulness of the odours with which they were perfumed (Psa 45:8): They smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia (the oil of gladness with which he and his garments were anointed): these were some of the ingredients of the holy anointing oil which God appointed, the like to which was not to be made up for any common use (Exo 30:23, Exo 30:24), which was typical of the unction of the Spirit which Christ, the great high priest of our profession, received, and to which therefore there seems here to be a reference. It is the savour of these good ointments, his graces and comforts, that draws souls to him (Son 1:3, Son 1:4) and makes him precious to believers, 1Pe 2:7. 2. His royal palaces are said to be ivory ones, such as were then reckoned most magnificent. We read of an ivory house that Ahab made, 1Ki 22:39. The mansions of light above are the ivory palaces, whence all the joys both of Christ and believers come, and where they will be for ever in perfection; for by them he is made glad, and all that are his with him; for they shall enter into the joy of their Lord. 3. The beauties of his court shine very brightly. In public appearances at court, when the pomp of it is shown, nothing is supposed to contribute so much to it as the splendour of the ladies, which is alluded to here, Psa 45:9. (1.) Particular believers are here compared to the ladies at court, richly dressed in honour of the sovereign: Kings' daughters are among thy honourable women, whose looks, and mien, and ornaments, we may suppose, from the height of their extraction, to excel all others. All true believers are born from above; they are the children of the King of kings. These attend the throne of the Lord Jesus daily with their prayers and praises, which is really their honour, and he is pleased to reckon it his. The numbering of kings' daughters among his honourable women, or maids of honour, intimates that the kings whose daughters they were should be tributaries to him and dependents on him, and would therefore think it a preferment to their daughters to attend him. (2.) The church in general, constituted of these particular believers, is here compared to the queen herself - the queen-consort, whom, by an everlasting covenant, he hath betrothed to himself. She stands at his right hand, near to him, and receives honour from him, in the richest array, in gold of Ophir, in robes woven with golden thread or with a gold chain and other ornaments of gold. This is the bride, the Lamb's wife, whose graces, which are her ornaments, are compared to fine linen, clean and white (Rev 19:8), for their purity, here to gold of Ophir, for their costliness; for, as we owe our redemption, so we owe our adorning, not to corruptible things, but to the precious blood of the Son of God.

This latter part of the psalm is addressed to the royal bride, standing on the right hand of the royal bridegroom. God, who said to the Son, Thy throne is for ever and ever, says this to the church, which, upon the account of her espousals to the Son, he here calls his daughter.

I. He tells her of the duties expected from her, which ought to be considered by all those that come into relation to the Lord Jesus: " Hearken, therefore, and consider this, and incline thy ear, that is, submit to those conditions of thy espousals, and bring thy will to comply with them."This is the method of profiting by the word of God. He that has ears, let him hear, let him hearken diligently; he that hearkens, let him consider and weigh it duly; he that considers, let him incline and yield to the force of what is laid before him. And what is it that is here required?

1. She must renounce all others.

(1.) Here is the law of her espousals: " Forget thy own people and thy father's house, according to the law of marriage. Retain not the affection thou hast had for them, nor covet to return to them again; banish all such remembrance (not only of thy people that were dear to thee, but of thy father's house that were dearer) as may incline thee to look back, as Lot's wife to Sodom."When Abraham, in obedience to God's call, had quitted his native soil, he was not so much as mindful of the country whence he came out. This shows, [1.] How necessary it was for those who were converted from Judaism or paganism to the faith of Christ wholly to cast out the old leaven, and not to bring into their Christian profession either the Jewish ceremonies or the heathen idolatries, for these would make such a mongrel religion in Christianity as the Samaritans had. [2.] How necessary it is for us all, when we give up our names to Jesus Christ, to hate father and mother, and all that is dear to us in this world, in comparison, that is, to love them less than Christ and his honour, and our interest in him, Luk 14:26.

(2.) Here is good encouragement given to the royal bride thus entirely to break off from her former alliances: So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty, which intimates that the mixing of her old rites and customs, whether Jewish or Gentile, with her religion, would blemish her beauty and would hazard her interest in the affections of the royal bridegroom, but that, if she entirely conformed to his will, he would delight in her. The beauty of holiness, both on the church and on particular believers, is in the sight of Christ of great price and very amiable. Where that is he says, This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it. Among the golden candlesticks he walks with pleasure, Rev 2:1.

2. She must reverence him, must love, honour, and obey him: He is thy Lord, and worship thou him. The church is to be subject to Christ as the wife to the husband (Eph 5:24), to call him Lord, as Sarah called Abraham, and to obey him (1Pe 3:6), and so not only to submit to his government, but to give him divine honours. We must worship him as God, and our Lord; for this is the will of God, that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father; nay, in so doing it is reckoned that they honour the Father. If we confess that Christ is Lord, and pay our homage to him accordingly, it is to the glory of God the Father, Phi 2:11.

II. He tells her of the honours designed for her.

1. Great court should be made to her, and rich presents brought her (Psa 45:12): " The daughter of Tyre, "a rich and splendid city, "the daughter of the King of Tyre shall be there with a gift; every royal family round about shall send a branch, as a representative of the whole, to seek thy favour and to make an interest in thee; even the rich among the people, whose wealth might be thought to exempt them from dependence at court, even they shall entreat thy favour, for his sake to whom thou art espoused, that by thee they may make him their friend."The Jews, the pretending Jews, who are rich to a proverb (as rich as a Jew), shall come and worship before the church's feet in the Philadelphian period, and shall know that Christ has loved her, Rev 3:9. When the Gentiles, being converted to the faith of Christ, join themselves to the church, they then come with a gift, 2Co 8:5; Rom 15:16. When with themselves they devote all they have to the honour of Christ, and the service of his kingdom, they then come with a gift.

