One of my frustrations as I was taking a class in order to attempt to have a better grasp on Hebrew came when we were translating some verses my professor had handpicked from the Scriptures for their challenging nature. He was trying to illustrate the fact that it is important to learn idioms in a culture before one can become a good translator. Thus, he pointed out, one could understand the meaning of every word in the sentence, “Get off my back,” but if he did not understand that it was an idiom meaning “Leave me alone,” his understanding of the sentence would be incorrect. Thus, in this particular exercise I sat there confused again and again not because I didn’t understand what each of the words meant but precisely because I understood what each word meant.

At times, the same is true simply when we read our Bibles in English. At times, a text can be confusing not because we are unable to understand what is being said but because although we do understand what’s being said we have no idea why it is being said or what relevance it has to the storyline of Scripture. Thus is the case, I believe, with Psalm 45.

It is not difficult to understand what’s going on in Psalm 45. It is a wedding psalm in which the individual in the king’s court is reciting a poem for the king and his bridge in celebration of this royal wedding. Verse 1 makes this quite clear as the psalmist uses this verse to tell exactly what he is going to do. He writes, “My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe” (1). Then from there the rest of the psalm divides into five relatively equal parts.

In verses 2-5, the psalmist speaks of the king’s majestic greatness and ability. He tells him that he is handsome, that God has blessed him because grace is always on his lip, that he is mighty in battle, that he is always victorious as he fights for all things good, and that he is driven by righteousness. It is a praise of the king’s majesty. In the next section (verses 6-9) the psalmist praises the king for his reign and character. He speaks of his throne as one that is forever, of the fact that the king loves righteousness and hates wickedness, that he is honored among those in his presence as even those ladies in his court are princesses, and that now his bride is at his right hand.

In verses 10-12 the psalmist changes the direction of his address as he now speaks to the bride. He encourages her to leave her father and mother and cling to her husband, telling her that this will be an honorable position for her as the King will love her and others will seek her favor. Then, in verses 13-15 the psalmist speaks of the beauty of the wedding ceremony itself, noting that the bride is led to the king with her bridesmaids following her and joy and gladness coming forth from them as they enter the palace of the king.

Finally, in verses 16-17 the psalmist again addresses the king, telling him that they will have children, the dynasty will be preserved, and his name will be remembered throughout all generations. And thus it ends, with the psalmist declaring that as the royal line is preserved the nations will praise this great king forever.

That is what is going on in this psalm. It is a wedding psalm, mainly praising the king as the psalmist uses extravagant terms to describe him and this ceremony. But understanding that is not extremely difficult. After all, the psalmist himself tells you what he is doing in verse 1. The confusion does not, therefore, come because we do not understand what’s going on in the psalm but precisely because we do understand what is going on here. The question we must then ask is, “Why in the world was this psalm written? What purpose does it serve in the whole of Scripture? What effect at all should this have on my life and teach me?” For if we cannot answer these questions we must see the worthiness of this psalm simply as a helpful guide in addressing a king at his ceremony, which none of us will likely have the opportunity to do.

So, what place does this psalm really have in Scripture and what function does it serve for us today?

In order to understand that, we must understand two things: 1) the nature of a promise that God had given David and 2) the nature of the office of king in the Scripture. Therefore, let us first turn to another Old Testament text before we come back to look at Psalm 45 and understand its significance. The text we will look at is 2 Samuel 7:11-17.

In this chapter, David had simply looked around during a time of rest and saw that he lived in a nice house while the ark of the covenant was in a tent. That is to say, David saw that God’s presence as being housed by a tent, and he wanted to build a house for the ark. Nathan, at first, tells David sure, and then God tells Nathan to tell David he is not to build it, for that was not his plan for David to do this.

Then, God turns it around and says to him in verse 11 that whereas David wanted to build a house for God, in actuality, God is going to build a house for David. That is, he was going to build a dynasty of kings from David. Thus, God tells David that he will raise up offspring from him who will reign over the kingdom, that he will build the temple, and that his throne will be established forever (11-13). He then tells him in verse 14, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.”

To us, such a verse might seem crazy. We might think, “How could David hear this and think anything other than that the Son of God was going to come from him?” However, we must understand that “son” language is used throughout the Scripture in a functional way. That is, a son was supposed to imitate his father, so that if your dad was a carpenter, you were a carpenter, etc. Therefore, as early as Exodus 4 God can call Israel his son, as they were supposed to reflect his character in the world. Even more specifically the king of Israel could rightly be called God’s son, for he was first of all an Israelite, but even more than that he would reflect God’s kingly reign over his people. This is why it was such a travesty that the kings were evil in Israel’s history, for they were to reflect God as his son. Thus, David would have heard God saying that his offspring would reign as king, functioning so as to reflect God’s character a reign; he would be God’s son. Finally, in case David was concerned that one of his sons would sin in a manner like Saul so that the Lord would remove him from the throne, God assures him in verses 14b-17 that he would discipline David’s son when he sinned but that he would not take away his love as he had done to Saul, for David’s throne would be occupied forever. We need to pause and acknowledge here, also, that there are only two options for this promise to be fulfilled. Either David would have to have his son follow him as king, and his son follow him as king, and his son follow him as king – forever, or he would have to have one son who would live forever, and therefore never need to be succeeded by another as king.

But we see here that there is a promise that David’s throne will be established forever, that there would be a dynasty. And we are reminded through the “son” language that the office of king was supposed to be reflective of the Lord himself. He was to be an earthly representative of God, reigning over his people. Thus, ideally, when the king spoke, he would be speaking what God wanted, so that to say, “The king has said,” should have been equivalent with “God has said.” That’s what the office was meant to typify.

