The king sits on his throne, majestic, and next to him stands his consort, decked in gold jewelry and silk.
But who is she exactly, and who’s he, and what’s this psalm about? It is a puzzling poem with idioms that have intrigued generations and created one of the most constricting concepts for women and the feminine in our patriarchal reality.
Psalm 45 begins with roses. Or maybe it’s another name for musical instruments or a musical style we no longer recognized. The poet’s gaze shifts from the temple to the palace, where the royal household is described with admiration, and whether it is fact or fiction - nobody knows. Is it the Davidic kings? Is it a metaphoric way to talk of God? The king is anointed with oils and committed to justice. And next to him stands the woman whose title likely means - She Whom He Most Loves:
בְּנ֣וֹת מְ֭לָכִים בְּיִקְּרוֹתֶ֑יךָ נִצְּבָ֥ה שֵׁגַ֥ל לִ֝ימִינְךָ֗ בְּכֶ֣תֶם אוֹפִֽיר׃
“Royal princesses are what you cherish;
the consort stands at your right hand,
decked in gold of Ophir.”
Ps. 45:10
Perhaps the royal princesses are an allusion to King Solomon and his hundreds of wives and concubines, or to other kings of the old days who displayed similar signs of wealth and power? What catches our eye is the consort. The Hebrew title ‘Shegal’ is one that is repeated again in the Bible, but only in the Persian period. She always stands or sits with the king. While it may mean ‘The one he beds’ - it’s likely borrowed from the Assyrian vocabulary and means something like ‘The Palace’ - or in other words - She Who Is the Palace. The Queen.
But it isn’t just the male-dominated authors of this chapter who minimized her role and title over time. This very chapter offers another enigmatic verse that became the motivation for modesty in women’s fashion and the patriarchal preference to keep girls and women in the domestic sphere and when possible shut them under veils and behind closed doors. The psalm goes on to describe the royal procession that brings the princess to the king who will become her husband. She is bringing with her many treasures but then she becomes the most treasured of all:
כל־כְּבוּדָּ֣ה בַת־מֶ֣לֶךְ פְּנִ֑ימָה מִֽמִּשְׁבְּצ֖וֹת זָהָ֣ב לְבוּשָֽׁהּ׃
“All glorious is the king's daughter within the palace; Her raiment is of chequer work inwrought with gold.”
Ps. 45:14
This became the trope that indicates that women should stay ‘indoors’ - and that modesty requires glory within - disguised and hidden behind veils and wigs and longer sleeves. And while it’s a very common teaching in the Orthodox and more pious Jewish settings, it is very likely not the original intention. The mystical reading is that this princess is the soul -- and it is in secret and within us that she thrives and is protected.
Robert Alter has a totally different reading of this verse and the word ‘within’:
“The Masoretic Text reads literally “all the princess’s treasure is inward,” which Jewish tradition has taken as a slogan for the virtuous wife’s conjugal modesty. But the immediately following word has a superfluous mem at the beginning. If one moves it back to the end of the previous word and inserts a second nun for the mem in the middle of the word, instead of penimah, “inward,” the consonantal text would read peninim, “pearls,” which makes more sense and a much better parallelism. “
In other words - it’s not about the inwardness but about the pearl - hidden inside its shell until revealed.
The secret queen inside this chapter became quite a different feminine mystique in Christian lore, where she is often referred to as the Virgin Mary, another present but also hidden dimension of the divine.
I am celebrating the eternal and enigmatic power of the queen this week, whether she is the Sabbath Queen, the soul, or any other manifestation of the sacred divine in our lives, revealed or hidden.
This psalm, offered with roses, reminds us that we are all regal, all sacred, all worthy of adoration, respect, visibly and proudly loved.
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