2. She shall be very splendid, and highly esteemed in the eyes of all, (1.) For her personal qualifications, the endowments of her mind, which every one shall admire (Psa 45:13): The king's daughter is all glorious within. Note, The glory of the church is spiritual glory, and that is indeed all glory; it is the glory of the soul, and that is the man; it is glory in God's sight, and it is an earnest of eternal glory. The glory of the saints falls not within the view of a carnal eye. As their life, so their glory, is hidden with Christ in God, neither can the natural man know it, for it is spiritually discerned; but those who do so discern it highly value it. Let us see here what is that true glory which we should be ambitious of, not that which makes a fair show in the flesh, but which is in the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible (1Pe 3:4), whose praise is not of men, but of God, Rom 2:29. (2.) For her rich apparel. Though all her glory is within, that for which she is truly valuable, yet her clothing also is of wrought gold; the conversation of Christians, in which they appear in the world, must be enriched with good works, not gay and gaudy ones, like paint and flourish, but substantially good, like gold; and it must be accurate and exact, like wrought gold, which is worked with a great deal of care and caution.

3. Her nuptials shall be celebrated with a great deal of honour and joy (Psa 45:14, Psa 45:15): She shall be brought to the king, as the Lord God brought the woman to the man (Gen 2:22), which was a type of this mystical marriage between Christ and his church. None are brought to Christ but whom the Father brings, and he has undertaken to do it; none besides are so brought to the king (Psa 45:14) as to enter into the king's palace, Psa 45:15.

(1.) This intimates a two-fold bringing of the spouse to Christ. [1.] In the conversion of souls to Christ; then they are espoused to him, privately contracted, as chaste virgins, 2Co 11:2; Rom 7:4. [2.] In the completing of the mystical body, and the glorification of all the saints, at the end of time; then the bride, the Lamb's wife, shall be made completely ready, when all that belong to the election of grace shall be called in and called home, and all gathered together to Christ, 2Th 2:1. Then is the marriage of the Lamb come (Rev 19:7; Rev 21:2), and the virgins go forth to meet the bridegroom, Mat 25:1. Then they shall enter into the king's palaces, into the heavenly mansions, to be ever with the Lord.

(2.) In both these espousals, observe, to the honour of the royal bride, [1.] Her wedding clothes - raiment of needle-work, the righteousness of Christ, the graces of the Spirit; both curiously wrought by divine wisdom. [2.] Her bride-maids - the virgins her companions, the wise virgins who have oil in their vessels as well as in their lamps, those who, being joined to the church, cleave to it and follow it, these shall go in to the marriage. [3.] The mirth with which the nuptials will be celebrated: With gladness and rejoicing shall she be brought. When the prodigal is brought home to his father it is meet that we should make merry and be glad (Luk 15:32); and when the marriage of the Lamb has come let us be glad and rejoice (Rev 19:7); for the day of his espousals is the day of the gladness of his heart, Son 3:11.

4. The progeny of this marriage shall be illustrious (Psa 45:16): Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children. Instead of the Old Testament church, the economy of which had waxed old, and ready to vanish away (Heb 8:13), as the fathers that are going off, there shall be a New Testament church, a Gentile-church, that shall be grafted into the same olive and partake of its root and fatness (Rom 11:17); more and more eminent shall be the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, Isa 54:1. This promise to Christ is of the same import with that Isa 53:10, He shall see his seed; and these shall be made princes in all the earth; there shall be some of all nations brought into subjection to Christ, and so made princes, made to our God kings and priests, Rev 1:6. Or it may intimate that there should be a much greater number of Christian kings than ever there was of Jewish kings (those in Canaan only, these in all the earth), nursing fathers and nursing mothers to the church, which shall suck the breasts of kings. They are princes of Christ's making; for by him kings reign and princes decree justice.

5. The praise of this marriage shall be perpetual in the praises of the royal bridegroom (Psa 45:17): I will make thy name to be remembered. His Father has given him a name above every name, and here promises to make it perpetual, by keeping up a succession of ministers and Christians in every age, that shall bear up his name, which shall thus endure for ever (Psa 72:17), by being remembered in all the generations of time; for the entail of Christianity shall not be cut off. "Therefore, because they shall remember thee in all generations, they shall praise thee for ever and ever."Those that help to support the honour of Christ on earth shall in heaven see his glory, and share in it, and be for ever praising him. In the believing hope of our everlasting happiness in the other world let us always keep up the remembrance of Christ, as our only way thither, in our generation; and, in assurance of the perpetuating of the kingdom of the Redeemer in the world, let us transmit the remembrance of him to succeeding generations, that his name may endure for ever and be as the days of heaven.

