Psalm 45, as noted in the heading, is a love
song. However, it is not just any love song. It is a love song composed for the
King of Israel, perhaps even Solomon.
This psalm was written by one of the Korahites,
presumably a man. Therefore, I find verse two rather startling: “You are the
most handsome of men.” However, what is going on here is probably similar to
what went on with the original productions of Shakespeare’s plays where men had
to play all the parts, including female ones. Here the psalmist has to imagine
how a woman would view Solomon. Scripture remarks on David being handsome so it
should come as no surprise that his son was handsome too.
Verse four has a funny story to go along with it.
My mother told me this one when I was young. There was once an African American
preacher who led a rather poor congregation in one of the inner cities of the
United States many years ago. He was generally beloved by his congregation, but
they did find fault with him for driving a very fine Cadillac. Finally, this
preacher was fed up with all of the complaints, and so one Sunday morning he
quoted Scripture in support of his right to drive a Cadillac. The Scripture
quoted was Psalm 45:4 in the King James Version: “And in thy majesty ride
prosperously…” I guess that goes to show that one can quote Scripture in
support of just about anything, whether rightly or wrongly.
In verse, six the king is referred to as God.
However, this is not all that unusual in Scripture since angels are referred to
as gods or sons of god. The key thing to see here is that the king is God’s
anointed, the Messiah. Thus, if this is a messianic psalm in some sense, we see
its true fulfillment in Jesus who was fully God and fully human, the Messiah
par excellence.
As I have already indicated, this may be a
wedding psalm for King Solomon. In particular, in may be the wedding psalm
composed for his marriage to the princess from Egypt. However, it seems to me
like the queen mentioned in verse nine may be different from the princess
mentioned a couple of verses later. Therefore, this psalm may be composed for
any one of Solomon’s many marriages. The princess in question is not becoming Solomon’s
only wife, but she is simply being added to his harem.
Psalm 46 may have been composed shortly after
Jerusalem was threatened by foreign invaders, such as the time when Sennacherib
threatened King Hezekiah of Judah. However, if the city of God referred to here
is the old Jerusalem, she hardly had a river to speak of. All Jerusalem had
were the Gihon springs. Hezekiah built an tunnel to bring these waters directly
into the city. As a Christian, I see a picture here of the future city of God,
the new Jerusalem. Thus, I have often used Psalm 46 as a funeral text.
Of course, the most memorable verse in this psalm
is verse 10: “Be still, and know that I am God!” I think this is one of the
hardest things for us to do, to simply be still. Buddhism often seems to know
much more of stillness than Christianity, and among Christians, certain Protestants
seem to be the worst at being still. I remember when I attended a memorial
service once for a man who had converted from Protestantism to Catholicism.
Thus, he had both Catholic and Protestant friends in attendance at his memorial
service. The Catholics, upon entering the church, immediately went to their
chosen pews, knelt and prayed in silence. The Protestants, upon entering the
church, engaged in endless chitchat. Of course, there are some Protestants,
like the Quakers, who have focused upon the pursuit of silence in their worship
services.
Though Buddhists are especially good, I think, at
being still, there is one way in which Buddhist meditation differs from Jewish
and Christian meditation. Buddhist meditation focuses on emptying the mind in
stillness. Jewish and Christian meditation focus on emptying the mind that it
might be filled with God. “Be still and
know that I am God.”
However, there is a time and place for
everything, and I do not believe that God wants us to be permanently still in
our worship of him. Psalm 47:1 provides the appropriate contrast and balance to
Psalm 46:10. “Clap your hands, all you people; shout to God with loud songs of
joy.” It is a shame that we do not often see both of these modes of worship in
the same congregation. Certain Christian denominations, as I have already
indicated, are good at silence, while others, like the Pentecostals, are good
at clapping their hands and shouting to God with loud songs of joy. We need
both silence and shouting, clapping and quiet in worship. Therefore, I think it
is good for those who are accustomed to quiet to be stretched in their worship
practices, and seek out opportunities to clap and shout. At the same time, it
is important for those used to clapping and shouting to seek out opportunities
for silence in worship of our holy and triune God.
It is good for us, as Christians, to consider the
original setting and audience for each of the Psalms. Psalms 46-48 probably all
were composed shortly after the time Jerusalem was threatened by Sennacherib.
However, the walls of Jerusalem are still standing, so this psalm was obviously
composed before Jerusalem’s destruction by the Babylonians. At the time Psalm
48 was composed, the Jews could still walk around the walls of the city and
consider how God had been faithful in defending and preserving his people.
As Christians, we can look back to many times and
places and see how God has been faithful in defending and preserving his church.
However, we should not become smug and complacent. Just as there came a time
when Jerusalem was destroyed, so there may come a time when the church, at
least as we know it now, may have her walls knocked down. We need, as a Church,
to be ever vigilant in our pursuit of God, and also in our pursuit of building
up the Church through appropriate evangelism, if we want to see the Church
continue into the next generation.
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