Day 8
10 There are daughters of kings in Your honor; The queen stood at Your right hand in apparel interwoven with gold, And adorned and embroidered with various colors. 11 Listen, O daughter, behold and incline your ear, And forget your people and your father’s house; 12 For the King desired your beauty, For He is your Lord. 13 And the daughters of Tyre shall worship Him with gifts; The rich among the people shall entreat your favor. 14 All her glory as the King’s daughter is within, Adorned and embroidered with golden tassels. 15 The virgins behind her shall be brought to the King; Her neighbors shall be brought to You; 16 They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing; They shall be led into the temple of the King. 17 In place of your fathers, sons shall be born to you; You shall make them rulers over all the earth. 18 They shall remember your name from generation to generation; Therefore, peoples shall give thanks to you Forever and unto ages of ages.
Psalm 44 (45) Nelson, Thomas. The Orthodox Study Bible, eBook (p. 712). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
Psalm 44 (45), shown in part above, speaks prophetically about the Word Incarnate, Jesus Christ, and His Church. The passage quoted above speaks about the Virgin Mary. It speaks to us about her role in the Incarnation and of the establishment of the Christian Church. I have taken the liberty to highlight in bold parts of this Psalm that speak directly about the Birth-giver and the Church. Lets take a look at each:
- The "daughters" in verse 10, the "daughters of Tyre" in verse 13 and the "virgins" and "sons" in verses 15 and 17 speak about the Church that is a direct result of what the Virgin Mary is going to accept, to become the "Holy of Holies", the dwelling place of God. It is through her willingness to accept this that God becomes flesh and the Church is born. All of these prophetic references are to those who are yet to come, not those of that time. Daughters...sons of your fathers...daughters of Tyre...tell us prophetically that the Son of the Living God, Jesus Christ, will be rejected by those of His time, but accepted by their descendants and the Gentiles..
- "The queen at Your right hand" in verse 10, "O daughter" in verse 11 and 14 speak about the Mother of God herself. These passages speak about the child entering into the Temple, about what she is going to do and about what her place is with God.
The poetic beauty of this Psalm really hits home as we read it with the knowledge and experience of the Feast we just celebrated. As we travel through this Nativity Fast together, we will encounter a number of other prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the Mother of God and the Birth of Christ. This is the Church's way of preparing us to witness once again this incredible miracle that is going to take place.