(Heb.: 45:2-3) The verb רחשׁ , as מרחשׁת shows, signifies originally to bubble up, boil, and is used in the dialects generally of excited motion and lively excitement; it is construed with the accusative after the manner of verbs denoting fulness, like the synonymous נבע , Psa 119:171 (cf. Talmudic לשׁונך תרחישׁ רננות , let thy tongue overflow with songs of praise). Whatever the heart is full of, with that the mouth overflows; the heart of the poet gushes over with a "good word." דּבר is a matter that finds utterance and is put into the form of words; and טּוב describes it as good with the collateral idea of that which is cheerful, pleasing, and rich in promise (Isa 52:7; Zec 1:13). The fact that out of the fulness and oppression of his heart so good a word springs forth, arises from the subject in which now his whole powers of mind are absorbed: I am saying or thinking ( אני pausal form by Dechî , in order that the introductory formula may not be mistaken), i.e., my purpose is: מעשׁי למלך , my works or creations (not sing ., but plur ., just as also מקני in Exo 17:3; Num 20:19, where the connection leads one to expect the plural) shall be dedicated to the king; or even: the thought completely fills me, quite carries me away, that they concern or have reference to the king. In the former case למלך dispenses with the article because it is used after the manner of a proper name (as in Psa 21:2; Psa 72:1); in the latter, because the person retires before the office of dignity belonging to it: and this we, in common with Hitzig, prefer on account of the self-conscious and reflecting אמר אני by which it is introduced. He says to himself that it is a king to whom his song refers; and this lofty theme makes his tongue so eloquent and fluent that it is like the style of a γραμματεὺς ὀξύγραφος . Thus it is correctly rendered by the lxx; whereas סופר מהיר as an epithet applied to Ezra (Ezr 7:6) does not denote a rapid writer, but a learned or skilled scribe. Rapidly, like the style of an agile writer, does the tongue of the poet move; and it is obliged to move thus rapidly because of the thoughts and words that flow forth to it out of his heart. The chief thing that inspires him is the beauty of the king. The form יפיפית , which certainly ought to have a passive sense (Aquila κάλλει ἐκαλλίωθης ), cannot be explained as formed by reduplication of the first two radicals of the verb יפה ( יפי ) ; for there are no examples to be found in support of quinqueliterals thus derived. What seems to favour this derivation is this, that the legitimately formed Pealal יפיפה (cf. the adjective יפהפי = יפיפי , Jer 46:20) is made passive by a change of vowels in a manner that is altogether peculiar, but still explicable in connection with this verb, which is a twofold weak verb. The meaning is: Thou art beyond compare beautifully fashioned, or endowed with beauty beyond the children of men. The lips are specially singled out from among all the features of beauty in him. Over his lips is poured forth, viz., from above , חן (gracefulness of benevolence), inasmuch as, even without his speaking, the form of his lips and each of their movements awakens love and trust; it is evident, however, that from such lips, full of χάρις , there must proceed also λόγοι τῆς χάριτος (Luk 4:22; Ecc 10:12). In this beauty of the king and this charm of his lips the psalmist sees a manifestation of the everlasting blessing of God, that is perceptible to the senses. It is not to be rendered: because Elohim hath blessed thee for ever. The assertion that על־כּן is used in some passages for על־כּן אשׁר cannot be proved (vid., on Psa 42:7). But the meaning of the psalmist is, moreover, not that the king, because he is so fair and has such gracious lips, is blessed of God. If this were the idea, then the noble moral qualities of which the beauty of this king is the transparent form, ought to be more definitely expressed. Thus personally conceived, as it is here, beauty itself is a blessing, not a ground for blessing. The fact of the matter is this, beauty is denoted by על־כן as a reason for the blessing being known or recognised, not as a reason why the king should be blessed. From his outward appearance it is at once manifest that the king is one who is blessed by God, and that blessed for ever. The psalmist could not but know that "grace is deceitful and beauty vain"(Pro 31:30), therefore the beauty of this king was in his eyes more than mere earthly beauty; it appears to him in the light of a celestial transfiguration, and for this very reason as an imperishable gift, in which there becomes manifest an unlimited endless blessing.

