Content provided in partnership with
PSALM 45:6-7 and its christological contributions to Hebrews
Trinity Journal, Spring 2001 by Bateman, Herbert W IV
(ProQuest Information and Learning: Foreign characters omitted.)
In his past administration of human history, God not only endorsed, he canonized the importance of the Davidic monarchy for the nation of Israel.1 The Davidic king-priest was divinely called and authorized to rule Yahweh's people, to build and maintain Yahweh's temple, and to keep and enforce Yahweh's law, which had been given through Moses (2 Sam 7:8-16; Pss 2; 72; 132:11-12). The temple was an important symbol to David and Solomon. It served to exemplify Yahweh's presence, to exercise ceremonial law, and to endorse the Davidic king-priest's right to rule. Although David initially desired to build the temple for Yahweh ("for me to dwell in," 2 Sam 7:5), God modifies David's request and promises that a temple will be built ` for my name" (2 Sam 7:14).2 In addition, Solomon, not David, was to build God's temple (1 Kgs 6:1-37; 8:1-66; 2 Chr 2:17:10). As a result, the temple remained an important symbol for subsequent Davidic kings, but Israel's Davidic monarchy failed to honor Yahweh and his temple. Thus Yahweh set into motion a twofold plan of retribution and restoration.
- Most Popular Articles in Reference
- The importance of understanding organizational culture
- Credit card attitudes and behaviors of college students
- What factors attract foreign direct investment?
- Libraries Need Relationship Marketing - mutual interest marketing concept, ...
- How to set performance goals: employee reviews are more than annual critiques
- More »
With the eventual demise of the Davidic monarchy, the temple's destruction, and Judah's deportation to Babylon in 586, God's people entered a period of exile. Those who emigrated back to Jerusalem from Babylonia during the Persian period constructed a new temple, "developed the canon of Torah," and fashioned an internationalistic and pluralistic religion.3 Judaism thus emerged as a Diaspora religion, which tended to be separated from the local Jerusalem government, yet temple-centered.
Albeit a temple-state, Judea employed symbols of sovereignty-- most notably the temple-which were restricted due to its status as a secondary state in a province of the Persian and subsequent Grecian and Roman Empires. Thus many Jews of the first century believed Israel's exile was still in progress because Israel's restoration and the restoration of the Davidic line had not yet been fulfilled.4 Thus first century Judaism expected Yahweh to end their exile, re-establish the kingdom of Israel, and restore the Davidic monarchy. Granting that no single view of an anticipated messiah acquired sole dominance within first-century Judaism, "the Hasmonean and Herodian dynasties," according to Wright, "supplied the actual models of kingship that most people knew; speculations about a coming king were speculations about someone who would replace these suspect dynasties with the true, god-given one."5
Wright's basic worldview of second-temple Judaism, with which I agree, may be summarized simply as monotheism (there is one creator God), election (God has chosen Israel to be his people), and eschatology (God will act for his people and work through his people to re-establish Israel in her land).6 It was into this culturaltheological environment that God sent his man, revealed his prophet, and spoke through his messiah, Jesus. Despite Judaism's expectations, Jesus' kingdom message of restoration was not believed. Thus Jesus was crucified but resurrected in three days. It was some thirty plus years later, mid-60s A.D., that the author of Hebrews writes to a Jewish-Christian audience in Rome.
Realizing that he was living in "the last days" (Heb 1:2a), the author of Hebrews selects and intentionally intermingles OT passages, some of which were primed culturally and employed frequently to address, however indirectly, the restoration of the Davidic dynasty or a realized kingdom. This is not to minimize the explicit thrust of the author, namely, the Son's superiority over the angels (1:4). It is, however, to call attention to the fact that the author speaks of the Son's superiority by underscoring the current and permanent rule of a superior Son (1:5-13). At the center of this disclosure is Psalm 45, a song initially written to celebrate the marriage of a mighty and glorious ruling Davidic monarch (45:1-9), to provide instructions to a foreign princess (45:10-15), and to express dynastic blessings (45:16-17).7 The purpose of this essay is to identify the importance of vv. 6 and 7 of Psalm 45 to the book of Hebrews in light of its significant Christological contributions in Heb 1:5-13. More specifically, we will examine the statement "your throne . . . is forever" (...), the designation of the Davidic monarch as "O God" (...) the emphasis given to the "scepter of justice ... of your kingdom" (...), and the phrase "above your companions" (...) by highlighting the compositional and interpretive contexts of first the psalmist, and then the author of Hebrews.8 Thus we will compare the psalmist's cultural-theological worldview of the Davidic king-priest of a foregone era with that of the author of Hebrews in order to highlight the importance of Ps 45:6-7 to the book of Hebrews.
I. "YOUR THRONE ... IS FOREVER"
A. "Your throne... is forever" in Ps 45:6
In its original compositional and interpretational context, "your throne" (...) is an important part of the royal insignia in antiquity, which served to symbolize the king's ruling authority. In fact, the king's throne (2 Sam 3:10; 7:13; 1 Kgs 1:37, 47; 9:5; 1 Chr 17:12; 22:10; 2 Chr 7:18; Jer 43:10; Hag 22:22; Ps 89:5, 30, 45) or the king in relation to his throne (1 Kgs 1:48; 2:4, 24; 3:6; 5:19; 9:5; 10:9; 2 Chr 6:16; 9:8; Ps 132:11) is an important element in the relation between God and the king.9 Thus "your throne" (...) functioning as a metonymy of subject, identifies the Davidic monarch's current ruling authority as sanctioned by Yahweh (2 Sam 7:16; 1 Chr 17:12; 22:10; 2 Chr 7:18; 1 Kgs 9:5).
Find Research Guides for:
Find Featured Titles for: Autos
Most Popular Articles in Reference
- The importance of understanding organizational culture
- Credit card attitudes and behaviors of college students
- What factors attract foreign direct investment?
- Libraries Need Relationship Marketing - mutual interest marketing concept, ...
- How to set performance goals: employee reviews are more than annual critiques
- More »