Today’s Passage: Psalm 72
This psalm is titled of Solomon, or for Solomon, and it prays for the king’s son: justice for the afflicted, and a name that lasts as long as the sun. No monarch in Israel’s record ever grew into all of it. So the prayer reaches past every earthly king to a greater Son, and it does so without drawing up a chart of the last days. The timetable of His reign is left open. That He reigns, and that He is coming, is not.
As you read, hold this: A greater Son than Solomon will fill this prayer.
Context Of Solomon. A prayer at a handoff.
לִשְׁלֹמֹה (lishlomoh) can be read as “of Solomon” or “for Solomon,” and both readings stand. It may be David’s prayer for his son near the handoff of 1 Chronicles 29, or it may be Solomon’s own prayer, echoing his ask for wisdom in 1 Kings 3. Either way, the occasion is a reign just beginning. This is also the last psalm of Book II, and the doxology at its close seals more than one poem.
Psalm 72:1-4 (BSB)
¹ Of Solomon. Endow the king with Your justice, O God, and the son of the king with Your righteousness. ² May he judge Your people with righteousness and Your afflicted with justice. ³ May the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills bring righteousness. ⁴ May he vindicate the afflicted among the people; may he save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor.
The king, and the son of the king. The justice being prayed for is aimed at the afflicted, the needy, and the oppressor, and even the mountains are asked to bring peace. This is not a prayer for a strong man. It is a prayer for a king whose strength is spent on the people who cannot defend themselves.
Psalm 72:5-7 (BSB)
⁵ May they fear him as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains, through all generations. ⁶ May he be like rain that falls on freshly cut grass, like spring showers that water the earth. ⁷ May the righteous flourish in his days and prosperity abound until the moon is no more.
Sun, moon, all generations: no single reign fills that span. He is asked to come down like rain on freshly cut grass, quiet growth rather than a loud campaign, so that the righteous flourish in his days. The health of a whole people is being tied here to the character of the one who radah, pronounced rah-DAH. Strong's H7287, to rule, have dominion. Here it stands as a wish, “May he rule,” and not as a narrated past. The word carries dominion that actually holds territory, so the prayer is not asking for a courtesy title. It is asking for a reign that reaches the very edges of the map. them.
Psalm 72:8-11 (BSB)
⁸ May he rule from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth. ⁹ May the nomads bow before him, and his enemies lick the dust. ¹⁰ May the kings of Tarshish and distant shores bring tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts. ¹¹ May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him.
From sea to sea, from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth, Tarshish to the west, Sheba and Seba to the south. For the first hearers those names marked the far edges of the world. All kings, all nations. The psalm is not asking for a favorable treaty; it is asking for homage. Verse 10 pictures gifts carried in, not only cities sacked.
Some have heard only Solomon’s wide court in these lines, and some have heard a reign still ahead. The text will carry both a first king and a greater horizon, but it will not carry a chart of the end. We can hold both readings, and settle neither one as a fixed timetable.
Psalm 72:12-14 (BSB)
¹² For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper. ¹³ He will take pity on the poor and needy and save the lives of the oppressed. ¹⁴ He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their blood is precious in his sight.
After that sweep across the map, the psalm narrows again to the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper. This is not a footnote tucked under his greatness. It is the psalm’s own account of what the greatness is for. Their blood is precious in his sight, which is language closer to God’s own care than to ordinary royal boasting, and the text is not embarrassed by the overlap.
Psalm 72:15-17 (BSB)
¹⁵ Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him; may they bless him all day long. ¹⁶ May there be an abundance of grain in the land; may it sway atop the hills. May its fruit trees flourish like the forests of Lebanon, the people of its cities like the grass of the field. ¹⁷ May his name endure forever; may his name continue as long as the sun shines. In him may all nations be blessed; may they call him blessed.
Gold, grain, and a name as long as the sun. Then comes the line that reaches all the way back to Abraham: in him may all nations be blessed.
"I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you." Genesis 12:3 (BSB)
The prayer for Solomon’s reign has, without a new heading, become a prayer that the old promise find its king.
Study notes A king greater than Solomon
Read the prayer against Solomon’s own record and the gap is plain. 1 Kings 4 and 10 describe real wealth and a visit from the queen of Sheba, but the later chapters describe compromise, idols, and a kingdom that finally split. No king in Israel’s history ever filled these twenty verses, and Jesus did not leave that gap unnamed.
"The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here." Matthew 12:42 (BSB)
One greater than Solomon is here. Long before, the angel Gabriel had already said the same thing in other words.
"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end." Luke 1:32-33 (BSB)
The throne of David, forever, a kingdom that will never end: that is the greater Son. How the nations’ homage will be timed out on any chart is left open. That He is the King’s Son, and that He is coming, is not.
Psalm 72:18-19 (BSB)
¹⁸ Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. ¹⁹ And blessed be His glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen.
At the end the prayer bends toward God alone, because the king was never the true center. His justice and his name were meant all along to display the God who appointed him. May all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen. Book II of the Psalter closes on that seam.
Psalm 72:20 (BSB)
²⁰ Thus conclude the prayers of David son of Jesse.
It is a puzzling last line, since psalms of David still appear later in the book. The note most likely once closed a smaller collection and was simply kept in place when the Psalter grew. That is a reasonable guess and not a certainty, for the text does not explain itself any further.
A greater Son than Solomon will fill this prayer.