Big Idea: Great value is put on leaders who, by their own lives, exemplify the virtues of truth, humility, and justice.

Understanding the Text

Psalm 45 belongs to the genre of royal psalms, which celebrate the king and his reign, not as a lone-standing king, but as a stand-in for Yahweh as king. It is better to think of these psalms as constituting two subgenres, psalms of the heavenly King, which celebrate Yahweh as king, providing the model for all kingship, and psalms of the earthly king, which shine the spotlight on Yahweh’s representative in this world (see the sidebar). The latter, according to the form critics, were performed either in the sanctuary or in the royal palace. Psalm 45 falls into this category and was most likely performed, perhaps even by its author, in the palace …