(Heb.: 44:4-6) In the ever blessed one the greatest strength and vigour are combined with the highest beauty. He is a hero. The praise of his heroic strength takes the form of a summons to exert it and aid the good in obtaining the victory over evil. Brightness and majesty, as the objects to חגור , alternating with the sword, are not in apposition to this which is their instrument and symbol (Hengstenberg), but permutatives, inasmuch as חגור is zeugmatically referable to both objects: the king is (1) to gird himself with his sword, and (2) to surround himself with his kingly, God-like doxa. הוד והדר is the brilliancy of the divine glory (Psa 96:6), of which the glory of the Davidic kingship is a reflection (Psa 21:6); mentioned side by side with the sword, it is, as it were, the panoply that surrounds the king as bright armour. In Psa 45:5 והדרך , written accidentally a second time, is probably to be struck out, as Olshausen and Hupfeld are of opinion. Hitzig points it והדרך , "and step forth;"but this is not Hebrew. As the text runs, wa -hadārcha (with Legarme preceded by Illuj , vid., Accentsystem xiii. §8 c , 9) looks as though it were repeated out of Psa 45:4 in the echo-like and interlinked style that we frequently find in the songs of degrees, e.g., Psa 121:1-2; and in fact repeated as an accusative of more exact definition (in the same bold manner as in Psa 17:13-14) to צלח , which, like Arab. ṣlḥ , starting from the primary notion of cleaving, breaking through, pressing forward, comes to have the notion of carrying anything through prosperously, of being successful, pervadere et bene procedere (cf. the corresponding development of signification in Arab. flḥ , 'flḥ ), and, according to Ges. §142, rem. 1, gives to רכב the adverbial notion of that which is effectual (victorious) or effective and successful. We cannot determine whether רכב is here intended to say vehi curru or vehi equo ; but certainly not upon a mule or an ass (1Ki 1:33; Zec 9:9), which are the beasts ridden in a time of peace. The king going forth to battle either rides in a war-chariot (like Ahab and Jehoshaphat, 1 Kings 22), or upon a war-horse, as in Rev 19:11 the Logos of God is borne upon a white horse. That which he is to accomplish as he rides forth in majesty is introduced by על־דּבר (for the sake of, on account of), which is used just as in Psa 79:9, 2Sa 18:5. The combination ענוה־צדק - is very similar to עריה־בשׁת , Mic 1:11 (nakedness - ignominy = ignominious nakedness), if ענוה = ענוה is to be taken as the name of a virtue. The two words are then the names of virtues, like אמת (truth = veracity, which loves and practises that which is true and which is hostile to lying, falseness, and dissimulation); and whereas צדק ענוה would signify meek righteousness, and צדק ענות , righteousness meekness, this conjunction standing in the middle between an addition and an asyndeton denotes meekness and righteousness as twin-sisters and reciprocally pervasive. The virtues named, however, stand for those who exemplify them and who are in need of help, on whose behalf the king is called upon to enter the strife: the righteous, if they are at the same time ענוים ( עניּים ) , are doubly worthy and in need of his help. Nevertheless another explanation of ענוה presents itself, and one that is all the more probable as occurring just in this Psalm which has such a North-Palestinian colouring. The observation, that North-Palestinian writers do not always point the construct state with ath , in favour of which Hitzig, on Psa 68:29, wrongly appeals to Hos 10:6; Job 39:13, but rightly to Jdg 7:8; Jdg 8:32 (cf. Deu 33:4, Deu 33:27), is perfectly correct. Accordingly ענוה may possibly be equivalent to ענות , but not in the signification business, affair = ענין , parallel with דּבר , but in the signification afflictio (after the form ראוה , Eze 28:17); so that it may be rendered: in order to put a stop to the oppression of righteousness or the suffering of innocence. The jussive ותורך , like ויתאו in Psa 45:12, begins the apodosis of a hypothetical protasis that is virtually there (Ew. §347, b ): so shall thy right hand teach thee, i.e., lead thee forth and cause thee to see terrible things, i.e., awe-inspiring deeds.

But in Psa 45:6 both summons and desire pass over into the expression of a sure and hopeful prospect and a vision, in which that which is to be is present to the mind: thine arrows are sharpened, and therefore deadly to those whom they hit; peoples shall fall ( יפּלוּ )

(Note: It is not יפּלוּ ; for the pause falls upon שׁנוּנים , and the Athnach of יפלו stands merely in the place of Zekaph (Num 6:12). The Athnach after Olewejored does not produce any pausal effect; vid., Psa 50:23; Psa 68:9, Psa 68:14; Psa 69:4; Psa 129:1, and cf. supra , p. 56, note 2.)

under thee, i.e., so that thou passest over them as they lie upon the ground; in the heart of the enemies of the king, viz., they (i.e., the arrows) will stick. The harsh ellipse is explained by the fact of the poet having the scene of battle before his mind as though he were an eye-witness of it. The words "in the heart of the king's enemies"are an exclamation accompanied by a pointing with the finger. Thither, he means to say, those sharp arrows fly and smite. Crusius' explanation is similar, but it goes further than is required: apostrophe per prosopopaeiam directa ad sagittas quasi jubens, quo tendere debeant . We are here reminded of Psa 110:2, where a similar בּקרב occurs in a prophetico-messianic connection. Moreover, even according to its reference to contemporary history the whole of this strophe sounds Messianic. The poet desires that the king whom he celebrates may rule and triumph after the manner of the Messiah; that he may succour truth and that which is truly good, and overcome the enmity of the world, or, as Psa 2:1-12 expresses it, that the God-anointed King of Zion may shatter everything that rises up in opposition with an iron sceptre. This anointed One, however, is not only the Son of David, but also of God. He is called absolutely בּר , ὁ υἱὸς . Isaiah calls Him, even in the cradle, אל גּבּור , Isa 9:5, cf. Isa 10:21. We shall not, therefore, find it to be altogether intolerable, if the poet now addresses him as אלהים , although the picture thus far sketched is thoroughly human in all its ideality.

