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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 45:1 - 45:1
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(Heb.: 45:2-3) The verb רָחַשׁ, as מַרְחֶשֶׁת shows, signifies originally to bubble up, boil, and is used in the dialects generally of excited motion and lively excitement; it is construed with the accusative after the manner of verbs denoting fulness, like the synonymous נָבַע, Psa 119:171 (cf. Talmudic לשׁונך תרחישׁ רננות, let thy tongue overflow with songs of praise). Whatever the heart is full of, with that the mouth overflows; the heart of the poet gushes over with a “good word.” דָּבָר is a matter that finds utterance and is put into the form of words; and טֹּוב describes it as good with the collateral idea of that which is cheerful, pleasing, and rich in promise (Isa 52:7; Zec 1:13). The fact that out of the fulness and oppression of his heart so good a word springs forth, arises from the subject in which now his whole powers of mind are absorbed: I am saying or thinking (אָנִי pausal form by Dechî, in order that the introductory formula may not be mistaken), i.e., my purpose is: מַֽעֲשַׁי לְמֶלֶךְ, my works or creations (not sing., but plur., just as also מִקְנַי in Exo 17:3; Num 20:19, where the connection leads one to expect the plural) shall be dedicated to the king; or even: the thought completely fills me, quite carries me away, that they concern or have reference to the king. In the former case לְמֶלֶךְ dispenses with the article because it is used after the manner of a proper name (as in Psa 21:2; Psa 72:1); in the latter, because the person retires before the office of dignity belonging to it: and this we, in common with Hitzig, prefer on account of the self-conscious and reflecting אמר אני by which it is introduced. He says to himself that it is a king to whom his song refers; and this lofty theme makes his tongue so eloquent and fluent that it is like the style of a γραμματεὺς ὀξύγραφος. Thus it is correctly rendered by the lxx; whereas סֹופֵר מָהִיר as an epithet applied to Ezra (Ezr 7:6) does not denote a rapid writer, but a learned or skilled scribe. Rapidly, like the style of an agile writer, does the tongue of the poet move; and it is obliged to move thus rapidly because of the thoughts and words that flow forth to it out of his heart. The chief thing that inspires him is the beauty of the king. The form יָפְיָפִיתָ, which certainly ought to have a passive sense (Aquila κάλλει ἐκαλλίωθης), cannot be explained as formed by reduplication of the first two radicals of the verb יָפָה (יָפַי); for there are no examples to be found in support of quinqueliterals thus derived. What seems to favour this derivation is this, that the legitimately formed Pealal יְפֵיפָה (cf. the adjective יְפֵהפִי = יְפֵיפִי, Jer 46:20) is made passive by a change of vowels in a manner that is altogether peculiar, but still explicable in connection with this verb, which is a twofold weak verb. The meaning is: Thou art beyond compare beautifully fashioned, or endowed with beauty beyond the children of men. The lips are specially singled out from among all the features of beauty in him. Over his lips is poured forth, viz., from above, חֵן (gracefulness of benevolence), inasmuch as, even without his speaking, the form of his lips and each of their movements awakens love and trust; it is evident, however, that from such lips, full of χάρις, there must proceed also λόγοι τῆς χάριτος (Luk 4:22; Ecc 10:12). In this beauty of the king and this charm of his lips the psalmist sees a manifestation of the everlasting blessing of God, that is perceptible to the senses. It is not to be rendered: because Elohim hath blessed thee for ever. The assertion that עַל־כֵּן is used in some passages for עַל־כֵּן אֲשֶׁר cannot be proved (vid., on Psa 42:7). But the meaning of the psalmist is, moreover, not that the king, because he is so fair and has such gracious lips, is blessed of God. If this were the idea, then the noble moral qualities of which the beauty of this king is the transparent form, ought to be more definitely expressed. Thus personally conceived, as it is here, beauty itself is a blessing, not a ground for blessing. The fact of the matter is this, beauty is denoted by על־כן as a reason for the blessing being known or recognised, not as a reason why the king should be blessed. From his outward appearance it is at once manifest that the king is one who is blessed by God, and that blessed for ever. The psalmist could not but know that “grace is deceitful and beauty vain” (Pro 31:30), therefore the beauty of this king was in his eyes more than mere earthly beauty; it appears to him in the light of a celestial transfiguration, and for this very reason as an imperishable gift, in which there becomes manifest an unlimited endless blessing.