Let’s look at Psalm 45.
למנצח על־שׁשׁנים לבני־קרח משׂכיל שׁיר ידידת
רחשׁ לבי דבר טוב אמר אני מעשׂי למלך לשׁוני עט סופר מהיר
1 To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for
the sons of Korah, Maschil, A Song of loves. My heart is inditing a good
matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is
the pen of a ready writer.
יפיפית מבני אדם הוצק חן בשׂפתותיך על־כן ברכך אלהים לעולם
2 Thou art fairer than the children of men:
grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.
חגור־חרבך על־ירך גבור הודך והדרך
3 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty,
with thy glory and thy majesty.
והדרך צלח רכב על־דבר־אמת וענוה־צדק ותורך נוראות ימינך
4 And in thy majesty ride prosperously because
of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee
terrible things.
חציך שׁנונים עמים תחתיך יפלו בלב אויבי המלך
5 Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the
king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.
כסאך אלהים עולם ועד שׁבט מישׁר שׁבט מלכותך
6 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the
sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.
אהבת צדק ותשׂנא רשׁע על־כן משׁחך אלהים אלהיך שׁמן שׂשׂון מחבריך
7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest
wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness
above thy fellows.
מר־ואהלות קציעות כל־בגדתיך מן־היכלי שׁן מני שׂמחוך
8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes,
and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
בנות מלכים ביקרותיך נצבה שׁגל לימינך בכתם אופיר
9 Kings' daughters were among thy honourable
women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
שׁמעי־בת וראי והטי אזנך ושׁכחי עמך ובית אביך
10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and
incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;
ויתאו המלך יפיך כי־הוא אדניך והשׁתחוי־לו
11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty:
for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.
ובת־צר במנחה פניך יחלו עשׁירי עם
12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with
a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.
כל־כבודה בת־מלך פנימה ממשׁבצות זהב לבושׁה
13 The king's daughter is all glorious within:
her clothing is of wrought gold.
לרקמות תובל למלך בתולות אחריה רעותיה מובאות לך
14 She shall be brought unto the king in raiment
of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto
thee.
תובלנה בשׂמחת וגיל תבאינה בהיכל מלך
15 With gladness and rejoicing shall they be
brought: they shall enter into the king's palace.
תחת אבתיך יהיו בניך תשׁיתמו לשׂרים בכל־הארץ
16 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children,
whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
אזכירה שׁמך בכל־דר ודר על־כן עמים יהודך לעלם ועד
17 I will make thy name to be remembered in all
generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.
The above chapter
presents a very beautiful portrayal of a king appointed by God. Notice verses 6 and 7. Verse 6 refers to the king as God. Then verse 7 refers to God as the king’s
God. The context of this chapter is
clearly an earthly king complete with a queen and children. So, what does verse 6 mean when it refers to
the king as God?
More importantly,
how does this relate to the divine attributes given to Jesus, including the
quote in Hebrews 1:8-9 which quotes this chapter to explain Jesus’ relationship
to God?
προς δε τον υιον ο
θρονος σου ο θεος εις τον αιωνα [του αιωνος] και η ραβδος της ευθυτητος ραβδος
της βασιλειας αυτου
8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God,
is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
ηγαπησας δικαιοσυνην και
εμισησας ανομιαν δια τουτο εχρισεν σε ο θεος ο θεος σου ελαιον αγαλλιασεως παρα
τους μετοχους σου
9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated
iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of
gladness above thy fellows.
Let’s look at Moses
in
Exodus 7:1.
ויאמר יהוה אל־משׁה ראה נתתיך
אלהים לפרעה ואהרן אחיך יהיה נביאך
1 And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I
have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
Here, God refers to
Moses as a god and says that it is because God made Moses a god. In the context of the verse, we clearly see
that Moses is referred to as a god, not because he is actually a deity, but
because he has been appointed by God to be His representative. This is neither the first nor the last time
that God’s representative is referred to as God. Look at Jacob’s encounter with the stranger
in
Genesis 32:24-30
ויותר יעקב לבדו ויאבק אישׁ עמו עד עלות השׁחר
24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled
a man with him until the breaking of the day.
וירא כי לא יכל לו ויגע בכף־ירכו ותקע כף־ירך יעקב בהאבקו עמו
25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against
him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was
out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
ויאמר שׁלחני כי עלה השׁחר ויאמר לא אשׁלחך כי אם־ברכתני
26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh.
And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
ויאמר אליו מה־שׁמך ויאמר יעקב
27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And
he said, Jacob.
ויאמר לא יעקב יאמר עוד שׁמך כי אם־ישׂראל כי־שׂרית עם־אלהים ועם־אנשׁים ותוכל
28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more
Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and
hast prevailed.
וישׁאל יעקב ויאמר הגידה־נא שׁמך ויאמר למה זה תשׁאל לשׁמי ויברך אתו שׁם
29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I
pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my
name? And he blessed him there.
ויקרא יעקב שׁם המקום פניאל כי־ראיתי אלהים פנים אל־פנים ותנצל נפשׁי
30 And Jacob called the name of the place
Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
Jacob refers to this
stranger as God, but Scripture informs us that it is an angel.
Hosea 12:4.
וישׂר אל־מלאך ויכל בכה ויתחנן־לו בית־אל ימצאנו ושׁם ידבר עמנו
4 Yea, he had power over
the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him
in Bethel, and there he spake with us;
Another example is when
the angel appeared to Samson’s parents.
Judges 13:21-22.
ולא־יסף עוד מלאך יהוה להראה
אל־מנוח ואל־אשׁתו אז ידע מנוח כי־מלאך יהוה הוא
21 But the angel
of the Lord did no more appear to
Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord.
ויאמר מנוח אל־אשׁתו מות נמות
כי אלהים ראינו
22 And Manoah said unto his wife, We
shall surely die, because we have seen God.
We see that in the
Old Testament if someone is appointed by God to represent Him, that person
takes on divine authority and is even referred to as God, even though they are
not an actual deity.
This is very
important in evaluating the verses in the New Testament that attribute divine
aspects to Jesus.
