Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.
The victory having been won, and the enemies destroyed, Messiah's throne is contemplated in the first clause as to its perpetuity; in the next clause, as to its internal character: the latter being the cause, the former the effect.
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. The perpetuity of Messiah's kingdom results from its righteousness. So Isaiah 9:7. As in Psalms 45:3 Messiah is addressed, 'O mighty One,' or 'Hero,' so here He is addressed, "O God." Perfect manhood and Godhead are implied as combined in His person. All the old translators concur with the inspired authority of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 1:8) in taking 'Elohiym (H430), the Hebrew for "God," in the vocative, "O God," as the English version does. Opponents evade the truth by translating, 'thy God-throne' - i:e., thy throne committed to thee by God; but thus they would introduce the anomaly of a construct state interrupted by a suffix. Leviticus 26:42 is not a case in point, as "Jacob" is a proper name, incapable of a suffix; whereas 'Elohiym is capable of one. Gesenius vacillates between this and 'thy throne is God's (throne).' But no good instance can be shown in which the subject just before named in the construct state repeats itself in thought at the same time as part of the predicate. 'Thy throne is God' would give no sense. Nor can Messiah be called ''Elohiym' in the same limited sense as earthly rulers are called so (Psalms 82:6); because they bore the name of God as being His earthly vicegerents, having a finite dominion; but lest this limitation should be applied to Messiah, it is declared that His throne, as ''Elohiym,' is "FOREVER AND EVER;" and in this perpetuity of His kingdom the promises of perpetuity to David's throne find their fulfillment (2 Samuel 7:13; 2 Samuel 7:16; Psalms 72:5; Psalms 89:4; Psalms 89:36-37; Psalms 132:12; Isaiah 9:7). On 'the sceptre of His kingdom' being "a right sceptre," cf. Isaiah 11:3-4, "With righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth;" Psalms 67:4 - literally, 'a straight sceptre,' the emblem of undeviating justice: the ensign of all kingdoms, but belonging fully to Messiah's alone.