Song of Loves

The Hebrew shir (song) is used vastly more often in the Psalmter than anywhere else, as one would expect. It appears over 40 times there, and doesn’t even reach double figures in any other book. In the Pentateuch as a whole, the word appears only eight times.

The word is, of course, also the title of Solomon’s shir , and one ofthe Psalter uses is very close to the use in the Song of Songs. Psalm 45 is entitle a “song of loves” ( shir yedidydot ), and as it goes on it becomes clear that it is a love song for the king, an epithalamion celebrating the king’s wedding. And as the Psalm goes on, it becomes clear that there is another king in the poem, Yahweh who sits on His throne (v. 6). The king whose love is the focus of the Psalm is the anointed of God, the King’s son.

As a song of loves, Psalm 45 is a precis of the Song of Songs, and supports the instinct to allegorize the Song.