Псалом 44

The inscription “on the musical instrument Shoshan” (in the shape of a lily) - indicates the type of musical instrument on which the psalm should be performed: “teaching” - the nature of the content: the psalm represents the author’s reflection on the event described in the psalm; “sons of Korah” - to writers from the surname Korah, who served as Levites at the Temple of Jerusalem. “Song of Love” - the psalm is an expression of the writer’s feelings of love for the subject of the song. To whom is the psalm dedicated, and from here, and when was it written, we find a clear answer to these questions in the features with which the person to whom the psalm is dedicated is depicted here. This person is a king (Ps. 44:2); he surpassed all people in his virtues and especially in his intelligence (Ps. 44:3); His reign is a reign to establish peace, truth, but not for military exploits, although he has a strong army (Ps. 45:5-7); he lives in luxurious palaces (Ps. 44:9) and kings and princes of the nations worship him together with the queen (Ps. 44:13). All of the indicated features of the glorified king are applicable exactly to Solomon at the beginning of his reign, when he lived in luxurious palaces, amazed everyone with his wisdom and splendor, strove to strengthen peace and truth in his state, and received signs of extraordinary respect and surprise for him from all nations. The reason for writing the psalm can be considered the marriage of Solomon with the daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt. There are indications of this in Ps.44:10–11, where the writer, addressing the queen, advises her to forget her nation and her parents, which would be unnecessary if the queen were Jewish. I sing praises to the king (2). You are the most beautiful of all the sons of men, arm yourself with Your glory and beauty, and reign to establish the truth (3-5). All enemies will fall before You, You are the king of righteousness and You will be sung from Your palaces (6-9). You, queen, renounce your family and homeland: then the king will especially love you, and all the noble people will come to worship you (10-13). All the glory of the queen lies in her inner virtues. She, and after her the other daughters of the kings, goes to the king in his palace (14–16). Your sons will be princes throughout all the earth, and Your name will be glorified forever (17-18). Ps.44:2. A good word poured out from my heart; I say: my song is about the King; my tongue is a cursive cane. “A good word poured out from my heart” - from my heart, like an overflowing vessel, naturally and uncontrollably flowed this solemn and joyful song, full of good wishes for the king; The real good word of the writer is a sincere song poured out from the fullness of feeling in honor of the Tsar. - “My tongue is a scribbler’s cane.” Speed ​​in writing was his great advantage; the author would like his tongue to express his thoughts and feelings in precise words that correspond to his desire, as quickly and accurately as a cursive cane. The said verse represents an introduction to the content of the psalm and the chanting of the King depicted in the latter. Ps.44:3. You are more beautiful than the sons of men; grace poured out from Your mouth; Therefore God has blessed You forever. "You are more beautiful than the sons of men." Beauty is a general designation for many virtues; it is a generic characteristic; “grace was poured out... from Your mouth” - intelligent speech comes from the king’s mouth, delivering benefits to the listener. Solomon, indeed, amazed his contemporaries with his speech - in court cases with special insight, in ordinary conversations - with apt expressions, depth of thought and, in general, extensive information from all branches of human knowledge. - “Therefore God has blessed You forever” - Solomon’s extraordinary virtues caused a blessing on him from God. This blessing is not limited only to the historical fame of Solomon, whose name has become a household name to designate any person with extensive and deep knowledge, but also indicates that with his initial activity, his desire to establish and strengthen peace and truth on earth, he is a prototype of his Great Descendant - the Messiah, who completely granted to the world what for Solomon was an unattainable ideal. The eternal blessing of God on him cannot but be seen in the fact that this king was the organ of the Divine, and therefore of the eternal revelation set forth in his books. Ps.44:4. Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Mighty One, with Thy glory and Thy beauty, Ps.44:5. and in this Your adornment hasten, sit on the chariot for the sake of truth and meekness and righteousness, and Your right hand will show You wondrous deeds. Ps.44:6. Thy arrows are sharp, O Mighty One, the nations will fall before Thee, they are in the heart of the enemies of the King. The writer of the psalm invites the king to gird himself with a sword to fight his enemies. But this sword must consist of His glory and beauty, and therefore the enemies are not people, not enemies in the socio-political sense, but spiritual enemies - lies, malice, hatred, injustice, etc. To destroy these enemies, the king must strain his strength (“hurry”) and perform wondrous deeds. It is known that in court cases where experienced judges were powerless to sort out, Solomon made verdicts that amazed everyone with their obvious correctness and extraordinary resourcefulness. But