was said to be anointed, is called the oil of “_gladness_.” Accordingly,
he is here said to be made _glad_ (it is the same word in both places in
the Hebrew), by the spices of which that oil is composed. Those spices
are said to have been brought out of the most spicy region of the land
of spices, and it is implied that they are the best spices of that spicy
region. “_Out of the ivory palaces_,” says the Psalmist; not only
houses, but palaces—the mansions of the great, where the best spices
would naturally be kept—out of these have come the myrrh, aloes, and
cassia, that have composed the oil of gladness whereby thou art made
glad. God anointed Christ, when he set him on his everlasting throne,
with the oil of gladness; and this anointing was so profuse, his
garments were so overspread with it, that they seemed to be nothing but
myrrh, aloes, and cassia. The spices, moreover, of which the anointing
oil was composed were the best of their kind, brought, as they were,
from the ivory palaces of Minnæa. Such appears to be the Psalmist’s
meaning; and when thus understood, the passage becomes most beautifully
expressive of the _excellency_ and _unmeasured supply_ of the gifts and
graces of that Spirit with which Christ was anointed by his
Father.—_George Harpur._
_Verse 8.—“The ivory palaces.” “The ivory courts.”_ Probably so called
from the great quantity of ivory used in ornamenting and inlaying them;
as the emperor Nero’s palace, mentioned by Suetonius, was named “aurea,”
or “golden,” because “_lita auro_,” “overlaid with gold.” This method of
ornamenting or inlaying rooms was very ancient among the Greeks. Homer,
in the fourth book of the Odyssey, seems to mention it, as employed in
Menelaus’s palace at Lacedæmon; and that the Romans sometimes ornamented
their apartments in like manner, seems evident from Horace and Ovid. So
in modern times, the winter apartment of the fair Fatima at
Constantinople, has been described by an eye-witness as “wainscotted
with inlaid work of mother-of-pearl, _ivory of different colours_, and
olive wood.” Ivory is likewise employed at Aleppo, as Dr. Russell
informs us, in the decoration of some of the more expensive
apartments.—_Richard Mant._
_Verse 8.—“Ivory palaces.”_ Either edifices (1 Kings xxii. 39; Cant.
vii. 14), or ivory coffers, and wardrobes, whence those garments were
taken, and are kept.—_Westminster Assembly’s Annotations._
_Verse 8.—“Whereby they have made thee glad.”_ The best sense of the
phrase—_from which they rejoice thee_—is had by making _they_ refer to
the _king’s daughters_ mentioned in the next verse.—_William S. Plumer._
_Verse 8._—Gesenius and Delitzsch consider מִנִּי an abbreviated form of
the plural מִנִּים (Ps. cl. 4), “strings,” or “stringed instruments,”
and would render thus:—“_Thee glad out of the ivory palaces stringed
instruments have made._”—_Dalman Hapstone._ [With this rendering Ewald
and Lange agree.—_J. L. K._]
_Verse 9.—“Kings’ daughters.”_ Albeit the Catholic church consisting of
true converts or real saints be but the one and only true spouse of
Christ, yet particular visible churches consisting of saints by calling,
by obligation, by profession, and common estimation, their own or
others, are many. The true church consisting of true converts (whose
praise is of God, to whom only they are certainly known, and not of
men), being but one, is compared to the _queen_; but the particular,
whose collections and consociations are known to men, being many, are
compared to _ladies of honour_ who serve the queen.—_David Dickson._
_Verse 9.—“The queen.”_ It is written of Matilda, the empress, that she
was the daughter of a king, the mother of a king, and the wife of a
king.
_Ortu magna, viro major, sed maxima prole,
Hic jacet Henrici filia, nupta, parens._
So David intimates in this hymn, that the church is the daughter of a
King, at the 13th verse, “The king’s daughter is all glorious within;”
and the mother of a king, at the 16th verse, “Instead of thy fathers
shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth;”
and the wife of a king, in this verse, “_Upon thy right hand did stand
the queen_,” as being (I speak in the language of Canaan), spiritually
the wedded and bedded wife to the king of glory.—_John Boys._
_Verse 10.—“Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house.”_
Three _alls_ I expect you to part with, saith Christ. 1. All your sinful
lusts, all the ways of the old Adam, our father’s house. Ever since
Adam’s apostacy, God and man have parted houses. Ever since, our
father’s house is a house of ill manners, a house of sin and wickedness.
