Psalm 45

To the choirmaster; according to Lilies. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah; a love song.

1 My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.

What an abrupt change from the previous psalm! The nation was being slaughtered like sheep, without cause and with no end in sight. What they needed was a mighty king to lead them in battle and restore their wealth. Such a king is described in this psalm, and while the psalm was likely composed for Solomon or one of the other Davidic kings for the occasion of a royal wedding, we can’t help but see Jesus in it, the one who is “greater than Solomon”. In the previous psalm, the writer’s heart was crushed by the injustice of his situation and the absolute suffering of his people, but here his heart overflows with a pleasing theme. He’d much rather right about good news than bad, and this is great news. This is the ideal king, and now on his wedding day he will unite with a beautiful bride and together they will create a dynasty of great leaders to guide the country forever. Weddings give us the occasion to speak in hyperbole and wax eloquent, and so the writer here eagerly anticipates his task. He addresses his verses to the king. This psalm is not a prayer to God or even a hymn of praise to God. It is a song of praise to a king, a human king, and so we might wonder what it is doing in the Sepher Tehillim, the “Book of Praises”. In the ancient world, the king was God’s agent and representative on earth. God’s rule was accomplished through this human agent and the glory of the king was a reflection of the glory of God. So to honor the king was to honor God. This is also something of a prayer of blessing on behalf of the king -- the kind of thing that we still do today at inaugurations and more generally at weddings. There is hyperbole for sure as we think about Solomon and other kings with feet of clay, but hyperbole becomes reality in Jesus, the ultimate fulfillment of this song of praise to the Anointed One and his bride. 

2 You are the most handsome of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.

The wedding (or love) song begins with praise for the groom. First, he is the most handsome among the sons of men. Everyone looks good on their wedding day -- clothed in their best, every hair in place, smelling like a rose. Even the homeliest guy can look charming (or charmed) on their wedding day. They are all smiles and laughter comes easily. Second, he is eloquent as if grace had been poured upon his lips. He gives the best speeches, his toasts are perfection, and he always has the right thing to whisper to his bride to make her giggle. Therefore, God has blessed him forever. This is of course hyperbole for the king -- no human will ever match the descriptions provided here, and it’s clear from the use of this psalm by the writer of Hebrews, that this king is representative of Jesus. The irony is that Isaiah says that in his moment of greatest love and self sacrifice, the messiah had nothing physically attractive that would draw us to him. He was despised and rejected by men. His words were beautiful, but largely ignored by the masses that day. I’m trying to envision a wedding day that has transformed to a crucifixion, for it is in the crucifixion that Jesus’ love for his bride is magnified the most. The great crusader hymn, “Fairest Lord Jesus” comes to mind with its dramatic praise for the beauty of our savior. Jesus is not our prince charming in the Disney sense, but he is the one who rescued the damsel in distress and for that we will forever seek to gaze on his beautiful face. The depictions of Jesus throughout history (in my opinion) haven’t made him the most handsome of men, but they haven’t made him ugly as well. Are there depictions of Jesus that are just plain ugly? There are some that certainly are gruesome (The Passion of the Christ comes to mind) but none where he is homely. The artistic images typically strike me as being ordinary -- neither Adonis nor Quasimodo. What makes Jesus most attractive of course is what he says and does, not the appearance of his face or body. Like a statement from one of Jane Austen’s novels, “He is not unattractive.” It is his character that draws us to him. And so we begin our song of praise to the king by stating our attractiveness to him, the most handsome among men. 

3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and majesty!

4 In your majesty ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness; let your right hand teach you awesome deeds!

He is handsome, he is eloquent, and he is a powerful leader in battle. The writer envisions the king putting on his sword and riding out of the city, leading his troops out to defend the nation. The terms splendor and majesty evoke the spectacle and exhibition of power before the enemy. But what strikes me most in these verses is the cause for which the king is riding forth. It is not to conquer nations and extend his rule. It is not even to defend against an invader. He is riding for the cause of truth, meekness and righteousness. This is going to be demonstrated by the awesome deeds of his right hand. I can’t think of many leaders in the ancient world, or the present for that matter, that can make such a claim. Truth to a politician is something that can be manipulated, as Pilate famously said, “What is truth?” There is great irony in the fact that while knowledge is ours in abundance in this age of Google, truth is in short supply. Google a question and you might get a dozen different answers, but which one is true? According to logic, truth is that which corresponds to reality. Truth = reality, the way things really are. If you base your life on anything else, you will fall. It is as inevitable as the law of gravity. Meekness is perhaps best understood as gentleness and humility. The king works for the good of others, not himself. His subjects and his future subject’s best interest are at the forefront of his mind (How many leaders does this describe?) Righteousness can also be translated as justice depending on the context, but it is essentially “doing what is right”. Doing what is right creates a just world. 

It’s easy to hold this template of truth, meekness, and righteousness up to our leaders and see that they fall short. But what if you hold it up to yourself? Each of us are leaders. There are people coming behind us who look to our example. Our children, our students, our co-workers -- they will follow someone who exhibits this trinity of character -- truth, meekness, and righteousness. Does this describe you? As we follow our leader Jesus, we should be conformed to his likeness. 

