Psalm 45:10-17

Psalm 45:10-17 (NRSV)

¹⁰ Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear;

forget your people and your father’s house,

¹¹      and the king will desire your beauty.

Since he is your lord, bow to him;

¹²      the people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts,

the richest of the people¹³ with all kinds of wealth. 

The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes;

¹⁴      in many-colored robes she is led to the king;

behind her the virgins, her companions, follow.

¹⁵ With joy and gladness they are led along

as they enter the palace of the king. 

¹⁶ In the place of ancestors you, O king, shall have sons;

you will make them princes in all the earth.

¹⁷ I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations;

therefore the peoples will praise you forever and ever.

 

            Psalm 45 is a royal wedding psalm, an occasion for which neither Christians nor Jews would have frequent recourse, with non-royal American Christians having even less. The psalm is the only example of a profane lyric in the Psalter. The occasion is the marriage of a young king to a woman of Tyre. One might think of Ahab, especially considering his youth in his marriage to Jezebel, who was from Tyre. Others have suggested Jehu, Jeroboam II, Solomon, and Jehoram of Judah. The psalm breathes the spirit of the festive joy of the wedding ceremony.  It shares with other royal psalms an affirmation of the might and justice of the king and concludes by saying the nations shall praise him. I should note that early church saw bride-bridegroom similar to Christ-Church.

The superscription reads, To the leader: according to Lilies, a term applied in the Song of Songs in an erotic context. Of the Korahites. A Maskil. A love song.

Psalm 45: 10-15, we have the exhortation to the queen to obey her husband, describe her wardrobe, procession, and attendants.  Verses 10-11 are a call to the queen to forget her past, especially her people and her father's house, so that she would give herself totally to the king. The poet gives comfort in that the loss of home is compensated for by loyalty of new subjects. ¹⁰ Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; forget your people and your father’s house, ¹¹and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him.In the ancient Near East, wives were subservient to their husbands, and abandoned the practices and religion of their birth family for those of their husbands. Even queens must do so. Given the value of equality in our age, the clearly subservient role of the princess to her king would offend most contemporary readers. The poet continues with a description of the wedding ceremony. ¹² The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts, (or “O Tyrian lass,” referring to part of the wedding party, though not necessarily the bride) the richest of the people ¹³ with all kinds of wealth. Note the homage of the non-Jewish peoples, promised for the messianic times. Jezebel also came from Tyre. The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes; ¹⁴in many-colored robes she is led to the king; behind her the virgins, her companions, follow. ¹⁵ With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king.

Psalm 45: 16-17 contain a blessing upon the king. ¹⁶ In the place of ancestors you, O king, shall have sons; you will make them princes in all the earth. As a benediction, the theme of children helps tie the bride to her new home.  ¹⁷ I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations; therefore, the peoples will praise you forever and ever. A remarkable conclusion, where the king is praised in language typically reserved for God, although Psalm 72 offers a similar conclusion.