Therefore, in text like Ezekiel 34, for example, in which God is contrasting himself with the evil shepherds who have scattered the people, God can say, “I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out … I will rescue them from all the places they have been scattered … I will bring them out … and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel. … I will feed them with good pasture … I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep … I will feed them in justice” (Ezekiel 34:11-16). And yet he can later say in that same chapter, “And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd” (Ezekiel 34:23). The king was to represent God. Therefore, David might be addressed in the same role as God is addressed, for he should have been God’s son, the king over God’s people.

Therefore, as we now return to Psalm 45, I think it becomes clearer that this psalm is more is going on here than just a simple wedding celebration. Rather, this psalm serves in 4 ways.

It is a celebration of the office of the king (2-9)

Thus, as you look again at verses 2-9 of the psalm, it becomes clear that this extravagant language should not have been extravagant at all for what the office was supposed to be. Though there is no doubt that the king would fail to live up perfectly to these things this is what the king was to be, for he was to reflect his God as his son. The description in 2-5 of his beauty, grace, might, desire to fight for righteousness, and triumph over every enemy was utterly untrue in every way of many of David’s sons, of those in his line, but it shouldn’t have been. This is the ideal. Again, it is a celebration of the kingly promise.

In some sense it is like the presidential inauguration we celebrate every four years in this country. In that we hold up the ideal of how the president will serve, but we can also readily admit that every man who has held that office fails to live up to it in many ways.

Thus, the celebration of the office that we saw in verses 2-5 continues in verses 6-9 as it is said that the king reigns in uprightness, loving righteousness and hating wickedness, and being anointed by God. However, we might say that verse 6 is definitely inappropriate in any setting. After all, he is addressed as God. How could this be fitting?

Again, however, we must remember that that king should have functioned as a representative of God in much the same way that the roman centurion functioned as a representative of Caesar. Thus, when the centurion commanded one under him, that one could rightly say, “Caesar has commanded me to …”

I think the same thing is going on with this extravagant language. Yes, the king will soon show that this language is utterly misplaced as he will sin and betray the very one he is to represent. But the king was to be nothing less than a right representation of his God. Thus, it is a celebration of the one who is the son of God, the king of God’s people.

It is a celebration of God’s promise to David (10-17)

The celebration of the king receiving a bride, of the ceremony itself, and of the surety of offspring for this line was a celebration of the sureness of the promise to David. That is to say, they did not simply hope the king would have sons, it was sure. Therefore, the psalmist could with certainty declare, as he does, in verse 16, “In the place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth.”

This could be said with certainty because of the promise of 2 Samuel 7. God had told David that he would have a son who would reign on the throne forever. Thus, again, either this king would have to have a son who would have a son who would have a son and so on, forever. Or, this king would have to live forever or have a son who would live forever. So, unless this king lived forever, the promise of a son who would serve as king as so preserve the dynasty and the Davidic name throughout all generations was a sure reality. Therefore, this psalm serves as a celebration of the sure promise that God made to David.

However, this psalm is also a prophetic psalm, pointing us to the coming of David’s greatest Son

This psalm is also a prophetic psalm in the same way that the levitical priesthood prophesied by its shortcomings that there was another priesthood and another priest coming. This psalm is a prophetic psalm pointing us to the coming of one of David’s sons for whom these words would not be extravagant but fitting, one who could perfectly be described as God’s Son as he is the exact radiance of his glory – the only begotten from the Father.

It is for this reason the author of Hebrews can write in Hebrews 1:8-9, “But of the Son [i.e. Jesus] he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

That is to say, the author of Hebrews sees these words as spoken by God to his Son. He sees them spoken by God because they are Scripture, from Psalm 45. He sees them as spoken to his Son, for he understands that Jesus alone perfectly fulfills this office of what the king was to be, what one who was called “God’s son” was to be. Thus, though we might be tempted to read the author of Hebrews’ use of Psalm 45:6-7 and say, “He is taking that out of context. That was addressed by the psalmist to that king on his wedding day.” The author of Hebrews rightly understands that those words, celebrating the office of the king, could never have been appropriately received until David’s Son came to whom they rightly applied. For Christ alone are those words true, for he alone perfectly serves as King over God’s people, even as the sign read over his head on the cross. He is God who has come to his people. He is David who feeds his people. He is the good shepherd. In this way, Psalm 45 prophesies of the coming of David’s greatest Son, our Lord, Jesus of Nazareth.

And, finally, it is a reminder to us that our salvation is sure

As we read this psalm and the celebration of the offspring coming from David’s line, we are reminded that there indeed was a son who does forever, for Jesus rose from the dead after atoning for our sins by his death on the cross and that he right now reigns from heaven at the Father’s right hand. We are reminded that all that the king was to do (described by the psalmist) has been done by him, and therefore our salvation is sure. He has defeated and will defeat his enemies: Satan, sin, and death. He reigns in perfect righteousness and the Father has credited his righteous to us. And he will indeed take a bride to himself as the Father will one day instruct him to gather his spotless bride, the church, to himself at the wedding feast of the Lamb. Thus, this psalm should be a reminder to us that our salvation is indeed sure. It is sure for we know that the very promise God made in 2 Samuel 7 and celebrated in Psalm 45 has come to pass in the person of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, this morning, let us ensure that we have bowed our lives to this David King, that we are trusting in God’s sure promises, that we are proclaiming this good news to the world that her King has come, that we live our lives in light of the sure eternity that awaits us, and that we celebrate all that our Lord is and what he has done as we come to the table. Amen.

THE DAVIDIC KING, A WEDDING CELEBRATION, AND OUR SURE SALVATION