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holiness") in Psalm 110: 3. How then are we to construe this phrase? Do the words
pertain to God? Do they imply that when we worship Him, we must remember His
essential holiness? It is certainly true that we must do this, but this may not be the
meaning intended in this particular passage.
The Septuagint translators render the passage: Proskunesate to Kurio en aule
hagia autou, "Worship the Lord in His holy court". A very similar version is given in
I Chron. 16: 29, but in Psalm 110: 3, where the word "beauty" is in the plural, their
translation is En tais lamprotesi ton hagion sou, "In the splendour of Thy saints". In
II Chron. 20: 21 the translation is different again: "And he took counsel with the people,
and set appointed men to sing psalms and praises, to give thanks, and sing the holy songs
of praise in going forth before the host". It is evident from this variety of renderings that
the words of the original need careful attention.
The word translated "beauty" is the Hebrew hadarah, a feminine form of hadar,
which meant primarily "to adorn, decorate or deck", as in Isa. 63: 1: "Glorious in His
apparel." The idea of "clothing" comes again in Psalm 104: 1: "Thou art clothed with
honour (beauty) and majesty", and also in Ezek. 16:, where the word is translated
"comeliness" (verse 14). In this chapter of Ezekiel we have an extended use of the figure
of clothing:
"I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skins, and I
girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with
ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck . . . . . and thy
renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through My
comeliness (Hebrew hadar, `beauty') which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God"
(Ezek. 16: 10-14).
In Exod. 28: we read of the "holy garments for Aaron",--garments "for glory and
for beauty"--comprising "a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a
mitre, and a girdle" for ministering in the priest's office (Exod. 28: 2-4). The word
translated "beauty" here is different from the word used in Psalm 116:, but the intention
is much the same.
Throughout Scripture, clothing is symbolic. We read of "garments of salvation, and
the robe of righteousness" (Isa. 61: 10), while in Isa. 52: 1 restored Jerusalem is
exhorted to "put on" her "beautiful garments". The bridegroom is expected to deck
himself with ornaments, and the bride to adorn herself with jewels, and these are used as
symbols of higher things. Job speaks of putting on righteousness--"and it clothed me"
(Job 29: 14), and the Lord Himself is said to "put on the garments of vengeance for
clothing", and to be "clad with zeal as a cloke" (Isa. 59: 17).
When we come to the N.T., we find this figure in full use. Enduo, often translated
"put on", is also translated "clothe with", "be clothed", and "be arrayed"; while enduma
is translated "clothing", "garment" and "raiment". So, the believer is said to have "put
on" Christ (Gal. 3: 27), and to have "put on" the new man (Eph. 4: 24). He is also
exhorted to "put on" the armour of light (Rom. 13: 12), to "put on" the Lord Jesus Christ
(Rom. 13: 14), and to "put on" the whole armour of God (Eph. 6: 11). These are the