2. All your worldly advantages. “If any man come unto me, and hate not
his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and
sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” He that
hath all these must be ready to part with all; they are joined not
disjunctively but copulatively. 3. All self, self-will,
self-righteousness, self-sufficiencies, self-confidences, and
self-seekings.—_Lewis Stuckley._
_Verse 10.—“Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house.”_ If
you see a bee leave a fair flower and stick upon another, you may
conclude that she finds most honey-dew in that flower she most sticks
upon: so here God’s people would never leave so many fair flowers in the
world’s garden, had they not some other in which they find most
sweetness. Christ hath his garden, into which he brings his beloved, and
there she finds other manner of flowers than any the world hath, in
which there is sweetness of a higher nature, even the honey-dew of the
choice mercy and goodness and blessing of God himself: if God’s people
do leave the full breasts of the world, it is because they have found
the breasts of consolation from which they have sucked other manner of
sweetness than the breasts of the world can afford.—_Jeremiah Burroughs,
in “Moses, his self-denyall.” 1649._
_Verse 10.—“Forget.”_ If thou be on the mountain, have no love to look
back to Sodom. If thou be in the ark, fly not back to the world, as the
raven did. If thou be set on Canaan, forget the flesh-pots of Egypt. If
marching against Midian, forget stooping to the waters of Harod. Judg.
vii. If on the house-top, forget that is below thee. Mark xiii. 15. If
thy hand be put to the plough, forget that is behind thee. Luke ix. 62.
Themistocles desired rather to learn the art of forgetfulness than of
memory. Philosophy is an art of remembering, divinity includes in it an
art of forgetting. The first lesson that Socrates taught his scholars
was, Remember; for he thought that knowledge was nothing else but a
calling to remembrance of those things the mind knew ere it knew the
body. But the first lesson that Christ teacheth his scholars is,
_Forget_: “_Forget thine own people_;” “Repent” (Matt. iv. 17); first,
“eschew evil,” 1 Peter iii. 11.—_Thomas Adams._
_Verse 11.—“So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty.”_ This is a
most sweet promise. For the Holy Spirit knoweth that this monster, Monk,
sticks fast in our heart—that we want to be pure and without spot before
God. Thus, under Popery, all my temptation was this. I used to say,
“that I would willingly go to the sacrament if I were but worthy.” Thus
we seek, naturally, a purity in ourselves; and we examine our whole life
and want to find a purity in ourselves, that we might have no need of
grace, but might be pronounced righteous upon the grounds of our own
merit.... Thou wilt certainly never become righteous by thyself and
thine own works.... The Holy Spirit saith, therefore, I will give thee
wholesome counsel; and if thou wilt hear me, thou shalt become a virgin
all fair. For, if thou wouldst be beautiful in the sight of God, so that
all thy works should please him, and he should say, “Thy prayer pleaseth
me; all that thou sayest, doest, and thinkest, pleaseth me!” proceed
thou thus: “hear, see, and incline thine ear;” and thou shalt thus
become all fair. When thou hast heard, hast seen, hast forgotten all
thine own righteousness, all the law, all traditions, and all that
monkery, and hast believed, then art thou fair; not in thine own beauty,
but in the beauty of the King who has adorned thee with his Word;
because he has brought unto thee thereby his righteousness, his
holiness, truth, and fortitude, and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit....
The Holy Spirit uses the most exalted language. “_So shall the king
greatly desire thy beauty_:” that is, thou wilt by this faith prevail
upon him to do whatever thou desirest: so that, as one urged by the
power of love, he will spontaneously follow thee, abide with thee, and
take up his abode with thee. For wherever God has given his Word, there
he does not leave his work which he has begun in thee; but he brings
upon thee first the temptations of the world, the devil, and the flesh;
that by them he may work upon thee. These are his embraces whereby he
embraceth his spouse through impatiency of love.... The sum of the
whole, therefore, is this: That our beauty does not consist in our own
virtues, nor even in the gifts which we have received from God, by which
we put forth virtues and do all those things which pertain unto the life
of the law; but in this—our apprehending Christ and believing in him.
