This one and that one was born there;
And princes as common people will say
We shall all make our home in thee.
Two psalms, 119 and 19:8-15, are in praise of the Jewish law. Since Psalm 119 is an alphabetical psalm, each successive eight lines beginning with the twenty-two successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, its one hundred seventy-six lines are necessarily a very mechanical and mediocre production. Psalm 19:8-15, on the other hand, is a much finer piece of craftsmanship. The first six lines (verses 8-10) which are strikingly uniform in style, draw attention to six complementary virtues of the law. Then four lines (verses 11-12) express in general terms the joy that is to be found in knowledge of the law and the practical benefit to be derived from obedience to it. Verses 13 and 14 present his humble petition that he be delivered from violating the law unwittingly or presumptuously, while verse 15 dedicates the hymn so carefully written, not to any princely patron but to Yahwe, his strength and redeemer.
Another little group of hymns deals with the king, who as the anointed of Yahwe was also a sacred institution. From a modern standpoint however Psalm 45 is purely secular in character, celebrating as it does the king’s wedding day. Verse 2 is introductory in which the author announces himself as a clever poet. Verses 3-10 are in characteristically extravagant praise of the king. Verses 11-16 are devoted to the bride, while verse 17 makes tactful and appropriate reference to the princes yet to be born. Verse 18 concluding the poem, makes the naïvely modest promise that the pen of the poet will guarantee immortal fame to the king.
Psalm 101 is likewise secular, for it is evidently a king’s proclamation. As such it may have been used in the coronation service in the temple, and so preserved in the sanctuary song book. Quite naturally, as is always to be expected, the king promises to walk uprightly in his own private life, to choose wise counsellors, to turn a deaf ear to slanderers, to give protection to honest men, and to suppress the wicked.
Psalm 72 might likewise be fitted into the coronation service, being then the prayer offered for a just and successful reign. This would mean translating the successive sentences of the psalm from verse 1 to verse 11 and from verse 15 to verse 17 as petitions. Thus verse 2 would be translated:
May he judge thy people with righteousness
And thy poor with justice,
and the other verses correspondingly, and the psalm would accordingly be classed as a prayer of supplication. On the other hand if the successive sentences, with the necessary exception of verse 1 are to be regarded as predictions of a glorious reign, then the psalm is to be regarded as a hymn in praise of the Messiah, or possibly of an ordinary king who has just ascended the throne.