5 Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; the peoples fall under you.

We move from the march to battle to the battle itself. The king’s arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies. They are kill shots, quick and lethal. Entire armies retreat before his advance. It is the image of overwhelming force where the outcome of the battle is all but certain before it begins. It’s not too difficult to see the rider on the horse in Revelation 19, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, portrayed in this ancient wedding song. No matter what your world looks like right now, this one thing is certain, this world will end with the unequivocal victory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every foe will be vanquished and those who are with him will experience the joy of peace that follows. Our foes are not our fellow human beings, even though they may attack our faith and our Lord and even our own lives. Every day in this world our brothers and sisters in Christ fall before our Enemy, the Accuser, at the hands of those who are currently doing his bidding. But make no mistake, they are not the enemy. They are victims of the enemy. This text is not calling us to march in a crusade, a holy war to annihilate the infidel. It is calling us to follow our leader in proclaiming and embodying truth, meekness, and righteousness. These will be arrows to the heart of our enemies. Evil cannot stand before good. Pride cannot stand before meekness. Lies cannot stand before truth. This is how we win. This is how Jesus won.

6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;

7 you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;

The description of the anointed king moves from the battlefield to the throne room where the king makes decisions and executes justice. His scepter, which represents his rule, is a scepter of righteousness. He does what is right, and his judgments are right. He has demonstrated a life of loving what is good and hating what is evil. This has shaped his conscience and his worldview. Because of his steadiness in what is good and right, God has anointed him above his companions, and He is glad to do so. The king is addressed as “God” here, and while it might seem surprising, it is not unusual. This terminology is used elsewhere in the psalms and in other ancient cultures. In addition, the Hebrew word elohim is elsewhere translated in the psalms as “mighty ones”, probably referring to angels, so the term is not reserved for God alone. However, it takes on greater significance when the writer of Hebrews identifies Jesus as the one greater than the angels, the one whom God calls his son. This is the key verse that connects this psalm to Jesus. The writer of Hebrews quotes this as if it were about Jesus, so that tells us how he and the early church understood Jesus as the fulfillment of this psalm and all of the Old Testament. While this psalm is primarily about Jesus, there are lessons about leadership we can learn from it. Loving the good and hating the evil is a pretty good way to live your life and a pretty good way to lead others. The line between good and evil is always presented as quite clear in the scriptures, but in life, it is easily blurred, just as the Tempter blurred it in the garden. Be a person who loves what is good and turns away from what is evil. Doing so will strengthen your conscience, your will, and your relationship with God. 

8 your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;

9 daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

The wedding of the king was an experience of sensory overload. The sense of smell is one of the most powerful receptors for engaging activity (hunger, sex) as well as storing things in memory. The smell of myrrh, aloe, and cassia filled the room on this special occasion. Ivory palaces suggests an over the top opulence. Ivory came from wild animals that must be hunted, killed and processed, their ivory tusks carved into works of art. This is not something you saw every day, but only in a king’s palace. On top of this visual display of splendor were the sounds of live stringed music filling the space. One couldn’t help but smile at this sensory feast. Then the attention turned to the wedding party. The bridesmaids come from all over the world, dressed in their finest clothing, representing their culture, and jewelry from gems that had been painstakingly mined and arranged in gold settings. And then at the right hand of the king stood the queen, his bride, clothed in gold of Ophir. She stood out from among all the others in beauty and attire. Just like a modern wedding, no one outshines the bride. She has special garments, jewelry, hairstyle, and make-up. You know that she is the center of the affair. As handsome as the king may be, no one can take their eyes off the bride, and neither can the groom. When I go to weddings whenever the bride comes down the aisle, I like to look at the groom -- to see his expression when he sees her for the first time in her wedding gown. I remember my own wedding day and the joy of that moment. This is how Jesus sees the church. As imperfect as she may be, she is his bride, and he can’t take his eyes off of her. She stands at his right hand, ready to serve with him, follow his leadership, and enjoy a relationship with him. If this is how Jesus feels about his church, shouldn’t we as well? If he can love her so extravagantly, can’t we?

10 Hear, O daughter, and 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.

The poet offers wisdom to the bride at this point. “Lean in and listen,” he says. First, forget your people and your father’s house. Of course he doesn’t mean this literally. One can’t forget their parents or the community from which they’ve come. Rather, he is telling the bride that from this day forward she will have a new identity. She is a Mrs. and she will share the name, the home, and the reputation of her husband. This new relationship takes precedence over the previous relationships. Family and nation of origin are important because those cultures form us, but there is a relationship that supersedes it, that is our relationship to our husband and our new family, the church. Jesus will echo this in his instruction to “hate” father, mother, brother, and sister in comparison to the disciple’s devotion to him. These days, there is quite a bit of attention paid to the color of your skin as if it were the most important thing about you. Some will choose to ground their identity in their skin color, but the follower of Jesus has something better. Our identity is grounded in our relationship to him. We bear his name, “Christian”, and we have made a covenant with him, dying to ourselves, crucified with him. He is our identity, and this identity transcends all others -- family of origin, race, citizenship, you name it. Furthermore, the poet tells the bride that her husband will desire her beauty. I’m a husband, so I get this completely. I know what it is to desire my wife. So strong is that desire that it can lead me to do some silly things. Jesus’ desire for us led him to do some surprising things, like rescue us from the brothel where we were living, like exchange his life for ours, like enter into our suffering. What woman who is loved in such a way would not want to follow his last piece of advice, “since he is your lord [husband, master], bow to him.” This is echoed in Ephesians 5 where Paul implores husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church and challenges wives to submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ. The church bows her knee to no one but to her lord -- not to the state, not to the culture, not to the mob. We are ultimately accountable to our husband Jesus. So claim your identity as his and serve at his side in this world. 

