Episode 101 Psalm 45 The Desire of our Hearts

Dan: (00:00)
Hi everyone and welcome to Training for Life Redeemed. I’m your host, Dan. I’m here as always with my father, David Jackson. We are continuing to look through the book of Psalms. We’re looking at Psalm 45 today, which was lovely to be introduced to. I sat down today with my dad to get ready for this. He’s like, so this is the hardest Psalm that we’re going to be looking at, at these points to work out and to juggle it through. We’ve now spent the last half hour discussing it, trying to prep how we’re going to actually approach this, with you. So, dad

David: (00:32)
Gotta read the psalm.

Dan: (00:33)
Gotta read the psalm. It’s truth. Let’s read the psalm. Dad, read it for us. .

David: (00:37)
Psalm 45 0 For the director according to Crocuses. Belonging to the sons of Korah. A Maskil A song of the beloved. 1 My heart stirs a good word, What I am saying, my works, are for the king. My tongue is a stylus; a scribe that writes quickly. 2 You (ms) are more handsome than any son of man. Grace pours out of your lips. Therefore God blesses you for ever. 3 Strap on your sword, O warrior, your majesty and your splendour. 4 Advance your splendour. Ride on a word of truth, and gentle justice, Your right hand is to teach you fearful things. 5 Your arrows are sharpened As they go into the heart of the king’s enemies. Peoples fall beneath you. 6 Your throne O God is forever and ever. The sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of your reign. 7 You love righteousness, and you hate wickedness. Therefore God, your God anoints you with oil of rejoicing, from among your comrades. 8 Myrrh and aloes, cassia. All your garments are out of the ivory palace. Stringed instruments make you glad. 9 Daughters of kings are adorned with your jewels. Your favourite stands at your right hand in gold of Ophir. 10 Listen daughter, and see, and lend your ear, Forget your people, and your father’s house. 11 May the king desire your beauty; for he is your lord, so bow to him. 12 The daughter of Tyre will seek your favour. The rich among the people will seek it with a gift. 13 All the glory of a king’s daughter is inside. Her clothing is embroidered with gold. 14 In fabulous fabrics she is presented to the king. Virgins come behind her. Her companions are presented to you, daughter (f.). 15 They are brought with joy and gladness. They (f) enter the king’s palace. 16 Your majesty’s (ms) sons will replace your fathers. You (ms) will appoint them to be princes in all the land. 17 I will cause your name to be remembered in every generation. For this reason peoples will praise you for ever and ever.

Dan: (02:49)
Thanks dad. . So dad, this is another Miskal, which is a riddle. And so you’ve told me that this is part of how we kind, kind of solved this. This is a riddle that’s been put in front of us basically. And it’s going to be, we’ve gotta work out the riddle and how, how this all works. So to give everyone a bit more of a summary of this kind of thing. And you know, you may not have quite grasped it as you listened to it cause you might wanna look at it a few times like we did. I think I’ve read this five times in the last 10 minutes. , we have essentially here a king who wins battles and is doing fantastic as a king. He brings in, says here, you know, word of truth and gentle justice. He’s a good king. A good king.

Dan: (03:32)
And yet he is standing to get married with his wife next to him and all of his other daughters that he’s adorned with jewels that are king. Not his daughters, but just king’s daughters, that are essentially married to him. And there’s another one coming down the aisle with a bunch of virgins following her to come with her to be married to that king again. and the psalmist seems to talk to the king. Yep. Seems to talk to the favorite, woman who we will call the queen for now. . Yeah. and probably talks a bit to the bride as well as she comes. And so it’s hard dad in English for us to work out who’s talking to who because we just have the word you. And that for us can be plural. It could be to anyone, male, female, et cetera. Whereas in the Hebrew, it’s very clear if you is male or you is female. or you is plural, if it’s to one person. So yeah. So that’s why if you get the notes, the study notes, I presume there’s a translation in there. and it actually has next to it. Yeah. I’m looking at the one here that that’s given me. It’s got Ms for Masculine’s and F’s for females when it says you, and he’s putting the word daughter sometimes cuz it’s talking to the daughter. So dad, this makes it quite confusing.

David: (04:52)
.

Dan: (04:53)
So let’s start, why have we got this psalm? like, I mean, I can kind of see it in the context of someone like Solomon cuz yes, he’s a king with a harem and he’s got more, he’s going to marry more. And it’s for political treaties. It’s, you know, he’s just got lots of girls. He’s going to have lots of kids, going to run through them all cuz he needs to give them all children. so lots of modern day looking at that. It’s gets bashed.