Then it is that we are truly beautiful: and it is this beauty alone that
Christ looks upon, and upon no other.—_Martin Luther._
_Verse 11._—In this Psalm Christ is set forth in all his royalty and
majesty; yet he is said “_greatly to desire or delight in the beauty_”
of his queen, that is, the graces of the saints; and that not with an
ordinary delight, but he “_greatly_ desires;” his desire is increased as
her beauty is. For that is there brought in as a motive unto her to be
more holy and conformed unto him, “to incline her ear, and forsake her
father’s house.” “_So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty._” Christ
hath a beauty that pleaseth him as well as we have, though of another
kind: and, therefore, ceaseth not till he hath got out every spot and
wrinkle out of his spouse’s face, as the apostle speaks (Eph. v. 27),
“so as to present her glorious unto himself,” that is, delightful and
pleasing in his eye.—_Thomas Goodwin._
_Verse 12.—“And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift.”_ The
daughters of Tyre are the daughters of the Gentiles, the part standing
for the whole. Tyre, a city bordering on this country where the prophecy
was delivered, typified the nations that were to believe in Christ.
Thence came that Canaanitish woman, who was at first called _a dog_; for
that ye may know that she was from thence, the gospel speaks thus (Matt.
xv. 21-28), “Jesus departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And,
behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts,” with all the
rest that is related there. She who at first, at the house of her
“father,” and among her “own people,” was but _a dog_, who by coming to,
and crying after that “King,” was made beautiful by believing in him,
what did she obtain to hear? “_O woman, great is thy faith._” _The King
has greatly desired thy beauty._—_Augustine._
_Verse 12.—“With a gift.”_ Those who sold their property, came with
presents to entreat the face of this “queen,” and “laid what they
brought at the apostles’ feet.” Warm then was love in the
church.—_Augustine._
_Verse 12.—“The rich.”_ They are, indeed, rich in grace, whose graces
are not hindered by riches, whose souls prosper when their bodies
prosper, as the apostle John speaks in his third Epistle; or, who, as
’tis prophesied in this verse, being full of worldly blessings, are yet
hungry and eager in their pursuit after Christ. “_The daughter of Tyre
shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat
thy favour_,” saith the Psalmist; that is, either the favour of Christ
himself, or the favour of the church, by reason of that spiritual
excellence and inward glory which she hath received from Christ. Now, to
see the rich bring their gifts, and, which is the thing chiefly aimed at
here, giving up themselves to Christ, this is a rare sight, and a
remarkable work of grace.—_Joseph Caryl._
_Verse 13.—“The king’s daughter is all glorious within_,” etc. When the
children of God recollect their glorious and heavenly pedigree, they
endeavour to excel others, both in the beautiful disposition of soul,
and manner of life. “_The king’s daughter_,” that is, the daughter of
the heavenly Father, who is also the bride of the king’s Son; every
believing soul “_is all glorious_,” adorned with a holiness not only
glorious to herself, but also to the Father and the Bridegroom, and is
the beginning of a heavenly glory; and that chiefly “_within_,” not only
when she appears abroad, and presents herself to the view of men, but
also when she sits in the inner bed-chamber in the secret exercises of
religion, in which she in private pleases the Father and the Bridegroom,
who having a regard to the inward man, she above all endeavours to keep
that pure and chaste. Her clothing is of “_gold_;” in comparison of
which whatever excellency natural men were even possessed of, is but a
shining vanity; nay, it was “_wrought_” gold, curiously beautified with
various resemblances, which represents the perfections of God himself;
and of different colours, on account of the different yet harmoniously
corresponding graces of the Holy Spirit; or of needlework of the
Phrygian embroiderers, or rather the work of the cunning workman,
mentioned in Cant. vii. 1. Nor is the spouse only beautiful within, but
also without; “holding forth the word of life,” Phil. ii. 16, she
practises charity, glorifies Christ, edifies her neighbour, and in this
manner she is brought unto the king, worthy to be presented to him. This
is the only way by which we are to endeavour to obtain familiarity with
him, and the sweetest intercourse of the chastest love, both on earth
and in heaven.—_Hermann Witsius. 1636-1708._
_Verse 13.—“The king’s daughter is all glorious within.”_ The meaning
is, either, (1.) that her chief glory consisted in this, that she was
admitted to such a familiar privacy with the king; or, (2.) that when
she sat in the inmost rooms of the king’s palace, she was there in her
greatest glory, because those rooms were most gorgeously set forth with
all kinds of bravery and glorious furniture; or, (3.) that she used to
be gloriously attired, not only when she went abroad in public, but also
when she stayed within, as being indeed adorned (which may be implied)
only for the delight of the king, and not that others might gaze upon
her; or, (4.)—which I like best—that the inward virtues and endowments
of her mind were her greatest ornament and glory.—_Arthur Jackson._
_Verse 13.—“All glorious within.”_ Saints must shine by the comeliness
of Christ, as a gracious husband labours to change his spouse into his
own image and likeness by kindnesses, precepts, and example, that he may
take the more delight in her person; so does our spiritual Solomon
change the hue of his Egyptian queen to deem of things and persons as
her Lord and husband judges, and frames her spirit to delight in doing
his will and pleasure, and take the highest solace in obedience, to
enjoy a heavenly freedom, mixed with amiable and joyful reverence. He
roots out of her heart all changeable affections and worldly fancies,
and hankering longings after the fond fashions of Shechem, and all
carnal inclinations to the daughters of Canaan’s lineage, and all the
beggarly humours of the besotted world, and to pass by with a holy scorn
all the pitiful pageantry of this perishing and fading life, and rise to
a mean estimate of the baubles and trifles that enchant a carnal heart.
