Psalm 45:11

So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) Worship thou him.—Literally, Bow down or prostrate thyself.

Benson Commentary

Psalm 45:11. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty — So shalt thou be amiable in the eyes of thy husband, and truly acceptable and dear to him, who, having purchased and betrothed thee to himself, justly requires thy whole heart, thy undivided love; and his affection, and the complacency which he will take in thee, will abundantly recompense thee for the loss of thy father’s house. For he is thy Lord — As he is thy husband, and also as he is thy King and God, he is thy Lord, and justly claims thy unlimited service and adoration: therefore worship thou him — Not only submit to his government, but give him divine honours: worship him as God and Lord. Honour the Son, in obedience to the divine command, even as thou honourest the Father: nay, in honouring the Son thou wilt honour the Father: for if thou confess that Christ is Lord and pay thy homage to him accordingly, it will be to the glory of God the Father, Php 2:11.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

45:10-17 If we desire to share these blessings, we must hearken to Christ's word. We must forget our carnal and sinful attachments and pursuits. He must be our Lord as well as our Saviour; all idols must be thrown away, that we may give him our whole heart. And here is good encouragement, thus to break off from former alliances. The beauty of holiness, both on the church and on particular believers, is, in the sight of Christ, of great price, and very amiable. The work of grace is the workmanship of the Spirit, it is the image of Christ upon the soul, a partaking of the Divine nature. It is clear of all sin, there is none in it, nor any comes from it. There is nothing glorious in the old man or corrupt nature; but in the new man, or work of grace upon the soul, every thing is glorious. The robe of Christ's righteousness, which he has wrought out for his church, the Father imputes unto her, and bestows upon her. None are brought to Christ, but those whom the Father brings. This notes the conversion of souls to him. The robe of righteousness, and garments of salvation, the change of raiment Christ has put upon her. Such as strictly cleave to Christ, loving him in singleness of heart, are companions of the bride, who partake of the very same grace, enjoy the same privileges, and share in one common salvation. These, every one, shall be brought to the King; not one lost or left behind. Instead of the Old Testament church, there shall be a New Testament church, a Gentile church. In the believing hope of our everlasting happiness in the other world, let us always keep up the remembrance of Christ, as our only way thither; and transmit the remembrance of him to succeeding generations, that his name may endure for ever.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty - That is, in consequence of your love to him, and your entire devotion of yourself to him. The word "desire" here is equivalent to having pleasure in; as meaning that his affliction would thus be fixed on her. In this way - by forgetting her own home, and devoting herself to him - she would secure his affection. In the married life, mere "beauty" will not secure permanently the love of a husband. The heart, as given to him, and as faithful to him, will alone secure his love. In like manner, it is nothing but sincere affection - true love on the part of the professed friends of the Saviour - the forgetting and forsaking of all else - that will secure his love, or make the church to him an object of desire.

For he is thy Lord - That is, as a husband he sustains this relation to thee; or, this appellation may be given to him. In what sense this is true in respect to a husband, see the notes at 1 Peter 3:6; notes at 1 Corinthians 11:3. In respect to the Saviour, the dominion implied in the word "Lord" is absolute and entire.

And worship thou him - That is, as applicable to a bride, Show him respect, honor, reverence. See the notes at Ephesians 5:33. The word means properly to bow down; then, to show respect, as to a superior; and then, to show proper respect to God, to wit, by worshipping or adoring him. See the notes at Matthew 2:11; see Matthew 8:2; Matthew 14:33; Matthew 15:25; Matthew 18:26; Matthew 28:9; Revelation 19:10; Revelation 22:9; compare the notes at Hebrews 1:6.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10, 11. She is invited to the union, for forming which she must leave her father's people. She representing, by the form of the allegory, the Church, this address is illustrated by all those scriptures, from Ge 12:1 on, which speak of the people of God as a chosen, separate, and peculiar people. The relation of subjection to her spouse at once accords with the law of marriage, as given in Ge 3:16; 18:12; Eph 5:22; 1Pe 3:5, 6, and the relation of the Church to Christ (Eph 5:24). The love of the husband is intimately connected with the entire devotion to which the bride is exhorted.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

So doing thou shalt be amiable and acceptable to thy Husband; which will abundantly recompense thee for the loss of thy father’s house.

He is thy Lord; as he is thy Husband, and also as he is thy King and God, as he was called, Psalm 45:6. And this is added as a reason, not of the last words, why the King would desire her beauty, but of the advice given to her, Psalm 45:10.

Worship thou him; by which he implies that her Husband was no mere man, but God also, and therefore might be adored without any violation of that known and immutable precept of worshipping God only.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty,.... Which lies in the comeliness or righteousness of Christ put upon her; in the holiness of Christ reckoned to her; in being washed from all sin in the blood of Christ; in the graces of the Spirit being implanted in her, in which the beauty of holiness lies; in the salvation she is interested in, and beautified with; in enjoying the order and ordinance of Christ's house, and in having the presence of God and Christ with her: and this beauty is not natural, nor acquired by her, but what is given her; it is not an outward, but an inward beauty; nor is it fictitious, but real; it is perfect through the comeliness of her Lord upon her; and it is durable as the olive tree: and this is greatly desired by Christ, who delights in her, and to behold her countenance; seeks after her company, and will have her where he is, that she may behold his glory, and he may behold her beauty;

for he is thy Lord; not only by creation, but by redemption, and in right of marriage, as well as on account of other relations he stands in to her, as Father, Head, King, and Master; and it is her privilege that he is her Lord, as well as her duty to own the relation; since, though he is a sovereign Lord, he is no tyrannical one, but governs with gentleness, and he has all power to protect her, and all fulness to supply her wants; and on account of his being her Husband, Lord, and Head, he has a right of worship from her, as follows;

and worship thou him; both internally, by the exercise of faith, hope, and love upon him; and externally, by praying to him, praising of him, and attending on all his ordinances, and doing everything in a religious way, in his name, according to his word, and by his authority; and such worship should be in spirit and in truth, in sincerity, and without hypocrisy, in righteousness and true holiness, and with reverence and godly fear.