in addition to this spiritual strength, Solomon also had a well-organized and experienced army, inherited from David, which was always ready to protect the king and destroy his enemies. It is known that Solomon kept it on the borders of his state to protect it from attacks. This idea about Solomon's military power in the words of the text of v. 6. can be conveyed this way: Your, Strong One, sharp arrows will penetrate the hearts of enemies (i.e., they will penetrate), and people will fall before You (i.e., enemies will not be able to stand against your troops). Ps.44:7. Thy throne, O God, endures forever; the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. This military power and invincibility of the king are given to him, however, not because he is an experienced strategist and a skillful politician, but because by his governance for the sake of establishing truth and peace on earth, he realizes on earth the kingdom of God, “the throne ... Whose truth is true,” and therefore all the peoples who rebel against such a king, as opponents of the kingdom of God, must perish. Ps.44:8. You loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore, O God, Your God has anointed You with the oil of joy more than Your fellows. God anointed and preferred this king for his love of truth “more than partners.” Such accomplices (with slav. “participants”, which is very accurate) - competitors for the throne after the death of David, were, for example, Adonijah, who tried by cunning to take possession of the crown of the king that was not intended for him. “Anointed... God” - indicates the ancient custom of pouring oil on the head of the elected king through the prophet. This anointing served as an external sign indicating the legitimacy of the election and the enjoyment of special rights corresponding to the new position. Ps.44:9. All Your garments are like myrrh and scarlet and casia; from the palaces of ivory they rejoice Thee. “Smyrna”, “cassia” and “aloy” are types of incense with which noble people in the ancient east anointed themselves. These incense were extracted from the resin of aromatic shrub plants. “Smyrna” is a type of gum resin from a tree, “cassia” is an aromatic bark, and “aloy” is a tree native to India with a very delicate aroma. - “From the palaces of ivory” - probably from the palaces that Solomon built and in which there were decorations made of expensive ivory. From these palaces they entertained Solomon with those entertainments that were then accepted in the East among kings. With Solomon, as a magnificent and luxurious king, luxury items reached extraordinary value, and types of entertainment - diversity. Ps.44:10. The daughters of kings are among Your honorable ones; The queen stood at Your right hand in Ophir gold. “The daughters of kings are among those honored by You.” These were the girlfriends of the king's bride and, as nobles by birth, they were honored in Solomon's palace. Of all of them, however, one stood out, who received royal dignity, that is, she became a crowned queen, a wife ("At the right hand" - on the right side, which means to receive full right, power and honor). – “In Ophir Gold” – among Eastern women, especially in ancient times, bright colors were their favorite colors, and their costumes were striking in their diversity of colors. At the same time, gold and silver threads were threaded into the fabric of their clothes, which, adding shine and variegation to the outfit, made it very valuable. Such clothes were available only to rich and noble people, which was the bride, who obviously came from a royal family (2 Kings 13:18), since her friends were “daughters of kings.” Ps.44:11. Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father’s house. Ps.44:12. And the King will desire your beauty; for He is your Lord, and you shall worship Him. Ps.44:13. And the daughter of Tyre with gifts, and the richest of the people, will pray before Your face. The writer’s speech already addresses this queen and the author of the psalm asks for her especially intense attention to his words, giving the latter special importance (“hear, ... see, and incline your ear”). - “Forget your people”, (your nation) “and the house of your father”, that is, your parents. This new queen could not be Jewish, since her marriage to the king would not only not separate her from her nation, but would tie her even more strongly to the latter and could not harm the people. In the same way, there was no need to renounce one’s parents, that is, one’s family; Jewish marriage kings with the daughters of their people was not only a common occurrence, but also legalized by Moses. Therefore, by bride we must mean the daughter of a pagan king, whose continued attachment to her family and nation could be harmful to the Jews. people. To forget your father’s house and your people means to merge with the Jews in your beliefs, to become a Jew in life, language and beliefs. Such a renunciation of former affections will be a sacrifice that will not go unappreciated: the king will especially love her (“desire... your beauty"), will bring you closer to yourself; but you, the bride, must remember that He is your master, and therefore must show Him signs of respect and obedience (“bow before Him”). As a queen, you will enjoy the same respect as the King himself, and not only among your own people, but also among strangers. The Tyrians (Tyre is a trading city located on one of the islands of the