At length she arrives to a noble and generous judgment, counting all but
dung and dross that she may win Christ. As her prince of life was
crucified by the world for her redemption, so she begins to be crucified
to it in token of conformity to him, and at length becomes “_all
glorious within_.”—_Samuel Lee, in “The Triumph of Mercy,” 1676._
_Verse 13.—“Within.”_ The ark was pitched within with the same pitch
with which it was pitched without withal; such is the sincere man,
within and without alike, inside and outside, all one. Yea, he is rather
better than he shows, as the “_king’s daughter_,” whose _outside_ might
sometimes be _sackcloth_, yet was “_all glorious within, and her inward
garments of wrought gold_.” Or as the temple, outwardly nothing but wood
and stone to be seen, inwardly all rich and beautiful, especially the
_sanctum sanctorum_ (when the veil was drawn) was all gold. The very
floor, as well as the roof, was overlaid with gold. 1 Kings vi.
30.—_John Sheffield._
_Verse 13.—“Her clothing is of wrought gold.”_ Some read it _purled_
works, or closures of _gold_, _enamelled_ gold, such as precious
_stones_ were set in, which were exceeding _splendid_ and glorious; such
were the _clothes_ of service in the tabernacle, and the garments and
robes of the _high priest_, which shadowed forth Christ’s
_righteousness_. Exod. xxviii. 11-14; Exod. xxxix. 1-6.—_William
Troughton._
_Verse 13._—About this time, Father La Combe was called to preach on
some public occasion. The new doctrine, as it was termed, was not
altogether a secret. Public curiosity had become excited. He chose for
his text the passage in Psalm xlv. 13, “_The king’s daughter is all
glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold._” By the king he
understood _Christ_; by the king’s daughter, _the church_. His doctrine
was, whatever might be true in regard to men’s original depravity, that
those who are truly given to Christ, and are in full harmony with him,
are delivered from it: that is to say, are “_all glorious within_.” Like
Christ, they love God with a love free from selfishness, with _pure_
love. Like Christ, they are come to do the will of the Father. Christ is
formed in them. They not only have faith in Christ, and faith in God
through Christ, but, as the result of this faith, they have Christ’s
disposition. They are now in a situation to say of themselves
individually, in the language of the apostle Paul, “I live, and yet not
I, _but Christ liveth in me_.” He did not maintain that all Christians
are necessarily the subjects of this advanced state of Christian
experience, but endeavoured to show that this is a _possible_ state;
that, however intense human depravity may be, the grace of God has power
to overcome it; that the example of Christ, the full and rich promises,
and even the commands, give encouragement to effort, and confidence in
ultimate victory.—_From the “Life, Religious Opinions and Experiences of
Madame de la Mothe Guyon.”_
_Verse 14.—“The virgins, her companions that follow her, shall be
brought unto thee.”_ The highest and most excellent Christian cannot
say, _I_ have no _need_ of thee: the queen will not be without any of
her true _companions_. As it is in the body _natural_, so it is in the
church of Christ, or body _mystical_; all the members being fitly joined
together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to
the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh _increase_ of
the body to the edifying of itself in _love_. Eph. iv. 16; Col. ii.
