Psalm 45 Publications

When King David published this psalm, his people must have derived immense comfort from it: how confident was their leader that God would hear his pleas for salvation, and deliver him from all his enemies! His life was pure, his faith was great, and he knew by long experience the wondrous steadfast love that would preserve all those who sought refuge in God the Savior, as the very apple of his eye. But this further consideration must have been particularly pleasing to all the people, that of old God was accustomed to deal with a nation in large part upon the basis of its king. Whenever a king walked uprightly and found favor with God, the whole nation would prosper; but “when a wicked one rules, the people groan” (Prov. 29:2). How the nation must have rejoiced, knowing that God loved their king, and their king represented them to God. Continue Reading

Everywhere in the Psalms, as we have often seen before, David speaks not primarily with regard to himself alone, as a mere individual; but rather, being the anointed King and representative of the people, he comes before God in their behalf as a type of Christ, the true King and Messiah and Mediator of the people, and pleads blessings for them from God. But in a few places, David’s office as a type and shadow of Christ is overwhelmed, as it were, by the brightness of the glory of the One prefigured, so that his own voice is all but lost, and the radiance of the glory of God is seen so clearly that it is as if the very Son of God were speaking alone and unmediated. Continue Reading

The answer to the question here posed by the Psalmist contains in itself all that is necessary for eternal life and happiness; and everything that can be desired, and that can never fade away or grow dull or tiresome, hangs in the balance. The tents of the wicked may be filled with all sorts of fleeting, carnal delights, but the end of those things is shame and misery; but the Holy Hill of Yahweh is filled with such an abundant store of unfading riches as all eternity could never suffice to uncover. This is because Zion, the Lord’s Holy Hill, is where the Lord himself dwells; and he who has been chosen to dwell before the Lord in peace, he, that is, to whom the Lord is his portion, seeing that the Lord is his Lord, possesses all that belongs to the God of the universe. Every good thing created by God for man’s pleasure is his, and eternal life, which is the knowledge of the Lord (John 17:3), and every wondrous attribute and precious quality of the Lord’s own nature is for him, and he may draw upon it in any trial whatever, because God is his God, and God cannot be divided against himself or against those who belong to him. Continue Reading

There is perhaps no worse news ever given, nor any grimmer verdict ever uttered under heaven, than that stinging indictment of the psalmist against the human race, “There is none who does good, no, not one!”. Consider how certainly this truth is established, and by what unassailable testimonies it has been sealed: Yahweh himself has looked down from heaven, he has searched out all the world and examined every child of man, to see if there is anyone who understands, anyone who seeks God – but, no, the answer comes back when the universal search is ended: they have all gone astray without exception, they are all corrupt, they all do abominable things, they have all despised and scoffed at God, and in their inmost hearts refused even to acknowledge the existence of him who created them, the evidence of which is borne out by their lives lived with no fear of God before their eyes. Continue Reading

Through all the course of his life, David was very often opposed by many enemies who were stronger than he: whether it was King Saul, who without a cause so many times sought his life; or Achish, the king of the Philistines, before whom he was forced to feign madness; or those raiders who stole away his wives and goods in Ziklag; or even his own son Absalom, who raised up a mighty host against him, and drove him out of Jerusalem; by all these enemies and more, he was constantly opposed, afflicted, and oppressed – and yet, in the face of such enmity, he constantly evinced a calm and steady assurance of God’s favor and salvation, because of which he could laugh at all his foes, and sleep in peace even when they were surrounding him on every side. Continue Reading

There have been times in Church history, and also, no doubt, times in the personal history of many of the saints, when it seems as if all the righteous have vanished away. So Elijah cried out in an agony of despair, “I, only I am left, and they seek my life!” (1 Kings 19:10); and the echoes of that sharp complaint have since reverberated in many souls populating the Kingdom after him. In those times, the only bedrock of hope is the unshakeable truth that “the words of Yahweh are pure words, silver refined in a furnace in the earth, purified seven times” (vs. 6); and those words include many strong promises of deliverance from every enemy, which the righteous always seize upon and plead back to the Father (vss. 7-8). Continue Reading