Mediterranean Sea) will come to you with gifts to express respect; “the richest of the people” - that is, the noble and powerful among people, kings and princes of nations, will beg you for mercy and attention to them. By this pagan bride we must mean the daughter of Pharaoh, the beloved wife of Solomon, about whom the Jews have a tradition that she accepted the law of Moses with her marriage and was a royal proselyte. Ps.44:14. All the glory of the King's daughter is within; her clothes are embroidered with gold; Ps.44:15. in speckled clothes she is led to the King; after her the maidens, her friends, are led to you, Ps.44:16. are brought with joy and rejoicing, and enter the palace of the King. But the dignity of this Tsar’s wife does not lie in external beauty, wealth and nobility of origin - all this is nothing compared to her internal, spiritual qualities, which explains her separation from the number of other virgins. This bride of the King is followed into his palace by her friends, who follow her with joy, rejoicing at such closeness to the bride, and through her, to the King himself. Earlier (Ps. 44:11), the writer suggested that the bride renounce her family and homeland, so that she could now transfer this affection to her sons, who would become princes over the whole earth. The writer's last appeal and his prediction about the world domination of Solomon's successors should be understood not as a prediction of their great historical significance, realized in reality, but as the ideal of the king and his successors, remaining faithful to which (ideal), they could be princes of the whole world. And it was to this, to dominion over the world, to spread the true knowledge of God among the last, that the Jewish people were called. Ps.44:18. I will make Your name memorable to generation and generation; Therefore the nations will praise You forever and ever. The writer passes on this song of his, praising the Tsar and Queen for their high virtues and containing images of the ideal of kingship, to posterity, who will glorify them with his words among all nations. This is the historical meaning of the content of the psalm, but it is not exhausted by it alone. Those features with which the author describes the personality of Solomon and the nature of his reign were not realized by the latter during his entire life. In the last years of Solomon's reign, the Jews suffered from many disorders, both in their internal life and in relations with pagan peoples. Solomon's successor not only did not become king of the whole world (see v. Ps. 44:17), but even lost more than half of his people, who chose Jeroboam the 1st as their king. In 8 tbsp. the reign of this king causes the eternal establishment of the throne of God, His eternal favor towards the King and the people, which is completely inapplicable to Solomon, since the latter was even exposed to reproof from Him. A literal understanding of the text, where the king is directly called God (which comparison, understood as a poetic image, as a hyperbole, could not be allowed by a Jewish writer who reveres Jehovah, to Whom there is no likeness “neither on the earth below, nor in the waters, nor above” (Deut. 5:8; Exod. 20:4), already clearly indicates that it could not be applied to Solomon the man. All this gives reason to think that the personality of Solomon, the beginning of his reign and the glorified incident from his life elevated the author’s thought to the depiction of such a state in the life of mankind when his ideal would find historical fulfillment. The establishment of complete peace and the rule of truth on earth is beyond the power of man, as a limited and sinful being; only God can do this. In Ps.44:7 the author directly transfers his thought to Him, therefore Solomon, portrayed by the author at the beginning of his reign, when he devoted himself to the concerns of establishing peace and truth on earth, is only a prototype in his activity of the future state of the world. When did God establish or will establish on earth the triumph of righteousness described in the psalm? The answer to this is the earthly ministry of the Savior, Who reconciled man with God and established the law of love and peace in relation to people among themselves. His kingdom is increasingly spreading throughout the world, subjugating all nations, and the princes of this world were first His disciples, who led and established the laws of Christian church life, and then their successors - bishops and generally pastors of the church. The spread of this kingdom throughout the entire Universe, predicted here by the writer of the psalm, is now in the period of its implementation, and its complete completion will come from the time of the Last Judgment, when the kingdom of truth and righteousness will already come. If by Solomon one must understand the Messiah, then by the marriage of the first to a foreigner, this is an indication of the pagan church entering into an alliance with Christ, which will reach such spiritual and moral heights that its first members (the leading Christians) will attract many people with their behavior and life. This has been justified and continues to be justified. A small number of pagan Christian believers in the era of the apostles and after them were the “first fruits of the believers,” whose number later became immeasurably great and is found in all countries of the world. This psalm is educational. You might be interested in: