A Wedding Song: Psalm 45

In the beginning, there was an infant king, naked and alone. From his side God created his bride and brought her to him, blessed them, and commanded them to take dominion over the creation, shaping the earth after the image of heaven. They were placed in a garden on a mountain that had a river running through it that flowed from the top of the mountain, through the garden, and then split into four, symbolically flowing to the four corners of the earth. Downriver were all sorts of treasures of gold, silver, and precious stones waiting to be unearthed, purified, and shaped into beautiful adornments for the garden, the woman, and the man himself.

When the man and the woman fell into sin, they were exiled from the garden. They were restored by God and reissued the dominion mandate, but they would now have to fight the curse of sin. They would have to get back into the garden bringing with them the glories of creation. Reentrance required that the man take the lead, enduring the flaming swords of the cherubim, die, be resurrected, and then retrieve his bride from exile along with all of the treasures of creation. There creation’s king and queen would be united in a new, resurrection marriage, adorned with the splendors of creation.

Psalm 45 is the wedding song for that day.

The Psalm is written for the king, David’s son, for his wedding day. The Psalm is arranged in such a way so that the king and queen mirror one another with the bride radiating the glory of her husband-king. At the center of the Psalm (v. 9), they stand side-by-side.

The king is truly “the man.” He is the “most beautiful of the sons of Adam.” He is the archetype of what man was intended to be. He is the glorified son of God to whom God has given the responsibility of rule. He is a “mighty man” (3), girding his sword on his thigh, riding out in splendor and majesty on behalf of truth and righteousness, conquering the nations as he was promised in Psalm 2. He is “a god.” This designation doesn’t necessarily mean that he is divine, but as in Exodus 21.6 and Psalm 82, it refers to him being a judge, one who sets and enforces covenant boundaries. He is the image of the God of gods, the true King and ultimate Judge. The king rules, making judgments from his throne, executing justice, loving righteousness, and hating wickedness.

He is anointed with oil similar to that oil used to anoint the high priest and tabernacle (Ex 30.22-38). In his anointed robe he looks and smells like God’s own palace, his throne room, the tabernacle, and his judgments reflect Yahweh’s judgments.

He is a warrior, sometimes fighting with literal swords, but his battle is fought first and foremost with words. Grace is poured into his lips (2), and from his lips he speaks, pronouncing judgments and bringing the world under his rule. Solomon’s wisdom subjected the Queen of Sheba. It was a bloodless battle. The king’s dominion is principally through proclamation.

As the Psalm comes to its center point, the queen makes her appearance beside the king clothed in gold of Ophir, a fine gold eventually used to adorn the temple (1Chr 29.1-4). This gold was outside of the garden land of Jerusalem and had to be brought in along with the bride herself who comes from a foreign land, from exile, to be married to the king.

The attention then moves to the queen. She is the reflective and responsive mirror to the king. He speaks and she is to listen to him, inclining her ear (10). She is called to leave her people, her father’s house, and join him in his kingdom mission, to become his glory. Her willing submission to her king is her glory as she bows to him.

While the king rides out in battle, the bride is in her chamber. He faces the world, and she faces toward him and the home. They share rule in their respective roles. When she comes to the king, she is clothed in garments of glory and beauty, sharing that same tabernacle beauty with the king, entering his presence with young women singing and playing music (with “gladness and rejoicing”). She is ascending into the king’s presence in a glory cloud of music, uniting with the glory cloud of music that already surrounds him (8).

This union will fulfill man’s original purpose: they will be fruitful and multiply, filling the earth, and taking dominion over all things. “In the place of your fathers will be your sons / You will make them princes in all the earth.” The kingdom will expand from here to all the nations of the earth, and the nations promised to the king in Psalm 2 will be the inheritance of the king and his queen.

This Psalm finds its greatest fulfillment in Christ Jesus and his church. He is the glorious king who has gone forth to conquer. His queen is part of that conquest as he overcomes the sin and death that keeps her bound. He has won her. She is glorified as she responds to and submits to him, the expression of which finds its full expression in Revelation 21. With our king, the church, the bride of Christ, will disciple the nations, and the glory of our King will cover the earth as waters cover the sea.

Because Christ and his church are to be imaged in all of our marriages, this Psalm also pictures for us the character of the relationship between husband and wife. In this, we see masculinity and femininity, male and female, in their purest form. The king is facing outward toward the world, going out to conquer with strength in words and deeds. His mission is the whole world. The wife is faced towards him and her home, building her house with the treasures of his conquest. Her glory grows in her willing submission to her husband.

Together they rule. Together they glorify the earth.