Zwischen Mensch und Gott

Text in German. Psalm 45 unfolds the basics of the Judaic theology of domination and reflects in a special way the conditions at the royal court with the communication structures and ceremonies customary there. At its center is the king, whose role and office is determined by military and juridical functions and thus encompasses the external and internal dimensions of rulership. As a minister, not as a person, he is placed between man and God, shares divine qualities and can therefore also be called God. At the side of the king, as the female part of the monarchy, is the queen, who also has a special role, as she stands between the king and the people and plays a key role in maintaining the dynasty. Peter Riede works out the compositional, motif and traditional historical connections of the psalm and makes them fruitful for a reconstruction of court and palace life in Judah. This shows that the pictorial constellations that characterize the Psalm are part of a cross-cultural repertoire that can also be found in pictorial art.