a few thoughts on Psalm 45

Psalm 45

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.

Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.

Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.

Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him. And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour. The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace. Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.

I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.


A few thoughts about this psalm.

I don't know about you but I occasionally find that as I read a psalm my heart will leap, it will warm to the truth of it and yet the closer I look at the words the more I realize I have only skimmed the surface of the depths of its meaning. The more I look at it, even though I may have some understanding of it, I realize there is way more in it that I do not understand. I do not consider this a bad thing, no, but rather the fact that I do not understand causes me to hunger and thirst for more of Him who is being written about, more of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, more of the Lamb of God, more of the Door, the Great Shepherd of the sheep. This is one of those psalms, the psalmist in Psalm 45 expresses his deep love for the King.

His heart is overflowing, it is gushing forth with love for His king. It is from the heart, from the depths of his soul that he expresses himself. It is not cold, it is not formal, nor lifeless, nor academic stuff he is sharing with us. It is fire, it is zeal, it is hot love for a person that he expresses to the reader. We know now, from Hebrews chapter one (compare Ps 45:6-7 with Heb 1:8-9) that the psalmist is writing about the Christ, the Messiah, he is speaking of Jesus.He is speaking of Him in His kingly glory!

Look at his description; he tells us that He is more beautiful than the children of men, He is full of grace. In contrast to man; there is no sin in Him, no unrighteousness at all, no guilt. There is no hypocrisy, no lies, no half truths. He is light and in Him is no darkness at all. The psalmist shows us that He is the General, ready to go forth into battle; all powerful, all glorious, able to subdue all enemies with the words of His mouth. He strikes down the enemies at their hearts. At the cross our Lord crushed the head of Satan, He overcame the world and flesh and destroyed death.

Who did He do this for? who did He accomplish this for? In verse nine and following I think we see, it is for His people, daughters they are called. The psalmist commands us in verse 10 to

"Hearken O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear!

I believe this is written in the same spirit and with the same emphasis as Matthew 17:5 where God the Father charges us;

"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, HEAR YE Him!"

Oh daughters, look to your King, oh sinners look to the Savior. All the beauty the daughters need is found in the King. All the righteousness that God requires is found in His dear Son.

The psalmist, in verse 10, also tells the daughters to;

"forget also thine own people, and thy father's house".

In other words, leave this world and forsake it! The apostle John wrote "Love not the world", Paul said; "but God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."

I love the psalmist description of the king's daughter; check it out in verses 13-14;

"she is all glorious within, her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework....with gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought; they shall enter into the King's palace."

I think I hear the apostle Paul say that: "we (who are in Christ) should be holy and without blame before Him in love". In another place Paul wrote; "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight".

Another thing I must point out to you is how we arrive; we will not come as robots, not as cold, formal subjects. No, the daughters will be brought to the King, brought into His palace in gladness and joy! We shall come willingly with hearts full of love for Him who first loved us, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power". By His Spirit and by His grace we shall hear Him, we shall believe Him, we will rejoice in Him, and we will worship Him!

If I may close with this final thought from Peter:

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."