19.—_William Troughton._
_Verse 14.—“The virgins her companions that follow her.”_ These are
members of the church, but the figure of a bridal train is employed to
sustain the allegory. What a bright train the Royal Bride will have as
she goes forth to meet the Bridegroom. Kings’ daughters will be there,
for every crowned head on earth shall one day bow at the foot of the
cross. The daughter of Tyre shall be there—Tyre, the ancient emporium of
the nations—to show that the merchandise of the world shall be holiness
to the Lord. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Jews and
Gentiles will be there—representatives from all peoples, and tongues,
and nations. They are “_virgins_.” They keep themselves unspotted from
the world. They are weaned from its idols; they dread its
contaminations. Their first care is to preserve the whiteness of their
souls by daily washing in the blood of the Lamb.... They “_follow_” the
royal Bride. They keep by her side in storm and sunshine. They follow
her in the regeneration. They follow her in the search after her
Beloved. Song iii. 2, 3. They follow her to the green pastures and the
still waters. They follow her without the camp bearing his reproach.
Like Ruth, they leave father and mother to follow her. Ruth i. 16. Like
Caleb, they follow the Lord fully. When a crisis comes, and the
question, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” involves heavy issues, and
hollow-hearted professors fly away like swallows before the storm, they
follow her. When persecution comes, and Christ’s faithful witnesses have
to prophesy clothed in sackcloth, and perhaps to pass through a baptism
of blood to the crown, they follow her: like Peden, when—the bloodhounds
of persecution in full chase after him, and the lone moor his home—he
thought of Richard Cameron gone to glory, and sighed, “Oh, to be with
Richie!”—_Duncan Macgregor, M.A., in “The Shepherd of Israel; or,
Illustrations of the Inner Life,” 1869._
_Verse 15.—“With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought.”_ No
marriage was ever consummated with that triumphal solemnity as the
marriage of Christ and believers shall be in heaven. Among the Jews the
marriage house was called bethillulah—the house of praise; there was joy
on all hands, but not like the joy that will be in heaven when
believers, the spouse of Christ, shall be brought thither. God the
Father will rejoice to behold the blessed accomplishment and
consummation of that glorious design and project of his love. _Jesus
Christ the Bridegroom_ will rejoice to see the travail of his soul, the
blessed birth and issue of all his bitter pangs and agonies. Isaiah
liii. 11. _The Holy Spirit_ will rejoice to see the complement and
perfection of that sanctifying design which was committed to his hand (2
Cor. v. 5); to see those souls, whom he once found as rough stones, now
to shine as the bright polished stones of the spiritual temple. _Angels_
will rejoice; great was the joy when the foundation of this design was
laid, in the incarnation of Christ (Luke ii. 13); great, therefore, must
their joy be when the topstone is set up with shouting, crying, Grace,
grace. _The saints_ themselves shall rejoice unspeakably, when they
shall enter into the king’s palace, and be for ever with the Lord. 1
Thess. iv. 17. Indeed, there will be joy on all hands, except among the
devils and damned, who shall gnash their teeth with envy, at the
everlasting advancement and glory of believers.—_John Flavel._
_Verse 15.—“They shall be brought.”_ Reader! do not fail to observe the
manner of expression, the church is _brought_, she doth not _come_ of
herself. No, she must be convinced, converted, made willing. No one can
come to Christ, except the Father, who hath sent Christ, draw him. John
vi. 44.—_Robert Hawker, D.D._
_Verse 15.—“They shall enter into the king’s palace.”_ There are two
rich palaces mentioned in this Psalm: the one an ivory palace (verse 8),
whereby is signified the assemblies of the saints, and ordinances of
divine worship, in which the Lord manifests himself graciously. Here the
presence of the Lord is sweet and amiable. Cant. i. 8; Psalm lxxxiv. 2.
The other “palace” is mentioned in this fifteenth verse, and it is a
palace of glory, a palace more bright and splendid than the finest gold,
glorious mansions. John xiv. 2.—_William Troughton._
_Verse 16.—“Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children.”_ O church of
God, think not thyself abandoned then, because thou seest not Peter, nor
seest Paul—seest not those through whom thou wast born. Out of thine own
offspring has a body of “fathers” been raised up to thee.—_Augustine._
_Verse 16.—“Thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the
earth.”_ The new connexion is glorious to the King. Many were his
glorious and royal ancestors down to Jesse, but now there are born to
him, the Eternal King, sons as the dew from the womb of the morning (Ps.
cx. 3), who shall, as princes, occupy the thrones of the world. So our
Lord promised to his disciples, “Verily I say unto you, that ye which
have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in
the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel.” Matt. xix. 28. And Paul says, “Do ye not
know that the saints shall judge the world?” 1 Cor. vi. 2.—_Augustus F.
Tholuck._