(Heb.: 45:7-8) In order to avoid the addressing of the king with the word Elohim , Psa 45:6 has been interpreted, (1) "Thy throne of God is for ever and ever,", - a rendering which is grammatically possible, and, if it were intended to be expressed, must have been expressed thus (Nagelsbach, §64, g ); (2) "Thy throne is God (= divine) for ever and ever;"but it cannot possibly be so expressed after the analogy of "the altar of wood = wooden"(cf. Psa 45:9), or "the time is showers of rain = rainy"(Ezr 10:13), since God is neither the substance of the throne, nor can the throne itself be regarded as a representation or figure of God: in this case the predicative Elohim would require to be taken as a genitive for אלהים כּסּא , which, however, cannot possibly be supported in Hebrew by any syntax, not even by 2Ki 23:17, cf. Ges. §110, 2, b . Accordingly one might adopt the first mode of interpretation, which is also commended by the fact that the earthly throne of the theocratic king is actually called יהוה כסא in 1Ch 29:23. But the sentence "thy throne of God is an everlasting one"sounds tautological, inasmuch as that which the predicate asserts is already implied in the subject; and we have still first of all to try whether אלהים cannot, with the lxx ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ Θεὸς, εἰς αἰῶνα αἰῶνος , be taken as a vocative. Now, since before everything else God's throne is eternal (Psa 10:16; Lam 5:19), and a love of righteousness and a hatred of evil is also found elsewhere as a description of divine holiness (Psa 5:5; Psa 61:8), אלהים would be obliged to be regarded as addressed to God, if language addressed to the king did not follow with על־כּן . But might אלהים by any possibility be even addressed to the king who is here celebrated? It is certainly true that the custom with the Elohim-Psalms of using Elohim as of equal dignity with Jahve is not favourable to this supposition; but the following surpassing of the אלהים by אלהים אלהיך renders it possible. And since elsewhere earthly authorities are also called אלהים , Exo 21:6; Exo 22:7., Psa 82:1-8, cf. Psa 138:1, because they are God's representatives and the bearers of His image upon earth, so the king who is celebrated in this Psalm may be all the more readily styled Elohim , when in his heavenly beauty, his irresistible doxa or glory, and his divine holiness, he seems to the psalmist to be the perfected realization of the close relationship in which God has set David and his seed to Himself. He calls him אלהים , just as Isaiah calls the exalted royal child whom he exultingly salutes in Psa 9:1-6, אל־גּבּור . He gives him this name, because in the transparent exterior of his fair humanity he sees the glory and holiness of God as having attained a salutary of merciful conspicuousness among men. At the same time, however, he guards this calling of the king by the name Elohim against being misapprehended by immediately distinguishing the God, who stands above him, from the divine king by the words "Elohim, thy God,"which, in the Korahitic Psalms, and in the Elohimic Psalms in general, is equivalent to Jahve, thy God"(Psa 43:4; 48:15; Psa 50:7); and the two words are accordingly united by Munach .

(Note: The view that the Munach is here vicarius Tiphchae anterioris (Dachselt in his Biblia Accentuata ) is erroneous, vid., Accentuationssystem , xviii. §4. It is the conjunctive to אלהיך , which, in Heidenheim and Baer, on the authority of the Codices, has Tiphcha anterior , not Athnach as in the editions heretofore published. The proper place for the Athnach would at first be by שׁשׁון ; but according to Accentuationssystem , xix. §6, it cannot stand there.)

Because the king's sceptre is a "sceptre of uprightness"(cf. Isa 11:4), because he loves righteousness and consequently ( fut. consec. ) hates iniquity, therefore God, his God, has anointed him with the oil of joy (Isa 61:3; cf. on the construction Amo 6:6) above his fellows. What is intended is not the anointing to his office (cf. Psa 89:21 with Act 10:38) as a dedication to a happy and prosperous reign, but that God has poured forth upon him, more especially on this his nuptial day, a superabundant joy, both outwardly and in his spirit, such as He has bestowed upon no other king upon the face of the earth. That he rises high above all those round about him is self-evident; but even among his fellows of royal station, kings like himself, he has no equal. It is a matter of question whether the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 1:8) has taken the first ὁ Θεὸς of the expression ὁ Θεὸς ὁ Θεὸς σου as a vocative. Apollinaris does not seem so to have understood him; for he renders it τοὔνεκά σοι Θεὸς αὐτὸς ἑὴν περίχηευεν ἀλοιφήν χηρίσας τερπωλῆς μετόχηοις παρὰ πάντας ἐλαίῳ , and the Greek expositors also take ὁ Θεὸς here as a nominative.

(Heb.: 45:9-10) The song of that which is lovely here reaches the height towards which it aspires from the beginning. It has portrayed the lovely king as a man, as a hero, and as a divine ruler; now it describes him as a bridegroom on the day of his nuptials. The sequence of the thoughts and of the figures corresponds to the history of the future. When Babylon is fallen, and the hero riding upon a white horse, upon whom is inscribed the name "King of kings and Lord of lords,"shall have smitten the hostile nations with the sword that goeth out of His mouth, there then follows the marriage of the Lamb, for which the way has been prepared by these avenging victories (Rev 19:7.). It is this final ga'mos which the Psalm, as a song of the congregation, when the light was dawning upon the Old Testament church, sees by anticipation, and as it were goes forth to meet it, rejoicing to behold it afar off. The king's garments are so thoroughly scented with costly spices that they seem to be altogether woven out of them. And מנּי out of the ivory palaces enchant him. This מנּי has been taken mostly, according to Isa 59:18 (cf. also Isa 52:6), as a repetition of the מן : "out of ivory palaces, whence they enchant thee."But this repetition serves no special purpose. Although the apocopated plural in ı̂ , instead of ı̂m , is controvertible in Biblical Hebrew (vid., on Psa 22:17; 2Sa 22:44), still there is the venture that in this instance מנּי is equivalent to מנּים , the music of stringed instruments (Psa 150:4); and if in connection with any Psalm at all, surely we may venture in connection with this Psalm, which in other respects has such an Aramaic or North-Palestinian colouring, to acknowledge this apocope, here perhaps chosen on account of the rhythm. In accordance with our historical rendering of the Psalm, by the ivory palaces are meant the magnificent residences of the king, who is the father of the bride. Out of the inner recesses of these halls, inlaid within with ivory and consequently resplendent with the most dazzling whiteness, the bridegroom going to fetch his bride, as he approaches and enters them, is met by the sounds of festive music: viewed in the light of the New Testament, it is that music of citherns or harps which the seer (Rev 14:2) heard like the voice of many waters and of mighty thunder resounding from heaven. The Old Testament poet imagines to himself a royal citadel that in its earthly splendour far surpasses that of David and of Solomon. Thence issues forth the sound of festive music zealous, as it were, to bid its welcome to the exalted king.

