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Psalms

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Psalm 45

1 For the music director, according to the tune of “Lilies”; by the Korahites, a well-written poem, a love song. My heart is stirred by a beautiful song. I say, “I have composed this special song for the king; my tongue is as skilled as the stylus of an experienced scribe.”⁠ 2 You are the most handsome of all men. You speak in an impressive and fitting manner. For this reason God grants you continual blessings.⁠ 3 Strap your sword to your thigh, O warrior. Appear in your majestic splendor. 4 Appear in your majesty and be victorious. Ride forth for the sake of what is right, on behalf of justice. Then your right hand will accomplish mighty acts. 5 Your arrows are sharp and penetrate the hearts of the king’s enemies. Nations fall at your feet. 6 Your throne, O God, is permanent. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.⁠ 7 You love justice and hate evil. For this reason God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy, elevating you above your companions. 8 All your garments are perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cassia. From the luxurious palaces comes the music of stringed instruments that makes you happy. 9 Princesses are among your honored women. Your bride stands at your right hand, wearing jewelry made with gold from Ophir. 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.

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.15 II:23 and Psalm 45:16

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Psalm 45 shares Kirta's wedding blessing, where El promises that the bride will bear him seven sons, treating the royal marriage as a promise that the king's family will continue to rule.

Passages

KTU 1.15 II:23

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
in his house sets. Going in he puts [in] it, and going out he puts. [The]n came the companies of the gods. [Then] spoke Valiant 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.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

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.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

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). ...”
Mark S. Smith, “Canaanite Backgrounds to the Psalms,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms, ed. William P. Brown (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 47.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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KTU 1.15 II:23 and Psalm 45:16

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