Psalms 45:1-17
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.
2 Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.
3 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.
4 And in thy majesty ridea prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
5 Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.
6 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.
7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
9 Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;
11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.
12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.b
13 The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.
14 She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.
15 With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace.
16 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
17 I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.
Whether this psalm has, or had, a local application or is wholly idealistic cannot be certainly determined. It matters very little, for it is one of the songs which inevitably is Messianic in its deepest and fullest meaning. After an introduction which speaks of the fullness of his heart, the singer addresses the king, telling of the glory of the king's person, the perfection of his rule, and the beauty of his bride (verses Psa 45:1-9). He then turns to the bride, and in view of her high calling, counsels her to forget her own people and surrender herself wholly to her husband (verses Psa 45:10-12). If the King in mind was Solomon and the bride the daughter of Pharaoh, the suggestiveness of the song becomes the more remarkable.
The singer then describes the queen gloriously arrayed for her marriage (verses Psa 45:13-15) and ends in words of promised blessing to the king. If the inclusive truth of this psalm be larger than we are able to grasp, there is a personal application full of value and full of beauty. It is, as we see, the glory of the Lord that we become ready to renounce all our own people and possessions that we may be wholly to His praise, and so the instruments through whom the royal race is propagated and the glory of the King made known among the generations and the peoples.