Psalm 45 A Psalm of David with
commentaries by Dennis Edwards
45:1 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.
“Is inditing” should be
translated as “bursting forth,” similar to what Jesus said about the Holy
Spirit. It could read, “My heart is bursting forth with a good matter.” His
heart is bursting forth with things touching or concerning Messiah the King.
Get your pen in hand and get ready to write, because God is going to speak. He
is going to pour forth His word of living waters about the Messiah and His
bride. Jesus said,
John 7:38-39a “He that
believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. (But this spoke He of the (Holy) Spirit, which they that
believe on Him should receive).
To the woman at the well He
said,
John 4:14 “But
whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the
water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting life.”
In the Old Testament, the
Lord Jehovah is “the fountain of living waters,” Jeremiah 17:13. The
Lord said, “For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the
fountain of living waters, and have hewed out cisterns, broken cisterns, that
can hold no water,” Jeremiah 2:13.
The writer of the psalm, who
most expositors believe was David, is bursting forth prophetically from the
fountain of living waters within him, to proclaim the glorious marriage of the
King to His bride. We remember that David had been anointed by Samuel and the
Spirit of God came upon him.
1 Samuel 16:13 “Then
Samuel took a horn of oil, and anointed David in the midst of his brethren: and
the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.”
Some 84 times in the Bible we
find the imagery and metaphor of Bridal Theology. The theology consists of God,
in the person of Jesus Christ, being married to His wife, the people of God.
In Psalm 45, we have
an example of Bridal Theology, not the marriage of Solomon, as some propose. The
psalm can only be understood as the marriage of the King of Kings with His
adoring wife, the church of believers, the followers of Christ.
Psalm 45:2 You are
fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into Your lips: therefore, God
has blessed You for ever.
Jesus was fairer than the children of men. Though there was no
physical beauty that we should desire Him, Isaiah 53:2 tells us, and yet
He embodied the perfect spiritual and moral beauty of grace and truth, or mercy
and truth. In Isaiah we read,
Isaiah 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord God
is upon Me; because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the
meek (humble, afflicted, broken); He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that
are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of
vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that
mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they (His followers)
might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might
be gloried.”
Jesus when talking to His disciples compares Himself to a vine,
and His disciples the branches. He said, “I am the vine, you are the branches:
He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for
without Me you can do nothing…Herein is My Father glorified, that you bear much
fruit; so, shall you be My disciples,” John 15:5&8.
We are the planting of the Lord, or the branches of the Lord’s
vine. We are trees of righteousness through Him, Christ in us, the hope of
glory. As a result, we should bring forth fruit, more believers, and God,
therefore, shall be glorified.
Jesus, when He begins His ministry, quotes from the Isaiah scroll
these very verses above. Let us read from the gospel of Luke.
Luke 4:16-22 “And He came to Nazareth,
where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the
synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered
unto Him the book of Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place
where it was written.”
Jesus then read from Isaiah 61:1-2, that we quoted above.
Luke 4:20-22 “And He closed the book, and
He gave it to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in
the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, This day is
this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare witness, and wondered at
the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.”
Earlier, as a child of 12 years, He had been “found sitting in the
midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all
that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers,” Luke
2:46b-47. We, too, cannot deny the beauty and depth of His words. Elsewhere
in Isaiah we read,
Isaiah 11:1-2 “And there shall come forth
a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: and
the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord.”
Jesus was that “Root” that came out of the family of Jesse, who
was the father of David. Jesus’ descendance is traced back to David in both
Matthew and Luke.
Psalm 45:3 Gird Your sword upon Your
thigh, O most mighty, with Your glory and Your majesty.
Did Solomon ride with a sword to maintain his kingdom? No, his
father before him had done so. For that reason, the Lord had told David that he
could not build Him a house, because He had been a man of war. Solomon, as his
name denotes, was a prince of peace. The psalm is not talking of Solomon, but
of King Jesus, the Messiah, the real Prince of Peace, and yet coming as He does
as a man of war in His return for His church and to reap vengeance on those who
refuse to acknowledge Him as such.
Revelation 19:11-16 “And I saw heaven opened,
and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and
True, and in righteousness He does judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame
of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no
man knew, but He Himself. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood:
and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven
followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out
of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and
He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treads the winepress of the
fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His vesture and on His
thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords!”
Jude quotes from the book of Enoch and writes similarly to
Revelation.
Jude 14b-15 “Behold, the Lord comes with
ten thousand of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all
that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly
committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken
against Him.”
It is during the Wrath of God that Jesus returns to judge the
wicked and unbelievers. The church of true believers will be raptured at the
end of the 3 ½ years of great tribulation, just prior to the 75 days of God’s
wrath. To read more on the difference between the Great Tribulation, and the
Wrath of God, follow the following link.
The imagery of the sharp sword coming out of His mouth could
represent God’s word. “For the word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart,” Hebrews 4:12. “And take …the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God,” Ephesians 6:17b.