12 The people [Hebrew daughter] of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts, the richest of the people. [The daughter of Tyre is here with gifts, the richest of people seek your favor]

This verse speaks to the influence of the king on the nations. The example of Tyre demonstrates that the wealth of the nations will come to the king. Tyre was a major seaport north of Israel (modern Lebanon), and was known for its wealth and it’s timber. They had a trading relationship with Israel to the advantage of both countries. This type of relationship is an indicator of the wealth of Israel as well, that they could afford to import lumber and other materials for the construction of the temple. What this suggests about the messiah Jesus is that he is a universal king, that the cultural wealth of the nations will come to him. The church will be filled with people from all the nations, each with their own cultural goods to offer in worship. This is certainly true of the church worldwide today. Through the intentional work of missionaries and the sharing of the gospel by Christians who moved throughout the world, the gospel spread and was embraced by the nations. While only one short verse, it is a reminder of the universal reign of Jesus. He is not merely a king of the Jews or of the Americans. Our allegiance to him is greater than our allegiance to the country. This verse also suggests that each culture brings its offering, its cultural goods to bring honor to the king. While this is true on a global scale, on a personal level, I should ask what gifts am I bringing to honor the king? As Americans we are among the richest people in the world, so what gifts are we bringing to the king? How much of our wealth are we spending on our own comforts and entertainment? One of the ways we honor Jesus is by sharing our wealth with others. It’s where our words of worship can be demonstrated with action. 

13 All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.

14  In many-colored robes she is led to the king, with her virgin companions following behind her.

15 With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king.

The attention shifts fully to the bride. She is all glorious with the finest of clothing. With multi-colored robes, she is led to the king with her entourage. There is excitement and anticipation of their future together and the family they will create. She imagines the pleasure of being with her lover and the promise of creating life from their union. Perhaps she already has in her mind a table full of children, bringing laughter and happiness into their home. Perhaps she can even see far enough ahead to see her children with their children, around the table in gratitude. What else makes a bride joyful? The knowledge that she will not be alone, that she will have someone to protect her, that she will never know want because she will have a partner to work with and share with. The text is euphemistically describing the honeymoon bed, the  happiest day of their lives to this point, the beginning of a new family. For the believer in Jesus this may be likened to the day of union with him, when made one with Jesus in baptism, you emerged to a new life, a new identity, a new husband. For the church, this is the day of Pentecost, a day of joy and celebrate as God’s kingdom began to come to the earth. Recall those early days of your faith, the fearlessness with which you followed him, the faith in which you walked, daring to believe and do the impossible simply because he said, “Surely I am with you”. If the marriage has grown stale and old, remember your wedding today, your honeymoon, these early days of your relationship where there was nothing but possibility. He is the same groom who loves you with a fierceness you’ll never match. Like a couple renewing their vows on their 50th, there is value in remembering, reflecting, and recommitting yourself to the love of your life. 

16 In place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth.

17 I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.

Following the honeymoon there is the promise of children. The poet predicts that generations of rulers will follow, not just in Israel but in all the earth. The king’s fame will be so great that he will be remembered in all generations (length of influence) and will be celebrated among the nations (breadth of influence). This is hyperbole of course because David, Solomon and the kings that followed would not enjoy that kind of world influence directly, although one of the descendants would. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of this promise quite literally, even down to the “you shall make them princes in all the earth.” In the church, Ephesians 1 tells us that we are sons and daughters of the king, we reign with him in the heavenly realms. C.S. Lewis draws on this truth in his depiction of the children in Chronicles of Narnia. Jesus states this as well in speaking of himself as “one greater than Solomon”. This union of Christ and his bride, Jesus and his church, is the most fruitful union in all of human history. The church now numbers in the billions, the largest trans-national government in the world. This is the relationship that we have the privilege of sharing in -- Christ and his church, fulfilling the cultural mandate to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, ruling and subding, bringing God’s reign to all human endeavors, causing life to flourish, bringing justice and peace. The world needs more of this, not less. Commit yourself to being the faithful, fruitful bride of Christ, bearing children for him throughout the world. This mission may be helped by a cooperative government, but it is not dependent on it. In fact, there are times in history when the church has been more fruitful when it’s not getting help from the government. Investing yourself in the expansion of the kingdom of God is your most important task today. This means investing your time in people and in gospel sharing. What are you doing today to make that happen?