Psalms 45:4 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

In thy majesty; being thus gloriously or magnificently girt and armed. Ride prosperously; march on speedily (which is signified by riding) and successfully against thine enemies, i.e. thou shalt do so, as it is in the last clause, shall teach thee. So imperatives are oft put for futures, and predictions are expressed in the form of commands or exhortations. Because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness; or, because of thy truth, &c., i.e. because thou art worthy of this dominion and success; for thou neither didst obtain nor wilt manage thy kingdom by deceit or violence and unrighteousness, as the princes of the earth frequently do, but with truth and faithfulness, with meekness and gentleness towards thy people, and to all that shall submit to thee; with impartial justice and equity, whereby thy throne will be established, Proverbs 16:12, Proverbs 20:28. Or, as it is in the Hebrew, word for word, upon the word of truth, &c.; which may seem best to suit with the foregoing words, which according to the Hebrew are, prosper thou, ride thou, and then immediately follows, upon the Word of truth, &c., to wit, the gospel; which is oft called truth, as 1 Thessalonians 8:32 Colossians 1:5, &c., and the word of truth, Ephesians 1:13; and may no less truly be called the word of meekness, because it is not delivered with terror, as the law was at Sinai, but meekly and sweetly by Christ, and by his ministers, Matthew 21:5 2 Timothy 2:25; and the word of righteousness, because it brings in everlasting righteousness, Daniel 9:24, and strongly obligeth and exciteth all men to the practice of righteousness and holiness. And so the gospel is compared to a horse or chariot, upon which Christ is said to ride, when the gospel is preached, and carried about from place to place, Revelation 19:11. And this may be here added, to show the great difference between the kingdoms of the world, that are managed with outward pomp and glory, and the kingdom of Christ, which is a spiritual kingdom, and, like a spouse, Psalms 45:13, all glorious wi&in, as consisting in spiritual virtues and graces, truth, meekness, and righteousness. Thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things, i.e. thou shalt do great and glorious exploits, which shall be grievous and terrible to thine enemies, as the next verse explains it, and this not by great forces, and the assistance of others, but by thine own single power; compare Isaiah 63:3; which doth by no means agree to Solomon, who was a man of peace, and not engaged in any martial actions against his enemies; and if he had done any thing considerable in that kind, he could not do it by his own right hand, but by the help of his soldiers. But this doth excellently agree to the Messias, and to him only. Object. The things which were done by the Messias at his first coming were rather comfortable than terrible. Answ. They were indeed comfortable to all good men, but withal they were terrible to the ungodly, and particularly to the body of the Jewish nation, to whom Christ was a stone of stumbling, and rock of offence, and an occasion of their utter destruction. And upon that and other accounts, not only Christ's second, but even his first coming, is represented as dreadful, as Joel 2:30 Zechariah 3:2, and elsewhere. For the phrase, thy right hand shall teach thee, it is not to be taken properly, for so he taught his hand, and not his hand him; but the meaning is, that his hand should show him, i.e. discover and work before him; for verbal words are oft understood really; as calling is put for being, as Isaiah 1:26, Isaiah 9:6; so teaching or showing is put for doing, as Psalms 16:11, Psalms 60:3.