Heaven and the Queen of Ophir Gold

The Son and the City in Psalm 45

When it comes to the royal wedding song of Psalm 45, there are seemingly endless ideas about the possible identity of the mysterious king and queen. Has not the New Testament revealed the mystery? This is not a wedding song to honor any mere mortal king and queen. This psalm is about the eternal Son of Hebrews 1:8-9, made flesh, beautiful beyond the sons of Adam, a mighty warrior, riding forth in splendor, whose throne is forever and ever. And it is about a royal city, a queen, proceeding from him, standing at his right hand. In other words, this Psalm is first and foremost about the triune God — the Father’s Son and the Son’s City. God has revealed something of himself through making us male and female in Genesis 1, man and woman in Genesis 2, and Messiah and royal bride from Genesis 3 forward. I suggest that the divine Son is the King of Psalm 45 and that the divine Spirit is the Queen of Psalm 45, and yet they also are revealed as the incarnate Son and his pilgrim bride, Daughter Zion. Zion is, and she also is becoming. She is the queen at his right hand in verse 9, and yet as Daughter Zion, she moves toward him to become his bride, beginning with verse 10.

The king of Psalm 45:1 is the mighty warrior of 45:3. He is called to strap his sword by his side in his “majesty and splendor,” and then to ride forth triumphantly in the cause of truth, humility, and justice. “Majesty” and “splendor” found together in the Hebrew Scriptures always and only refer to God himself. The author of Hebrews makes clear what many modern interpreters of Psalm 45 wrestle with and yet fail to pin. Psalm 45 is about the eternal Son who took on flesh to deal with his and our enemies. It is about the incarnate, resurrected, ascended, and enthroned Son, the divine Warrior of Revelation 19, “Faithful and True,” whose name will be remembered for all generations. The divinity of the Psalm 45 Son is placed beyond dispute in the New Testament. The Father says to the Son in the words of this psalm,

. . . Your throne, God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of Your kingdom is a scepter of justice. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; this is why God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of joy rather than Your companions (Heb 1:8-9 CSB).

The writer of Hebrews quotes the Greek Septuagint of this psalm almost verbatim. In other words, the self-attesting Christ through his Spirit tells us that the Wedding Psalm is about his eternal person, the Creator-Redeemer, and about his bride, a people who proceed from him and become his Spirit-dwelling. They are the Spirit-bride of whom it is said that he will dwell in their midst forever.

When gender is magnified in the Hebrew Scriptures, if you find the eternal Son and throne, I suggest that you will soon discover the eternal Spirit nearby, manifest as Zion. From verses one to six, we find the Son, and beginning in 45:7 we find the City. The Son’s God has anointed him with the oil of joy beyond his companions. His garments are perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cassia. Anointing oil and spices, as well as garments, evoke the Holy Spirit (cf. Is 61:1; Ex 30:23-24; Judges 6:34; Luke 24:49). Meredith Kline elucidates the connection between the Spirit and the priests’ clothing when he writes,

. . . holy vestments appear in the picture of the tabernacle-city in Revelation 21 and since the bride is identified with the city, urban adornment is here interchangeable with bridal adornment. Such features are the lavish use of gold, the square shape, and especially the twelve precious stones constituting the foundations of the wall and bearing the names of covenant people . . . Aaron’s vestments (are) a sartorial copy of the tabernacle structure.¹

What Kline is expressing is that beyond the person of the Son, even his tailored robes indicate his dwelling, the Spirit-city of God in radiant glory and splendor. In other words, the Son’s robes are the first sign that moves us in the direction of the Spirit-city and Spirit-bride.

The ivory palaces and harps of verse 8 also evince the Spirit as the throne room and dwelling of God, and here we find the first explicit mention of women. “Kings’ daughters” are among his “precious ones.” He is surrounded by the esteemed royal women of his court, setting the stage for what is next. At his right hand is a singular woman, a queen in Ophir gold. Ophir refers to the pure gold sought by Solomon for his palace in 1 Kings 10:11 and for the temple in 1 Chronicles 29:4. Gold is part of the earthly dwelling of both Israel’s king and Israel’s God.

The particular Hebrew word for “queen” is not the parallel of the Hebrew word for “king,” melech (מֶלֶךְ), found in verses 1 and 5. It is not mel’cha (מַלכָּה), but rather shegal (שֵׁגַל), which brings into view the relational familiarity of the king and queen. It is found as a noun only one other time in the Old Testament, Nehemiah 2:6, and it implies the queen as constituting the king’s pleasure. She is not merely a formal presence or figurehead, but his intimate companion.

