TRV
Study This Verse
Public-domain commentary
Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry comments on passages, not single verses — this entry covers Psalms 45:10–17. His four-level outline is real structure in the source text, so it is rendered as structure.
This latter part of the psalm is addressed to the royal bride, standing on the right hand of the royal bridegroom. God, who said to the Son, Thy throne is for ever and ever, says this to the church, which, upon the account of her espousals to the Son, he here calls his daughter.
I.He tells her of the duties expected from her, which ought to be considered by all those that come into relation to the Lord Jesus:
"Hearken, therefore, and consider this, and incline thy ear, that is, submit to those conditions of thy espousals, and bring thy will to comply with them." This is the method of profiting by the word of God. He that has ears, let him hear, let him hearken diligently; he that hearkens, let him consider and weigh it duly; he that considers, let him incline and yield to the force of what is laid before him. And what is it that is here required?
1.She must renounce all others.
(1.)Here is the law of her espousals: "Forget thy own people and thy father's house, according to the law of marriage. Retain not the affection thou hast had for them, nor covet to return to them again; banish all such remembrance (not only of thy people that were dear to thee, but of thy father's house that were dearer) as may incline thee to look back, as Lot's wife to Sodom." When Abraham, in obedience to God's call, had quitted his native soil, he was not so much as mindful of the country whence he came out. This shows,
[1.]How necessary it was for those who were converted from Judaism or paganism to the faith of Christ wholly to cast out the old leaven, and not to bring into their Christian profession either the Jewish ceremonies or the heathen idolatries, for these would make such a mongrel religion in Christianity as the Samaritans had.
[2.]How necessary it is for us all, when we give up our names to Jesus Christ, to hate father and mother, and all that is dear to us in this world, in comparison, that is, to love them less than Christ and his honour, and our interest in him, Luk 14:26.
(2.)Here is good encouragement given to the royal bride thus entirely to break off from her former alliances: So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty, which intimates that the mixing of her old rites and customs, whether Jewish or Gentile, with her religion, would blemish her beauty and would hazard her interest in the affections of the royal bridegroom, but that, if she entirely conformed to his will, he would delight in her. The beauty of holiness, both on the church and on particular believers, is in the sight of Christ of great price and very amiable. Where that is he says, This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it. Among the golden candlesticks he walks with pleasure, Rev 2:1.
2.She must reverence him, must love, honour, and obey him: He is thy Lord, and worship thou him. The church is to be subject to Christ as the wife to the husband (Eph 5:24), to call him Lord, as Sarah called Abraham, and to obey him (Pe1 3:6), and so not only to submit to his government, but to give him divine honours. We must worship him as God, and our Lord; for this is the will of God, that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father; nay, in so doing it is reckoned that they honour the Father. If we confess that Christ is Lord, and pay our homage to him accordingly, it is to the glory of God the Father, Phi 2:11.
II.He tells her of the honours designed for her.
1.Great court should be made to her, and rich presents brought her (Psa 45:12): "The daughter of Tyre," a rich and splendid city, "the daughter of the King of Tyre shall be there with a gift; every royal family round about shall send a branch, as a representative of the whole, to seek thy favour and to make an interest in thee; even the rich among the people, whose wealth might be thought to exempt them from dependence at court, even they shall entreat thy favour, for his sake to whom thou art espoused, that by thee they may make him their friend." The Jews, the pretending Jews, who are rich to a proverb (as rich as a Jew), shall come and worship before the church's feet in the Philadelphian period, and shall know that Christ has loved her, Rev 3:9. When the Gentiles, being converted to the faith of Christ, join themselves to the church, they then come with a gift, Co2 8:5; Rom 15:16. When with themselves they devote all they have to the honour of Christ, and the service of his kingdom, they then come with a gift.