The phrase, “O most mighty,” also seems to be referencing to the
Messiah. In Isaiah, we find the prophecy showing that Jesus was in fact, “the
mighty God.”
Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is
born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder:
and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The
everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Psalm 45:4 And in Your majesty ride
prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and Your right
hand shall teach You terrible things.
Jesus was He that came in truth, meekness, and righteousness. He
spoke the truth in love encouraging the down-hearted, afflicted, and weak,
while confronting the religious and political hypocrites with His righteous
saying and comportment.
Psalm 45:5 Thine arrows are sharp in
the heart of the King's enemies; whereby the people fall under You.
Isaiah has some terrible imagery of the “day of the Lord,” which
is the Wrath of God.
Isaiah 13:11 “And I will punish the world
for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the
arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the
terrible.”
In Jeremiah we see the same images.
Jeremiah 25:31-33 “A noise shall come even to
the ends of the earth; for the Lord has a controversy with the nations, He will
plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword, says the
Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to
nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even
to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered,
nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.”
Psalm 45:6-7 Your throne, O God, is for
ever and ever: the sceptre of Your kingdom is a right sceptre. You love
righteousness, and hate wickedness: therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
with the oil of gladness above Your fellows.
The author of Hebrews quotes these verses in his defence of Jesus
being the Son of God. Jesus is the express image of the Father, and upholds all
things by the word of His power. It is Jesus who has purged us of our sins and
has sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. See Hebrews 1:1-14.
Psalm 45:8 All Your garments smell of
myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made
You glad.
Interestingly enough, Jesus was presented at His birth with a rich
assortment of gifts being these: “gold, and frankincense, and myrrh,” Matthew
2:11b. Before His death a woman comes and anoints Jesus’ feet with
“spikenard, very costly,” John 12:3. At Jesus’ burial, Joseph of
Arimathea and Nicodemus “brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a
hundred-pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen
clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury,” John
19:39-40. Again, we see confirmation that the psalm is prophetic of Jesus.
Psalm 45:9-11 Kings' daughters were among
Your honourable women: upon Your right hand did stand the queen in gold of
Ophir. Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear; forget also
your own people, and your father's house; So, shall the King greatly desire
your beauty: for He is your Lord; and worship Him.
Jesus is calling His bride to come, to prepare herself for the
wedding supper of the Lamb. In the book of Revelation, before the King returns
in judgment during the Wrath of God, we see that His wife has been raptured
into the heavenlies after the tribulation of those days, Matthew 24:29-31.
Her love and obedience to Christ have been her preparation for the marriage
feast.
Revelation 19:6-9 “And I heard as it were the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice
of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigns.
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the
Lamb is come, and His wife (the believing and obeying church) has made herself
ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he said unto
me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And he said unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”
Some other examples of Bridal Theology found in Jesus’ teachings
are Matthew 25:1-13, and Matthew 22:1-14. Apostle Paul, also,
touches on it in Ephesians 5:22-33.
Psalm 45:12-15 [DM1] And the
daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people
shall intreat your 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
You. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into
the King's palace.
The Bridal Theology continues and we see the Bride with her
virgins coming into the presence of the King. In Revelation we see that those
that follow Jesus whithersoever He goes are called “virgins.”
Revelation 14:1-5 “And I
looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty
and four thousand, having His Father's name written in their foreheads. And I
heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a
great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And
they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts,
and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and
four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were
not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the
Lamb whithersoever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits
unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are
without fault before the throne of God.”
Could “not defiled with
woman; for these are virgins,” signify total devotion, love, and obedience to
Jesus? In other words, these did not love the world, which is pictured in Revelation
as a woman, a Great Prostitute. These did not love the things of the world
which the woman uses to entice them. “For all that is in the world, the lust of
the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the
Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof:
but he that does the will of God abides forever,” 1 John 2:16-17.
With gladness and rejoicing,
we shall enter into God’s presence, like we see elsewhere in the psalms. “Make
a joyful noise unto the Lord, all you lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come
before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord He is God: it is He that
has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His
pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with
praise: be thankful unto Him, and praise His name. For the Lord is good; His
mercy is everlasting; and His truth endures to all generations,” Psalm 100.
Psalm 45:16-17 Instead of
your fathers shall be your children, whom You may make princes in all the
earth. I will make Your name to be remembered in all generations: therefore,
shall the people praise You for ever and ever.
Those that follow Jesus now,
who take up their cross and deny themselves for His sake, shall receive a
hundredfold in this life, and inherit everlasting life, Matthew 19:29b. They
shall also rule and reign with Christ during the 1000-year Millennium that
follows the Wrath of God, Revelation 20:4&6. It is at the name of
Jesus that every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall “confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” Philippians 2:11. Have
you confessed Christ? In the long run, we will all need to confess Him. Seek
for Him if you have not. He is not far from any of us. “And you shall seek Me,
and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart,” Jeremiah 29:13.
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