Even the daughters of kings are among his precious ones. יקר is the name for that which is costly, and is highly prized and loved for its costliness (Pro 6:26). The form בּיקּרותיך resembles the form ליקּהת , Pro 30:17, in the appearance of the i and supplanting the Sheba mobile , and also in the Dag. dirimens in the ק (cf. עקּבי , Gen 49:17; מקּדשׁ , Exo 15:17).

(Note: It is the reading of Ben-Naphtali that has here, as an exception, become the receptus ; whereas Ben-Asher reads בּיקּרותיך . Saadia, Rashi, Simson ha-Nakdan and others, who derive the word from בּקּר (to visit, wait on), follow the receptus , comparing משׁיסּה , Isa 42:24, in support of the form of writing. Also in ליקּהת , Pro 30:17; ויללת , Jer 25:36; כּיתרון , Ecc 2:13, the otherwise rejected orthography of Ben-Naphtali (who pointed ויחלּוּ , Job 29:21, לישׂראל , ויתּן , and the like) is retained, as quite an exception, in the textus receptus . Vide S. D. Luzzatto, Prolegomeni , §cxcix., and Grammatica della Lingua Ebraica , §193.)

Now, however, he has chosen for himself his own proper wife, who is here called by a name commonly used of Chaldaean and Persian queens, and, as it seems (cf. on Jdg 5:30), a North-Palestinian name, שׁגל ,

(Note: Bar-Ali says that in Babylonia Venus is called ודלפת שגל , vid., Lagarde, Gesammelte Abhandl . S. 17. Windischmann ( Zoroastrische Studien , S. 161) erroneously compares ćagar (pronounced tshagar ) as a name of one of the two wives of Zarathustra; but it happens that this is not the name of the wife who holds the first rank (Neo-Persic padishāh -zen ), but of the second ( ćakir -zen , bond-woman).)

instead of גּבירה . From the fact that, glittering with gold of Ophir, she has taken the place of honour at the right hand of the king ( נצּבה , 3rd praet ., not part .), it is evident that her relationship to the king is at this time just in the act of being completed. Who are those daughters of kings and who is this queen standing in closest relationship to the king? The former are the heathen nations converted to Christ, and the latter is the Israel which is remarried to God in Christ, after the fulness of the heathen is come in. It is only when Israel is won to Him, after the fulness of the heathen is come in (Rom 11:25), that the morning of the great day will dawn, which this Psalm as a song of the church celebrates. בּנות מלכים cannot certainly, like בּת־צר , be a personificative designation of heathen kingdoms, although שׁגל is the believing Israel conceived of as one person. It is actually kings' daughters as the representatives of their nations that are intended; and the relation of things is just the same here as in Isa 49:23, where, of the Israelitish church of the future, it is predicted that kings shall be its foster-fathers and their princesses its nursing-mothers.

(Heb.: 45:11-13) The poet next turns to address the one bride of the king, who is now honoured far above the kings' daughters. With שׁמעי he implores for himself a hearing; by ראי yb ;gni he directs her eye towards the new relationship into which she is just entering; by הטּי אזנך he bespeaks her attention to the exhortation that follows; by בּת he puts himself in a position in relation to her similar to that which the teacher and preacher occupies who addresses the bridal pair at the altar. She is to forget her people and her father's house, to sever her natural, inherited, and customary relationships of life, both as regards outward form and inward affections; and should the king desire her beauty, to which he has a right, - for he, as being her husband (1Pe 3:6), and more especially as being king, is her lord, - she is to show towards him her profoundest, reverent devotion. ויתאו is a hypothetical protasis according to Ges. §128, 2, c . The reward of this willing submission is the universal homage of the nations. It cannot be denied on the ground of syntax that וּבת־צר admits of being rendered "and O daughter of Tyre"(Hitzig), - a rendering which would also give additional support to our historical interpretation of the Psalm, - although, apart from the one insecure passage, Jer 20:12 (Ew. §340, c ), there is no instance to be found in which a vocative with ו occurs (Pro 8:5; Joe 2:23; Isa 44:21), when another vocative has not already preceded it. But to what purpose would be, in this particular instance, this apostrophe with the words בּת־צר , from which it looks as though she were indebted to her ancestral house, and not to the king whose own she is become, for the acts of homage which are prospectively set before her? Such, however, is not the case; "daughter of Tyre"is a subject-notion, which can all the more readily be followed by the predicate in the plural, since it stands first almost like a nomin. absol. The daughter, i.e., the population of Tyre - approaching with presents shall they court (lit., stroke) thy face, i.e., meeting thee bringing love, they shall seek to propitiate thy love towards themselves. ( פּני ) חלּה corresponds to the Latin mulcere in the sense of delenire ; for חלה , Arab. ḥlâ (root חל , whence חלל , Arab. ḥll , solvit, laxavit ), means properly to be soft and tender, of taste to be sweet (in another direction: to be lax, weak, sick); the Piel consequently means to soften, conciliate, to make gentle that which is austere. Tyre, however, is named only by way of example; עשׁירי עם is not an apposition, but a continuation of the subject: not only Tyre, but in general those who are the richest among each separate people or nation. Just as אביוני אדם (Isa 29:19) are the poorest of mankind, so עשׁירי עם are the richest among the peoples of the earth.