2.She shall be very splendid, and highly esteemed in the eyes of all,
(1.)For her personal qualifications, the endowments of her mind, which every one shall admire (Psa 45:13): The king's daughter is all glorious within. Note, The glory of the church is spiritual glory, and that is indeed all glory; it is the glory of the soul, and that is the man; it is glory in God's sight, and it is an earnest of eternal glory. The glory of the saints falls not within the view of a carnal eye. As their life, so their glory, is hidden with Christ in God, neither can the natural man know it, for it is spiritually discerned; but those who do so discern it highly value it. Let us see here what is that true glory which we should be ambitious of, not that which makes a fair show in the flesh, but which is in the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible (Pe1 3:4), whose praise is not of men, but of God, Rom 2:29.
(2.)For her rich apparel. Though all her glory is within, that for which she is truly valuable, yet her clothing also is of wrought gold; the conversation of Christians, in which they appear in the world, must be enriched with good works, not gay and gaudy ones, like paint and flourish, but substantially good, like gold; and it must be accurate and exact, like wrought gold, which is worked with a great deal of care and caution.
3.Her nuptials shall be celebrated with a great deal of honour and joy (Psa 45:14, Psa 45:15): She shall be brought to the king, as the Lord God brought the woman to the man (Gen 2:22), which was a type of this mystical marriage between Christ and his church. None are brought to Christ but whom the Father brings, and he has undertaken to do it; none besides are so brought to the king (Psa 45:14) as to enter into the king's palace, Psa 45:15.
(1.)This intimates a two-fold bringing of the spouse to Christ.
[1.]In the conversion of souls to Christ; then they are espoused to him, privately contracted, as chaste virgins, Co2 11:2; Rom 7:4.
[2.]In the completing of the mystical body, and the glorification of all the saints, at the end of time; then the bride, the Lamb's wife, shall be made completely ready, when all that belong to the election of grace shall be called in and called home, and all gathered together to Christ, Th2 2:1. Then is the marriage of the Lamb come (Rev 19:7; Rev 21:2), and the virgins go forth to meet the bridegroom, Mat 25:1. Then they shall enter into the king's palaces, into the heavenly mansions, to be ever with the Lord.
(2.)In both these espousals, observe, to the honour of the royal bride,
[1.]Her wedding clothes - raiment of needle-work, the righteousness of Christ, the graces of the Spirit; both curiously wrought by divine wisdom.
[2.]Her bride-maids - the virgins her companions, the wise virgins who have oil in their vessels as well as in their lamps, those who, being joined to the church, cleave to it and follow it, these shall go in to the marriage.
[3.]The mirth with which the nuptials will be celebrated: With gladness and rejoicing shall she be brought. When the prodigal is brought home to his father it is meet that we should make merry and be glad (Luk 15:32); and when the marriage of the Lamb has come let us be glad and rejoice (Rev 19:7); for the day of his espousals is the day of the gladness of his heart, Sol 3:11.
4.The progeny of this marriage shall be illustrious (Psa 45:16): Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children. Instead of the Old Testament church, the economy of which had waxed old, and ready to vanish away (Heb 8:13), as the fathers that are going off, there shall be a New Testament church, a Gentile-church, that shall be grafted into the same olive and partake of its root and fatness (Rom 11:17); more and more eminent shall be the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, Isa 54:1. This promise to Christ is of the same import with that Isa 53:10, He shall see his seed; and these shall be made princes in all the earth; there shall be some of all nations brought into subjection to Christ, and so made princes, made to our God kings and priests, Rev 1:6. Or it may intimate that there should be a much greater number of Christian kings than ever there was of Jewish kings (those in Canaan only, these in all the earth), nursing fathers and nursing mothers to the church, which shall suck the breasts of kings. They are princes of Christ's making; for by him kings reign and princes decree justice.
