A Royal Wedding - The One Year Book of Psalms

Psalm 45:1-9

For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah, to be sung to the tune “Lilies.” A love song.

1My heart overflows with a beautiful thought!

I will recite a lovely poem to the king,

for my tongue is like the pen of a skillful poet.

2You are the most handsome of all.

Gracious words stream from your lips.

God himself has blessed you forever.

3Put on your sword, O mighty warrior!

You are so glorious, so majestic!

4In your majesty, ride out to victory,

defending truth, humility, and justice.

Go forth to perform awe-inspiring deeds!

5Your arrows are sharp,

piercing your enemies’ hearts.

The nations fall before you,

lying down beneath your feet.

6Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever.

Your royal power is expressed in justice.

7You love what is right and hate what is wrong.

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you,

pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.

8Your robes are perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cassia.

In palaces decorated with ivory,

you are entertained by the music of harps.

9Kings’ daughters are among your concubines.

At your right side stands the queen,

wearing jewelry of finest gold from Ophir!

If you were alive and conscious in 1981, you heard at least some news about Great Britain’s royal wedding. Prince Charles, heir to the royal throne, was marrying Lady Diana. It was a gloriously ornate event. Saint Paul’s Cathedral was packed with nobles in their finest finery. The bridal gown alone cost eight thousand dollars and had a twenty-five-foot train.

This is the sort of celebration we read about in Psalm 45. In this first section, the author (perhaps the king’s poet laureate) is praising the king, who is about to take a bride. Some scholars believe this was Solomon marrying Pharaoh’s daughter (1 Kings 3:1) or some other foreign princess. Imagine the glamour of that event!

But this psalm changes direction in verse 6. After flattering the “handsome” ruler and extolling his military victories, the poet starts to focus on the divine King, the coming Messiah. The rest of the psalm reads in two dimensions: the human king’s royal wedding and the Messiah’s connection with his people.

The glory of Britain’s royal wedding didn’t last, nor did the glory of Solomon’s wedding. Charles and Diana’s romance soured, and Solomon married hundreds of other women. But the Lord’s commitment to his people will never end.

I shall see the King in His beauty in the land that is far away,

When the shadows at length have lifted, and the darkness has turned into day.

And to none will the King be a stranger of the throngs who surround His seat.

For the hearts of the saved will know Him by the prints of the nails in His feet.

A. B. SIMPSON

A Word on Words

Myrrh and aloes (verse 8) were some of the ingredients of the choicest perfumes, which were used as holy anointing oil (Exodus 30:23-33). The Israelites were forbidden to use these perfumes for their personal desires.

Notable Quotable

[Regarding verse 2], “Certainly never were such words of love, sweetness, and tenderness spoken here upon this earth as those last words of [Christ’s] which were uttered a little before his sufferings recorded in the thirteenth through seventeenth chapters of John.”

JOHN ROW