Geneva Study Bible

So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty] Omit greatly.

worship thou him] Better, do him homage: not necessarily in the literal sense of prostrating herself before him (1 Samuel 25:41; 1 Kings 1:16; 1 Kings 1:31), but by shewing him befitting respect and submission. This exhortation, and the title lord for husband (cp. Genesis 18:12) reflect the subordinate position of women in ancient times and Oriental countries. Yet see also 1 Peter 3:5-6. The rendering of P.B.V., for he is thy Lord God, follows the Vulg. But God is not in the LXX, and was no doubt a gloss in accordance with the Messianic interpretation.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty. Devotion to her Lord will win her his tender regard, and make her other charms and graces please and delight him. For he is thy Lord; i.e. thy Lord and Master, entitled to thy utmost love and obedience, nay, to thy "worship " - therefore, Worship thou him. Worship, in a certain sense, is due from every wife to every husband; but the Church's worship of Christ is worship in the absolutely highest sense (Revelation 5:6-14). Psalm 45:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 45:11-13) The poet next turns to address the one bride of the king, who is now honoured far above the kings' daughters. With שׁמעי he implores for himself a hearing; by ראי yb ;gni he directs her eye towards the new relationship into which she is just entering; by הטּי אזנך he bespeaks her attention to the exhortation that follows; by בּת he puts himself in a position in relation to her similar to that which the teacher and preacher occupies who addresses the bridal pair at the altar. She is to forget her people and her father's house, to sever her natural, inherited, and customary relationships of life, both as regards outward form and inward affections; and should the king desire her beauty, to which he has a right, - for he, as being her husband (1 Peter 3:6), and more especially as being king, is her lord, - she is to show towards him her profoundest, reverent devotion. ויתאו is a hypothetical protasis according to Ges. 128, 2, c. The reward of this willing submission is the universal homage of the nations. It cannot be denied on the ground of syntax that וּבת־צר admits of being rendered "and O daughter of Tyre" (Hitzig), - a rendering which would also give additional support to our historical interpretation of the Psalm, - although, apart from the one insecure passage, Jeremiah 20:12 (Ew. 340, c), there is no instance to be found in which a vocative with ו occurs (Proverbs 8:5; Joel 2:23; Isaiah 44:21), when another vocative has not already preceded it. But to what purpose would be, in this particular instance, this apostrophe with the words בּת־צר, from which it looks as though she were indebted to her ancestral house, and not to the king whose own she is become, for the acts of homage which are prospectively set before her? Such, however, is not the case; "daughter of Tyre" is a subject-notion, which can all the more readily be followed by the predicate in the plural, since it stands first almost like a nomin. absol. The daughter, i.e., the population of Tyre - approaching with presents shall they court (lit., stroke) thy face, i.e., meeting thee bringing love, they shall seek to propitiate thy love towards themselves. (פּני) חלּה corresponds to the Latin mulcere in the sense of delenire; for חלה, Arab. ḥlâ (root חל, whence חלל, Arab. ḥll, solvit, laxavit), means properly to be soft and tender, of taste to be sweet (in another direction: to be lax, weak, sick); the Piel consequently means to soften, conciliate, to make gentle that which is austere. Tyre, however, is named only by way of example; עשׁירי עם is not an apposition, but a continuation of the subject: not only Tyre, but in general those who are the richest among each separate people or nation. Just as אביוני אדם (Isaiah 29:19) are the poorest of mankind, so עשׁירי עם are the richest among the peoples of the earth.

As regards the meaning which the congregation or church has to assign to the whole passage, the correct paraphrase of the words "and forget thy people" is to be found even in the Targum: "Forget the evil deeds of the ungodly among thy people, and the house of the idols which thou hast served in the house of thy father." It is not indeed the hardened mass of Israel which enters into such a loving relationship to God and to His Christ, but, as prophecy from Deuteronomy 32 onward declares, a remnant thoroughly purged by desolating and sifting judgments and rescued, which, in order to belong wholly to Christ, and to become the holy seed of a better future (Isaiah 6:13), must cut asunder all bonds of connection with the stiff-neckedly unbelieving people and paternal house, and in like manner to Abram secede from them. This church of the future is fair; for she is expiated (Deuteronomy 32:43), washed (Isaiah 4:4), and adorned (Isaiah 61:3) by her God. And if she does homage to Him, without looking back, He not only remains her own, but in Him everything that is glorious belonging to the world also becomes her own. Highly honoured by the King of kings, she is the queen among the daughters of kings, to whom Tyre and the richest among peoples of every order are zealous to express their loving and joyful recognition. Very similar language to that used here of the favoured church of the Messiah is used in Psalm 72:10. of the Messiah Himself.