5.The praise of this marriage shall be perpetual in the praises of the royal bridegroom (Psa 45:17): I will make thy name to be remembered. His Father has given him a name above every name, and here promises to make it perpetual, by keeping up a succession of ministers and Christians in every age, that shall bear up his name, which shall thus endure for ever (Psa 72:17), by being remembered in all the generations of time; for the entail of Christianity shall not be cut off. "Therefore, because they shall remember thee in all generations, they shall praise thee for ever and ever." Those that help to support the honour of Christ on earth shall in heaven see his glory, and share in it, and be for ever praising him. In the believing hope of our everlasting happiness in the other world let us always keep up the remembrance of Christ, as our only way thither, in our generation; and, in assurance of the perpetuating of the kingdom of the Redeemer in the world, let us transmit the remembrance of him to succeeding generations, that his name may endure for ever and be as the days of heaven.
Historical interpretation
Historical Reception
2 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.
Select a marker to jump to its quote. Markers stagger vertically where authors wrote within a few decades of each other.
The church was formed from pagans and Jews, so he does well to say “Forget your people and your father’s house,” meaning idolatry and observance of the law, practicing instead a new life by grace.
The Prophet addresses this Queen (for he delights in singing to her), and moreover each one of us, provided, however, we know where we are, and endeavour to belong to that body, and do belong to it in faith and hope, being united in the membership of Christ. For it is us whom he addresses, saying, "Hearken, O daughter, and behold" [Psalm 45:10], as being one of the "Fathers" (for they are "daughters of kings"), although it be a Prophet, or although it be an Apostle that is addressing her; addressing her, as a daughter, for we are accustomed to speak in this way, "Our fathers the Prophets, our fathers the Apostles;" if we address them as "fathers," they may address us as children: and it is one father's voice addressing one daughter. "Hearken, O daughter, and see." "Hear" first; afterward "see." For they came to us with the Gospel; and that has been preached to us, which as yet we do not see, and which on hearing of it we believed, which by believing it, we shall come to see: even as the Bridegroom Himself speaks in the Prophet, "A people whom I have not known served me. In the hearing of me with the ear it obeyed me." What is meant by on "hearing of me with the ear"? That they did not "see." The Jews saw Him, and crucified Him; the Gentiles saw Him not, and believed. Let the Queen who comes from the Gentiles come in "the vesture of gold, clothed with various colours;" let her come from among the Gentiles clad in all languages, in the unity of Wisdom: let it be said unto her, "Hearken, O daughter, and see." If you will not hear, you shall not "see."...
"And incline your ear." It is not enough to "hearken;" hearken with humility: bow down your ear. "Forget also your own people, and your father's house." There was a certain "people," and a certain house of your father, in which you were born, the people of Babylon, having the devil for your king. Whencesoever the Gentiles came, they came from their father the devil; but they have renounced their sonship to the devil. "Forget also your own people, and your father's house." He, in making you a sinner, begot you loathsome: the Other, in that "He justifies the ungodly," [Romans 4:5] begets you again in beauty.
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Summary
Psalms 45:10 issues a profound call to the royal bride, urging her to listen intently, consider deeply, and radically reorient her allegiances. This command to "forget also thine own people, and thy father's house" signifies a complete break from former loyalties and identities in favor of an exclusive and undivided devotion to her new husband and his royal household. The verse, situated within a psalm celebrating a king's wedding, carries significant messianic implications, foreshadowing the Church's call to absolute commitment to Christ as her divine Bridegroom.
Context
Literary Context
Psalm 45 is uniquely designated as a "Maskil," indicating it is a contemplative or instructive psalm, and is explicitly titled a "Song of Loves" (verse 1). It functions primarily as a royal wedding song, celebrating the marriage of a king. The psalm unfolds in distinct sections: an address to the king (verses 2-9), an address to the queen (verses 10-12), a description of the wedding procession (verses 13-15), and a concluding blessing and promise of enduring fame (verses 16-17). Verse 10 specifically marks the pivotal transition to the address to the queen, shifting the focus from the king's majesty to the bride's necessary transformation and commitment. This instruction sets the stage for her full integration into the royal family and her new, elevated role within the kingdom.
