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Commentary on Psalms 45 verses 10–17
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.
The inspired author, forebearing to mention the whole world, refers to the neighboring city, which at that time was in the grip of impiety, the devil’s stronghold, with an awful reputation for extravagance, and he thus implies the whole from the part.
"And the daughters of Tyre shall worship Him with gifts" [Psalm 45:12]. It is that selfsame "King, who is your God," that the daughters of Tyre shall worship with gifts. The daughters of Tyre are the daughters of the Gentiles; the part standing for the whole. Tyre, a city bordering on this country, where the prophecy was delivered, typified the nations that were to believe in Christ. Thence came that Canaanitish woman, who was at first called "a dog;" for that you may know that she was from thence, the Gospel speaks thus. "He departed into the parts of Tyre and Sidon, and behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts," with all the rest that is related there. She who at first, at the house of her "father," and among her "own people," was but "a dog," who by coming to, and crying after that "King," was made beautiful by believing in Him, what did she obtain to hear? "O woman, great is your faith." [Matthew 15:21-28] "The King has greatly desired your beauty. And the daughters of Tyre shall worship with gifts." With what gifts? Even so would this King be approached, and would have His treasuries filled: and it is He Himself who has given us that wherewith they may be filled, and may be filled by you. Let them come (He says) and "worship Him with gifts." What is meant by "with gifts"?..."Give alms, and all things are clean unto you." Come with gifts to Him that says, "I will have mercy rather than sacrifice." To that Temple that existed aforetime as a shadow of that which was to come, they used to come with bulls, and rams, and goats, with every different kind of animal for sacrifice: that with that blood one thing should be done, and another be typified by it. Now that very blood, which all these things used to figure, has come: the King Himself has come, and He Himself would have your "gifts." What gifts? Alms. For He Himself will judge hereafter, and will Himself hereafter account "gifts" to certain persons. "Come" (He says), "ye blessed of My Father." Why? "I was an hungred, and you gave Me meat," [Matthew 25:34-35] etc. These are the gifts with which the daughters of Tyre worship the King; for when they said, "When saw we You?" He who is at once above and below (whence those "ascending" and "descending" are spoken of ), said, "Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of Mine, you have done it unto Me." [Matthew 25:40]
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SUMMARY
Psalms 45:12, embedded within a royal wedding psalm, powerfully illustrates the universal homage and tribute rendered to a glorious king. It vividly portrays the "daughter of Tyre," symbolizing powerful foreign entities, and the wealthy elite from all peoples, humbly seeking the king's favor and presenting gifts. This verse not only celebrates the widespread influence of an earthly monarch but also prophetically anticipates the ultimate, undisputed reign of a greater King, whose sovereignty will be acknowledged and sought by all nations and peoples.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The verse employs several potent literary devices to convey its message of universal homage. Personification is evident in "the daughter of Tyre," giving the city human agency and emphasizing its deliberate act of homage, thereby making the abstract concept of a city-state's submission more tangible. This also functions as Synecdoche, where Tyre, a prominent and wealthy city, stands in for all foreign nations and their riches, representing the broader category of powerful, independent entities. The depiction of both Tyre and "the rich among the people" seeking the king's favor uses Hyperbole to underscore the king's extraordinary and far-reaching influence, suggesting a universal recognition that transcends geographical and social boundaries, extending beyond what any earthly king could fully achieve. Furthermore, the "gift" itself serves as Symbolism, representing not just material tribute but also submission, honor, and a desire for a beneficial relationship with the king. The overall effect is to magnify the king's glory and the breadth of his dominion, pointing to a reign of unparalleled attraction and authority.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
This verse, while initially celebrating an earthly king, carries profound theological weight, pointing to the universal sovereignty of God and the ultimate reign of His Anointed One. It foreshadows a time when all earthly powers and wealth will bow before the true King, acknowledging His supreme authority and seeking His divine favor. The drawing of the nations, even the proud and wealthy, into the orbit of the king's blessing is a recurring theme in Old Testament prophecy, illustrating God's plan to extend His kingdom beyond Israel's borders. It speaks to the attractive power of a righteous and blessed rule, where true prosperity and peace are found in submission to God's chosen representative. This anticipates the New Covenant reality where people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation will worship the Lamb, bringing their glory into His eternal kingdom.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 45:12 invites believers to contemplate the ultimate authority and splendor of Christ's kingdom, which is destined to be acknowledged by all. Just as the wealthy and powerful of old sought the favor of an earthly king, we are called to prioritize seeking the favor of God above all worldly pursuits. This verse serves as a powerful reminder that all earthly power, wealth, and influence are transient, and true, lasting blessing comes from aligning ourselves with the eternal King. It encourages us to live with an eschatological hope, anticipating the day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus as Lord, and to participate actively in the Great Commission, bringing the message of this glorious King to all nations, so that many may seek His favor now and find eternal life. Our lives should reflect a deep longing for His reign and a willingness to offer our own "gifts" – our lives, talents, and resources – in humble service to Him, recognizing that our greatest treasure is found in His presence and approval.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why is Tyre specifically mentioned in this psalm?
Answer:Tyre's specific mention is highly significant due to its historical and symbolic weight. As a preeminent Phoenician city-state, Tyre was renowned for its immense wealth, powerful maritime trade, and perceived self-sufficiency. Its inclusion in the psalm underscores the king's extraordinary influence, implying that even a city known for its independence and worldly power would willingly offer tribute and seek his favor. It serves as a representative example of the most formidable and prosperous nations, symbolizing the universal scope of the king's dominion, which extends even to those outside the immediate covenant community. This foreshadows the ultimate drawing of all nations to the Messiah, as seen in prophecies like Isaiah 60:5-7 and the vision of the New Jerusalem where the kings of the earth bring their glory into it (Revelation 21:24).
How does this verse relate to the Great Commission?
Answer:Psalms 45:12 provides a powerful prophetic backdrop for the Great Commission. By depicting foreign nations and the wealthy elite seeking the king's favor, it anticipates a future reality where the sovereignty of the true King will be universally acknowledged. This vision of global homage fuels the urgency and hope of the Great Commission, as commanded by Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20. Believers are called to "go therefore and make disciples of all nations," knowing that the ultimate destiny of humanity is to bow before Christ. The verse reinforces the conviction that God's plan includes people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, and that the message of salvation is meant for all, so that they too may "intreat His favor" and enter into His glorious kingdom. It underscores the global scope of God's redemptive plan and the universal call to worship the King.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalms 45:12 finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ, the true King of kings and Lord of lords. While the psalm initially describes an earthly monarch, its elevated language and universal scope transcend any mere human reign, pointing directly to the Messiah. Jesus, the Son of David, is the righteous King whose throne is forever and ever, as declared in Hebrews 1:8. The "daughter of Tyre" and "the rich among the people" coming with gifts and seeking favor perfectly prefigure the day when "every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:10-11). Just as the earthly king's reign drew homage, Christ's perfect righteousness, sacrificial love, and victorious resurrection draw all humanity to Himself. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and it is His favor, His grace, that all people, regardless of their earthly status or wealth, must seek for salvation and eternal life. The vision of nations bringing their glory and honor into the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:24) is the complete realization of this psalm's prophetic glimpse into the universal, undisputed reign of Christ, where all creation acknowledges His supreme dominion.