READING THE BOOK OF PSALMS
PART XXXIII
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Psalm 45
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Psalm 45 is a royal wedding text. It is, to be precise, a song for the nuptials of a monarch of the northern Kingdom of Israel. Ahab is the most likely candidate, given the reference to a “daughter of Tyre” or a “Tyrian lass” (depending on translation) in verse 13 (Jewish versification). Alternative translations include “people of Tyre” and “a Tyrian robe,” though. So, if we accept either of these renderings instead, the identification of the monarch becomes more difficult.
Regardless of the identity of the King of Israel in Psalm 45, the text is ironic. The psalm is more ironic if the king is Ahab, for then the queen is Jezebel. Stories of Ahab and Jezebel tell us of their unjust governance and her domineering ways.
Nevertheless, Psalm 45 describes the ideal of Israelite kingship: directed by God, militarily successful, and defined by equity and righteousness. The text concludes with the assertion that God has blessed the king forevermore.
Psalm 45, unique in the Psalter, praises the king, not God. Given that monarchs represented the sovereignty of God, we have the ancient rationale for including this text in the Book of Psalms. I, given my historical proclivities, resist any temptation to read any messianic interpretation into Psalm 45, especially due to this text being from Israel, not Judah. “Finding” Jesus in the Hebrew Bible can easily become ridiculous and reduce the Old Testament into a Where’s Waldo? book.
Perhaps the ultimate value of Psalm 45 resides in its statement of the ideal of ancient monarchs before the separation of religion and state, and in the reminder of the royal duties to the people. I favor the strict separation of church and state, a policy that benefits religious institutions. Religion needs to be separate from the government if religious institutions are to avoid become arms of the state. I am a product of the Northern Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the First Amendment. I agree with President James Madison, an Episcopalian and the author of that amendment, that the state should know nothing of religion.
Church-state relations aside, those who wield power have duties to the people and to generations not yet born. May those in authority never forget this responsibility.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 7, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF FRANÇOIS FÉNELON, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF CAMBRAI
THE FEAST OF SAINT ALDRIC OF LE MANS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF LE MANS
THE FEAST OF JOHN KENYON MACKENZIE, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARY IN WEST AFRICA
THE FEAST OF LANZA DEL VASTO, FOUNDER OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE ARK
THE FEAST OF SAINT LUCIAN OF ANTIOCH, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 312
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM JONES, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND MUSICIAN
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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