Historical & Cultural Context
In the ancient Near East, marriage, especially a royal marriage, was not merely a personal union but a profoundly significant political and social event. A bride typically moved from her paternal home ("father's house") to her husband's, a transition that involved a profound shift in identity, loyalty, and social standing. Her "father's house" represented her lineage, her former allegiances, her cultural heritage, and often her economic and social security. The command to "forget" these ties was a radical injunction, demanding a complete transfer of allegiance and a full embrace of her new family and identity. It underscored the absolute nature of the marital covenant and the expectation of undivided loyalty to her new husband and his kingdom, ensuring stability and unity within the royal household.
Key Themes
This verse contributes significantly to several key themes within Psalm 45 and the broader biblical narrative. Fundamentally, it highlights the theme of radical commitment and undivided loyalty required in a covenant relationship. For the literal bride, it was about prioritizing her new husband above all past ties. The psalm's messianic interpretation, where the King is Christ and the bride is the Church, elevates this theme to a spiritual plane, emphasizing the new identity and transformation that comes with union with Christ. This call echoes God's initial command to Abraham to leave his land and "father's house" in Genesis 12:1 to enter into a new covenant relationship. It also foreshadows the New Testament's call to discipleship, where allegiance to Christ must supersede all earthly relationships, as Jesus Himself states in Luke 14:26. The verse thus underscores the supremacy of the new covenant relationship and the necessity of spiritual detachment from anything that hinders full devotion to the divine Bridegroom.
Exposition and Analysis
Key Word Analysis
This verb (H8085) means "to hear intelligently," often with the implication of attention, obedience, and understanding. It signifies not merely passive reception of sound but an active, intentional engagement with the message, implying a readiness to respond and conform to what is heard.
This word (H7911) does not imply amnesia or a complete erasure from memory. Rather, it signifies a deliberate act of "letting go," "disregarding," or "no longer prioritizing." In this context, it means to shift one's primary allegiance and focus away from former ties and loyalties to embrace a new, exclusive devotion. It's a reordering of priorities, where the past no longer holds sway over present and future commitment.
This phrase refers to the patriarchal household, encompassing not just the physical dwelling (H1004, bayith) but the entire extended family, lineage, heritage, identity, and source of security (H1, ʼâb). To "forget" one's father's house is to relinquish the primary claim of one's birth family and fully integrate into the husband's family, adopting their identity and loyalties as paramount.
Verse Breakdown
"Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear;"
This tripartite command emphasizes the urgency and depth of the required attention from the bride. "Hearken" (listen attentively), "consider" (understand with discernment and reflection), and "incline thine ear" (lean in, pay close heed) collectively call for a profound and thoughtful reception of the instruction. It's an appeal for the bride to open herself fully to the King's word, indicating that the following commands are of utmost importance and require not just hearing, but deep contemplation and acceptance.
"forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;"
This is the core command, demanding a radical reorientation of identity and loyalty. "Thine own people" refers to her nation or tribe, while "thy father's house" signifies her immediate family and ancestral heritage. The command to "forget" them means to sever the primary allegiance to these former ties, relinquishing their claims on her identity and devotion. This is not about disrespecting her past, but about embracing a new, exclusive, and paramount loyalty to her husband and his kingdom. It's a call to a new, undivided identity.
Literary Devices
Psalm 45:10 employs several potent literary devices to convey its urgent message. The prominent use of the imperative mood ("Hearken," "consider," "incline," "forget") creates a direct, authoritative, and non-negotiable tone, underscoring the gravity and absolute nature of the instruction given to the bride. Parallelism is evident in the triple command to listen ("Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear;"), which intensifies the call for attentive reception. Similarly, the parallel phrasing "thine own people, and thy father's house" reinforces the comprehensive nature of the required detachment from former allegiances, emphasizing that no part of her past loyalties should compete with her new commitment. The entire verse functions as a powerful metaphor and symbolism, where the literal royal bride and her separation from her past foreshadow the spiritual reality of the Church (the "daughter") being called to an exclusive and undivided devotion to Christ, her divine Bridegroom, leaving behind the "father's house" of the world and its values.