Verses 10 and 11 extend a call to Daughter Zion to become that queen at the Son’s right hand, to come into union and communion with the king as his city-consort. She is to become his joy. She is not yet there. Daughter Zion must listen, pay attention, and consider. She must forget her father’s house and bow to her lord. By verse 13, she indeed has heeded that word. Forgetting what is behind, she has reached for what is ahead and arrived at her end. She is no longer a pilgrim, but she has become the royal Daughter Zion, the bride clothed in gold, led amidst her companions to the king’s palace with gladness and rejoicing. At the end of Psalm 45 we find the fruitful union of the Son and City-Bride. The king will make his sons princes throughout the earth and his name will be remembered throughout all generations.

The similarities between Psalm 45, the love Song of Psalms, and the Song of Songs, the superlative love song, are extensive — beauty, royal titles, court imagery and life, military imagery and displays of might, spices, gold, ivory, colorful and embroidered garments, a wedding procession, and above all, the celebration of love. They also share in common themes of absence, longing, and presence. In the beginning of Psalm 45, the King must arm himself and ride out in battle. Daughter Zion has her own battle. She must leave her father’s house and desire her king. Not all is as it should be. In the Song of Songs, the reader also keenly senses the tension between the “already” and the “not yet.” In the opening chapter, the Shulamite appears to be enslaved by her brothers, at work in their vineyard, and she must leave them to follow in the tracks of the shepherd’s flock. Finally, both Daughter Zion of Psalm 45 and the bride of the Song are portrayed by turns as married, queen, friend, and intimate companion of the king, as well as sojourner, moving toward a consummate, final, and enduring state, place, and time. This brings me to Psalm 45’s placement in the sons of Korah’s first collection (42-49) and how it addresses the profound longing and agony of the psalmist, and in doing so, addresses our own troubled hearts in need of hope.

Psalm 45 falls in the center of the first collection of Korahite psalms, Psalms 42-49. Psalms 42 and 43 are considered by some to be one Psalm because 43 lacks a title, while all psalms in this collection have at least these words: “A psalm (or maskil) of the sons of Korah.” It is also worth noting that two of the songs in the collection, Psalm 46 and Psalm 48, are considered part of the eight Zion psalms in the Psalter, focused particularly on the city of God. Two more of the eight Zion psalms in praise of God’s city will be found in the second collection, Psalms 84-88. In other words, the sons of Korah appear uniquely captivated by the city of God.

The first Korahite collection begins in Psalm 42 and 43 with the psalmist’s desire. He speaks these familiar words, “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, O God.” This longing is attached to his suffering. The psalmist’s tears flow. Undone, he cries out, “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your billows have swept over me.” In agony, he pours out his heart to God, and yet at the same time he reminds himself of God's faithful love, admonishing his soul to hope in God. In Psalm 44, the psalmist accuses God of rejecting him. An “unfaithful nation” and an “enemy’s oppression” come into view, and he calls on God, “Send your light and your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy mountain, to your dwelling place. Then I will come to the altar of God, to God my greatest joy.” The answer to “send your light” is Psalm 45, the royal love song.

He beholds the Son in the Spirit-City, God’s holy mountain. In Psalm 45, he first extols the beauty of the King, a valiant warrior. As the Son’s foes pass out of view, presumably vanquished, the Warrior-king begins his royal reign with the scepter of justice. God anoints him with the oil of joy above his companions. Next the psalmist beholds the Queen, adorned with the gold of Ophir, foreshadowing the Revelation 21:18 bride, the city of pure gold, clear as glass. The bride is a city, and yet she is also a collective person that the psalmist is called to become. Psalm 45 is a call for him and for God’s people to leave and cleave to the Son and the City. He is to move toward the King. He is to forget his father’s house and find refuge in the City of God. Psalm 45 extends to the troubled soul of the psalmist nothing less than Sabbath rest for his soul within the royal chamber.

Psalm 45 is the prelude for Psalm 46, the first Zion song of the collection, overtly referencing the King’s bride of Ophir gold. The tears and doubts of the son of Korah in 42/43 and 44 now seem far removed as his faith surges. He exclaims, “God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. Therefore we will not be afraid.” The word for “helper,” ezer ( עֵ֖זֶר), first ascribed to Eve in Genesis 2:18 and 20, is ascribed to God as the psalmist’s refuge and strength in 46:6. The Spirit-city, a holy dwelling filled with his holy presence, is the psalmist’s eternal hope, ever-near, ever-found on the horizon in times of trouble. That stronghold is the dwelling place of the Most High. Streams gladden her. God is within her and she will never be toppled.

It is worth noting that verses seven and eleven contain the same words, “The LORD of Armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.” The confidence of the psalmist is not just the Son, but the Son and the Stronghold. His hope is renewed as he envisions himself with the Son in the City. I suggest that the psalmist twice has juxtaposed two words referring to two divine persons in this psalm: the “Lord of Armies” and the “God of Jacob.” The Lord of Armies is easily recognized as the Warrior-King of Psalm 45, and I suggest that the “God of Jacob” is none less than the Spirit-City. Among the nine references in the Hebrew Scripture to the “God of Jacob” (יַעֲקֹ֔ב אֱלֹהֵ֣י) are Isaiah 2:3 and Micah 4:2, both containing almost the same words:

In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s house will be established at the top of the mountains and will be raised above the hills. All nations will stream to it and many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Is 2:2-3).

