Psalm
Wisdom books · 150 chapters · 2461 verses · 7 verses in the maps
Chapters
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- 133
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- 138
- 139
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- 144
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- 150
In the maps
- Psalm 8:6
To put something under someone's feet is the Bible's image of dominion. Pitre uses this (with Psalm 110:1) to read Revelation 12:1 (p 151): the Woman clothed with the sun, standing on the moon and crowned with the twelve stars of Joseph's dream, is the mother of the Messiah exalted above all Israel, including the patriarchs and matriarchs. The queen mother shares in her Son's dominion.
- Psalm 45:9
This royal wedding psalm shows the queen standing in gold at the king's right hand, sharing in his glory. Christian tradition reads Psalm 45 of Christ the King, and by extension of the queen at his side. Pitre draws on it to fill out the picture of the Davidic court in which the queen is enthroned at the king's right hand, the position Solomon gives his mother.
- Psalm 45:17
The royal psalm ends with the promise that the king's name will be celebrated in all generations. Pitre hears the echo in the Magnificat: when Mary says all generations will call her blessed, she is speaking the language of the royal court (p 78). Together with 'he has put down the mighty from their thrones' (Luke 1:52), it shows the Magnificat is throne language — Mary and her Son take the thrones of the Davidic king and his mother.
- Psalm 51:5
David confesses that he was sinful from conception. With Romans 3:23 this is the strongest biblical objection to Mary's sinlessness, and Pitre states it before answering it (p 38): Scripture teaches that all born after the fall are under sin. His reply is that being created without sin does not make one less than human — Adam and Eve before the fall were fully human — and that the New Eve is the exception by grace, not by nature.
- Psalm 110:1
The king sits at God's right hand and so shares in God's authority. Pitre uses the verse three ways: the queen at the king's right hand (Psalm 45:9; 1 Kings 2:19) shares in his authority just as the king shares in God's (pp 70–71); 'my Lord' is the royal title behind Elizabeth's 'mother of my Lord' (p 77); and Jesus' quotation of it (Matthew 22:44) shows that 'until' does not imply a change afterward (p 101).
- Psalm 132:8
The psalm recalls David bringing the ark up to its resting place: 'Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength.' Pitre notes that Pius XII cited exactly this verse when he defined the Assumption: as David brought the ark into the sanctuary, Christ the new David brings the true ark, his mother, into the heavenly temple. The incorruptible ark points to the incorruptible body of Mary.
- Psalm 132:13
The psalm that remembers David bringing up the Ark ends with God saying of Zion, 'This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell.' Pitre quotes the psalm at length to show that for ancient Jews the ascent of the Ark to Jerusalem was the coming of God himself to dwell with his people (p 49). The new David brings the true Ark, his mother, to the place of God's everlasting rest — the heavenly Zion.