It is no uncommon experience for the saint to be tempted by many strong and appealing arguments to abandon his hope in the Lord, when waves of fierce opposition arise. So was David often tempted, and so also are all who trust in Christ thus tempted at times. “What has your religion done for you?”, the sneering voices of the fickle crowds inquire; and joining in the insidious plot, the devil whispers into the ear of your heart the same deceptive question, and your own weak flesh rises up to confirm the lie. “Yes, I have trusted in God, I have sought to serve him in all that I do, I have denied myself the opportunity for greater riches and power and security, because I have not been willing to break his Law and build myself up by treating the weak unfairly, or being deceitful and unethical in my practices; and I have ever kept myself from relying on the strong-seeming hills of prominent position and well-supplied bank accounts, those mountains which never fail to bear up the wicked – and here I am on the brink of destruction, and they still prosper! Should I not flee to those same mountains as a bird?” Continue Reading

Religion that begins and ends with the mind alone is in fact no religion, but an empty mockery; for true religion comes to full flower in the trials and temptations that beset a man, and gives him victory over them all. This much we may certainly learn from our psalm today, which is very closely connected with the preceding, and bears this relationship to it, that it takes up the same precious themes and truths, and most heartily employs them in the midst of a terrible trial, which threatens to overwhelm the faith and hope of the godly. Continue Reading

The reader who is continuing in order through the book of the Psalms will remember that the last psalm marveled at the deeply paradoxical truth of man’s frail and insignificant nature, which is nevertheless of immense importance to God, by whom all creation is destined to be brought into subjection to a man who will reign forever in righteousness, even the God-Man Jesus Christ, who tasted death for every man and is now crowned with glory and honor. It may capture the reader’s attention, therefore, that immediately after speaking of how all kingly dominion will be given to man, the psalms go on to speak of the eternal, kingly dominion of the Lord Yahweh himself, who sits enthroned forever, and judges the world in righteousness (vss. 7-8). Yes, man will reign over all things; but above and behind man, and constantly supplying him with his kingly authority and royal glory, is the Lord who created him. He has reigned from all eternity past, and into all eternity future he will reign in righteousness. There is no word or thought or breath of man that does not obey his divine decree and follow his every bidding. No, in all their mad ragings and evil schemes, the men of this world will accomplish nothing but what God’s hand and purpose had predestined to take place (Acts 4:28). Continue Reading

What a paradox is man! The Name of the Lord is majestic in all the earth, and the heavens above, ah, how much glory do they declare! Wherever one should turn his eye, there is all around him the stuff of awe-struck wonder, and the more deeply he probes, the greater the marvel becomes. In the depths of the deepest ocean, what brilliant flowers and beautiful creatures may be found hidden away from all prying eyes. In the vast expanse of the universe, what mind-boggling distances and unthinkable substances, what expansive galaxies and innumerable stars, what gasses and solids and plasmas and dark matters beyond the wildest surmisings of man. And here on this earth, such noble creatures may be found, the soaring eagle and massive elephant and untamable lion – it staggers the mind to try to conceive of it all, and after the attempt, the only reasonable verdict that one may come to is this, “O Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your Name!” Continue Reading

Already had David found comfort from his sorrow over sin, and had assured himself that the Lord had seen his tears of penitence and would not rebuke him in his wrath (Psalm 6); and yet, as blessed as that forgiveness of sins and free absolution from guilt had been, a fuller confidence in his sure salvation from all his enemies required even more yet: for if his faith should remain strong in the promises of God, when all the world seemed set against him, he needed not just to know that he was forgiven, but also that he was positively righteous – not just that the Lord had nothing against him, but also that the Lord had seen everything good in him, and was well-disposed to help him for the beautiful and commendable things which adorned his heart, not just disinclined to rebuke him for the ugly and contemptible things over which he had mourned so deeply before. Continue Reading

