Glory and Universality of the Messiah’s Reign
A Psalm of Solomon.
“Give the king Your judgments, O God, and Your righteousness to the king’s Son. He will judge Your people with righteousness, and Your poor with justice. The mountains will bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness. He will bring justice to the poor of the people; He will save the children of the needy, and will break in pieces the oppressor.
They shall fear You as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing, like showers that water the earth.
In His days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, and His enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles will bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts. Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Him. For He will deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also, and him who has no helper. He will spare the poor and needy, and will save the souls of the needy. He will redeem their life from oppression and violence; and precious shall be their blood in His sight.
And He shall live; and the gold of Sheba will be given to Him; prayer also will be made for Him continually, and daily He shall be praised. There will be an abundance of grain in the earth, on the top of the mountains; its fruit shall wave like Lebanon; and those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun. And men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things! And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen. The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.
Who is really writing this psalm, Solomon or David? Most authorities agree that Psalm 72 is one of two psalms written by Solomon, with the second being Psalm 127. Evidently, Solomon has been compiling the psalms, and this psalm is the last one in Book Two, a book that contains many of David’s psalms.
“Give the king Your judgments, O God, and Your righteousness to the king’s Son. He will judge Your people with righteousness, and Your poor with justice. Whose reign is Solomon describing? Psalms work on many different levels, including some that the original author might not have intended. Solomon might be describing David’s reign as a tribute to David, or he might be describing his own reign. Humility has rarely been one of Solomon’s failings, and in an earlier age, we might have said that “Solomon is stuck on himself.” But as Solomon is writing, we begin to glimpse foretastes of the reign of the coming Messiah.
“The mountains will bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness. He will bring justice to the poor of the people; He will save the children of the needy, and will break in pieces the oppressor.” How can land bring peace to people? When Messiah comes, the whole earth will be full of His righteousness, peace, deliverance, and justice. There will be no more room for wickedness in any location or in any form.
“They shall fear You as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the grass before mowing, like showers that water the earth.” When Messiah comes, all the people of the earth will fear Him forever. Messiah will come in gentleness and power. Harsh rains that beat on crops destroy them and cause soil erosion; Messiah’s presence will be as refreshing as a lovely soaking rain that causes grass to flourish so that it will be ready for mowing. The grass mentioned here is hay to be harvested, not the grass on a modern lawn. The more lush the hay is, the more nutrition it will provide for the animals eating it.
“In His days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.” Abundance of peace! What a wonderful idea! As I am writing this, the Ukrainian situation is still bad and Hamas and Israel are locked in combat. Peace is a very scarce commodity. The River referred to here is likely the Euphrates, but the idea is that Messiah will reign over the entire earth.
“Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him, and His enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles will bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts. Yes, all kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Him. For He will deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also, and him who has no helper. He will spare the poor and needy, and will save the souls of the needy. He will redeem their life from oppression and violence; and precious shall be their blood in His sight.” Why will all the rulers of the earth bow before Messiah and why will His enemies lick the dust? When Messiah comes, He will have so much power and authority that nobody will be able to resist Him. Those who love righteousness will adore Him and those who hate righteousness will find themselves licking dust because they cannot help themselves. Messiah will deliver all the poor and needy, no matter where they are.
“And He shall live; and the gold of Sheba will be given to Him; prayer also will be made for Him continually, and daily He shall be praised. There will be an abundance of grain in the earth, on the top of the mountains; its fruit shall wave like Lebanon; and those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.” Clearly, these verses describe the Messiah. But why mention an abundance of grain on mountaintops? Generally mountaintops are bleak windswept places where practically nothing can grow. But when Messiah comes, the land will become so productive that even the bare mountaintops will yield the same kind of crops as the most productive fields in Lebanon.
“His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun. And men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed.” Messiah will live and reign forever, and all the nations of the earth shall bless Him.
“Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things! And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen. The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” Here Solomon endeavors to complete and sum up the psalms of his father David. Even though Solomon is incredibly gifted, he realizes that his achievements pale in comparison with those of David. Singer, song-writer, victorious warrior, wise leader, steadfast worshiper of God-David has been the complete package. Now it’s Solomon’s turn.
APPLICATION: Even though Solomon knows he has been chosen by God, still succeeding David is daunting. Evidently, David has attempted to train Solomon; however, it’s one thing when the leadership problems are merely theoretical and a different matter when you’re actually tasked with solving them. Little wonder if many proverbs, a type of composition David hasn’t tackled.
The wonderful thing about this psalm is the description of the Kingdom of the Messiah. Righteousness, justice, peace, protection for the poor and deprived, the land renewed so that even the mountaintops bear grain abundantly-these are the marks of the Messiah’s Kingdom.
Who among us does not long for the peace of God to water our souls like a gentle rain? Who among us does not long for a forever Father and Brother to whom we are precious?
How can you use this psalm? Before you read it, ask God to reveal Himself to you. Ask God to give you an understanding heart and mind. Then read the psalm to yourself, stopping when the words no longer make sense. You will know when to stop because you will begin to feel the words overwhelming you. Go back to the last phrases that were making sense. That’s God’s message for you at that point. You might get most of the way through the psalm, or you might stop on one of the first verses. It’s not the quantity of scripture that you read; it’s the message of God that’s important.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to learn how to let You speak to us through Your Word. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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