As regards the meaning which the congregation or church has to assign to the whole passage, the correct paraphrase of the words "and forget thy people"is to be found even in the Targum: "Forget the evil deeds of the ungodly among thy people, and the house of the idols which thou hast served in the house of thy father."It is not indeed the hardened mass of Israel which enters into such a loving relationship to God and to His Christ, but, as prophecy from Deut. 32 onward declares, a remnant thoroughly purged by desolating and sifting judgments and rescued, which, in order to belong wholly to Christ, and to become the holy seed of a better future (Isa 6:13), must cut asunder all bonds of connection with the stiff-neckedly unbelieving people and paternal house, and in like manner to Abram secede from them. This church of the future is fair; for she is expiated (Deu 32:43), washed (Isa 4:4), and adorned (Isa 61:3) by her God. And if she does homage to Him, without looking back, He not only remains her own, but in Him everything that is glorious belonging to the world also becomes her own. Highly honoured by the King of kings, she is the queen among the daughters of kings, to whom Tyre and the richest among peoples of every order are zealous to express their loving and joyful recognition. Very similar language to that used here of the favoured church of the Messiah is used in Psa 72:10. of the Messiah Himself.

(Heb.: 45:14-16) Now follows the description of the manner in which she absolutely leaves her father's house, and richly adorned and with a numerous train is led to the king and makes her entry into his palace; and in connection therewith we must bear in mind that the poet combines on the canvas of one picture (so to speak) things that lie wide apart both as to time and place. He sees her first of all in her own chamber ( פּנימה , prop. towards the inside, then also in the inside, Ges. §90, 2, b ), and how there

(Note: In Babylonia these words, according to B. Jebamoth 77 a , are cited in favour of domesticity as a female virtue; in Palestine ( במערבא ), more appropriately, Gen 18:9. The lxx Codd. Vat. et Sinait. has Ἐσεβών (Eusebius), which is meaningless; Cod. Alex. correctly, ἔσωθεν (Italic, Jerome, Syriac, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Apollinaris).)

she is nothing but splendour ( כּל־כּבוּדּה , prop. mere splendour, fem. of כבוד as in Eze 23:41; cf. כּל־הבל , Psa 39:6, mere nothingness), her clothing is gold-interwoven textures (i.e., such as are interwoven with threads of gold, or woven in squares or diamond patterns and adorned with gold in addition). She, just like Esther (Est 2:12), is being led to the king, her husband, and this takes place לרקמות , in variegated, embroidered garments ( ל used just as adverbially as in 2Ch 20:21, להדרת ), with a retinue of virgins, her companions, who at the same time with herself become the property of her spouse. According to the accents it is to be rendered: virgines post eam, sociae ejus, adducuntur tibi , so that רעותיה is an apposition. This is also in harmony with the allegorical interpretation of the Psalm as a song of the church. The bride of the Lamb, whom the writer of the Apocalypse beheld, arrayed in shining white linen ( byssus ), which denotes her righteousness, just as here the variegated, golden garments denote her glory, is not just one person nor even one church, but the church of Israel together with the churches of the Gentiles united by one common faith, which have taken a hearty and active part in the restoration of the daughter of Zion. The procession moves on with joy and rejoicing; it is the march of honour of the one chosen one and of the many chosen together with her, of her friends or companions; and to what purpose, is shown by the hopes which to the mind of the poet spring up out of the contemplation of this scene.

(Heb.: 45:17-18) All this has its first and most natural meaning in relation to contemporary history but without being at variance with the reference of the Psalm to the King Messiah, as used by the church. Just as the kings of Judah and of Israel allowed their sons to share in their dominion (2Sa 8:18; 1Ki 4:7, cf. 2Ch 11:23; 1Ki 20:15), so out of the loving relationship of the daughter of Zion and of the virgins of her train to the King Messiah there spring up children, to whom the regal glory of the house of David which culminates in Him is transferred, - a royal race among which He divides the dominion of the earth (vid., Psa 149:1-9); for He makes His own people "kings and priests, and they shall reign on the earth"(Rev 5:10). Those children are to be understood here which, according to Psa 110:1-7, are born to Him as the dew out of the womb of the morning's dawn - the every-youthful nation, by which He conquers and rules the world. When, therefore, the poet says that he will remember the name of the king throughout all generations, this is based upon the twofold assumption, that he regards himself as a member of an imperishable church (Sir. 37:25), and that he regards the king as a person worthy to be praised by the church of every age. Elsewhere Jahve's praise is called a praise that lives through all generations (Psa 102:13; Psa 135:13); here the king is the object of the everlasting praise of the church, and, beginning with the church, of the nations also. First of all Israel, whom the psalmist represents, is called upon to declare with praise the name of the Messiah from generation to generation. But it does not rest with Israel alone. The nations are thereby roused up to do the same thing. The end of the covenant history is that Israel and the nations together praise this love-worthy, heroic, and divine King: "His name shall endure for ever; as long as the sun shall His name bud, and all nations shall be blessed in Him (and) shall praise Him"(Psa 72:17).

