Tuesday, January 4, 2022

Abernethy and Goswell on Psalm 45

  

Psalm 45

 

Psalm 45 alludes to the promise made to David that his dynasty should endure forever (vv. 6-7; cf. 2 Sam. 7:11b-16), and it does so with the king ostensibly addressed in verse 6a as “God” (‘ĕlōhîm; we take the word as vocative). Psalm 45:6-7 reads:

 

6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
7 you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.

 

The Greek Bible (LXX) does not significantly change the text of verse 6a (“O God” [ho theos]), and the translation of the Aramaic targum is paraphrastic but confirms a vocative address (“Your glorious throne, O Lord, endures for ever and ever”), though the distinction drawn in verse 7 (“God, your God”) rules out ascribing actual divinity to the Davidic king as do subsequent verses about the king’s consort and their progeny (vv. 9-17). This exalted mode of address may be due to the king’s role as the nation’s chief law officer, delegated by God to exercise God’s prerogative to judge, which is the explanation of the use of the words “gods” in application to judges in Ps. 92:6 (“You are gods”; cf. Jesus’ use of this Old Testament verse in John 10:34-35). This judicial interpretation is supported by mention in Ps. 45 of “throne” and “uprightness” (mîšōr), as well as the “[loving] righteousness . . . [hating] wickedness” contrast. It is Jesus’ supreme position as judge (a role not given to any angel) that justifies the citation of this psalm in application to Jesus by the writer of Hebrews (1:8-9), for Jesus fulfils what is said of the Davidic figure of Ps. 45 as well as being that God whose concern for justice explains they the figure is given this important legal role. (Andrew T. Abernethy and Gregory Goswell, God’s Messiah in the Old Testament: Expectations of a Coming King [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2020], 184-85, emphasis in bold added)

 

Blog Archive