Ruth: Introduction, part 4; the spirit of Ruth - the marriage song of the Messiah, Psa 45.

By way of introducing the book of Ruth, we have been looking at a selection of psalms in order to see the spirit of David.

Sheltered amidst the hills of Judah, where afterwards David pastured his father's flocks, and where shepherds heard angels hail the birth of David's Son, we seem to feel once again the healthful breath of Israel's spirit in Bethlehem, the house of bread.

Ruth ends with the genealogy of David, making it also point to Christ, and it is Christ's spirit that inspired David to write 73 psalms. We have looked at Psa 16 and 36. We finish with Psa 45.

When I came across Psa 45, though it was not written by David, I just loved it. I desired us to look at it, especially since it is the Christmas season. And of course it relates to our study of Ruth since it is about the glory of the Son of David.

First, we must remove all doubt of who is the King is.

Heb 1:8 But of the Son He says,

"Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever,

And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.

Heb 1:9 "Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;

Therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee

With the oil of gladness above Thy companions." [Psa 45:6-7]

It is likely that the writer has a human king in mind when he writes, and that God inspired this to be speaking of the future King Messiah. The writer doesn't have to know ultimate purpose for the song he writes in order for the song to be prophetic.

Psa 45:1 For the choir director; according to [upon] the Shoshannim. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. A Song of Love.

Shoshannim – lilies, a symbol of beauty and of brides, and here likely refers to beautiful brides. It is a marriage song.

My heart overflows with a good theme;

I address my verses to the King;

My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

Psa 45:2 Thou art fairer [endowed with beauty] than the sons of men;

Grace is poured upon Thy lips;

Therefore God has blessed Thee forever.

The chief thing that inspires him is the beauty of the king. His words are gracious.

Luk 4:22

And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, "Is this not Joseph's son?”

The writer is careful to signify that the king is not blessed of God because he is beautiful. The blessing of God is his beauty. His beauty is not the cause of it.

As we have been learning lately, the character of Christ in us does not warrant blessing from God, the character itself is the blessing of God. If you are blessed by God, you are beautiful. The king in this psalm loves the blessings of God and he manifests them and so he is beautiful. Written all over him is the blessing he has received from God, and so his beauty is not earthly, but celestial.

The king is beautiful because he is blessed of God. He is not blessed because he is beautiful.

I have not met a person who has seen a starlit clear sky in a really dark place and have not thought it exceedingly beautiful. They are not just white dots on a black canvas. They are celestial, not of this world, and so are the blessings of God.

Pro 31:30

Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,

But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

She shall be beautiful.

God’s beauty is always combined with God’s strength. The king is a hero.

Psa 45:3 Gird Thy sword on

Thy thigh, O Mighty One, In Thy splendor and Thy majesty!

Psa 45:4 And in Thy majesty ride on victoriously,

For the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;

Let Thy right hand teach Thee awesome things.

The king would be riding in a war chariot. His cause is truth, the Hebrew word emet speaks of that which loves and practices the truth and hates lying and falsehood. Righteousness and meekness are combined by a conjunction that makes them sisters, in other words, one means the other.

The Lord rides out for this cause.

He rode from heaven and came to earth in order to save men and instill in them a love of the truth, and righteous meekness. He will return as a warrior in order to establish truth and righteousness on the earth.

Some years after the beginning of the church, many came to believe that Christianity was a means to salvation; that the final endgame of it was eternal life. What these had lost in their doctrines is that Christianity begins with salvation and eternal life. Just as birth is not the finish line of a human but the starting line, so the new birth is the start. Christians start out as new creatures in Christ, born again. As such they now have the capacity in grace to know and love truth, meekness, and righteousness. We were called to be creatures of divine character and virtue, and our Lord, our great and beautiful warrior-poet-King has given us everything by grace in order to possess these qualities and therefore to live life as He does, which is life indeed.

The right hand is the hand of power and signifies the powerful deeds of the king.

Psa 45:5 Thine arrows are sharp;

The peoples fall under Thee;

Thine arrows are in the heart of the King's enemies.

Psa 45:6 Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever;

A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Thy kingdom.

Psa 45:7 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness; Therefore God, Thy God, has anointed Thee With the oil of joy above Thy fellows.

The king has been portrayed as a beautiful and gracious man, a hero, a warrior, and a divine ruler (Elohim); now it describes him as a bridegroom on the day of his wedding.

In the future, when Babylon has fallen and the King of kings mounts His white horse, and His name is written upon Him, King of kings, and Lord of lords, there is the marriage of the King to His bride. She is made beautiful, white and clean, clothed with righteousness, Rev 19.

Psa 45:8 All Thy garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia [cinnamon]; Out of ivory palaces [heaven] stringed instruments have made Thee glad.

Psa 45:9 Kings' daughters are among Thy noble ladies; At Thy right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.

Ophir was known to have the most precious gold and so it was desired as one of the most precious substances. It can be compared to a pearl of great value. This is how the King sees His bride.

It is an unmistakable fact that the most precious thing to the Lord Jesus Christ is you, His bride. That is a humbling and most joyous truth to grasp.

Psa 45:10 Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear; Forget your people and your father's house;

“Forget your people…” refers to severing the past ties with the world, the ungodly, the idols of our old house.

We must be careful to identify what we mean by “past ties”. It does not mean that we isolate ourselves from the people of the world, of from our biological family who has not accepted Christ. The meaning is that our ties to them are no longer the same. Our Husband is now Christ. Our Father is now God the Father. Our best friend is Jesus. We love the Son of God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit miles above all others, while we still love others, but we no longer love them as we once did. We now love them with God’s love, with the agape love of Christ.

Psa 45:11 Then the King will desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him.

Psa 45:12 And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; The rich among the people will entreat your favor.

Psa 45:13 The King's daughter is all glorious within; Her clothing is interwoven with gold.

She is viewed as the King's daughter as well as His bride. She is ruled by Him, protected by Him, and taught by Him. There is no conflict between the titles. We are Christ's slaves, brothers and sisters, His bride, His friend, His children.

Psa 45:14 She will be led to the King in embroidered work; The virgins, her companions who follow her, Will be brought to Thee.

Psa 45:15 They will be led forth with gladness and rejoicing; They will enter into the King's palace.

The imagery of the bride, beautifully adorned, led to the King and His home, now her home, with celebration, gladness and rejoicing is perfectly suited to our union with our Husband, the Lord Jesus, of whom Boaz is a type.

This also leads us to think of Queen Esther being led to king Xerxes in Est 2.

Psa 45:16 In place of your fathers will be your sons; You shall make them princes in all the earth.

It was customary to wish greater blessings upon the sons of the newlyweds above the blessing of their ancestors. This would certainly be the case since the church would have a better position in Christ than did the OT saint.

Psa 45:17 I will cause Thy name to be remembered in all generations; Therefore the peoples will give Thee thanks forever and ever.

There are so many psalms that we could take in and enjoy in looking into the spirit of David, which is the spirit of the Lord and the spirit of the book of Ruth. If we did, it would be a long time before we started the book at all.