The mountain, the Lord’s dwelling, the house of the God of Jacob, is Zion, a feminine noun in the Hebrew Scriptures, with an identity that goes beyond grammatical gender. Zion is a mother, bride, and most often, Daughter Zion. She is the City of the Son and a stronghold for his people. The Son and the City constitute God’s people’s greatest joy. We live in anticipation of our end as united to both, without in any way detracting from the Son and Spirit as self-contained, without in any way blurring the Creator-creature distinction. With the sons of Korah, we are destined to dwell beyond our enemies (42:10: 43:1-2) beyond dejection (42:5; 43:5), beyond turmoil (42:11), beyond feelings of rejection and humiliation and betrayal (44:9), beyond shame and disgrace and the taunts of scorners (44:9-16). God is not asleep. Though we sink down to the dust and our bodies cling to the ground, there is a Son who will redeem our lives and a City that will forever shelter us. There is a river to revive us. The flowing streams of Zion will make the Spirit-city glad, satisfying our desires. There is a remedy for our parched souls. Their thirst will be slaked by the City.

The last three psalms of the first Korahite collection again set before us the Great King over the whole earth, the Warrior and reigning monarch of Psalm 45, and the Queen standing at his right hand. Psalm 47 extols the Son, greatly exalted, and Psalm 48 extols the city, the joy of the whole earth. In Psalm 47, the King is the Most High, and in Psalm 48, the City is the Most High, rising splendidly, the summit of Zaphon of the far north. The mere sight of her inspires fear, trembling, and agony among the enemies of God’s people. The city of God is not merely a citadel terrorizing his and our enemies, but a temple, where the daughters of Judah will forever contemplate God’s faithful love. The closing lines of Psalm 48 are the psalmist’s call for us to consider God by encircling Zion, counting her towers, noting her ramparts, touring her citadels, so that we can tell future generations, “This God, our God forever and ever — he will always lead us.”

The final psalm of the first Korahite collection ends with a proclamation, “Hear this all you peoples; listen all who inhabit the world,” the wealth of this world is as nothing. Death will shepherd the “foolish and stupid” to Sheol, far from the lofty abode, never to see the light. But as for the son of Korah, he knows that “he will take me.” The Son will shepherd him to the Spirit-city prepared for him where there is no need of sun or moon, “for the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

I have been suggesting for quite some time that we have missed the comfort that God reveals in our differences as male and female. The first collection of the sons of Korah lays before us the king and the queen. The association of the queen with Zion is not novel. The roots of the feminized city as the Psalm 45 queen go back almost 1,000 years to Abraham Ibn Ezra. He recognizes those who identify the king and queen of Psalm 45:9 as “the messiah . . . and the messiah’s city.”² Jewish commentators apparently are inclined to recognize Zion as queen even without considering New Testament revelation. Would not Revelation 12 remove further doubt about the queen’s identity? There we find a royal woman, clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head, who gives birth to the messiah, one who is destined to rule the nations. That queen is the revelation of the eternal Spirit as the heaven temple. She is the mother of the Warrior-King born from above, and yet she is also revealed as an earth-traversing Spirit-formed, Spirit-filled people, a dwelling built of living stones, a habitation for her king. In this age, Daughter Zion suffers all kinds of tribulations, and yet she does so with hope, knowing her end. She forgets her father’s house and moves boldly toward the Son in the Spirit-city. She lives in the confidence of who she is — a bride whose glory is destined to be revealed at the end of this age.

It continues to be my hope that we might reconsider whether we have missed what God is telling us through making us male and female, and in doing so have missed half the comfort given for our endurance. The Son together with the City are the psalmist’s desire, consolation, and confidence. In demoting the woman, the sign and symbol of the Spirit-city, perhaps we have dismissed an incitement to persevere. The sons of Korah redirect our hope by setting our eyes not only on the king, but on the queen, not only on the Son, but on the Spirit-bride. The telos of the Scriptures is not only Christ, but a Spirit-realm destined to descend and fill the earth with a knowledge of the Lord’s glory. They stand together as the substance of our hope. This is our end as a pilgrim people saved by grace, the inheritance and possession of the triune God who loves us and brings us home.

Thank you for reading. Please leave a comment if you have any thoughts.

1. Meredith Kline, Images of the Spirit, 49. See 42-56 for Kline’s discussion of Aaron’s vestments as an image of the Spirit.

2. Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra, Commentary on the Second Book of the Psalms, https://www.sefaria.org/Psalms.45.10?lang=bi&p2=Ibn_Ezra_on_Psalms.45.10.1&lang2=bi.