Psalm 45/Notes/Phrasal.v. 2.676754
v. 2 – Notice that the first reference of the king—according to the major Tiberian codices—is indefinite.[1] This is perhaps due to the discourse pragmatic expectation that a newly-introduced entity would be indefinite on its first mention in the discourse, while later references, being discourse accessible, are definite (Lyons 1999, 4).
Nevertheless, since "It has long been noted that the article seems to be vocalized in the Masoretic Text much more frequently than might be expected in these [בְּ, כְּ, and לְ proclitic] phrases" (Bekins, forthcoming §4.2; cf. Lambert 1898, 208), and since "the Masoretes tended to regularize articular use where they could, that is, with the monographic prepositions" (IBHS §13.7a), this uniquely indefinite reading of "king" in this psalm is certainly intentional (cf. הַמֶּלֶךְ in vv. 6, 12 and לַמֶּלֶךְ in v. 15) and should be respected by an indefinite gloss (which, among major English versions, is only read in the JPS and REB).[2]