Psalm 45 Overview
Royal wedding song
Psalm 45
Welcome to the Overview of Psalm 45
This page will introduce and provide orientation to Psalm 45 as a whole. It includes the following sections:
Introduction to Psalm 45
Author:
Purpose:
- To celebrate the king (on the occasion of his wedding) for his just and eternal rule.
Content:
- The king's throne is forever and ever. The king is attractive, wise, powerful, and righteous. The king is due loyalty from his new bride and honour from foreign nations. The king's descendants will be princes. Therefore, the king's throne is forever and ever!
Message:
- God's chosen king and his descendants rule forever with wisdom, righteousness, and joy.
Psalm 45 At-a-Glance
These sections divide the content of the psalm into digestible pieces , and are determined based on information from many of our layers, including Semantics, Poetics, and Discourse. The columns, left to right, contain: the verse numbers; the main title of the section; a brief summary of the content of that section (quote marks indicate the text is taken directly from the English text of the psalm (as per our Close-but-Clear translation); and an icon to visually represent and remember the content.
Background Orientation for Psalm 45
Following are the common-ground assumptionsCommon-ground assumptions include information shared by the speaker and hearers. In our analysis, we mainly use this category for Biblical/Ancient Near Eastern background. which are the most helpful for making sense of the psalm.
- Songs in praise of the king (rather than the deity) are common in the ANE, though rare in the biblical psalms. One example is the Egyptian marriage stele of Rameses II, which presents the marriage as as part of a political alliance following a military victory.
- Lips of kindness are associated with wisdom and virtue (Prov 22:1, 11; Ecc 10:12); the ideal ANE king spoke with wisdom.
- The ideal ANE king was a warrior.
- Ancient royal marriages were often political arrangements between one nation and another. The marriage described in this psalm may have been arranged as part of a political alliance between Isreal/Judah and a neighbouring state (such as Tyre). The NET Bible translates Heb. "your people" (v. 11) as "your homeland" to reflect this situation.
Background Situation for Psalm 45
The background situation is the series of events leading up to the time in which the psalm is spoken. These are taken from the story triangle – whatever lies to the left of the star icon.
Participants in Psalm 45