David: (05:22)
Even the Bible looking that Solomon got condemned for 700 wives, 300 slave wives. How on God’s green earth is this? Right? so there’s this big theme that runs right through. It starts in Genesis four already when Lamack takes a second wife and kills a man so that he can have whatever woman he likes. And then in Genesis six, these blokes who think they’re sons of God, they’re so special. They’re the, you know, I’m a king because I’m half God, half human. and therefore I can have as many women as I like.

Dan: (05:59)
Yeah. The Bible’s not really saying they’re half God, but they are .

David: (06:02)
Well, they’re, that’s, this is what the world is saying. You know, he’s Ben Hadad, son of Hayad. He’s, you know, Thutmoshe offspring of the God. they’re all claiming to be divine kings and that gives them the right to bonk any woman in sight. I was reading, Gilgamesh, an ancient Assyrian Sumerian, legend. And Gilgamesh is the first king of Uruk after the flood. And he claims the right to have sex with every woman on her wedding night. Yeah. Charming fellow. Yeah. so you sort of scratch your head and you say, in this song, boy does this look like Solomon. And lots of commentators say, oh no, this is, this is the, the song they sang when, Solomon married the Princess of Egypt. And you go, really? Yeah.

Dan: (06:54)
Hopefully the princess of Egypt’s the favorite one.

David: (06:56)
Well, no, not at all. a was, he was, it was a sin for him to do that. So you have but

Dan: (07:03)
But politically

David: (07:04)
Oh, politically it made him rich. Yeah.

Dan: (07:06)
So she should be the ones doing

David: (07:07)
This . So what’s with, what’s with selling your daughters? Yeah. so this song poses a real problem for us. Now, most Christian commentators look at Psalm 45, and in Hebrews chapter one, the writer says, when it says, your throne, oh, God is forever and ever God, your God, that he’s speaking to the son Jesus.

Dan: (07:30)
Yeah.

David: (07:31)
And he’s right. Okay. So Jesus is the king. So the king of Judah, we are told Judah would hold the scepter, the symbol of kingship in trust, Genesis 49:10, until it comes to whom it belongs. So all these kings of Israel, of Judah are hanging onto David’s throne. Yeah. In trust to give it to Jesus. And he’s the only righteous king out of the whole lot of ’em. Really . along the way, you’ve got a bunch of really dodgy kings.

Dan: (08:03)
Yeah,

David: (08:03)
Definitely. and Solomon’s not a really good example. there’s good things happening there, but he spoils it. So what have we got here? it, it boggles the mind. And people struggle with this song, and I’ve struggled with it. And I think what’s happening is God. And God does this a lot. He will take what the world is offering, tweak it a little bit, almost sarcastically, and then present it to you and say, here is a riddle, a parable. Can you solve it?

Dan: (08:41)
Okay, well, let’s solve it then, dad. Well,

David: (08:44)
, if, if we jump to the end of the story, the resolution of course. What’s the answer to every question?

Dan: (08:49)
Jesus. Jesus, Jesus. Okay. Jesus fixes everything.

David: (08:52)
Jesus fixes everything.

Dan: (08:53)
But yet Jesus is married, has a wife next to him. His favorite has multiple wives, , and there’s another one coming down the aisle.

David: (08:59)
So, and they’re the daughters of foreign kings. Yeah. Okay,

Dan: (09:02)
Fix this for me, Dad. .

David: (09:03)
. Okay. So this model, it does a couple of things. It reflects a fantasy that is deeply embedded in our nature as image of God. and that fantasy is to be loved, to have a home, to be safe, to be in the care of somebody who is the head of that house who is loving, gracious, gentle, and just so this king, unlike all the other, I love this line, where is it? verse four. Verse four, ride on a word of truth and gentle justice. Now that’s a picture of Jesus. Yeah. It’s, I mean, Solomon was wise and all that sort of thing, but ride on most kings, ride on a chariot and run straight over you. . Alright. This guy is riding on truth and he’s bringing gentle justice. And I think of the Sermon on the Mount. Mm-hmm. , you know, I’m gentle, I’m all that sort of thing. So we are looking for that ideal king, that ideal ruler. the place where we are safe and home. And wouldn’t it be wonderful if it was a royal palace with all the beauty and the majesty and everything else so deeply embedded in our culture is this character call that I think is called Prince Charming.

Dan: (10:28)
Yeah.

