Psalm LXXII
A Psalm for Solomon.
1 Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the
king’s son.
2 He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.
3 The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by
righteousness.
4 He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the
needy, And shall break in pieces the oppressor. 6 They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all
generations. 6 He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that
water the earth.
21 4 PSALM LXXII. — THE RIGHTEOUS ONE’s HOPES
7 In his days shall the righteous flourish;
And abundance of peace so long as the moon cndureth.
8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the
ends of the earth.
9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies
shall lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: The kings of Sheba and ISeba shall offer gifts.
11 Yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him.
12 For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him
that hath no helper.
13 He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.
14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: And precious shall their blood be in his sight.
15 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: Prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be
praised.
16 There shall be an handful of com in the earth upon the top of the mountains; The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: And they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
17 His name shall endure for ever! his name shall be continued as long as
the sun: And men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. 19 Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.
19 And blessed be his glorious name for ever:
And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and Amen.
20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.
As 7 in all the other titles expresses the order, the title, rtb7^7 i y many (such as Rosenmuller, Tholuck, Hengstenberg) rendered, “A Psalm of Solomon.” But what then of verse 20? It seems to leave just one alternative; — the Psalm is not David’s directly (uttered, as some thmk, in connection with 2 Sam. xxiii. 1-5), but it must be David’s indirectly; dictated to Solomon, and given forth by Solomon, who received it at David’s lips for this end, and who says in the end, that his father’s prayer will all be completely answered when this scene is realised. It would not ill suit the events of 1 Kings i., and it may be that the Holy Spirit gave this song to David’s harp, as he resigned it to Solomon along with his crown, on occasion of his coronation in the valley of Gihon, so near the Upper Pool where Isaiah afterwards stood foretelling the birth of Immanuel, the true Solomon.
In verse 1 the subjects pray for their King, the Church for Thei.i her Head, as in Psa. xx. They ask that their anointed King, who is the Son of the King of kings,* may be sent forth to govern them. They ask this by requesting that all regal authority may be entrusted to him, and all regal qualifications imparted. They are referring, in this request, to the Lord’s revealed will, to his decree given forth in Psa. ii. 6, 7, 8.” It is as if they said,
“Put thy statute-book into the hands of Him who is our King; Clothe Him, thine own Son, with righteousness, that royal robe /”
At the same time, it may be the Psalmist himself praying — David for Solomon, Messiah for himself And then follows the glowing picture of anticipated blessedness, when this king begins his reign of righteousness. Israel’s poets and prophets know of no golden age of which the very centre and life is not Messiah, God incarnate. Restored paradise has streams; Messiah is their fountain-head. Restored paradise must have an Adam that cannot fall, that its scenes may never suffer blight, nor its bowers be invaded by the old serpent the devil. Dr Allix rightly speaks of this Psalm being that of “The Church and synagogue concerning the glorious kingdom of Messiah at his Second Coming.” How intensely tranquil, and yet intensely glowing, are all the scenes! If it be true that the mediaeval hymn, “Dies irse, dies ilia,” (a hymn of man’s composition), has exerted a solemnising and overawing influence upon thousands in whose ears it has been sung, should not this glorious burst of song leave its never-effaced impressions of noon-bright hope, soon to be realised, on every saint who has a heart to feel?
The hills and mountains (ver. 3) prominent in Israel’s land, the hills and mountains, too, of earth at large, generally so barren, hills and mountains on which the feet of other messengers have often stood (Isa. xl. 9), but never any messengers so blest as those that visit them now — these hills and mountains display the signs of peace, viz., abundant produce, “because of righteousness” — because the Righteous One has come to dwell in this New Earth. Antichrist and all oppressors are
* On Turkish coins, says Philipps, we find, “Sultan, son of the Sultan.”
overthrown (ver. 4); earth’s thick-peopled regions fear Him, and shall go on fearing him in peace, so long as smi and moon remain, that sun and moon which at creation’s dawn were appointed to light up earth and guide men to keep holy festivals to the Lord, (Gen. i. 14). The Lord Jesus is there. Like “plenty-dropping showers” that reach the very roots of the mown grass (ver. 6), so is He to the earth after it has been shorn by the scythe of war, and every form of ruin and wrath. He revives it, as summer’s genial rains cause grass to spring up in new vigour, clothing the soil with a richer and thicker mantle of verdure than before — as Layard* tells us how in the season of spring the dusty soil of Mesopotamia will change its aspect, in one night the tame plains turning to a bright scarlet, or to deepest blue through the burst of flowers, while the meadows put on the emerald green of the most luxuriant pastures, causing even the wild Bedouin, as he riots in the rich herbage and scented air, to exclaim, “What delight has God given us equal to this!” The wealth of opposite nations, Sheba and Seba (Meroe and Arabia), is consecrated to Him, as they bring “gifts” (ver. 1 0), or tribute, 2 Kings iii. 4.
“The simrt Sabeans and Panchaia’s king
Shall cassia, myrrh, and sacred incense bring;
All kings shall homage to The King afford;
All nations shall receive him for their Lord.’’ (Sandys.)
He is the true Job (see xxix. 12) who delivers the poor (ver. 12); “he looks with pity upon” (Fry), or “sympathises with” (Horsley), the poor and needy (ver. 13). He redeems them from Satan’s craft and cruelty, from Satan as the serpent, and Satan as the lion, “from deceit and from violence.”
We agree with Keble’s hint in his metrical version of this book, that verse 1 5 refers to the well-known salutation offered to kings, “O king, live for ever.” It runs thus —
“Yes, let him live!
And the gold of Sheba be given him!
And let him, ray for every one continually.”
The pronoun of the third person 1 is used to express “every one,” viz., every one of his subjects. They adore him and worship; he intercedes and acts as mediator to them for ever. * DiKCOveries in Nineveh an Bnhylon, pp. 273 and 301.
REALISED IN THE GLORY OB^ THE KINGDOM. 217
And what sights of strange fertility and beauty shall be seen, as indicated by verse 16! corn to the summit of the hills? rustling like cedar boughs on Lebanon; while Tke City, the metropolis (Psa. lxxxvii.), flourishes in population like the numberless blades of grass, all holy, all praising their King, presenting the spectacle of a model-city to the world.
And now is fulfilled to the utmost the promise made to Abraham, “in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. xxii. 18), so oft repeated; for Messiah’s name (ver. 17) “produces posterity,” i. e., renovates itself, acquiring fresh vigour, “for ever” (Hengst.). All nations are blessed in him, and all call him blessed.
Sing, then, as verses 18, 19, sing with heart and voice for evermore —
“Blessed be Jehovah / God (without a rival), God of Israel! Who alone (needing no help of any) doeth wondrous works. And blessed be his glonous name for ever and ever! Yea, let the loJiole earth be filled with his glory I Amen, and amen.’”
The prospect of this consummation fills the heart of the Sweet Singer of Israel; it leaves him nothing more to wish for. He has reached the height and summit of desire and hope. Perhaps the last words of verse 19 should be joined to verse 20, and run thus —
The “Amen” of the whole Psalm falls on his ear from his own
harp strings, and he catches it up and repeats it thus —” Yea,
amen! the prayers are ended of David the son of Jesse.”
“So let it be! Thy will on earth now done,
No more to seek has David, Jesse’s son.”
And thus it is that an individual’s own peculiar desires shall all be satisfied in that kingdom, satisfied because absorbed in the flood of bliss. Who is there that ever takes up the former Psalm or the next, wearied, faint-hearted, and desponding? Look forward and see here
The Righteous One’s hopes realised in the glory of the kivgdom.