Texts in Conversation
Psalm 45 shares Kirta's wedding blessing of future children, treating the royal marriage as a promise that the king's family will continue to rule.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.15 II:23
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
in his house does set. Going in he does put [in] it, and going out he does put. [The]n came the companies of the gods. [Then] spoke Puiss[ant] Baal: "[So] come, O Kindly One [El Be]nignant! May you bless [Kirta] the Noble, may you beatify Naaman, [the Lad of] El."—A cup [El] takes [in] (his) hand, a flagon in (his) [right hand]. Indeed he blesses [his servant]. El blesses Kirta, [beatifie]s Naam[an] the Lad of El: "The wo[man that you ta]ke, O Kirta, the woman that you take into your house, the maid you bring into your court, shall bear seven sons to you, yes, eight shall she produce for you. She will bear Yassib the heir: he will drink the milk of Athirat; he will drain the breast of Virgin Rahmay; the suckling of goddesses.
Psalm 45:16
Hebrew Bible
10 Listen, O princess. Observe and pay attention! Forget your homeland and your family. 11 Then the king will be attracted by your beauty. After all, he is your master. Submit to him. 12 Rich people from Tyre will seek your favor by bringing a gift. 13 The princess looks absolutely magnificent, decked out in pearls and clothed in a brocade trimmed with gold. 14 In embroidered robes she is escorted to the king. Her attendants, the maidens of honor who follow her, are led before you. 15 They are bubbling with joy as they walk in procession and enter the royal palace. 16 Your sons will carry on the dynasty of your ancestors; you will make them princes throughout the land. 17 I will proclaim your greatness through the coming years, then the nations will praise you forever.
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Notes and References
“... While Kirta has its longest biblical comparison in the Song of Songs with its
praise of the two lovers (Pardee 2012: 113–15), Psalm 45 is a wedding song off ering best
wishes to the royal bride and groom. [...] One element in
the king’s praise in Psalm 45:7[6] involves the address to him as “O God,” refl ecting his
status as a minor divinity, not unlike the status of King Kirta himself as “El’s son” (KTU
1.16 I 10, SAC 87), or the king as “my son,” as Yahweh calls the monarch (Ps. 2:7). Praise
of the Israelite king expresses the traditional royal ideology of the king as the son of the
god, which would fi gure later in Christian understandings of Jesus as the “Son of God.” 9
Finally, the closing of Psalm 45 includes a prediction of off spring (in v. 17[16]), much like
the wedding blessing issued by El to Kirta about the many children that his bride will
bear to him (KTU 1.15 II 21–28, SAC 83). ...”
Smith, Mark S.
"Canaanite Backgrounds to the Psalms" in Brown, William P. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms
(p. 47) Oxford University Press, 2014
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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