In all of David’s battles against his enemies (and they were many and mighty!), he took courage in the Lord, and assured himself of victory, and was able even to lie down and sleep when his foes were pressing him hard on every side; for he knew that he was righteous and they were wicked, and that the Lord would therefore deliver him. This we have seen, and it has given us much courage to face any kind of opposition that we might encounter for righteousness’ sake. But what if the next enemy David had to face should come not from without but from within, what if he could no longer trust in his righteousness because his enemy is sinfulness – his own deep-seated and innate depravity? How would he assure himself of the Lord’s favor then? Continue Reading

In peace had David lain down and slept the night before (Psalm 4:8); but when the morning came, his problems were not gone, and so with great and sorrowful groanings he poured out his soul to the Lord in supplications, and watched for his coming salvation. Continue Reading

The Lord of life lay down and slept; but God raised him up to a new and glorious day, and brought salvation to his people! This we saw last time, in Psalm Three; but what happens when, after the dawn of that new day of life, the shadows lengthen, the evening approaches, further troubles arise, and the time again is near to lying down? Continue Reading

When King David was forced to flee from his own son Absalom, who had raised up such a rebellion against him that the great majority of the people thought his salvation was impossible, he cried out to the Lord, and then lay down and slept. Many thought this a sleep from which he would never arise, for thousands of people had set themselves around him, and were bent on his destruction; but he woke again, for God sustained him; and thenceforth, his Lord rose up to destroy his enemies, and crush them beneath his feet. Continue Reading

The first two psalms, as we have observed, function together as a foundation and introduction to the glorious mysteries of the entire psalter; and if the first psalm demonstrates the centrality of Christ, holding him forth at once as the great representative of his people, then how much more may we learn of him from the second psalm, in which we are ushered into the inter-triune council, before the world or time began, to hear the decree whereby the eternal Son of God first solemnly undertook to save us from all our enemies? Oh, sacred mystery! Oh, unutterable grace! Before we intrude any further into this wonder of wonders, let us put off the shoes from our feet, for we have entered upon holy ground. Continue Reading

“’Blessed is the man that hath not gone away in the counsel of the ungodly’ (ver. 1). This is to be understood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Man.” So begins the great church father, Augustine of Hippo, in his landmark exposition of the Psalms. The great Genevan reformer, John Calvin, on the other hand, expresses his opinion that the psalmist here “inculcates upon all the godly the duty of meditating on the Law of God”. While I am inclined to agree with Augustine, I cannot bring myself to disagree with Calvin. Augustine is certainly right; and because he is right, Calvin must necessarily be right also. Because Jesus Christ, whose meditation was always upon the Law of God, and who never walked in the counsel of the ungodly, was supremely blessed, therefore all the godly, who have been united to him, will also be blessed and glorified with him; but the ungodly will be blown away like chaff. Continue Reading

He who has entered the treasury of the Psalms has come upon such a storehouse of riches as may not be found in all the world beside. What El Dorado is there that shines with a purer gold than the very words of the Lord, seven times refined (Psalm 12:6)? What stately pleasure dome of what proud Kubla Khan has ever been supplied with more scintillating delights, delicate treasures, unspeakable glories to dazzle the eyes of men and angels alike? The one who has tasted the goodness of the Lord in the banqueting house of the Psalter must thenceforth be forever spoiled for the pleasures of the world – the sweetest treats that he had coveted before must touch upon his palate as ashes and dust, and until he garner more pleasant fares from the same larder house, sweeter than drippings of the honeycomb (Psalm 19:10), he will never again be happy. The fabled nectar of the gods will be bitter as gall and coarse as gravel to him who has once tasted the sweet wine of the true God of gods, which flows to us from the lips of the Psalter’s great hero, Jesus Christ our Lord. Continue Reading