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)