II. Book 2: chs. 42--72

In Book 1 we saw that all the psalms except 1, 2, 10, and 33 claimed David as their writer. It is likely that he wrote these four as well even though they do not bear his name. In Book 2 the titles identify David as the writer of 18 psalms (Pss. 51-65, 68-70). He may have written those bearing the notation, "of the sons of Korah" (Pss. 42, 44-49). The sons of Korah (cf. Num. 26:10-11) were musicians (1 Chron. 6:31-48). Some scholars believe David wrote these psalms for them to perform. Others believe the sons of Korah composed them. I think this is a less likely possibility because of the similarity between the content of these psalms and the ones David wrote. Asaph wrote Psalm 50, and Solomon composed Psalm 72. Psalms 43, 66, 67, and 71 are anonymous.

Psalm 45

This royal psalm glorified the king as he prepared for his wedding. The writer related the counsel that the bride had received as she anticipated the wedding. He then predicted that people would honor the king forever because of the descendents born to him. The psalmist appears also to have spoken prophetically of Christ (cf. Eph. 5:32-33).⁹⁹

"Psalm 45 is another example of a royal psalm which reflects the historical situation of ancient Israel, but which ultimately applies to Christ in that He is the one through whom the primary aspects of its idealistic portrayal of the Davidic ruler are fully realized."¹⁰⁰

"Shoshannim" in the title means "lilies." This may have been a hymn tune. We do not know the meaning of "Maskil." "A song of love" (lit., NASB) probably means "a wedding song" (NIV).

1. Praise for the bridegroom 45:1-9

45:1 The psalmist claimed to be full of joy and inspiration as he composed this song. He said what he did out of a full heart.

45:2 To him the king was the greatest man he knew. One evidence of this was his gracious speech for which God had poured out His blessing on the king.

45:3-5 The writer called on his king to champion the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness. He encouraged him to pursue the enemies of justice and to defeat them. He was confident that with the weapons or righteousness the king would gain many victories.

45:6-7 The writer addressed his human king as "God" (Elohim). He did not mean that the king was God but that he stood in the place of God and represented Him.¹⁰¹ This is an extravagant expression of praise for the king. God had blessed this king because he had represented the Lord faithfully by ruling as Yahweh does. God had given the king a double anointing, the writer affirmed. He had made him king and he had blessed him with great joy as king.

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews used these verses to point out the superiority of the Son of God to the angels (Heb. 1:5, 7). He also used them to argue for the exaltation and righteous rule of Jesus Christ (Heb. 1:8-9). He viewed these verses as prophetic of the eternal rule of David's greatest Son (cf. v. 6). What the writer of the psalm said of his king will happen when Jesus Christ returns to earth and sets up His kingdom that will endure forever.

45:8-9 The king's wedding garments were fragrant with good smelling spices. Perfumers made myrrh out of a gum that a certain kind of Arabian tree secreted (cf. Prov. 7:17; Song of Sol. 1:13). Aloes apparently came from a good smelling wood (cf. Num. 24:6; Prov. 7:17; Song of Sol. 4:14). Ancient oriental monarchs decorated their palaces with ivory, and the amount of it they displayed represented their wealth and glory (cf. 1 Kings 10:18; 22:39; Amos 3:15; 6:4). Kings' daughters were among the most prestigious attendants in weddings. The ancients considered gold from Ophir, probably situated in Arabia, to be the best (cf. 1 Kings 9:28; 10:11; 22:48). The total picture of this wedding ceremony is one of extreme elegance and beauty fitting for such a good king.

2. Advice for the bride 45:10-15

45:10-11 The psalmist gave some good advice to the bride. She would be wise to make her husband her primary object of affection (cf. Gen. 2:24). This would make her even more attractive to him. She should also honor him because he was now her authority (cf. Gen. 2:18).

45:12 If she followed this advice, she would enjoy the love and respect of other powerful people. Tyre was a Phoenician seaport. The Phoenicians were world travelers and traders. A gift from the daughter of the king of Tyre would therefore be very desirable. Other powerful people would also court the bride's favor if she glorified her worthy husband.

45:13-15 The bride was the daughter of a king herself. In these verses the psalmist pictured her coming into the palace for her marriage to her husband.

3. Benediction on the couple 45:16-17

The memory of the king's ancestors would pale in comparison with that of his descendents. The king's sons would become famous princes who would occupy positions of authority far and wide because of the king's righteous rule. He would also enjoy a lasting reputation and the eternal gratitude of his subjects.

"There can be little doubt that this psalm was in the mind of John as he wrote Revelation 19:6-21. As he looked forward to the marriage of Christ, the Lamb, in heaven, he recalled how the bride clothed herself with acts of righteousness in preparation for Him (Rev. 19:6-8). Then John described the royal groom going forth to battle in righteousness (Rev. 19:11-21). Psalm 45, then, is typological of the greater Davidic King, Jesus Christ."¹⁰²

Believers should rejoice in our glorious King who will one day experience full union with His bride, the church (Eph. 5:23-32). He is worthy of our praise because He is completely true, humble, and righteous. We should also submit to His authority in view of who He is. We can look forward with great anticipation to our union with Him and our glorious future with Him from then on. His kingdom will endure forever, and everyone will honor His name throughout eternity.

A man can no more possess a private religion than he can possess a private sun and moon. G. K. CHESTERTON