Psalms 44 and 45 – May 11
In a little different vein than the individual laments of the previous Psalms, the 44th is a Psalm of national lament. In stark contrast, Psalm 45 is celebratory. Today we will take a look at both in turn. To give some historical context, Psalm 44 was written about a military loss. It is historically unidentifiable, but apparently it was quite the defeat. On the flipside, Psalm 45 was written for a royal wedding and offers differing layers of praise of the groom, bride, and God. I find it helpful to think of these two like we would a funeral versus a wedding. Both are times of gathering. We have ample experience with them. Both are realities with which we must contend. But one is a far easier pill to swallow.
Let’s begin with Psalm 44. For the first few verses, the Psalmist summarizes the theology of God’s divine grace. God accomplished the great things for Israel. He displaced other nations for them. It was God, not the army of Israel. He ordained victories for them (Ps. 44:1-4). At verse 9, the tone changes. Israel now feels as though God has abandoned them. Even so, they recognize that he is in control. In verse 22, they express this: “Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.” This may seem odd to point out, but it matters. They recognize that the victories of the past and the current struggles are from the hand of God. The Psalm comes full circle in the closing verse (26): “Rise up! Help us! Redeem us because of your faithful love.” As always, it is God’s covenant keeping that provides the foundation for their request, for their hope. Earlier in the Psalm, Israel felt as if God had abandoned them. But here, they calm down (in a sense) and remind themselves that God’s love is faithful. How much we have to learn from this Psalm! When life feels like it’s spiraling, remember that God is sovereign and your trial is serving a purpose. That is an oversimplification of a topic that requires much fuller treatment, but it is true. For more on that, read John Piper’s Spectacular Sins or Tim Keller’s Walking with God through Pain and Suffering.
Psalm 45 has a completely different tone. Rather than the spiritual depression of 44, 45 takes place in the midst of a glorious celebration. In a simple sense, this is a great reminder that life will be full of both wonderful and woeful times. For the first 5 verses, the Psalmist is overflowing with emotion and praise for the King. In verse 6, he turns to praise the Lord. “Your throne, God, is forever and ever,” he says (Ps. 45:6). This king is a member of the Davidic dynasty, so this has direct Christological implications. Hebrews 1:8-9 (along with Isaiah 11:1 and others) reveals that Christ is the true seed from David. The reason the Davidic Covenant of 2 Samuel 7 will last forever is not because of the military might of David and his offspring, but because of the eternal sovereign power of the one who would come through the line of David, Jesus Christ. Though there are specific applications because of the lineage of the king (from David to Christ), there is a certain picture of the Gospel in every marriage. From the beginning of time, God planned for the mystery of the Gospel to be proclaimed through marriages (Eph. 5:32). Christ died for the church, his bride. In the same way, husbands are called to sacrificially love their wives. Wives are to graciously submit to their husbands as the church does to Christ. This complementarian view of marriage is not popular in our culture, but then again, why would we look to our sexually confused, morally upside-down culture for advice? Instead, we trust God’s plan from creation and seek our example in Christ’s sacrifice for his bride. Every marriage is an anticipation of the Great Marriage in the eschaton – praise him for that gift!