Perhaps the most central element
used for highlighting the messianic tendency of Psalm 44(LXX) is the rendering
of the problematic verse 7 (כסאך אלהים עולם ועד) by ο θρονος εις τον αιωνα του αιωνος. It is quite obvious that the New
Testament author of Heb 1,8-9 has interpreted the Geek verse of the psalm as a
messianic text, applying it to Jesus as the messiah. Nevertheless, the Greek
text is as ambiguous as its Hebrew Vorlage, since in fact two
interpretations are legitimate. Most accepted is the hypothesis reading ο θεος as a
vocative form: “Your throne, o God, is forever and ever”
(NETS). Clearly Rahlfs’ edition, which places the elements ο θεος between commas, favours this
reading; remarkably, this has not been done with regard to verse 8, in which ο θεος can be understood as a vocative
as well. Here the problematic element of the missing preposition - ל
in MT referred to earlier has been solved by the plus εις. Yet, even if this interpretation was intended by the translator,
he was not necessarily favouring a messianic interpretation of the Psalm, since
this is merely evidence that the LXX translator is giving a consistent
rendering of his Hebrew Vorlage. Moreover, this interpretation of ο θεος as a vocative is not the only
possible one. The interpretation of the Hebrew text, considering אלהים as subject
and כסאך as object (“God is your throne for ever and ever”) is possible as well
with regard to the Greek. Thus, with regard to verse 7, there is no unambiguous
argument to justify the view that there is a specific strengthening messianizing
tendency in Psalm 44 (LXX). (H. Ausloos “Psalm 45, Messianism and the
Septuagint,” in M.A. Knibb, ed., The Septuagint and Messianism [Bibliotheca
Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 195; Leuven: Leuven University Press,
2006], 249-50)
