Psalm 45 is a royal wedding song, the only one in the Psalter. (It is unknown for which king it may have been composed, but the reference to the bride’s origin in Tyre has led to the suggestion that the couple was Ahab and Jezebel.)
The first half of the psalm (vv. 1-9) is in praise of the king. The second half (vv. 10-17) focuses on his bride. It was interpreted Christologically as early as the book of Hebrews, which quotes vv. 6-7:
Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy.
There are also obvious correspondences with the wedding feast of the Lamb in Revelation.
The lectionary assigns the entire Psalm to the Annunciation of the Lord in each year. It is also used twice on Lord’s Days, including this past Sunday (Year A between July 3-9), where the second half of the psalm (only vv. 10-17 are assigned) serves as a response to the story of Isaac and Rebekah. I looked over different settings of the psalm in preparation for planning the service. (Unlike the other psalms in this series, we didn’t study it during our Psalms for All Seasons Sunday school class. Andrew and I went through all the settings one evening after summer book club.)
There are only four Psalm 45 hymns in CRC hymnals and just one in the new hymnals: “For the Honor of Our King” (PFAS #45A/LUYH #221), which is the best of the four and the one we sang at yesterday’s service.
It is a very loose, explicitly Christological version of the psalm with each stanza ending with “our royal Savior.” Stanzas 1-3 are in praise of the king. Stanza four introduces the bride:
See the splendor of Christ’s bride
led in honor to his side—
chosen, loved, and beautified
by her royal Savior.
Stanza 5 captures the psalm’s ending by promising “one unending song of praise to our royal Savior.”
The lyrics are by Martin Leckebusch; the tune is MONKLAND, which is also used for “For the Glories of God’s Grace” (LUYH #677/PH87 #223) and the John Milton Psalm 136 setting “Let Us with Gladsome Mind” (PFAS #136A/PH87 #136).
The gray Psalter Hymnal’s only Psalm 45 setting is “I Praise the King with All My Verses” (PH87 #45). It’s a much more literal versification by Marie Post and Bert Polman. It is set to O DASS ICH TAUSEND ZUNGEN HÄTTE; while not a Genevan tune, like many of the original psalm settings in the Psalter Hymnal, it is similarly irregular and not intuitively singable.
I praise the king with all my verses;
with blessings on my tongue I sing.
Your grace and beauty show God’s favor;
God’s richest gifts are for our king.
Gird on your sword, ride forth with might;
defend the cause of truth and right.
The blue Psalter Hymnal includes two Psalm 45 settings. “A Godly Theme is Mine” (PH57 #82) is a seven verse versification set to FAIRFIELD. “O Royal Bride, Give Heed” (PH57 #83), from the 1912 Psalter, is a Christological translation of the second half of the psalm set to GERAR.
Psalms for All Seasons includes two responsorial settings (both for vv. 1-2, 6-17): “The Throne of God Is Righteousness” (PFAS #45B) and “Take, O Take Me As I Am” (PFAS #45B-alt), which uses the entire song (also found in LUYH #741/SNC #215/SWM #227) as the response.
(This is the 25th post in my continuing series on the Psalms for All Seasons Sunday school class I co-teach with Andrew Friend. Each week we sing psalm settings from Psalms for All Seasons, Lift Up Your Hearts, and other CRC hymnals. Previous posts is the series focused on Psalm 121, Psalm 122, Psalms 2/99, Psalm 72, Psalm 95, Psalm 147, Psalm 112, Psalm 29, Psalm 40, Psalm 23, Psalm 27, Psalm 130, Psalm 15, Psalm 51, Psalm 6, Psalm 32, Psalm 143, Psalms 38/102, Psalm 31, Psalm 116, Psalm 16, Psalm 22, Psalm 118, Psalms 47/93, and Psalm 66.)