Psalm 72

OF SOLOMON.
Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son!  (verse 1 ESV)

The question here is, who is the king, who is the royal son?  It would be easy to assume that Solomon is speaking of himself.  Yet if he is speaking of himself, he sounds a little arrogant.  But if he is speaking of another, and perhaps one more noble than himself, then he has good reason to write it down in a psalm.  Look at what he says, and consider if he could be speaking of himself.

May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth!  Psalm 72:8 (ESV)

Is Solomon asking that God give him dominion over all the earth?  That seems really presumptuous of him, and yet Solomon never tried to rule over all the earth.  He did not even know the extent of all the earth.  And never did his kingdom come close to ruling the entire earth.  Consider a couple more verses.

Long may he live; may gold of Sheba be given to him!  May prayer be made for him continually, and blessings invoked for him all the day!  Psalm 72:15 (ESV)

May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun!  May people be blessed in him, all nations call him blessed!  Psalm 72:17 (ESV)

Was prayer made for Solomon continually?  I really doubt it.  Have all nations called him blessed?  Certainly not.  Its not hard to see, Solomon was not speaking of himself when he wrote these verses.  Then who?  That's not hard to see either; he was speaking of the great King, that is, Christ Jesus.  He was speaking of the "royal son", whose rule will last forever and ever.  Many times the Bible speaks of the eternal nature of Messiah's kingdom (eg. Isaiah 9:7, Psalm 45:6-7, Psalm 2:7-8).  It can be concluded then, that this psalm speaks of the rule of Jesus the Messiah.  It gives us great insight into how He shall rule.  The book of Revelation states that Jesus will rule in Jerusalem for a thousand years, and His rule will be absolute over all the nations of the earth.  There with Jesus, the saints who will be martyred in the tribulation period will rule as well.  So how does King Jesus rule?

May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice!  Psalm 72:2 (ESV)

Solomon is speaking to God the Father, and the "he" is God the Son.  All people are God's possession, so no matter who Jesus rules over, it can be said that He rules over God's people.  When Solomon says "May he", this is not just a hope or a prayer.  It is much more of a prophecy.  It is an axiomatic prayer.  He is praying for something that will certainly come to pass, so that his prayer is actually a prophecy.  Jesus actually will rule over God's people with righteousness, and He actually will extend justice to God's poor.  You can see the same thing in Luke 6:20 when Jesus says, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."

Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness!  Psalm 72:3 (ESV)

This implies that there will be righteousness in Jesus' kingdom, and there will be prosperity.  Prosperity is actually dependent on righteousness, if you consider it well.  No kingdom, nation or society can be prosperous when people lie, cheat, steal, harm, or act foolishly.  Vice leads to poverty.  But a kingdom of righteousness will naturally be prosperous.  Lets read on.

May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!  Psalm 72:4 (ESV)

Crushing the oppressor implies freedom.  Defending the cause of the poor implies equality.  In Jesus' kingdom no one will be left behind.  The children of the needy will be delivered.  The tears of those who mourn wiped away, and their reason for mourning taken away.  Those who would oppress other people by greed or deceit or cruelty, they are done away with, or maybe themselves oppressed by Jesus.  Whatever the case may be, the oppressor cannot oppress in Jesus' kingdom.  There is freedom and dignity for all people, big or small.

In his days may the righteous flourish, and peace abound, till the moon be no more!  Psalm 72:7 (ESV)

His kingdom will be peaceful.  Jesus is the Prince of Peace.  And in His kingdom, the righteous do well.  No longer will the unscrupulous succeed by their schemes, which so often happens in this world.  In this world it seems that the most greedy, cruel and dishonest are the ones that rise to power and prominence.  Not so in Jesus' kingdom.  Those who rise to prominence will be the most righteous among the people.  And all the people will be glad, because they see that those in charge are wise and good, and in everything do good.

May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!  Psalm 72:11 (ESV)

He is the King of kings.  His rule over the world will be absolute.  As said earlier, those kings set before him will be the most righteous among the people, and they will gladly bow down and worship Jesus.  And the nations will gladly serve Him, because serving Jesus is a joy and not a burden.  As He so truthfully spoke, "my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  The people on earth at that time will not begrudge service to Jesus, because they will see the peace, the righteousness, the freedom, equality, prosperity, and all the good things in the kingdom of Jesus.

From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight.  Psalm 72:14 (ESV)

Abortion?  Forget it!  The thought of it won't even exist in Jesus' kingdom.  The blood of all people will be precious in His sight.  This is why there is peace in His kingdom.  This is why the needy are taken care of.  He redeems the people from violence, and delivers them from oppression.

May there be abundance of grain in the land; on the tops of the mountains may it wave; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field!  Psalm 72:16 (ESV)

Not only will there be abundance, as this verse clearly states, but people will "blossom" in the cities.  Exactly what that means, you could probably interpret it different ways.  It certainly means that the population will grow, and there will be no lack of people.  Thankfully, all unborn babies will be protected and will come to see the light of day.  As to what else it might mean, it probably means that people will grow in skill, in art, in beauty and knowledge, so that not only will the cities be filled with people, but the cities will become glorious as well.  Imagine the most glorious city on earth today, then multiply that by 10; that is quite possibly the meaning of this verse.

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.  Psalm 72:18 (ESV)

Indeed.  Only God can make this a reality.  I believe this psalm describes the wonderful kingdom of our Lord and Savior during that thousand year period.  And what is more amazing, its only a prefigure of the New Heaven, New Earth, New Jerusalem.  I doubt words can adequately describe the New Jerusalem.  I pray to see you there!  Amen and God bless.