The first group continues to 49 which is a sort of homily concluding them. As the saint in the extreme trial endured could only look to God as his King (44:5), here we have the prophetic intervention immediately following. It is of course in the Messiah that the kingdom of God is anticipated. His personal grace is celebrated; His divine nature and glory, at the very time that He is anointed by God as man above His companions; for such He has and will have. But it is His triumph and rule and association with the godly Jews, no longer cast out of all but honored beyond all that had been in the psalmist's days of Israel; and Jerusalem is no longer trodden down by Gentiles, no more desolate and sitting on the ground, but the city of righteousness, the faithful city, the queen at Messiah's right hand in fine gold of Ophir. The virgins her companions are presumably the cities of Judah; and the peoples to give thanks forever are the nations of that future day in relationship with the Jews. It is in no way the Bride, the Lamb's wife in heavenly glory. (Rev. 19-22)
Psalm 45
“To the chief musician upon Shoshannim [or lilies]; for the sons of Korah; instruction, a song of loves. My heart hath overflowed [with] a good matter; I am declaring my works to the king: my tongue [is] the pen of a ready writer. Thou hast been very fair above the sons of men; grace hath been poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee forever. Gird thy sword upon the thigh, O mighty one, thy glory and thy majesty; and [in] thy majesty ride prosperously for the cause of truth and meekness of righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows [are] sharpened—the peoples fall under thee—in the heart of the king's enemies. Thy throne, O God, [is] forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness [is] the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy. companions. Myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, [are] all thy garments; from palaces of ivory stringed instruments have gladdened thee. Daughters of kings [are] among thine honorable women; at thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir. Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear; and forget thy people and thy father's house. And the king will greatly desire thy beauty; for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him. And the daughter of Tire with a gift, the rich of the people, shall entreat thy face. All glorious [is] the king's daughter within; of gold embroidery [is] her clothing: in needlework she shall be led to the king; the virgins after her, her companions, shall be brought unto thee. They shall be led with rejoicings and gladness; they shall enter into the king's palace. Instead of thy fathers shall be thy sons, thou shalt set them for princes in all the earth [or, land]. I will make mention of thy name throughout all generations; therefore peoples shall give thee thanks forever and ever” (vers. 1-18).
Psalm 46
This is the calm but joyful answer to the taunts of all their foes without who asked, Where is thy God? Their refuge and strength, their refuge in distress very readily found, God is owned Most High and Jehovah of hosts, the God of Jacob, but God as He is in His own nature exalted among the nations and in the earth.
“To the chief musician, for the sons of Korah, upon Alamoth, a song. God [is] to us a refuge and strength, a help in distresses exceedingly found. Therefore will we not fear in changing of the earth and in moving of mountains into the heart of the seas. Its waters roar, they are troubled; the mountains tremble with its pride. Selah. [There is] a river; its streams make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God [is] in her midst: she shall not be moved: God shall help her at the dawn of morning. Gentiles raged, kingdoms were moved; he uttered his voice, the earth melted. Jehovah of hosts [is] with us; the God of Jacob [is] a refuge unto us. Selah. Come, behold the works of Jehovah, who hath set desolations in the earth; he breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear; he burneth the chariots in the fire. Be still and know that I [am] God: I will be exalted among the Gentiles; I will be exalted in the earth. Jehovah of hosts [is] with us, the God of Jacob [is] a refuge unto us. Selah” (vers. 1-12).
Psalm 47
Here there is more: a call to all the peoples who seek association to join in their triumph and joy, but the deep sense that it is God Who has rights and glory on the earth; and therefore all is of grace to those whom He loved, and for whom He chose their inheritance. It is the millennial day which faith sees and sings.
“To the chief musician, for the sons of Korah, a psalm. Clap your hands, all ye peoples, shout unto God with voice of rejoicing. For Jehovah Most High is terrible, a great king over all the earth. He destroyeth peoples under us, and nations under our feet. He chooseth our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he hath loved. Selah. God hath gone up with a shout, Jehovah with the voice of a trumpet. Sing praises unto God, sing praises unto our king. For king to all the earth [is] God; sing psalms of instruction [or, understanding]. God hath reigned over the Gentiles, God hath sat down upon the throne of his holiness. The princes of the peoples are gathered together [with] the people of the God of Abraham; for unto God [belong] the shields of the earth; he hath been greatly exalted” (vers. 1-10).
Psalm 48
The remnant rise in the expression of their faith and can now begin with Jehovah, as they see the vision of Zion in its beauty and glory, and all confederacies confounded, yea, vanished away. It is an advance even on the last. The glory of the king penetrates as it were place and people. So predicted Isa. 2; 60; Mic. 4; 5, Zech. 14.
“A song, a psalm for the sons of Korah. Great [is] Jehovah and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, the hill of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth [is] the mount Zion, [on] the side of the north, the joy of the great king. God hath been known in her palaces as a refuge. For lo! the kings met, they passed through together, they saw, so they wondered, they were terrified, they fled in alarm. Trembling seized them there, pain as of one bringing forth. With an east wind thou hast broken the ships of Tarshish. As we have heard, so we have seen, in the city of Jehovah of hosts, in the city of our God; God will establish her forever. We have meditated, O God, on thy mercy in the midst of thy temple. According to thy name, O God, so [is] thy praise unto the ends of the earth; of righteousness is thy right hand full. Mount Zion rejoiceth, the daughters of Judah exult because of thy judgments. Surround ye Zion and encompass her; count ye her towers. Set your heart to her rampart; consider her palaces, that ye may recount it to the generation following. For this God [is] our God forever and ever; he will direct us until death” (vers. 1-15).
Psalm 49
This is a word of exhortation founded on the moral truth of the crisis just surveyed. The Jews understood not God's ways more than the Gentiles, and hence the abominable amalgam at the end of the age which is fast approaching. Both idolize present wealth and power, ease and honor: God will be in the thoughts of neither. But as a vapor all passes away that is not of God and in God and with God, and nothing is apart from Christ. Only God can and does raise from the dust of death; and as we know this now for heaven, so the godly Jews at the close will learn and preach as here for the earth, the honored ones to welcome Him when He comes to take Zion and all the earth.
“To the chief musician, for the sons of Korah, a psalm. Hear this, all ye peoples, give ear, all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth speaketh wisdom, and the meditation of my heart [is] understanding, I incline mine ear to a parable, I open upon a harp my riddle. Why should I fear in days of evil? The iniquity of my supplanters surroundeth me, those trusting in their wealth and boasting themselves in the multitude of their riches. In no way can a man redeem a brother, nor give to God a ransom for him (and precious [is] the redemption-price of their soul and it hath ceased forever), that he should still live forever and not see corruption [or, the pit]. For he seeth [that] wise men die; together the fool and the brutish man perish and have left their wealth to others; their inward [thought is] that their houses [are] forever, their dwelling-places to generation and generation; they have called their lands after their own names. But man in honor abideth not; he hath become like the cattle; they have been cut off. This their way [is] folly for them; yet those who come after them will take pleasure in their words. Selah. Like the sheep are they laid in Sheol: death feedeth upon them, and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; but their comeliness is for Sheol to consume, that there be no dwelling for it. Surely God will redeem my soul from the hand of Sheol, for he will take me. Selah. Fear not when a man becometh rich, when the glory of his house increaseth. For he taketh not all this away when he dieth; his glory shall not descend after him. Though he blessed his soul in his life (and men will praise thee when thou doest good to thyself), it [his soul] shall go to the generation of his fathers: they shall never see light. Man in honor and not understanding becometh as the cattle that perish” (vers. 1-21).