Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. From praising the King the Psalmist passes to the royal marriage. THE SECOND PART.
Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness - the connecting link between this second part and the first (cf. the close of Psalms 45:6, "the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre").
Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Righteousness is Messiah's title to the throne, as "therefore" implies. He is raised 'above all His fellows' (i:e., fellow-kings), as "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" (Revelation 19:16). Compare the type (1 Kings 3:11-13), Solomon, "There shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days." His kingdom is not based on mere might, but on having fulfilled all righteousness in His humiliation. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name" (Philippians 2:9). Instead of "God, thy God," translate, 'O God, thy God hath anointed thee.' This is confirmed by the obvious design to make the ''Elohiym,' or "O God," at the beginning of the second part correspond to the ''Elohiym,' or "O God," at the end of the first part (Psalms 45:6). So Aquila and Jerome, 'Epistles,' 104. The anointing with the oil of gladness is an image from the custom of anointing on joyful occasions. The 'oil of joy' wherewith the Messiah is here represented as about to be anointed is on a two-fold ground: first, as the then triumphant King who was once the "Man of sorrows" (Psalms 45:3-5). It was for this "joy set before Him" that "He endured the cross, despising the shame" (Hebrews 12:2); so He is the One whom the Lord anointed as the only suitable Preacher of "good tidings unto the meek," the Giver unto them of "the OIL OF JOY for mourning" (Isaiah 61:1-3). Secondly, and inseparably connected with the former, "the oil of gladness" shall be that which shall be His "in the day of His espousals, in the day of the gladness of His heart" (Song of Solomon 3:11). It is impossible to conceive, in the non- Messianic interpretation, how the possession of a numerous harem should be the consequence of 'loving righteousness.'