Commentary on Psalms Volume 2 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
Indeed, Solomon was called,ידידיהYedidyah, which means beloved of the Lord, 2 Samuel 12:25. But the context, in my opinion, requires that this term,ירידותyedidoth, that is to say, loves, be understood as referring to the mutual love which husband and wife ought to cherish towards each other. But as the word loves is sometimes taken in a bad sense, and as even conjugal affection itself, however well regulated, has always some irregularity of the flesh mingled with it; this song is, at the same time, called,משכילmaskil, to teach us, that the subject here treated of is not some obscene or unchaste amours, but that, under what is here said of Solomon as a type, the holy and divine union of Christ and his Church is described and set forth. As to the remaining part of the inscription, interpreters explain it in various ways.,שושןshushan, properly signifies a lily; and the sixtieth psalm has in its inscription the same term in the singular number. Here, and in the eightieth psalm, the plural number is employed. It is therefore probable, that it was either the beginning of a common song, or else some instrument of music. But as this is a matter of no great consequence, I give no opinion, but leave it undecided; for, without any danger to the truth, every one may freely adopt on this point whatever view he chooses.
Psalm 45:1-5
1. My heart is boiling over with a good matter: I shall speak of the works which I have made concerning the king: my tongue is as the pen of a swift writer. 2. Thou art fairer than the sons of men: grace is poured into thy lips; because God hath blessed thee for ever. 3. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty one! with glory and majesty. 156
4. And in thy majesty do thou prosper: ride forth upon the word of truth, and meekness, and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. 5. Thine arrows are sharp (so that the people fall under thee) in the heart of the enemies of the King.
1 My heart is boiling over 157 with a good matter This preface shows sufficiently that the subject of the psalm is no common one; for whoever the "(Qui est,) gloire et magnificence." — Fr. "(Which is,) glory and majesty."
boileth, or bubbleth up, denotes the language of the heart, full and ready for utterance." — Bythner's Lyra The Psalmist's heart was so full and warmed with the subject of the psalm, that it could not contain; and the opening of the poem evinces that it was so, for he abruptly breaks forth into an annunciation of its subject as if impatient of restraint. Ainsworth thinks there is here an allusion to the boiling of the minchah, or meat-offering under the law in the frying-pan, (Leviticus 7:9.) It was there boiled in oil, being made of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil, (Leviticus 11:5;) and afterwards was presented to the Lord by the priest, verse 8, etc. "Here," says he, "the matter of this psalm is the minchah or oblation, which with the oil, the grace of the spirit, was boiled and prepared in the prophet's breast, and now presented."