David: (10:29)
and I vivid No, you weren’t old enough. I vividly remember the night of the Charles and Di wedding, and we normally had a Bible study on Friday nights, or whatev whatever night it was. I think it was Friday night. And Charles and di getting married, and it’s all a big television event. All the women decided to go and have a wedding party and watch the wedding and all the guys decided to go somewhere and have a beer. Yeah. I

Dan: (10:57)
Think there was some footy on some,

David: (10:59)
Some footy somewhere, something. So we left the women to it and they’re all, you know, dressing up and having a great time. And, you know, it’s a royal wedding and it’s, but it’s this prince charming, myth that goes through our culture. So you think of snow white, Cinderella, what’s the other one I put? Sleeping Beauty. all the, the media hype about, Mary from Tasmania marrying the Prince of Denmark. And you know how wonderful it all is? and Harry Fleet

Dan: (11:31)
Prince charming story. Yes. Many randomly pub.

David: (11:34)
Let’s follow William and Kate ran and see what a wonderful life we could have had if only he’d married me. You know, you know, when they walk around, when they were single, the women are holding up signs, marry me. And you go, Psalm 45 is just capturing that whole dynamic. But it’s not just in the, in the heart of a woman to want to be safe and loved and have a home that’s just majestic and wonderful. That’s the desire of everybody who was kicked outta the garden of Eden. Hmm. We want to go home. And home is where the king is. Home is where all of this stuff is laid on. So there’s a tendency among Christians just to allegorize this Yep. And say, you know, the bride is the church problem solved?

Dan: (12:21)
Yeah. Except there seems to be a few brides here with lot of churches

David: (12:25)
. Yeah. It’s, it’s a bit of a worry. This, there’s a word here in verse nine. So, daughters of kings are adorned with your jewels. Your favorite stands at your right hand in the gold Ophir. So you’re imagining a harem full of women. they’re all, you know, lavishly, decked out and everything else covered in jewels. but there’s a favorite and my mind immediately goes to Esther. Yeah. You know, we’ve, we’ve taken 120 virgins and set ’em all up, and then the, the king checks out each one. And the one he likes is his favorite. This word here, when it becomes a verb, means to rape or ravish. Mm. It it’s

Dan: (13:07)
The one he lusts after.

David: (13:08)
Yeah. . This is the, yeah. So it’s not, it’s translated in most English versions as the queen as at his right hand, but that’s not the word that’s used.

Dan: (13:19)
It’s the one he thinks he is most beautiful.

David: (13:21)
It’s this week’s favorite, you know? and then we’re bringing in all these daughters of kings. Now what’s going on? There is something God condemned.

Dan: (13:32)
Yeah.

David: (13:33)
And when you’re when women read this, they, they, I think many of them would rightly go, this is repulsive. What’s it doing in the Bible? But what’s happening here, I think is stop and resolve the riddle. This riddle could only be resolved if the king is handing on that sceptre to Jesus. And then we are not allegorizing the bride. What we are doing is we are saying the bride is much more complicated. The bride is people from every nation, tribe and language coming into his house as his family. And so you’re swapping this language, daughters of kings as well as the one that’s been brought to be his wife, his next wife. So we look at that and we go, this is a picture of many coming and being welcomed into the royal palace. And this this covenant of marriage is what provides for them in that way with a king who is an ideal king, gentle, just riding on truth, reliable. And he is holding the sceptre because this is God’s throne and he’s going to hand it over to Jesus. So we, we come to Christ. He is God sitting on God’s throne. Your your God O king. Yep. Works for Jesus. My head and representative and all these people coming are being welcomed, into his forever Family as has his covenantal bride. So we move outta the allegory world. We move into resolving a problem in Christ. Without Christ, this is abusive.

Dan: (15:23)
Yeah.

David: (15:24)
When Christ comes along, we resolve all of those needs, desires, and incongruities. And we put the package together properly. Yeah. so we move out of this sexual abuse world into a world that is the kingdom of God.

Dan: (15:42)
Well, thank you Dad for helping us to understand that.

David: (15:45)
I think that’s how it works.

Dan: (15:46)
a little bit. The, the miskal. if you would like to come and see the study notes that, dad’s put up for this episode, you can come and grab them. Just head to trainingforliferedeemed.com/101. it’s nice to be doing triple digits . Do make sure you come back and join us again next week when we presume we’re on Psalm 46, psalm

David: (16:07)
46

Dan: (16:08)
Next week. So looking forward to doing that with you too. It’ll be easier. Hopefully .

David: (16:12)
Hopefully .