Day 25 - Psalm 72

The Story of Psalm 72

This psalm is about the best king that there can ever be! Maybe David wrote it for, or, about his son Solomon.  There are some scholars who think Solomon may be the author.

Christians have always believed that there is only one king it can really be about: Jesus! 

Psalm 72: 1 – 7

There are three important words in this part of Psalm 72:

1. Righteousness in verses 1, 2 and 3 indicates total and absolute goodness. In verse 1 we see that it is God’s righteousness that the king has. In verse 7 the good people He rules will have it, and also be righteous.
2. Justice in verses 1 and 2 carries the idea of total fairness. 
3. Peace in verses 3 and 7 means more than just no fighting.  It also carries with it the idea there will be plenty of health and more than adequate provision no matter where they live. 

In verse 1 the King and the King’s son are the same person. 

In verse 4 the Good King will defend the poor people. The cruel people who hurt them will always be afraid of the Good King. He will be as showers of rain that bring life to the dead earth! He will do this forever. Remember that there really is no "end of time." 

Psalm 72: 8 – 14

There are also three important words in this part of Psalm 72:

1. The people in need in verses 12 and 13 have nothing.
2. The poor people in verses 2, 4 and 12 are ones who have a little but are oppressed by those with plenty.   
3. Save in verses 12, 13 and 14 has different meanings. In Hebrew the word is translated as Yoshea, sometimes Joshua; and was apparently transliterated to become Jesus in the Greek rendering of the text. 

In verse 8 the river is the Euphrates. The verse would tell the reader that the king will be so great that he will rule the entire world.

In verse 9 kneel means fall to your knees. Eat the dirt means that you will have your face plastered to the ground. Back then you knew that if you looked up that you would be killed. This commonly happened to the enemies of a king who were caught and returned to face him.

In verse 10 one of the places is Sheba in Hebrew, whose Queen brought Solomon many gifts.

Psalm 72: 15 – 20

The Good King

Bless is a special Hebrew word that comes in verses 15, 17, 18 and 19. There is no English word that means the same as "Baruch". It can mean that the person being blessed will not only have good things happen to them, but that they will also have many children, many animals, abundant crops, plenty of money, a mansion to live in and more land than they could possibly need in a lifetime.

Blessing God is an indication of praise, of how good, great and glorious he is. The glory here is like the glory that comes from our intensely burning Sun; the Sun you can't look at directly, the source of our warmth that supports all life on this planet.

Verse 20 indicates that we have come to the end of this part of the Book of Psalms.

- submitted by Bob Diamond