Theological and Thematic Connections
The profound call in Psalms 45:10 for the bride to "forget" her past allegiances resonates deeply with the biblical theme of new creation and radical discipleship. Just as the ancient Near Eastern bride was to fully integrate into her new husband's household, so too are believers called to shed their old identity and embrace a new life in Christ. This "forgetting" is not about denying one's heritage, but about shifting ultimate allegiance from earthly ties, sinful patterns, and worldly values to the supreme authority and love of Jesus Christ. It speaks to the transformative power of conversion, where the believer is no longer defined by their past but by their union with Christ, becoming a "new creation." This spiritual reorientation requires a deliberate choice to prioritize Christ above all else, embodying an exclusive devotion that mirrors the covenant faithfulness expected in marriage.
Reflection and Application
Psalms 45:10 serves as a timeless call to radical devotion for every believer. Just as the royal bride was to fully commit to her new husband, leaving behind her former life, so too are we, as the Church, called to an undivided allegiance to Christ. This means identifying and "forgetting" our own "people" and "father's house"—anything that competes for our ultimate loyalty. This could be worldly ambitions, cultural norms that contradict God's Word, past sinful habits, or even family traditions that hinder our walk with Christ. It's a call to prioritize His will, His kingdom, and His righteousness above all else. Embracing this new identity in Christ means actively shedding the "old self" and being continually transformed into His likeness, allowing His love and truth to redefine our every priority and relationship. Our spiritual journey is one of continually inclining our ear to Him, considering His commands, and letting go of anything that prevents our full and joyful surrender to our divine Bridegroom.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Does "forget" mean to literally abandon or disrespect my family?
No, the Hebrew word shâkach (H7911, "forget") in this context does not mean to erase from memory or to literally abandon one's family in a disrespectful way. Instead, it signifies a reordering of priorities and a shift in ultimate allegiance. For the royal bride, it meant her primary loyalty and identity were now with her husband's household, not her birth family. Spiritually, for the Church, it means that our supreme allegiance belongs to Christ. While we are called to honor our parents and love our families, as commanded throughout Scripture (e.g., Ephesians 6:2), this love must never supersede our devotion to God. Jesus Himself taught that discipleship might involve a radical reordering of family loyalties when they conflict with following Him (Luke 14:26). The command is about prioritizing Christ above all else, ensuring that no earthly relationship or past tie hinders our full commitment to Him.
How does this verse apply to believers who are not literally marrying or are single?
While Psalm 45 is a literal wedding song, its profound spiritual interpretation as a prophecy of Christ and the Church extends its application to all believers, regardless of their marital status. The "daughter" or bride in this psalm ultimately represents the Church, the collective body of believers, who are spiritually betrothed to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2). Therefore, the call to "forget also thine own people, and thy father's house" is a universal spiritual principle for every individual Christian. It signifies the radical commitment required of anyone who enters into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. All believers are called to shift their primary allegiance from worldly systems, past sinful identities, and anything that competes with Christ, to embrace their new identity and undivided loyalty in Him. The spiritual reality of being united with Christ as His bride applies equally to single and married believers alike, emphasizing the absolute devotion required of all who follow Him.
Christ-Centered Fulfillment
Psalms 45:10 finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ and His relationship with the Church. The King celebrated in this psalm is none other than Christ, the divine Bridegroom, and the "daughter" or bride is His Church. The call for the bride to "forget also thine own people, and thy father's house" is perfectly embodied in the believer's union with Christ. When we are united with Him, we are called to a radical reorientation of our lives, leaving behind the "old man" with its former ways and allegiances, and embracing a new identity in Him (Ephesians 4:22-24). This "forgetting" is not a loss of memory, but a decisive shift in loyalty and affection, where Christ becomes our supreme priority and our new "home." His own self-emptying love and sacrifice on the cross made this new covenant possible, enabling us to be reconciled to God and become part of His divine household. Just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25), so too are we, His bride, called to an exclusive and undivided devotion to Him, finding our true identity and belonging in Him alone, becoming a "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17).